Customer Reviews

The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country's Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is incredible. Since it has arrived, I have made three recipes and they all have been awesome. The recipes are easy to read and understand, and are organized so that no steps are omitted. I especially appreciate notations indicating that mistakes can be made in this step and what to do if it occurs. The Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies are the best I've ever made or tasted. And the Omelette Kolache recipe is worth the price of the book if you ever have to make breakfast for a buffet. Overall if you are new to pastry and want a word class book with fairly simple and uncomplicated recipes - this is it. What Rather's recipes miss from traditional pastry books that resemble art work, she makes up in wholesome goodness and taste that will make this a kitchen page turner. Great job!

Texan lady makes good with her passion for baking and doing other good cooking Texas style. Such passion becomes infectious evidently from the following she has developed for your bakery and recipes.

This passion continues to ooze out in this delightful cookbook from TenSpeed Press. I've come to realize and trust that if TenSpeed published it, it will have great photos on nice layout with exceptional and exciting food.

This volume continues in that fine train. Rebecca is really into it, and continues to refine and develop new exciting recipes, some her take on old favorites such as King Ranch Casserole and Big Hair Lemon-Lime Meringue Tarts.

This over 150 recipe offering has mostly baked goods, but as her bakery began offering lunch and dinner fare, they are included here as well: Caesar Salad Pizza; All Sold-Out Chicken Pot Pies; Savory Crab and Shrimp Casserole; Nuevo Texas Waldorf Salad.

Savor the baked delights here for us: Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies (three types chocolate);Chef Mark's Southern Comfort Apple Pie; Buttermilk Pecan Pie; Frangelico-Hazelnut Fruit Tart.

There is so much fun Tex-Mex-Germanfood done beautifully for us home cooks to try. The recipes don't call for wild, hard-to-find ingredients nor are any of the techniques that complicated or intimidating. Just wonderful food with clear instructions and suggestions.

Fine, worthy addition to one's collection.

Having eaten at Rather Sweet many times over the years, I was excited to get this book last year so that I could showcase some of Rebecca's wonderful desserts at dinner parties.

While I was sad to see that some of my favorites were not in the book (she makes the best egg salad I've ever had, and the wonderfully fluffy focaccia on which she serves her sandwiches is out of this world), there are so many wonderful recipes that it really doesn't matter.

I made the White-on-White Buttermilk Cake with Jack Daniel's Buttercream for my husband's birthday. I've never been a fan of white cake, but this one is divine. One suggestion I would make is to decrease the amount of butter in the buttercream -- it seemed to be a bit over the top.

The Tuxedo Cake is incredible. The rich, dark chocolate cake is a wonderful compliment to the simple whipped cream frosting. Not to mention, the cake is beautiful -- it stands at about 10 inches tall when made with the three layers.

Thanks to the other reviewers for pointing out the recipes they've tried and loved -- there are so many wonderful recipes that it's helpful to have a little push on which one to try next.

While I haven't tried the recipes for the Triple Threat Chocolate cookies, any of the muffins, or the Texas Pecan Pie Bars, I've had them in the bakery, and they are all wonderful. My mom was a huge fan of the pecan pie bars, and Rebecca astutely uses brown sugar (as did my grandmother) instead of corn syrup which adds extra flavor and allows the bars to set up nicely.

My all-time favorite item is the Mexican Chocolate Fudge-Pecan Cake. In the bakery, she makes them in individual bundt shapes, and they have just the right amount of cinnamon mixed in with the chocolate cake batter to impart that delightful flavor of the hot chocolate one would drink in Mexico.

Kudos to Rebecca -- her bakery, restaurant, and cookbook provide perfect examples of the simple, yet wonderful desserts made in the south and in Texas.

I've collected cookbooks for years -- serious cookbooks. As in, IACP Cookbook Award winners. And many of these cookbooks I have loved, but none as much as I love "The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country's Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe' ".

Cookbooks tend to become a favorite based on their teaching the why behind tools, ingredients and techniques, as well as a "heads and shoulders above the rest" recipe or two.

_Every_ recipe in this cookbook, however, is above and beyond others I've collected. They range in difficulty, but levels of mastery are perfect when a cook is going from familiarity, to proficiency, to mastery. A cook can navigate through all these stages and stick with the same cookbook.

