Michelle Hines Abram Thibeault says she’s happiest in her kitchen.

“When I have the opportunity to make these beautiful fancy desserts, I kind of light up a little bit,” she said. “It just makes me happy, I love to share that, I feel like it’s an art.”

The Latham native has been baking for most of her life.

“As most people in pastry, I started cooking with my grandma, gosh, when I was a little thing and I always loved it, it just made me happy,” Hines Abram Thibeault said.

She carried that passion onto culinary school.

“I do everything old school, I do it all from scratch,” she said. “I trained at the French Culinary so we do things classically.”

Since moving back to the Capital Region about 20 years ago, Hines Abram Thibeault spent most of her time running her catering company, Chef MHAT. It wasn’t until the pandemic slowed her business that she picked up baking again.

“I thought to myself what am I going to do now?” she said while baking Thanksgiving desserts in her kitchen. “I always had this little dream of having this classic French patisserie.”

Since October she’s been testing her skills against some of the world’s best in the international Greatest Baker competition.

“There were 25,600 when this thing started, right now we’re down to 512 people,” she said.

Already through the first three rounds, she’s been courting online votes on Facebook by raffling off a baked delicacy for anyone who supports her campaign.

“The contest is just kind of a perk for everyone,” Hines Abram Thibeault said. “I say if you keep voting, I keep baking.”

The contest winner gets profiled in Bake From Scratch magazine and a $10,000 prize, which Michelle hopes to use to move her budding business out of her home kitchen.

“That’s the plan hoping, and I’ve seen that so many people are paying attention to the competition, that they’ll support and help my dream come true,” Hines Abram Thibeault said.

It’s free to vote once a day but those who choose to make a donation to No Can Hungry can give extra votes and support a charity that fights childhood hunger.
“It’s a nice way to give back, especially this time of year,” Hines Abram Thibeault said. “I like to say we’re baking the world a better place, that’s my new little catch phrase!”

The current round of online voting comes to a close at 11:59 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Until then, Hines Abram Thibeault says she’s baking between 16 and 20 hours a day to reward her loyal supporters and friends.

“I’ve never been this busy ever but I’m so happy, I’m like the happiest I’ve ever been because I’m doing what I love,” she said. “”It’s joyful, every day it’s joyful and that’s the best part.”

You can cast your vote for her here.