When she finally healed from multiple surgeries, got a life-threatening infection under control, and emerged from the haze of years of intense pain, Valerie Gordon thought of one word: Toffee. An enthusiastic baker since childhood, she wanted to create a business around this crunchy, beloved sweet. On this episode of Speaking Broadly, Gordon tells host Dana Cowin about baking her way to comfort when she was a scared latchkey kid; the illness that consumed her; and about Valerie Confections, the extraordinary Los Angeles-based business that she's built in the last 15 years.

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