Doughmonkey's Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookie, high praise from Better Homes and Gardens

Doughmonkey is an all scratch pastry and confection shop with a focus on chocolate and seasonal ingredients located in Dallas, Texas.

Founded in 2001, Doughmonkey is the product of Co-owner and Executive Pastry Chef Rhonda Ruckman's experiences in kitchens across the United States. Originally from New Orleans, Rhonda began her career as a dishwasher at a small tea room attached to an antique shop in Baton Rouge, LA. Between stacks of dishes, she got her first taste of cooking professionally while assisting in the production of scones and tarts. Finding that she enjoyed cooking in a professional setting led her to apply for a pantry job at Jubans, an upscale Creole restaurant also in Baton Rouge. In between plating salads, appetizers, and the other jobs that typically go along with a kitchen pantry job, it was in Jubans' kitchen that Rhonda got her first opportunity to make desserts professionally. Working her way up from the pantry position to the saute station didn't curb her enthusiasm for desserts. When Executive Chef William Wells (currently Culinary Productions) decided to leave Jubans to open a new restaurant he asked Rhonda to join him; offering her a position that focused solely on desserts and bread baking. Chef Wells' new restaurant, Drake's, provided Rhonda with her first opportunity to experiment with new recipes as well as providing a valuable education on what it takes to succeed in the professional kitchen.

The experience of working with Chef Wells was one that surpassed simply getting her first break and real job in a commercial kitchen. His adeptness at staying cool under fire while turning out great product is a trait that she admires to this day.

Constantly scouring (and collecting) cookbooks for recipes, Rhonda noticed work by pastry chefs across the country that was like nothing she had ever seen. Seeing sleek designs containing ingredients which were entirely new to her made her realize that she had a lot to learn. One chef kept popping up in her reading time and time again with works as much art as food. The chefs name was Norman Love and he was the Executive Pastry Chef for the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain worldwide. Hoping to work with Chef Love, Rhonda contacted him at his base kitchen at the Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida and, after a bit of back and forth, was able to secure a pastry cook job at the Naples property, a prize position for an aspiring pastry cook since Chef Love himself was at the property so often.

Rhonda spent the next several years learning the ins and outs of fine pastry from great pastry chefs like Chef Love and Chef Keegan Gerhard (currently host of Food Network Challenge). It was during this time that Rhonda met Pastry Chef Donald Wressell of the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills. An offer of the position as his assistant was enough to lure Rhonda to California and the Four Seasons. Working for Chef Wressell (currently Corporate Pastry Chef for Guittard Chocolate Company) continued the experience that began at the Ritz-Carlton of getting to work with fantastic chefs. Chef Wressell was manager of the U.S. Pastry Team during her stay in Los Angeles. This team would, in 2001, become the first team from the USA to win the competition.

Having satisfied her desire to learn from the chefs that she admired most, Rhonda was faced with determining what the next step of her career should be. An executive pastry position, somewhere within the Four Seasons network of hotels,was only about six to eight months away, but the desire to be her own boss (and settle down a bit) won in the end and Doughmonkey was born.

Rhonda has been featured on the Discovery Channel's Great Chefs of the World and has been featured chef twice at the James Beard House in New York City.