Pictured: Khanh Santos

Khanh Santos is passionate about her hobby of creating handcrafted and freshly baked goods for her friends and family. Khanh cooks and bakes as a form of challenging herself; she takes a recipe from her mom, or even the internet, and always finds a way to change it up. Not only does this small business provide a small amount of income, but she uses her time for baking and cooking as a way to recollect to stay grounded.

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​The business of Khanh’s Kitchen is only a part-time aspect of her life, Khanh uses her new found passion for baking as a means of providing calmness and balance in her life. The day the light bulb sparked was when some of her friends picked up samples of her Ube Cheese Pandesal (translated to "sand bread"); they immediately called to to place an order for more. She says that when it first happened, 
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“It was such a wonderful feeling to

know that something that I had

created gave so much joy to another

person.”

Ube Cheese Pandesal filled with Smoked Gouda

​Khanh wanted to practice her craft with a blueprint just to get it started and continues to put her own twist to it. She said, “My mom showed me how to cook a few easy dishes and from there, I would start to adjust them to make it my own. I would always ask myself, “how can I make it better…how can I make it my own.” Soon, I found myself in love with cooking, the challenges of making something better than the last and being able to share these wonderful creations with others to enjoy.”
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Cassava Cake with Flan Topping

Born in Vietnam, she moved to Bakersfield, CA with her family at age three. ​As many families of different ethnic backgrounds know, food is always something that brings everyone together. When growing up in Bakersfield, “Gatherings among family, friends and good food were some of my best childhood memories.” She wanted to continue this tradition with her husband and son; her first time really baking was when she started dating her husband twelve years ago.
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As the story goes, Khanh wanted to impress her now husband, Dexter, by making him a famous Filipino dessert, the cassava cake. She initially just followed a recipe online, but with her knowing how much she wants to make it her own, she consistently made cassava cake over the years to adjust the ingredients until she felt it was perfect. 
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​Like many people who picked up a new hobby such as baking during the pandemic era in late 2020, Khanh wanted to take a crack at baking fresh pandesal, a common bread roll served with a Filipino feast, for Christmas Eve. She hadn’t experienced baking bread before this point, so she did extensive research on the basic concepts and practices of doing such.
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“While bread is a staple in every
culture, and my customers are from different nationalities, I knew that if I could impress my Filipino in-laws and friends first, that would mean I was on the right track"
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Left to Right: Dexter, Khanh, James Lei, and their pup, Toby

Similar to many small businesses, she hopes to open her very own restaurant in the future. She continues to motivate herself by creating and delivering her craft to those around her. With that, her absolute top fan favorite menu items are the Ube Pandesal with creamy smoked cheese and dried pork scallion rolls, she continues to find more influence in other cultures. “Everything I make is influenced by traditional concepts and flavors, and then enhanced to create my own unique recipes,” she said. The best way to find and order from her is @khanhskitchen on Instagram!

instagram.com/khanhskitchen