Their Daily Bread : Religion: For the nuns at the Monastery of the Angels, baking and making chocolates is their means of support and among their few contacts with the outside world.

They are one of Hollywood’s secrets--the 27 cloistered nunswho lead lives of study, prayer and contemplation at the Monastery of the Angels, tucked away in the Hollywood Hills.

“You don’t look for a monastery in Hollywood,” said Sister Mary Thomas, the superior of the Dominican community. “We’re sort of like a beacon in Hollywood and all its worldliness.”

The nuns’ home is a mansion-size building on a quiet street in Beachwood Canyon just a few blocks from the bustle and tawdriness of Hollywood and Sunset boulevards. “A lot of evil goes on on those two streets,” Sister Mary Thomas said.

The monastery has occupied the 3.8-acre property on Carmen Avenue for 58 years, but if it weren’t for the bread and chocolates the nuns make that draw people to their doors, hardly anyone would know it. “We have to support ourselves like everyone in today’s world, so we make pumpkin breads . . . and hand-dipped chocolates,” said Sister Mary Thomas, 72, who has spent 51 years as a nun at the monastery.

“The purpose in our life is what keeps us going,” she said, sitting in a white cooking apron and matching habit behind a metal grill. The grill serves as a symbol of the nuns’ separation from the world. “We don’t get up in the morning and wonder what we’re going to do. We know what we’re going to do. Our schedule is fairly routine. Our life is . . . very structured.”

Most days, the sisters rise at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for morning prayer. By 7:30 a.m., they are at work, baking the bread and dipping chocolates.

The cooking pace picks up considerably this time of year, because demand for the breads and candies is greatest during the holidays.

“If we’re really pushing it,” said Sister Mary Thomas, “we can do 500 loaves and 50 boxes of candy a day.”

The nuns have been baking the breads and dipping the chocolates as a means of support for 30 years, and merely through word of mouth, have developed a loyal clientele. “Once they’ve eaten our chocolates, they don’t want any other,” said Sister Mary Thomas. “The slogan fits the product: ‘Better Than the Best.’ ”

The pumpkin bread sells for $4.50 a loaf. The chocolates range in price from $6.50 to $8.25 a box.

Among the nuns’ customers are hillside neighbors and people who work at Paramount, Universal and other studios. “It’s delicious, every piece of it,” said Joanne Jaramillo, a regular candy buyer.

The monastery does not deliver. When customers come to pick up their orders, it is one of the few times the cloistered nuns come in contact with outsiders.

The nuns, ranging in age from their 30s to their 80s, seldom leave the monastery except for dental and medical appointments. A driver picks up their groceries.

“We don’t go out and do social work. Our life is here, dedicated to the work of God and to pray for the whole world,” said Sister Mary Thomas. “We enter here and stay here.”

A life of separation and study has been part of the Dominican order’s tradition for centuries, but the Sister Superior acknowledges that it’s not for everyone.

“Lots of people think it’s kind of stupid, (and think) that we should be out there looking after the homeless, the sick and the needy,” she said. “If it makes you feel like you’re living your life in a bottle with a cap on it, you’d better move on. It could drive you loony.”

After the work is done, the nuns spend their evenings engaged in study, prayer and games such as Ping-Pong and Scrabble, and in hobbies such as crocheting, knitting and embroidering.

They also have an indoor pool they use for recreation and exercise. Bedtime is at 8:45.

Except for presidential debates and major news events, the sisters do not watch TV. “A lot of it is unacceptable,” said Sister Mary Thomas, “too much violence, immoral.”

They do, however, enjoy documentary films and movies such as “The Sound of Music.” They also recently saw Whoopi Goldberg’s film “Sister Act,” in which Goldberg’s character goes undercover as a nun after witnessing a murder.

“It was OK,” said Sister Mary Thomas, although some of the language wasn’t. And, at times, the film seemed a “little far-fetched,” she said.