Danish Pastry guinea pigs needed

[Dervacumen]

I thought this might garner me some real feedback since nobody here knows me well enough to refrain from hurting my feelings.

I'm a few months out from launching my Danish pastry business, and one of the things I'll be testing is the mailing of pastry once ordered over the internet.  I have a few ideas, but what I really need is a group of people who will receive my pastry, do final preparation at home, consume, and then give feedback.  Options include selling cooked but frozen, ready to heat, and secondly selling raw and frozen, ready to defrost and cook.  This is high end stuff, so the targeted clientele wouldn't have a problem reading and interpreting final stages of baking.  I still need to know which one results in the better product.

So the call is going out for willing participants in a product review.  No charge for the pastry.  Currently I'm checking on viable shipping methods.  BTW, any ideas?  Anyone order a baked good over the internet?
Any and all ideas welcome.

[crashwg]

I can't say I've ever had a Danish Pastry.  I'm not sure if that makes me unbiased or if I will not know a good one if I tasted it but I can certainly give my opinion anyway!

YGPM

p.s.
First image in my mind when reading the title was a bunny with a pancake on it's head.

[Le Chuck]

I am 100% down to test and my wife has beaucoup d'experience with these type of mail order products.  Usually the big cost isn't in the shipping but in the packaging, insulated boxes with dry ice packs.  She sent fresh baked goods all the time to Iraq and Afghanistan from the States and Europe and everyting was edible, although I understand a lot of cooked products are more stable than their uncooked components, but these were taking 10 days to get to me and were fine.  We even had a birthday cake show up and the cold pack was still relatively cool to the touch.  

[404]

Will have to get you in touch with my sister. she is pretty close to launching her own food blog. 

[shmokes]

I'd be happy to participate. I've only had baked goods shipped to me once when my sister sent a box of pain au chocolat to us from William Sonoma. Good luck on your business. I imagine that's super exciting and maybe a bit nerve racking.

[knave]

Sign me up, I think it's a cool idea and am willing to help out in any way I can. I feel pretty confident in my ability to give good feedback.

[HaRuMaN]

I'd test this for you.  I used to work as a cook for a living, now it's just a hobby.   

[Rando]

Count me in if you are still looking for testers?

My baking experience is limited to Cheesecakes and cookies, but I make a good cheesecake!   I have received frozen cookie dough through shipping before, and those came out just fine.  Styrofoam cooler with some frozen jellpacks I believe.  Omaha steaks uses stryafoam coolers and dry ice packs.  Think the dry ice arrived colder, but don't know which more expensive.  The Omaha shipping cooler is nice though, disposable but I still use it!

If you do this by Easter I'll be able to have a bunch of taste testers for feedback as well!

[Hoopz]

I'm in if you need more testers.

[Nephasth]

Every year for Christmas, I receive a couple of Kringles from ohdanishbakery.com. They're UPS'd to us. They come fully cooked and not frozen, and they taste great right out of the box. They come packaged in a wax paper bag and just boxed for shipping, nothing too special.

I'd be happy to help you out with testing if you need me to.

[Mikezilla]

Damn, I wish I got in on this before everyone said they would sign up, I would love to help out and test some pasty!

My gf, mom, and sister all excel at baking, and Im a damn good eater, been eating my whole life. I can give some reliable feedback for sure. 

[Dervacumen]

OK, there are several good ideas here and they pretty much mirror the ideas I had about shipping.  I'm currently looking for a sturdy box to put these in with dry ice and I still need to determine shipping method.  I want to try a few variations to see what the overall experience is.
I think for now I've got enough testers to try this out.  It's going to be a couple of weeks I think before I send stuff out, so expect a PM from me in the neat future to see if we can get this rolling.
You're all awesome.

Here's the list of participants I have lined up:

crashwg
Le Chuck
shmokes
knave
HaRuMaN
Rando
Hoopz
Nephasth
Mikezilla

I guess I better get to work.  By the way, they will all have almonds and almond paste, so if any of you have an almond nut allergy I'll have to remove you from the list...

[Dervacumen]

Damn, I wish I got in on this before everyone said they would sign up, I would love to help out and test some pasty!

My gf, mom, and sister all excel at baking, and Im a damn good eater, been eating my whole life. I can give some reliable feedback for sure. 

Just added you!

