The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style [Hardcover]

Rebecca Rather (Author), Alison Oresman (Author), Laurie Smith (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2007

It's Christmastime at the Best Little Bakery in Texas

The annual Fredericksburg Christmas parade marks the beginning of the Texas Hill Country's holiday season, which means the Pastry Queen is kicking into high gear at her Rather Sweet Bakery and Café. As party invitations pile up in the mailbox, Rebecca Rather is up to her elbows in sticky meringue, creamy chocolate, and a sleigh full of savory treats to meet the entertaining needs of her neighbors.

In The Pastry Queen Christmas, Rebecca shares nearly 100 traditional recipes reflecting her made-with-love-from-scratch philosophy and the tastes of small-town Texas. Show-off desserts such as Chocolate Cookie Crusted Eggnog Cheesecake, Sticky Toffee Pudding with Brandy Butterscotch Sauce, and Warm Pear Ginger Upside-Down Cake with Amaretto Whipped Cream are the perfect toppers to a family-style feast of Texas Spice-Rubbed Roast Pork, Baked Apple Pear Chutney, Brown Sugar Bacon, and No-Peeking Popovers. Still hungry the next morning? No problem-this country girl does an impressive breakfast, too: Bite-Sized Sticky Buns, Sweet Potato Scones, Cast-Iron Skillet Potatoes, and Mexican Ranch Chilaquiles ought to fill you up.

And if you're still looking for excuses to entertain this season, you'll find ooey-gooey baked goods wrapped up as gifts, homemade craft and décor ideas to make your home sparkle, and holiday-worthy menus guaranteed to make your gathering a Texas-sized success. Tree-trimming, cookie decorating, and Santas running down Main Street . . . Christmastime is here.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Though Rather's known as the Pastry Queen, the author and baker-owner of the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café in Fredericksburg, Tex., covers a lot more than baked goods in this comprehensive collection of holiday recipes from her native state. Organized by event (holiday open house, brunch, Christmas Eve, etc.), Rather offers an array of ideas sure to keep table legs groaning and belts loosening. Red velvet cupcakes get a jolt of sour sweetness from mascarpone cream cheese icing, and a delicious Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadilla is topped with a colorful pecan and cranberry salsa laced with orange zest, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard and jalapeno. Decadent Creamy Chicken Lasagna, Oysters Rockefeller Soup and Chocolate Cookie-Crusted Eggnog Cheesecake each guarantee a memorable event, and Rather's Texas roots shine through in a duo of holiday martinis featuring prickly pear syrup, tamales with a tomatillo sauce and a corn bread dressing (Mother's Best) so loaded with flavor that diners will forget any other kind exists. Helpful advice on advance preparations and clever variations abound; rounded out with packaging ideas for edible gifts and complete instructions on baking, assembling and decorating a gingerbread house (complete with templates), this is sure to become a holiday favorite.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Winner of 2008 IACP Cookbook Award: American category

"[This] adds up to big fun in the kitchen. Rather neatly balances unpretentious style with some adventurous flavor combinations . . . Let your sweet tooth be your guide."
-Baltimore Sun

"The Pastry Queen Christmas is such a calling card for Fredericksburg that it ought to be required material for the town's real estate agents. Ms. Rather's stories about the residents are so engaging, the photography is so luscious, you'll feel you know the town when you're done. But the recipes, straightforward and accessible, are the reason to buy . . . Ms. Rather has updated and elevated classics just enough to be enticing but not unreachable."
-Dallas Morning News

"This feel-good cookbook is full of irresistible menus and recipes to help you build family traditions and make you the most talked-about party thrower in your circle. Rebecca Rather shows you how to do Christmas proud."
-Gale Gand, author of Chocolate and Vanilla

"Rebecca Rather is not my daughter, but with amazing food like this, we'd claim her as our own any day!"
-Dan Rather, former anchor of the CBS Evening News

"Rather Sweet Bakery is one of the most enchanted places in the Texas Hill Country; every confection oozes Rebecca Rather's love of excess. It makes sense that in her glorious second book Rebecca would apply her characteristic warmth and Texas-style flair to the holidays."
-Paula Disbrowe, author of Cowgirl Cuisine

"Rebecca Rather loves to bake and cook, and she does so, and writes about it, superbly. THE PASTRY QUEEN CHRISTMAS is a classic of great food, spectacular sweets, and truly heartfelt reminiscences of family and friends, all served up with a big dose of Texas holiday spirit."
-Nick Malgieri, author of How to Bake and A Baker's Tour

 

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580087906
• ISBN-13: 978-1580087902
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 0.8 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,307 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #55 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking > Pastry

