An invitation to afternoon tea made by a pastry chef who just reached the finals of a television baking championship is an invitation you can’t – nor should – resist. And when the setting is a relaxed historic home in Santa Fe, you’ll want to linger with Chase Maus a little longer.

Pastry Chef Chase Maus Shares His Holiday Baking Championship Journey

If you could travel back in time and join Chase Maus when he was a kid sitting on the sofa watching the Food Network, wouldn’t you love to whisper in his ear, “You’ll be on there one day.” We all have dreams, but how many of us actually reach them?

This Kentucky-born baker now calls Santa Fe home, where he works at Paloma and teaches hot yoga on the side. “When I was growing up, after school I would watch the Food Network almost every day between school and basketball practice,” he says. “And I found myself very relaxed by the material but also found that my brain was retaining it effortlessly,” he remembers.

Pastry Warmth and Welcoming Atmosphere

Chase’s love of baking was evident at a tea with family and friends, hosted at the home of Cate Schroeder, a bartender at Paloma and a mezcal and tequila whiz. The light-filled home was owned by Cate’s aunt and dates back to the 1940s. Like many Santa Fe homes it’s a repository of history and happy memories, from the furniture and paintings to her Aunt’s own handcrafted ceramics, which Cate inherited. One former owner even stopped to chat with Cate while on a walk, pointing out the rose bushes she’d planted when her mother passed away. As Cate puts it, “The space holds you in a way.”

Built following an open plan and all on one level, the house welcomed guests with a warmth matched only by the generosity of Chase’s baking. Hand-laminated puff pastry was served in Instagram-worthy croissants, or filled with generous ‘logs’ of his own chocolate tahini brownie, creating a buttery confection that walks a perfect line between sweet and savory.

And his scones, rich in dill and cheese, are more than a passing nod to the fluffy biscuits from back home—as if you’ve journeyed to Paris via Kentucky and then back again. Not surprising when you learn that by the time Chase was sixteen he was already cooking for his family. “To make her life easier, I just started to cook for my mom with the lessons that I learned on the Food Network.” He gathered recipes which he says have “a lot of Southern touch,” and are influenced by the cooking of his grandmother. “I just think she poured love into what she did. It wasn’t a lot of finesse, but it always tasted good.”

Taking His Family Legacy to the Holiday Baking Championship

It was his grandmother’s pie crust recipe that he made in the first episode of the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network that garnered Chase that week’s team win. He’s noted all of those early experiments and family recipes in a five-subject notebook he still uses today.

But while this pastry chef loves savory cooking at home, it’s baking that speaks to him. He worked for a bakery in Newtown, Ohio before opening his own. It wasn’t long before lines were forming out the door for his creations. Yes, it was long hours and relentless demands, but also an opportunity to hone his craft, experiment, and develop his own unique style.

Chase credits his pastry skills in part to his dad, who was an engineer. “I’m a very scientific person and I think once I figured out that this profession was science, my whole outlook shifted.” His respect for the ingredients and processes informs his baking. “You have to understand what each ingredient does, and how it affects the outcome, before you can start playing with them.”

Baking as a Caring Language

But the science never overshadows his fundamental reason for baking – that it’s an act of supreme generosity. To laminate dough – essential to create the paper-thin layers in puff pastry – takes time, patience, and care. The final product is a hand-held sign of love from maker to eater, a lesson he learned as a child. “I was taught about generosity through food. I think especially my grandma, and how comforting giving can be for the person who gives and obviously for the one who receives.”

That generosity extended to his time on the recent Holiday Baking Championship series where he made it all the way to the finals. Throughout, he supported teammates – helping out with finishing touches or teaching them breathing exercises to keep calm. “You can tell he really supports the people that he loves,” Cate says. “Even in the show, he’s the one checking in on everyone.”

Chase Maus Finds a Home in Santa Fe

After the bakery closed, Chase moved to Santa Fe where his cousin, artist Emelie Richardson, lives. “It was a place for me to heal,” he says simply. It’s been a good move. He’s now with his boyfriend Garrett Young, a founding member of the immersive theater company Exodus Ensemble, and thinking about what’s next, including a possible cookbook. “I feel like I’ve found so much community so fast, which is really magical.”

Whatever comes next, it’s clear that the Food Network show has left a lasting imprint and reminded him of how immensely talented he is. “I spent so much time in my life worrying about whether I was good enough in the eyes of other professionals…I am a lot more assured in my talent.”

As good friends vie over the last slice of Lime & Pink Peppercorn Meringue Pie – a heavenly confection of swirly clouds of meringue blanketing a zestie lime curd – you know he’s right. Yes, it’s baking perfection but it’s more than that. It’s nourishing others and pouring love into what you do, one bite at a time.

Story by Julia Platt Leonard
Photography by Tira Howard

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