Bonnie Norman's job as a pastry chef is simultaneously glamorous and unglamorous.

"I feel like the things that we produce are very beautiful and everyone wants to eat them. So you feel very popular. But, I mean, it's dirty, messy, hot, exhausting."

Norman is a senior pastry chef supervisor at Clark Bakery at UNT. She recently was named Pastry Chef of the Year by the Fort Worth chapter of the Texas Chefs Association/American Culinary Federation chapter, in recognition of her volunteer work with the organization and winning competitions with UNT.

Norman first came to UNT in 2004 as an English major and left school for personal reasons. In 2012, the Fort Worth resident took a baking position at Spiral Diner, a vegan restaurant, and then worked at Swiss Pastry Shop, Central Market and Roy Pope Grocery before returning to UNT in 2023 as a staff member.

She decided to finish her bachelor's and is expected to graduate with her degree in hospitality management this December. She has a lot on her plate -- combining her full-time job, studies and volunteer work with raising a family of three with her husband.

Always a Part of Her Life:
"I always baked when I was a kid. That used to be my after-school activity. I had the Nestlé Toll House Original Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe memorized. I made it so many times as a kid. And then I worked in a local cafe and wanted to get more involved in the baking side."

Favorite Recipe:
"I really love making sourdough. I make it here and I make it at home. It can be intimidating. Once you've done it a couple times, it's a lot more intuitive than you would think. Don't be scared to try. The worst that can happen is you get crackers."

Favorite Class:
"I took a class this summer called Managing a Diverse Workforce. It taught a lot of ways to take people's backgrounds into consideration, and the benefits of having a diverse workforce, and how that can make your operation as a manager better. A huge part of Dining Services' workforce is international students. And understanding that, UNT really tries to honor the food history of lots of different cultures. We have a mango lassi ice cream flavor -- mango coconut ice cream. We have a lot of students from India and Pakistan, and they really crave those flavors from back home."

Baking Competitions:
"There's a lot of different types of competitions. One is called a Mystery Basket Challenge, and they give you a list of ingredients, and you have to create recipes using those ingredients, plus whatever you need to make the complete dish. And then another type is where you come already with your own ingredients and your recipe ready to go, and you're demonstrating mastery of whatever dessert. It's one of those things where you're nervous going in and then it starts. And then you look up and the time is over. And you just have this big sense of relief of like, 'Well, I did my best, and it's over, so I don't have to worry about it anymore.' It's almost like an athletic event. It is physically demanding. It's hot, it's intense. You're running around, dodging other chefs. One of the competitions that I do is with a team from UNT. It's four of us all working together on one menu. And yeah, you get to the end of it, and you feel rung out, like you just ran a marathon."

Favorite Baking Competition:
"I went to the Chef Culinary Conference this summer (at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst), and it was the Mystery Basket Challenge. We won a silver. The judges said that the dessert was the highlight of our entry, and that was my contribution. I would say that felt very good."

Favorite Aspects of Her Job:
"I don't get tired of baking. I still bake for fun at home. I still bake for my kids. It gives me such a sense of accomplishment. When you open the oven, and you can see that you've done it correctly, you know that someone's going to see it and want it because it makes people happy. We're part of people's celebrations -- anniversaries, birthdays, graduations. Everybody gets a cake for that or a treat. When you leave work, and you've had a hard day and you say, 'I'm going to treat myself,' you don't usually go get a rotisserie chicken or whatever. You stop somewhere, and you get a croissant or a chocolate chip cookie."