DALLAS — With a list of ingredients and a whiteboard filled with assignments, instructor Rachel Randel announces today’s recipe: gluten-free blueberry muffins.

Black aprons, gloves and hair nets on, the students are ready to work. The first step is ensuring the kitchen is clean before gathering blueberries, baking soda and almond flour.

The students make the kitchen their home: no hesitancy walking around large stainless-steel appliances, accessing storage areas or using the walk-in refrigerator. Their workflow is a well-choreographed dance they started practicing at the beginning of the semester, when most didn’t know much about cooking at all.

“We try to approach the curriculum from the basis of someone that maybe has never stepped foot in a kitchen before,” Rendel said. “Not everyone knows what a whisk is.”

That’s how Tuesday mornings start in one of the large commercial kitchens at Dallas College’s Culinary, Pastry and Hospitality Center in northwest Dallas, where adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities learn the art and science of cooking.

The program that is wrapping up its first year is a partnership between the college and the nonprofit Hugs Café Inc. that offers training and employment for adults with disabilities.

The goal of the partnership is for these adults to acquire a food handling certification that will allow them to join the workforce, which often is a struggle for those with disabilities.

A fundamental lesson is cleanliness. Students sanitize counters and equipment before and after each use, learning the importance of hygiene in the kitchen.

In the mornings, they work as a team, making recipes that range from appetizers to desserts. In the afternoon, they return to the classroom to have lessons on food safety — knowledge needed to earn the certification.

Between giggles and laser-focused concentration to ensure perfect measurements, students not only develop food safety and cooking skills but also are empowered to find their own voice in and out of the kitchen.

Student Paul Webb said he loves the whole process of cooking — from preparing the ingredients to cleaning up afterward.

“I have a lot of favorite recipes,” the 20-year-old said. “The first one is definitely the tomato soup and also the sopapilla cheesecake.”

Webb cooks at home with his family, but he has taken his talents to the next level.

He said his favorite part of the program is cooking with new friends.

“I am dedicated to helping friends whenever they’re in trouble in the kitchen, in the classroom or everywhere,” he said.

The Dallas College-Hugs partnership began in 2024

In its inaugural year, 15 students went through the cooking program at Dallas College. Officials plan to expand the enrollment capacity to 24 next year to allow for more students to get trained and join the workforce.

Adults with disabilities often struggle to find employment, with only 19% nationwide being part of the workforce, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Texas, more than 500,00 adults and children have an intellectual or developmental disability.

Hugs Café Inc. was created in 2013 to change these statistics. The group operates a café in McKinney run by those with disabilities.

Executive Director Lauren Smith said the café is more than a job to employees — it’s a place of purpose and community.

Hugs Training Academy is the nonprofit’s newer initiative, created during the pandemic to help would-be workers meet business needs as many restaurants struggled when their employees left.

“We were struggling with what to do because our employees kept calling us, wanting to come to work,” Smith said.

Realizing that so many people with disabilities lack opportunities but want to work motivated Hugs to focus on training. The group also works with local employers to overcome the knowledge gap that often exists on knowing the value of hiring and supporting such workers, Smith said.

“When our trainees come in, you’ll feel it. When you walk into our cafe, you will know it. But it is hard to quantify unless you’ve experienced it,” Smith said. “It is acceptance and happiness and purpose, all kind of wrapped into the most delicious cookies you’ve ever tasted.”

The partnership with Dallas College started with Steve DeShazo, senior director of workforce initiatives, who casually met Hugs founder Ruth Thompson a few years ago. Learning about Hugs’ work, he saw a need for expanding such a program from Collin County into Dallas County.

“It was an instant vision for me, and I’m not very filtered. So I shared it with Ruth, and her eyes lit up,” DeShazo recalled.

Two years later, the partnership launched as an expansion of the college’s culinary programs. It works with area businesses to stress the value of hiring these students, who are often bubbling with positivity and big personalities once they break out of their shells, DeShazo said.

While the food industry struggles with high turnover, “these employees never leave,” DeShazo said. “A huge benefit for an employer is an employee who will not turn over for quite a long time.”

From the classroom kitchen, students dream of a future cooking professionally

“Are raw eggs biological, physical or chemical properties?” Rendel asked the students while they performed different tasks around the kitchen.

As a chorus, they collectively answer “biological,” to the praise of Rendel.

Random questioning during cooking assignments is one of Rendel’s methods to ensure they remember previous lessons. It all builds up to the test they’ll take for certification.

Connor Neal has taken on leadership duties in the kitchen. Not only has he mastered knife and measurement skills, the 19-year-old helps ensure classmates follow the recipe correctly.

A counselor at Vanguard Preparatory School suggested the program. Neal said he wasn’t a leader then but now he is proud of this new role.

“It’s a new experience for me. This is more advanced stuff than what I usually do,” Neal said. “I like how it’s kind of challenging because you have to take exact measurements, which I don’t normally do.”

Neal’s favorite recipe this semester is the chicken tortilla soup.

He wants a job working in a kitchen and to “make more than just basic stuff.” He said he’s most excited to cook steaks.

Students must replicate recipes at home with their families as part of homework.

Rendel, 25, is proud of each student’s progress. Her demeanor is caring and supportive. She addresses the students as ma’am and sir, asking them to grab something off the shelves or ensuring they are pouring in the exact measurements for a recipe. A part-time student at Texas Woman’s University studying sociology, Randel was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as an adult, and she wanted to work in the disability community.

The gluten-free blueberry muffins, Rendel explained, was an opportunity for students to learn about gluten and food sensitivities. The muffins came out as a perfect balance of flavor and texture — sturdy enough to hold its shape.

For Sarah Salaiz, 23, her favorite part is eating the food after she cooks it, which students get to do every time a recipe is done.

Students have no reservations speaking about the joy they feel being in the kitchen, learning from and with each other. They recommend the program to everyone.

Sydney Leniger, 23, said her advice for future students is to “have fun and don’t worry.”

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