The final quarter of 2011 was filled with a flux of pastry chefs leaving fine dining establishments. Kristen Murray left Portland's iconic Paley Place while in NYC Dominique Ansel left Daniel to start a Kouign Amann craze at his sweet and savory Dominique Ansel Bakery and
Top Chef Just Desserts judge Johnny Iuzzini resigned from his position as executive pastry chef at Jean Georges. But in at least one case, fine dinings loss can be your gain. After eight years at Le Bernardin, Michael Laiksonis left to pursue teaching and writing. Starting with posting all of the recipes from
his blog in two downloadable PDFs. Now those famous financiers and blueberry macarons can be yours.