Nurse & Single Mother Of Three Sells Yummy Nutella Tarts To Supplement Income

Long hours of physical work and mental focus are part and parcel of Pelyn Tan’s day as a nurse (she declines to mention where she works). Yet, for the divorcee raising three kids aged 11, 7 and 5 respectively, the workday doesn’t end when she gets home. The 29-year-old who has been working as a nurse since 2012 started baking a year ago to supplement the family’s income.

All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg

Her home-based business Pelynoobakes (pronounced as “Pelyn Noob Bakes”) started last year hawking just one product: cornflake cookies, which she calls Goldflakes.

“I am hardly a professional baker,” confesses Pelyn. “So, I started out with really simple recipes found online, and I just tweak them along the way.” She bakes out of the HDB flat which she shares with her children.

Pelyn went on to introduce Nutella Tarts just before the Circuit Breaker, and oatmeal cookies around July. The attractive mum spends about four hours baking on weekdays after work, and even longer on weekends, making about 200 jars of cookies a week. “While my helper might assist with the washing up, I am very much a one-woman operation doing the baking and communicating with customers; so I often reply my customers only at midnight!” says Pelyn, who also admits that she has very little time with her kids. To de-stress, the busy lady goes for spin workout sessions. “Spin, bake, work, repeat. That’s my life!”

Pelyn’s parents, who are still working, help to look after the kids on weekends so that she can bake. One of her younger sisters (Pelyn is the second-eldest among four siblings) – 12 years younger and still studying – also helps with the baking when time permits. Friends and family helped promote Pelyn’s bakes when she first launched the business last year. According to Pelyn, quite a number of her friends have a large following on social media, and they were very helpful in spreading the word about her home-based business. And while she has the approval of her employers to run the home biz, she's mindful not to promote it at work – though some of her colleagues are customers too.

While all her bakes – the Goldflakes, Nutella Tart and oatmeal cookies – are available in single jars or bags, Pelyn also offers the Nutella Tarts in bundle of three, five and 10 jars. “This helps to reduce admin time and simplify logistics a lot,” explains Pelyn.

While Pelyn used to enthusiastically order cornflake cookies and her children would hoover up tubs of Nutella cookies, now, there’re just so many cookies at home that they can’t bear to eat them any more. “My kids would rather scoop Nutella straight from the jar than eat my cookies these days!” laments Pelyn.

This was what launched Pelyn’s home-based business and she chose this popular snack as it is one of her favourite things to eat. “I love cornflake cookies and would regularly order them. But after a few disappointing orders, I decided to make my own,” says Pelyn. “Mine aren’t too buttery or sticky – I like them light and crisp.” Unlike many renditions which are more crunchy than crisp, hers certainly have a more delicate texture. And though the honey coating of the cornflake clusters is generous, the overall flavour isn’t overly cloying either. These cornflake clusters can be kept in the airtight tub for up to a month, but we suspect the cookies will be finished way before that.

“I was inspired to make this after I received a jar of Nutella tarts during Chinese New Year this year, and my kids finished it all up within a day!” shares Pelyn. She developed the recipe through some 20 rounds of trial and error. “I wanted a base that wasn’t overly brittle and could be picked up, yet one that would melt in the mouth,” says Pelyn. It’s not really a tart though, but a cookie base topped with a dollop of pure Nutella (“I tried other hazelnut spreads, but nothing else compares,” shares Pelyn.) But whatever you call it, it’s rather addictive. The rich and creamy Nutella is a perfect match with the crisp yet melty Japanese “sand” cookie-style base punctuated with a good hint of salt — our colleague thinks the pastry tastes a little bit like Jenny Bakery’s butter cookies. Delish, though the Nutella gets a tad too sweet after more than three or four morsels.

This is essentially the Nutella Tart, naked. The cookie base that Pelyn so painstakingly created from “flour, sugar and a lot of butter” was such a hit that her customers started asking for it, without the Nutella. “I didn’t really want to do it because making it takes quite a lot of work, such as conditioning the dough overnight. But then, so many asked for it that I just couldn’t say no!” says Peyln. We see the appeal of this delicate confection that really melts on the tongue, though we must say the quality is a little inconsistent — the pastry our colleague got on her Nutella tarts was perfectly textured and buttery even after two weeks in the pantry while this one had a limper bite and flavour reminiscent of milk powder.

With her customers seeking for more variety, Pelyn added oatmeal cookies to her repertoire around June. Unlike the usual home-style oatmeal cookies which are essentially clusters of rolled oats bound by a little cookie dough, this is quite the reverse, with just flakes of oats punctuating a very crisp cookie. A little hint of cinnamon lifts the flavours of this brown-sugar number, and though we couldn’t really find the raisins, the delicately crisp coin-sized bites are still very enjoyable.

Pelyn’s bakes might seem commonplace, without any unique or special ingredients. However, it's precisely their down-to-earth, home-made quality that makes them quite enjoyable to munch on at any time. With the festive season around the corner, these are good snack options to stock up on. We just hope Pelyn keeps the quality of her bakes consistent.

Place orders at pelynoobakes.com. Island-wide delivery at $8, with delivery fee waived for orders above $88. Strictly no self-collection.

Photos: Kelvin Chia

All photos cannot be reproduced without permission from 8days.sg