[Nephasth]

I guess I better get to work.  By the way, they will all have almonds and almond paste, so if any of you have an almond nut allergy I'll have to remove you from the list...

No almond allergies here, but the wife is allergic to walnuts. Let me know if that will be an issue.

[Mikezilla]

Damn, I wish I got in on this before everyone said they would sign up, I would love to help out and test some pasty!

My gf, mom, and sister all excel at baking, and Im a damn good eater, been eating my whole life. I can give some reliable feedback for sure. 

Just added you!

Awesome! Thank you sir! Hell yeah. Not only do I love getting stuff in the mail, but stuff to eat is an even better plus! No allergies at all here, put whatever you want in there. 

[Dervacumen]

I guess I better get to work.  By the way, they will all have almonds and almond paste, so if any of you have an almond nut allergy I'll have to remove you from the list...

No almond allergies here, but the wife is allergic to walnuts. Let me know if that will be an issue.

I wouldn't touch walnuts with a 39 1/2 ft pole.  I'm allergic too.  I won't use any nuts other than almonds, and there won't be any cross contamination with any other nuts.

[Le Chuck]

My wife lives on danishes and coffee.  We are stoked to participate!  She humbly requests cheese danish if these are going to a variety.  We will, of course, prepare and serve whatever you send but a good cheese danish will gurantee you a regular customer right off the bat      

[shmokes]

My wife and I are fine so long as you don't put penicilin in them.

[HaRuMaN]

Just FYI, FedEx now has a shipping option whereby you actually stuff dry ice into the box and it's supposed to keep the contents frozen for ~10 days.  Got a couple of quotes and we were looking at ~$35 to ship to first world countries like Japan or Switzerland.  You'll need to contact them for more info.

Looking to sell a kidney?

[Le Chuck]

Just FYI, FedEx now has a shipping option whereby you actually stuff dry ice into the box and it's supposed to keep the contents frozen for ~10 days.  Got a couple of quotes and we were looking at ~$35 to ship to first world countries like Japan or Switzerland.  You'll need to contact them for more info.

Looking to sell a kidney?

Don't ask too many questions, I guarantee it's not his own.

[Hoopz]

OK, there are several good ideas here and they pretty much mirror the ideas I had about shipping.  I'm currently looking for a sturdy box to put these in with dry ice and I still need to determine shipping method.  I want to try a few variations to see what the overall experience is.
I think for now I've got enough testers to try this out.  It's going to be a couple of weeks I think before I send stuff out, so expect a PM from me in the neat future to see if we can get this rolling.
You're all awesome.

Here's the list of participants I have lined up:

crashwg
Le Chuck
shmokes
knave
HaRuMaN
Rando
Hoopz
Nephasth
Mikezilla

I guess I better get to work.  By the way, they will all have almonds and almond paste, so if any of you have an almond nut allergy I'll have to remove you from the list...

Outstanding.  I'm looking forward to this.  I've never had anything shipped to me from Europe!   

[Mikezilla]

OK, there are several good ideas here and they pretty much mirror the ideas I had about shipping.  I'm currently looking for a sturdy box to put these in with dry ice and I still need to determine shipping method.  I want to try a few variations to see what the overall experience is.
I think for now I've got enough testers to try this out.  It's going to be a couple of weeks I think before I send stuff out, so expect a PM from me in the neat future to see if we can get this rolling.
You're all awesome.

Here's the list of participants I have lined up:

crashwg
Le Chuck
shmokes
knave
HaRuMaN
Rando
Hoopz
Nephasth
Mikezilla

I guess I better get to work.  By the way, they will all have almonds and almond paste, so if any of you have an almond nut allergy I'll have to remove you from the list...

Outstanding.  I'm looking forward to this.  I've never had anything shipped to me from Europe!   

The only thing I have ever got from europe was my IPac. 

[Le Chuck]

What's coming from Europe?  Dervacumen is clearly an American or he wouldn't have said 39 and 1/2 foot pole.  It would have been a 10m pole.   

[Hoopz]

What's coming from Europe?  Dervacumen is clearly an American or he wouldn't have said 39 and 1/2 foot pole.  It would have been a 10m pole.   

We were promised Danish pastries.  Not American pastries.  D-A-N-I-S-H.  That means from Daneland.  Which is clearly in Europe.   

Oh, and I forgot about my Ipacs.

