As if it were just yesterday, the 36-year-old recalls gathering with her family in their living room on Saturdays, sharing sweets, chocolates, and jellies.
“I’ve had a sweet tooth all my life. I used to buy lots of sweets and chocolates from the shop at school. Once, my teachers even contacted my mum to check whether my sugar consumption was being moderated,” Bas shared with FMT Lifestyle.
Today, this self-proclaimed “Minah Salleh” is a budding chocolatier herself, delighting Malaysians with her very own creation called Baby Bars.
Made using artisanal Malaysian cocoa sourced from Kuala Lipis and Chemor, these handcrafted chocolate bars feature layers of coconut cookie, soft cake, and fillings such as pandan, kaya, or marshmallow.
“I’ve always been drawn to local flavours, and I think my stomach is more Malaysian than Polish!” said Bas, who moved to Kuala Lumpur 11 years ago.
“I’ve also always loved kaya, and I haven’t seen it used much in desserts, which for me, felt like the most obvious ingredient for my perfect dessert.”
Launched in February, Baby Bars are sold online in boxes of three crunchy chocolate bars: Pandan Dream, Classic Kayaramel, and Marshmallow Chew.
More recently, a jelly edition was introduced – a nod to the fruity jelly-filled chocolate bars popular in Poland – with two flavours: Blackforest Jelly and Tropical Jelly.
Bas’ Malaysian co-founder, Afiq Johar, said one of Baby Bars’ biggest selling points is the quality of its cocoa.
“We source from smallholder farmers across Malaysia. They take extra care with every single bean, from the drying process to fermentation. It’s very manual, time-consuming, and artisanal,” explained the 39-year-old.
Bas jumped in, saying that discovering Malaysian cocoa beans was a defining moment for her as a foodie.
“I was so amazed! I had no idea Malaysia produces excellent, award-winning cocoa beans,” she said. “That’s when I realised we could create the dream dessert I’d always been searching for and combine it with my passion for local flavours.”
Interestingly, Baby Bars did not begin with kaya or pandan. Instead, Bas first tried recreating a nostalgic Polish treat she grew up eating: fruity jelly coated in chocolate.
“When I first made it at home, I was super excited because it literally tasted like home, but with much better chocolate coating it,” she recalled.
However, turning that nostalgic snack into a stable product in Malaysia’s tropical heat proved more challenging than expected.
Things became even messier when the team supersized the product into chunky chocolate bars generously packed with jelly.
“We had customers messaging us saying the chocolate bars created a massive mess in their homes,” Bas said with a laugh. “Kids loved running around with them, but the chocolate would crumble everywhere.”
Instead of abandoning the idea entirely, Bas and Afiq channelled what they had learnt into creating the more compact, crunchier Baby Bars sold today.
The kaya-filled versions, meanwhile, were born from simple experiments in Bas’ kitchen. She began by buying kaya brands she personally loved, stuffing them into chocolate shells and pairing them with crushed cookies to test different textures.
The taste tests soon became a group activity. Bas invited Afiq and other Malaysian friends over for blind tastings so the flavours and textures could be judged objectively.
Later, her parents joined in when visiting Malaysia. “For them, pandan and coconut were quite exotic flavours, but they loved them,” Bas enthused.
Besides selling Baby Bars online, Bas and Afiq have also introduced their chocolates through pop-up booths at events. Their future plans include expanding into cafés, creating new flavours, and possibly opening a brick-and-mortar store.
“I’m such a people person. I want to be close to customers and interact with them. Sometimes, doing everything online can feel lonely,” Bas laughed.
Ultimately, Bas hopes Baby Bars will encourage more Malaysians to get excited about local cocoa and the rich flavours found right here at home. After all, each bar is her own sweet tribute to the country she now calls home.
Follow Baby Bars on Instagram.