Ghislaine has a minion!

Don't Eat the Smiley Croissant

Ghislaine’s small paws grasped at the cookie cutter carefully before placing the sharp shape down into the sugar dough with practiced métier. Cookie by cookie, she rotated the shape until the sheet of dough was covered in precise cutouts of hearts. The Popoko set her cookie cutter to the side before reaching for excess dough, pulling it off the table with ease. She wadded the excess dough up and set it next to the heart-shaped cutter, saving it for after this batch was complete. Swiftly, Ghislaine shuffled the cookies from the flour-dusted counter to a waiting baking sheet and popped it into an oven.

On average, the Bake Stop went through a few hundred sugar cookies a day. The heart-shaped dough Ghislaine had begun baking were destined to be chocolate dipped – a best seller at the bakery and Ghislaine’s favorite to make. As the cookies browned slowly in the industrial oven, the small Popoko checked on the melting chocolate. It was near perfection now; a blend of dark and milk chocolate with just a hint of hazelnut and vanilla wafted up her nose and tickled her senses. A small smile creeped onto her snout and she turned back to the oven, pulling her mitts from her apron as she skipped to the door. Mentally counting down, she opened the oven door just as the machine beeped cookie perfection – the hearts were pulled out of the oven with a flourish and she set them down on a cart to cool.

The mental countdown began again, but this time Ghislaine kept busy by bringing the melted chocolate to the counter, stirring it continuously to keep it from clumping as it cooled off the heat. She placed some wax paper on the counter. When she felt the cookies were firm enough to handle, she deftly picked one up and dipped it carefully, coating half of the cookie in rich chocolate. She held it for a moment to let the chocolate firm up before setting the cookie on the wax paper. After a few cookies were finished, a noise at the bakery’s back door disturbed the Popoko from her work.

Casting her eyes to the door, Ghislaine smiled when she saw a young Jollin and young Wyllop at the door. They were sniffing the air eagerly, and the Popoko was sure she could hear their little stomach rumbling. Chuckling, she shook her head and clicked her tongue, making shooing motions with her paws. The pair of younglings’ faces fell, and Ghislaine sighed. Walking to them, she put one finger up against her snout to signify silence. Grabbing a buttery croissant from a nearby cart, she ripped it in half and handed it to the pets, who took it with wide, grateful eyes. Ghislaine winked before turning back to her work station. One less croissant couldn’t hurt business, and besides… Fantine would be proud.

profile, story, and art: Tennie