10-year-old baker is a budding mogul of cakes and pies
A 10-year-old Westchester County boy is showing up all his friends and probably every kid and adult. Jay Hairston is a mini self-made pastry chef who can whip up a batch or cookies and a sweet potato pie in minutes.
Jay said his grandmother, Geraldine, got him started with baking when he was only 5 years old.
"She was like, 'Come here, come into the kitchen, follow me, and I'm going to teach you to make cookies,'" he said, "'I'm going to teach you how to make a dessert.'"
Cookies quickly turned to cakes and pies with a long list of ingredients.
Jay has his own business he called Cakes by Jay. Last Thanksgiving, he received more than 150 orders for pies.
Jay even made the top 10 last year on Food Network's Junior Chef competition, whipping up the sweet potato pies.
But something was missing—and it wasn't an ingredient.
"What's most important for me is that I'm raising a young man that wants to have a heart for people and I want to be a good person," Jay's mom said.
So this Thanksgiving, Jay is not only giving pies to his Harlem School for the Arts, but he has also teamed up with the nonprofit Feeding Westchester to help dozens of food-insecure families get a pie to feed their loved ones.
"I feel very happy that now I can give back to my community and make things better," Jay said, "and at least eliminate some of the families that don't get to have a night without eating or a holiday without eating."
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