More About the Author

REBECCA RATHER has worked as a caterer and baker for 15 years, first for a couple of upscale Houston catering companies and then as the executive pastry chef for a group of high-end Houston restaurants. Then, while overseeing research and development for the Austin-based Schlotzky's Corporation, she studied with renowned artisan baker Daniel Leader. Rather opened her own bakery, Rather Sweet Bakery, first in Austin in 1999. In 2000, she moved the bakery to a larger yet more intimate setting about an hour west of Austin. Rather and her recipes have been featured in Texas Monthly, Ladies' Home Journal, Food & Wine, Saveur, Southern Living, and Chocolatier. She and her daughter, Frances, live in Fredericksburg, Texas.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Such sweet holiday treats!, November 30, 2007

By 

H. Grove "Errant Dreams Reviews" (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style (Hardcover)

The Pastry Queen Christmas unabashedly offers plenty of delicious, fattening holiday fare, both traditional and unusual, and every single recipe we tried was fabulous. My only reservation, in fact, was with respect to the green bean bundles--green beans marinated in butter and spices, then wrapped in bacon and baked. The seasonings were perfect, but it seemed like the recipe would have been even better with maybe half the butter. But then I've been trying to eat more healthily lately, so perhaps I've just lost my taste for the more fatty dishes! And at any rate, now that I know it's too buttery for me, it would be easy to adjust the recipe.

The Mexican camp bread had us eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in just about every way we could think of. The cranberry-walnut scones had a ton of flavor, and perfectly balanced the tartness of the cranberries with a bit of sweetness. An apple pear chutney was the perfect foil to fattier, richer Thanksgiving fare, and a pear salad with pomegranate and chevre was positively to-die-for!

Whether you're looking for homey fare such as savory rice balls in tomato sauce or fancy holiday specials like red velvet cupcakes with mascarpone cream cheese icing, you'll find recipes in here certain to impress friends and family alike. More importantly, they taste wonderful!

The book is a large hardcover that lies flat easily, and it includes plenty of lovely photographs. The recipes are laid out very clearly, and often include personal notes from the author. This book would make a lovely source of recipes for your own holiday feast, or the perfect holiday gift for your favorite cook.

23 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the Wait!, October 10, 2007

By 

Susan G. Dunlap "Susan Dunlap" (Versailles, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style (Hardcover)

I'd read about The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country's Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe in MORE Magazine, and had to have the cookbook. It arrived shortly before my daughter's wedding, and once I went through it, the reception menu was scrapped and substituted with Rather's recipes. That cookbook has become a favorite; I reviewed it here on Amazon, describing it as the first thing I'd grab, after my children, in the event of a house fire.

When I found out that it would be followed on with a volume devoted to the Christmas holidays, I pre-ordered it here on Amazon, although standing in line in front of a bricks-and-mortar bookstore would have been worth it. I received notification a few days ago that it had shipped, so it was constantly on my mind. I could not wait for it to show up. Monday was Columbus Day -- a legal holiday with no mail, darn it -- which delayed my receiving this cookbook by another day.

But arrived it has, and oh boy, is it ever worth the wait.

Rather shares her signature recipes and food styling in easy-to-understand ways for us mere mortals. With careful direction, we too can prepare delicious and stunning dishes. Among the first I'll be trying: Texas Spice Rubbed Roast Pork, Sour Cream and Chicken Enchiladas, Apple-Spice Layer Cake with Caramel Swirl Icing, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Mascarpone Cream Cheese Icing, and Caramel Pie with Meringue Topping.

There's no reason to put off trying holiday recipes now. I can already tell these will be a big hit at potluck dinners, family birthday fetes and tailgate parties.

Thank you, Rebecca Rather and Alison Oresman, and I'll be on the lookout for your next volume.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book!, October 22, 2007

By 

Rapid Reader (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style (Hardcover)

Well, cheers to the diversity of tastes. I see that there are very mixed reviews. As for my review, I love this book just as I loved the first. While the dessert recipes were spectacular in the earlier book, I actually regretted not seeing more savory dishes. There are definitely more this time around which is actually appealing to me. There's a great mix of holiday recipes, both sweet and savory...not to mention the recipe for that beautiful cake on the cover.

At the holidays in particular, I only want to present an interesting twist on the holiday standards. It's important to me that the dishes on the table, while a little different, still feel and taste like home. I think that this book accomplishes that beautifully.

Yet again, Rather has put her unique spin on the familiar. It doesn't hurt that it is also great to read and visually appealing. It's a nice coffetable book (if you can pry it out of the kitchen).