Guests just rave over the recipes, too. There's a balance between those requiring more exotic ingredients (defined as those that I don't already have in stock, such as apple-smoked bacon) to those always kept on hand.

Heaven forbid a housefire, but after my children and my pets, I'd grab this cookbook.

I rarely offer my review, but I am so impressed with this book, I had to share my thoughts. This is one great cookbook. The recipes are doable, and very delicious. We had a dinner party for 12 last evening, and made 3 recipes from the book and they were a hit. The rocket rolls are light, tasty, maybe the best yeast rolls I've ever made! The corn muffins were very good. And the balsamic vinegar salad dressing recipe is worth the price of the book all by itself!

I will recommend this book to anyone who likes to follow well written recipes, and then enjoy a wonderful result!

Yahoo!! A Texas-size book with Texas-size desserts, all on account of one powerhouse lady. Reading her story in the Introduction of the book was as sweet as the recipes that she shares with you. A surprise and humble beginning in the baking world turned into a top rate career for Ms. Rather, and you feel the joy along with her, as you delve further into the sweet-laden pages.

You begin to think that you could just pick up and move on over to Fredericks, Texas and feel like you've been there all along. The casual and comfortable style of writing of both Rebecca Rather, and writer, Alison Oresman, as well as the incredibly delicious recipes, make you want to get started on any page in this heavy, welcoming, and beautifully photographed cookbook. At the same time, Ms. Rather encourages you to play with and modify anything that would suit your tastebuds. There is nothing pretentious or difficult to accomplish in her directions; she pretty much makes you feel at ease, and more importantly, that she is next to you, sharing her knowledge.

There are 8 sections in this tome of Southern baking and each chapter introduction has a little insight as to how everything was chosen for the section:

BREAKFAST EATS, MUFFINS, and SCONES:
Jailhouse Potato-Cinnamon Rolls (great little story to these)
Fresh Ginger-Pear Quick Bread
Eddie's Autumn Pumpkin Bread w/ Pecan Streusel Topping
Jonnie's Breakfast Granola
Kolaches
Mother's Day Pancakes (and her mom seemed to be a great lady too)
Individual Baked Omelets
Creme Brulee French Toast
Banana Bran Muffins
Peach Jam Scones
Chocolate Chip Scones
Apple-Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Scones
Essence of Orange Muffins
Whole Lemon Muffins

PIES and TARTS:
Texas Big Hairs Lemon-Lime Meringue Tarts (the name and recipe is great!)
Texas Big Hairs Chocolate-Hazelnut Meringue Tarts
Bourbon Pumpkin Tart with Struesel Topping
Fredericksburg Peach Cream Cheese tart
Frangelico-Hazelnut Fruit Tart
Black and White Cranberry Tarts
Buttermilk Pecan Pie
Fourth of July Fried Pies
Aunt Mollie's Coconut Cream Pie
Chef M:ark's Southern Comfort Apple Pie
Silken Chocolate-Walnut Tart
Grasshopper Pie

EVERYDAY DESSERTS and CANDIES:
Emergency Fruit Crostatas
Petite Pavlovas with Lemon Cream and Fresh Fruit
Hill Country Peach Cobbler
Individual Pear-Maple Cobblers
Mexican Chocolate Fudge-Pecan Cake
Mahogony Cake
Orange-Date Bundt Cake
Totally Rummy Pound Cake
Glazed Lemon-Cranberry Leaf Cake
Oatmeal Crisps
Cappuccino Cheesecakes
Mrs. Chisholm's Divinity
Coconut Cream Flan
Texas Pralines

DESSERTS for SPECIAL OCCASIONS and HOLIDAYS:
American Beauty Cake
Tuxedo Cake
Larger-Than-Life Praline Cheesecake
Bananas Foster Shortcakes
Strawberry Ricotta Cake
Peach Queen Cake with Dulce de Leche Buttercream Frosting
Cream-Filled Pumpkin Roll
Mini Apple-Cinnamon Loaves with Calvados Glaze
Espresso Creme Burlee
Toffee Bar Brownie Torte
Tiramisu with Homemade Ladyfingers
Dulce de Leche-Arborio Rice Pudding
Muchas Leches Cake with Sugared Almonds
Almond Bliss German Chocolate Cake
7th Heaven Chocolate Truffle Cake
White Chocolate-Snickers Mousse
White on White Buttermilk Cake w/ Jack Daniel's Buttercream
Tropical Carrot Cake with Coconut-Cream Cheese Frosting

