Lesia Kohut Wins Race for Toronto Harbourfront’s Best Spicy Dessert

TORONTO – One of Toronto Harbourfront Centre’s summer festivals is the Hot & Spicy Food Festival which took place in mid-August. As part of this event, a contest for the Best Spicy Dessert in Toronto ran for a month during which people could vote for their choice onliLesia Kohut (right) with assistant at Toronto Harbourfront Centre baking demonstrationne. And the winner was announced: Spicy Chèvre Noir Shortbread Cookie, baked by Lesia Kohut, owner and executive chef of the bakery LPK’s Culinary Groove in Toronto’s Riverdale.

The online voting was a two-man (or rather, two-woman?) race – Ms. Kohut received 680 votes, 120 votes more than the second place contestant. Other contestants were hardly in the running with about 15 votes each.

Ms. Kohut is originally from Edmonton and came to Toronto to go to Ryerson for Radio and Television Arts in 1987. Ms. Kohut’s enterprise, LPK’s Culinary Groove - Beautifully Cultivated Desserts, was founded in 1998 and began as a home-based business. She opened the retail operation two years ago - an organic pastry and chocolate shop, with vegan and gluten-free desserts making up about 50% of the products sold. Ms. Kohut uses certified organic and, wherever possible, free trade ingredients, but flavour remains the highest priority at LPK’s. Her desserts have been featured in many Toronto lifestyle magazines and newspaper pages.

Before the presentation of the award at Harbourfront Centre, Ms. Kohut gave a demonstration of her baking technique, not divulging, of course, the recipe of her prize-winning dessert – sweet, spicy, with a hint of salt - noting only that it is made with Chèvre Noir goat cheddar and flavoured with the piquino chili. She made another one of her specialties: LPK’s Spicy Chocolate Shortbread.

LPK’s Culinary Groove is located at 718 Queen Street East and you can see many of the “Beautifully Cultivated Desserts” in glorious colour on their website www.lpksculinarygroove.com.

By Oksana Zakydalska

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Lesia Kohut (right) with assistant at Toronto Harbourfront Centre baking demonstration