Katerina Belales

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Mar 30, 2026, 7:08 AM

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Updated

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Gaelle Lopez starts another day making a batch of macarons in her New Rochelle kitchen. It is a hobby of hers that first started when she moved from Amiens in northern France to the U.S. 14 years ago. Despite getting well acquainted with Westchester County, she yearned for a taste of home.

"Being a French person coming here in the U.S., it was hard to find my typical French pastries," she explained. "Even if I [went] to a special French shop, [the pastries were] not the taste I grew up with. So, the only way for me to find the taste I grew up with was to bake [pastries] myself."

That is exactly what she did, but it wasn't until seven years later when she thought about sharing that taste of home with the rest of the community.

" I was a nanny at the beginning, and I worked for a French family," Lopez said. "I was baking for the kids...the mom was like, 'Gaelle, you should get your diploma and do a business.'"

After being a little unsure about the venture, Lopez decided to take the risk.

" I went back home [and] got my diploma over there," she said. "I think it has more impact for me to be a French pastry chef with my French diploma."

From there, Lopez launched Gaelle's French Pastries in 2019, making appearances at local farmers markets. What once started as a side hustle soon turned into a full-time business.

" I said, 'Okay, let's try...at least I tried,'" she recounted. "So, at the beginning, I was doing this and the nanny job on the side. Two years ago, I said, 'No. I need to see if I can live from [the pastry business]. So I said, 'Okay, let's go all in.'"

It was a risk worth taking, because after seven years of being in the pastry business, Lopez's recipes have kept customers coming back for more.

"They like the flavors," she said. "They like the fact [that] it's not over sweet. They say, 'Oh, I just want to eat one,' but the packet is gone [laughs]. They come back every week or every two weeks."

Lopez plans to open her own cafe in the near future, but for now, customers can buy her pastries online or at local markets throughout the region. To find out where she will be making appearances, follow her Instagram page.