At age 38, Pastry Chef Jessica Entzel Nolan of Novato has already racked up an illustrious culinary career that would be the envy of many.

Not only has she worked in the pastry department at the celebrated restaurants of Wolfgang Puck (Minneapolis’ 20.21 in the Walker Art Center), Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Spice Market in New York City), Gordon Ramsay (Gordon Ramsay at the London in New York City), and Masaharu Morimoto (Morimoto Napa), but she also triumphed on Food Network’s “Cutthroat Kitchen,” and fulfilled a dream of becoming an actual Michelin inspector.

Last summer, she launched the first company of her own, financing it, herself, with a small business loan. Playfully and aptly named, Doughpamine is her line of gourmet frozen cookie dough, now sold at 55 stores in the Bay Area, including Bi-Rite Market in San Francisco; Berkeley Bowl in Berkeley; Draeger’s stores on the Peninsula; and New Leaf markets in Santa Cruz and Aptos. The frozen cookie bags are also sold on the Doughpamine site for shipping nationwide.

The cookie dough comes in four flavors: the best-selling Miso Peanut Butter (salty-sweet-savory and buttery tasting); Salty Chocolate Chunk (comes with a tiny bag of Maldon to sprinkle on before baking); Rhapsody Road (super chocolatey with gooey marshmallows and crunchy almonds), and my personal favorite of Blueberry Corn (tastes like a quintessential corn muffin in cookie form).

Bake as many as you want, whenever you want, in a 375-degree oven (either convection or non-convection) for fresh, warm cookies that are crispy on the outside and gooey-soft within, or as Entzel Nolan describes “medium-rare” perfection.

Look for the cookies served at San Francisco’s Flour & Water Pizzeria and the Bay Area’s Square Pie Guys, too.

Recently, I had a chance to chat with her about her childhood baking endeavors, what it was like working with world-renowned chefs, what it takes to be a Michelin inspector, and the meet-cute way she and her husband connected — and yes, it did involve food.

Q: Did you grow up baking with your mom?

A: Yes, I am the youngest of 8 and the only one who was interested in cooking. My mom is a fabulous cook with an amazing cookbook collection. She’d say, ‘Make this with me” or ‘Let’s go watch Martha Stewart‘ instead of a kid’s show. I remember watching ‘Great Chefs’ on PBS a lot. Those were my favorite books as a child, too. I used to watch ‘Iron Chef’ with my mom. When I went to go work with Morimoto, she thought that was the coolest thing.

Q: What’s the earliest thing you remember baking?

A: A lemon meringue pie, and it was terrible. I was probably 7 or 8. It was weepy. I didn’t whip the egg whites enough, so it separated. It was disgusting. I think we attempted to eat it, but it was just not done properly.

Q: When did you know you wanted to be a pastry chef?

A: I went to Le Cordon Bleu and I thought I wanted to be a chef. I love to cook. People kept wanting to put me in pastry, though, because I was a girl. While in school, I would interview at restaurants, and they would say, ‘We have an opening in pastry.’ So, that was my foot in the door. The first few restaurants I worked in were pastry jobs. Then, I did start working on the hot side, and decided I missed pastry. I thought it was the calmest part of the kitchen, that it had the most order. I loved the methodology. I am super Type A and was drawn to that.

Q: Which kitchen was the most challenging to work in?

A: Gordon Ramsay’s. But not for the reasons you probably think. He was actually very nice. And no, I was not called a ‘stupid donkey’ by him, though, that demeanor had trickled down. It was a very, very aggressive kitchen. I was the pastry chef de partie and the food we did was the most beautiful I’d ever created. At the same time, it was difficult.

One day, someone yelled at me in a really mean way. I got upset, I threw a spoon. I had things in the oven, but I took off my apron, and said, ‘Don’t talk to me that way,’ and I walked out in middle of service. It was impulsive of me. I left the building, and I ran to Central Park and cried. The director of operations reached out to ask what had happened. He said that it took my boss, the pastry chef, plus the executive chef and the sous chef to finish my work, and they all wanted me back. So, I came back, and we never spoke about it, and nobody ever talked to me that way again.

Q: How did you become a Michelin inspector for almost three years?

A: I applied every year — for about three years. It was my dream, and finally, I got the call. As much as I love to cook, I also love to eat. I love restaurants and traveling. This was the pinnacle to me.

Q: Can you spill any details about the job? Or would you have to kill me, if you did?

A: I would have to kill you. (laughs)

Q: True or false: I’ve heard some chefs believe that Michelin inspectors always dine alone and that they’ll purposely drop a fork on the floor to gauge how the restaurant responds?

A: I did dine alone a lot. But there are places where it would be weird to dine alone, so that doesn’t happen all the time. And no, we don’t throw forks on the floor.

Q: Did any restaurant ever suspect you were an inspector?

A: One time — and I will never go there again. I was dining with a much older French man, and here I was, a young woman. You could tell that we didn’t know each other. They probably thought either we were Michelin inspectors or this was some weird date.

Q: What was it like to sit in judgment of a restaurant for something that means so much to them?