[Mikezilla]

What's coming from Europe?  Dervacumen is clearly an American or he wouldn't have said 39 and 1/2 foot pole.  It would have been a 10m pole.   

He obviously watched the Grinch, they have that in Europe, and he got the unedited version. 

Man. I love me some pastries. Cant wait. 

[shmokes]

I grant that it's possible that I'm wrong, but seriously . . . these aren't being shipped from Europe.

[Dervacumen]

They'll ship from California.  The recipe is based on traditional pastry doughs from Denmark.
Sorry to disappoint Hoopz.

[Le Chuck]

Told you! Metric system will always be a dead give away... unless you're dealing with our Northern neighbors... sneaky ---daisies---.

[stu33]

If you want another tester, my daughter (2nd year culinary student) and I would love to help out.

[Hoopz]

They'll ship from California.  The recipe is based on traditional pastry doughs from Denmark.
Sorry to disappoint Hoopz.

I was being facetious.  I'm glad I didn't go with the joke about not tasting guinea pig before in my breakfast as that could have been read incorrectly also.     Given that Dervacumen was active in the NFL pick em, I was pretty comfortable understanding that he was in the US.

I look forward to receiving European baked goods that are shipped through California. 

On a serious note, do you have a list of questions, guidelines, form etc that you'll want completed? 

[Le Chuck]

I was being facetious. 

I can't believe I'm on a tasting panel with a bona fide fascist.   

[Vigo]

If it bothers you that much, I'll take your slot. 

[Le Chuck]

If it bothers you that much, I'll take your slot. 

Bothered?  Hell, I'm thrilled! 

[Vigo]

Aww. too bad. I'll have to come up with another plot to trick someone out of their slot. 

[Mikezilla]

They'll ship from California.  The recipe is based on traditional pastry doughs from Denmark.
Sorry to disappoint Hoopz.

Sweet, Im in California, so Ill get em before all of you, muhahahahaha!!! There is finally a perk in this hobby being in California! 

[knave]

They'll ship from California.  The recipe is based on traditional pastry doughs from Denmark.
Sorry to disappoint Hoopz.

Sweet, Im in California, so Ill get em before all of you, muhahahahaha!!! There is finally a perk in this hobby being in California! 

Nope, to keep it fair those of us in CA will have to leave them in the car for an extra three days...
But really Fedex and to some extent the USPS can get your goods pretty much anywhere in the US in two to three days. Being in the same state might not matter that much.

[Dervacumen]

They'll ship from California.  The recipe is based on traditional pastry doughs from Denmark.
Sorry to disappoint Hoopz.

Sweet, Im in California, so Ill get em before all of you, muhahahahaha!!! There is finally a perk in this hobby being in California! 

Mikezilla, I forgot to mention that you have to pay the "California Housing Expense Tax".  That's probably in the range of $60-$70. JK.

[Vigo]

Only one additional tax in california? You guys are getting better. 

[Dervacumen]

So many good ideas here, almost too fast for my brain.

Right now I have a limited selection of flavors, so each of you can choose what you want on your pastry given the following set of choices and suggestions.

Apricot
Cherry
Pear
Apple (includes a trace of alcohol)
Almond Paste
Pastry Cream
Cheese

I would highly suggest including Almond Paste in your selection, but it's not necessary.  Additionally I wouldn't choose more than one fruit because it confuses the issue.
Your best bet, IMO is Almond Paste and a fruit, or cheese and a fruit.  I can honestly say I haven't made one with cheese, but I'm accomplished enough that I promise it won't be bad.  I will need to offer it as an option when I go live, so I might as well do it now.
Each of these sample pastries will be a ring about 7" in diameter.  If I can figure out how to package other shapes without destroying them I will.  I'm making a few batches for a Valentines Day event and I'll post pictures.
Each pastry will be topped with a sugar glaze and sliced almonds.

For this first phase I'll send finished baked goods since they do not require refrigeration, and I can better afford this little experiment.  I'll continue to investigate the dry ice situation for the frozen option.  It may not be reasonable without a pretty significant up-charge.  That said, to truly appreciate these, fresh baking is pretty key.

Thanks for everyone's enthusiasm!  I got some very good feedback this morning from an event I did on Friday.  I hope they translate well through the mail.

[HaRuMaN]

Almond paste + cherry sounds awesome!