COOKIES, BROWNIES, and BARS
My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sugar Saucers
Chock Full of Nuts Cookies
Cafe Chocoalte Cherry Bites
Caramel Filled Brownies
Turbo Charged Brownies with Praline Topping
Double Ginger Chews
Ruby Flecked Florentines
Dulce de Leche Macaroons
Snow Tipped Sand Tarts
Texas Pecan Pie Bars
Blackberry Pie Bars
Lemon Champagne Bars with Strawberry Brulee Topping
Bunches of Biscotti

LUNCHES and LIGHT DINNERS:
Beer Bread
Rocket Rolls
Nuevo Texas Waldorf Salad
Rather Rich Corn Muffins
Apple Almond Chicken Salad with Homemade Mayonnaise
Field Greens w/ Spiced Beans, Goat Cheese, and Balsamic Vinaigrette
Chicken Satay with Yogurt Cucumber Dipping Sauce
Caesar Salad Pizzas
Wild Rice and Chickpea Salad
Wild Mushroom Soup
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Texas Tortilla Soup
Gulf Coast Shrimp Quesadillas
Brie and Brisket Quesadillas
Rather Sweet Bread and Cheese Board
Green Chile Crab Caes with Tomatillo Slasa
All Sold Out Chicken Pot Pie
Prosciutto Tostadas with Shrimp and parsley
King Ranch Casserole
Ground Beef Gorditas
Savory Crab and Shrimp Cheesecake

TREATS KIDS LOVE:
Sticky Fingers Bars
Ginger People
Franny's Fave Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie with Hot Fudge Sauce
Peanut Buttercups with Peanut Penuche Icing
PB&J Cookies with Honey Roasted Peanuts
Mars Pies
Pretty in Pin Shortbread Pigs
Maple Glazed Oatmeal Cookies
Jubilation Granola Chews
Pumpkin Yumkins

DRINKS:
Watermelon Lemonade
Frothy Vanilla Milk
Tommye Wood's Milk "Sure Packs a Punch" Punch
Rather Sweet Sagria
Hill Country Guanabana argarita's
No Bull Bloody Marys

INDEX

My only criticism would be in the Introduction portion, where she talks about some of the recipes. It seems that the pages she gives, in which the recipes are supposedly located, are wrong. But since those errors are only in the intro, yet correctly paged in the index, I don't know how much that might matter.

The Pastry Queen Cookbook is one of those volumes of baking and cooking that celebrates the charm and warmth of the South. They are, respectfully speaking, very simple for anyone to make, yet fancy enough to serve at even the most "proper" events. Thanks Rebecca!! Much obliged.

I received this as a gift from a friend who lives in the same town as the bakery. She eats lunch there regularly so gave me some hints on what recipes I should try. I would love to say I have made them all, but every one I have tried so far, my family really enjoyed so I keep making the same things over again. Love the chicken pot pie and chocolate chip cookies.

The appeal of this book to me is that it represents a small town bakery. It has beautiful pictures and it is not just a pastry/dessert book, but also has a few other types of recipes. I would recommend this for anyone who wants a good baking book, not just for those of us who have many cookbooks.

I purchased this cookbook a couple of weeks ago, and have made the banana bran muffins (twice!), the chicken pot pie, the bacon cheddar scones, the big hair tarts. She was in Houston on November 18 at Central Market and was as charming as her book is. Suffused with humility and good old southern charm, Ms. Rather taught with anecdotes and in a manner that makes it easy to believe that you could be a pastry queen in training. I highly recommend this for cooks who like full flavor, no calories barred comfort food.

Everything I have made from this cookbook has turned out amazingly delicious. Some of the recipes are a bit more complex, but I almost find them a refreshing challenge and find the results more than worth the effort.
If you are a cookbook collector or casual cook, this is an excellent addition to your library.

The recipes are devine but am really displeased with the lack of photos for the recipes. Many don't have any pictures and others have pictures of rolling pins and other stuff instead of the item. Could have been much more inviting on that. I am one who wants to see how it is suppose to come out and I know there are many others like me.