A: I never felt drunk on power. You do feel like you are fighting for someone to win. You do have meetings where you go to bat for a place. But it’s not your decision solely because other inspectors from other countries also go to that restaurant. There were times I would dine at a place and think it would get a star. My favorite restaurant is Nari (in San Francisco), and it took a long time for it go get a star. When it did, I thought, ‘Finally!’ Another place that I thought really deserved a star long before it got one was Cosme (in New York City).

Q: You also won “Cutthroat Kitchen”?

A: They reached out to me. I had created this Wonka-esque candy bar at Morimoto that got a lot of buzz. At first, I didn’t want to do the show, because I didn’t want to look like an idiot. But I ended up having the best time. I won my episode, then they called me back for “Camp Cutthroat” and I won that. I say I’m the ‘reigning champion’ because they’re not filming it anymore. So, I’m the champ. (laughs)

The male chef I was competing against sabotaged me by taking my ingredients and hiding them in presents that I had to take the time to open. He also took away my bowls, so I had to mix in other things.

In the last round, a baking challenge, I took all the baking soda and baking powder out of the pantry, but they edited that out. So, they build in the suspense of how his cake will turn out, even though I knew it would be a brick.

I am very competitive. I wish I wasn’t. (laughs) The competitors thought I was a student because I looked young, so I played along with that. On the last episode, though, I told that male chef that I was actually a nominee for Food & Wine magazine’s ‘People’s Best New Pastry Chef.‘ His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head.

Q: How did you come to start Doughpamine?

A: Being a stay-at-home mom for a while, I needed a creative outlet. I always felt like I needed a sweet treat getting through the day, a dopamine hit. I would bring frozen cookie dough to my neighbors. One day, we were laughing about ‘doughpamine.’ I went home, Googled, and saw the domain was available, so I bought it right then and there.

It’s been the perfect culmination of all my skills. I’ve worked as a pastry chef, and doing R&D for startups (Sprig and Eatsa). I’ve created products for other companies, but this was the first time I was doing it on my own. I brought on Neal Gottlieb, founder of Three Twins Ice Cream, as an advisor. I knew his brother from working at another company. Neal and I are like two sides of the same coin. I am overly optimistic and he is overly pessimistic. (laughs) We had coffee together, and I sent him home with cookies. An hour later, he messaged me, ‘Damn it, why are your cookies so good?’ And with that, he agreed to work with me.

Q: Are you working on any new flavors now?

A: I need to come up with new flavors because sourcing is so hard now. My distributor told me he couldn’t get me Cacao Noel Black Cocoa Powder anymore. It’s the best black cocoa powder. He said, ‘Well, you’re going to have to fight Thomas Keller for it.’ OK, I get that he’s more established. (laughs)

Q: What’s your favorite ingredient?

A: Meyer lemon. It can be sweet or savory. It’s so versatile. I grow them at home because I go through so many of them.

Q: Your least favorite ingredient?

A: I don’t think I have one, but it would be something that takes a long time to break down or clean.

Q: Your desert island dessert — the one you most covet?

A: Cookies! They are such an anytime dessert. They scratch your indulgent itch. There is just something so satisfying about a warm cookie.

Q: What dessert is most like you — and why?

A: A souffle. People think they know what it is, but they don’t. It’s a little complicated, but it’s also special. It seems like it’s very fancy, but it’s made with very humble ingredients.

Q: The pastry chef whom you most admire?

A: I’ve never met him in real life but I am amazed by Amaury Guichon. He’s so talented. Everything he makes looks like an edible piece of art. He always seems like he wants to teach people. I love that when you know something and you want to share it. I have not had his desserts, but I have watched so many of his videos.

Q: Do all your friends blame you for being 5 pounds heavier than they would like to be?

A: They would never have the audacity to say that.

Q: Spill the beans on the rom-com way you met your husband, Nick Nolan, 40, who works in capital markets.

A: I was at Sprig (food delivery service) and he was one of our first customers. People in the Bay Area can be so entitled and mean. But he would order a lot and leave the nicest comments online. He was the only one who liked one of my particular chocolates that wasn’t selling as much as another. He said they looked like jewels in a crown. I thought, ‘This guy gets me.’ There were five of us who launched Sprig and all were men except for me. We pulled up Nick’s order history, and saw that he always ordered for one. I Googled him and added him on LinkedIn. It became a joke at work that I needed to meet him in real life. I helped create a customer appreciation event. He came to it, and he asked me out. All the 20-year-old bro boys at Sprig high-fived me.

Q: You and your husband now have two kids: Grayson, 6, and Ethan, 3. They must think they have the best mom in the world because you’re always baking cookies.

A: No, they don’t even think about me. One of my friends is Gabi Moskowitz (of BrokeAss Gourmet), who lives down the road from me and has kids around the same age as mine. My kids go to her house and say, ‘This cake is too beautiful to eat.’ And I say, ‘What am I? Chopped liver? How come you don’t hype me like that?’ When her kids come here, it’s the same thing that happens but to her. We both always say that our kids don’t know how good they have it.