Birmingham, Alabama, pastry chef Dolester Miles won this year's James Beard Foundation award for Outstanding Pastry Chef. She's been making desserts at Highlands Bar & Grill, Bottega and Chez Fonfon for more than 30 years.

The awards — known as the "Oscars of food" — honor excellence in cuisine, culinary writing and education.

Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson spoke with Miles prior to the win about her work, and her advice for aspiring pastry chefs. She says her love of cooking desserts began as a child, when she made lemon meringue pie and German chocolate cake with her mom and her aunt.

"I would get in the kitchen with them. I'm like, 'Well hey, give me the spatula. Let me lick the beaters!' " Miles says. "So I used to enjoy it, and I wanted to be a part of it, so you know, as I got older, they used to start letting me cook."

Interview Highlights

On what she enjoys about making desserts

"[Dessert is] really the first that you remember because that was the last thing that you had. And you know, just see the expression on people's face when they eat them, and you know, everybody likes something sweet, so that person is always popular."

On how being diagnosed with diabetes has influenced her life and career

"Oh well at first when I found out, it was depressing because you find out that the thing that you love do you really can't eat. So I had to like, you know, I try to space myself because you know, you have to taste. And you know, it is still hard even today, you know, I was diagnosed with it about 10 years ago, but I'm doing good."