5 ELVES OF INTEREST
BY SUE-ELLEN SANDERS
PHOTOS BY GREG GARDNER
The first time Gina Dean Bey baked for the masses, it
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was for a community fundraiser for her daughter.
Soon, the Fort Pierce dentist, who is married to Darryl
Bey, longtime president of the Fort Pierce Jazz Society, began
baking cakes and cookies to sell at Jazz Society jams and concerts.
Her sweets were a hit and people raved about their
slices of Gina’s red velvet cake long after the jazz jams
had ended.
When the Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market, on Melody Lane in
downtown Fort Pierce, started up 14 years ago, fans urged
Gina to offer her wares at market. “I thought I’d try it for one
year,” says Gina. Her weekend activity became somewhat of
a side business as more people discovered her cookies, cupcakes
and biscotti.
Bey sees patients during the week and says she loves being
part of the outdoor market on Saturdays, seeing people and
enjoying the breeze off the Indian River. Of her time in the
kitchen, she says, “It relaxes me. Cookies aren’t nervous.
They don’t ask, is this going to hurt? And they never fight
with you.” As her baking business thrived, Gina sought
recipes from cookbooks, from her grandmother and mother,
and from the Internet, tweaking them over the years until
they were her own.
With specialties like ginger biscotti, white chocolate bread
pudding, cinnamon sticks and sour cream pound cake, the
baking business might seem like a contradiction for a
woman who dedicates her professional career to helping
patients keep their teeth strong, clean and cavity-free.
“People are going to eat sweets anyhow; a reasonable
amount of desserts aren’t a problem for your teeth. Proper
daily tooth care is what makes the difference. And flossing is
so important; I tell my patients, flossing is not an option—it
is a necessity.”
Bey is busy starting a mail-order business for clients who
can’t make it to the Farmer’s Market or want to send her
treats as gifts. Cookie Select offers three dozen cookies and
biscotti (mix or match your favorites) for a special price of
$25, plus shipping. Soon, you’ll be able to order from her
website, now under construction.
Until then, customers stop by the Farmer’s Market for a
breakfast treat or to take home a week’s supply. From traditional
favorites like oatmeal raisin, peanut butter and chocolate
chip cookies, to Russian tea cakes and double and triple
chocolate biscotti (one has chocolate chips added, the other
adds both chocolate chips and chocolate drizzle), Gina Bey’s
baked goods are hard to resist.
But, what happens when the dentist’s patients become the
baker’s customers? By now, most of Gina Bey’s patients
know where they can get her sweets every weekend. “I hand
them their cookies and muffins and smile and say, “Don’t
forget—brush and floss.”
The
Sweets-
Making
Dentist