A Christmas miracle: Humboldt baker receives new oven just in time for fundraiser

Erika Rybinski received an early Christmas gift.

The Humboldt music teacher and owner of the non-profit organization Pastry and the Piano — who has raised thousands of dollars for local charities with her baked goods — was preparing 83 Christmas baking trays Friday for her current fundraiser.

She’s raising money for a 14-year-old girl in Melfort who’s battling leukemia.

While crafting her popular gingersnap cookies, Rybinski ran into a frustrating problem: Burnt cookies.

“I noticed the cookies in the back were cooking faster than the ones in the front,” she said.

She conducted an experiment to see exactly how long it took for her cookies to burn, and found it took just four minutes. Being the seasoned baker she is, she soon realized the problem was the oven itself.

After some troubleshooting, fixing the thermostat and even turning the cookie sheets around in the oven, Rybinski realized the oven was cooking the gingersnaps unevenly, and heat wouldn’t circulate throughout the appliance.

Rybinski was in a time crunch, as she had to craft 500 gingersnaps by mid-December for her bake sale. With an unreliable oven, she worried she wouldn’t complete her baking trays.

She immediately started looking for another oven on Kijiji in hopes of finding a used model to complete her project. That same night, she took matters to the Pastry and the Piano Facebook page.

“If any of you come across a deal or know of someone that has a very reliable oven, but is upgrading theirs, let me know,” her post read. “I REALLY need a more reliable oven to get my work complete!”

Rybinski says the post received a lot of shares and she was sent Facebook Marketplace suggestions.

She then decided to venture to Saskatoon over the weekend to purchase an oven, but before she could purchase one, she received a call from A-Line Furniture and Appliances telling her there was an anonymous purchase to be delivered just for her.

On Monday she received a new oven. She made a test-run batch of the gingersnaps, and said the oven worked like a charm.

“Honestly, it’s like a Christmas miracle,” the baker said about her new appliance.

She was especially touched by the anonymous element of the surprise.

Although she doesn’t know exactly who sent the gift, she said she suspects it might be a group of individuals that came together to make the purchase. She notes she is both grateful and touched by the donation.

Rybinski says the message she’d give the anonymous donors is simple: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness means more to me than you will ever understand and thank you for making the world a better place through your generous acts.”

She can now finish her current fundraiser and plans to use her oven to give back to her community through many more bake sales.

You can find more information about Pastry and the Piano on Facebook.