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

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

Book Description

Release 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

 

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Ten Speed Press; First Edition edition (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580087906
• ISBN-13: 978-1580087902
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 0.9 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 (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #203,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #70 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Baking > Pastry
  • #92 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Occasions > Holidays

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.

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 TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format: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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Fill in the missing blanks! September 25, 2011

By Karol Sweitzer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

An attractive book, but as I have experienced with other Rebecca Rather books, the instructions are incomplete. The Caramel Meringue Pie looked beautiful and intriguing and was the impetus for my purchase of the book. I am an experienced pie baker, unafraid to tackle any recipe. So I dug in with much anticipation. A dozen eggs and 6 cups of sugar later, I am throwing away a runny mess. The instructions simply said to heat the milk and egg yolk mixture (without letting it boil) and pour it into the carmelized sugar. The obvious question is, to what temperature should the milk mixture be heated? It doesn't say. So when the sugar was carmelized and the milk was hot (without boiling!!), I poured them together as instructed. At this point, the instruction didn't say whether to keep the mixture on the heat while adding butter and marshmellows or to turn it off. I kept turning it on and off to get the marshmellows to melt. Of course, what should have been stated is that for the custard to set, the egg yolks have to reach at least 160 degrees (something I later learned by researching Rose Levy's information). If the eggs don't reach that temperature, the filling won't set. I can now vouch for that!

Also, the timing in many of Ms. Rather's recipes are off. In this same recipe, it said it would take about 20-25 minutes to carmelize the sugar. If you heat it that long, you will have black sugar. It takes about half that time. Also, the recipe says bake the crust 10 minutes. This has to be a typo. No pie crust could possibly bake (particularly one lined with parchment and filled with pie weights) in 10 minutes. I baked it 30, then removed the weights and baked another 12 until it was golden.

Also, the recipe says use half the pie crust dough (so why not give a recipe for half the amount so you aren't stuck with pie crust you may not use). Anyway, if you use a true 10" deep dish, you'll need about 2/3 of the dough.

Finally, it simply says cool the filling and pour into the crust. Do you cool it completely until it's nearly set (which I would still be waiting for) or does it just have to cool down reasonably? Perhaps if my filling were going to set, it may have been obvious. A clearer desscription in the recipe would have been very helpful.

Another reviewer had said this recipe is too sweet. I agree. Even if it had set, a person would not be able to finish a piece of it. The meringue is too much (3 cups of sugar and piled too high), the filling is very sweet and the crust is even sweet. I am wondering if this really is Aunt Mary's recipe. Perhaps Aunt Mary kept secrets of her own.

I did make the bacon-wrapped green beans. They were very good. My family really enjoyed them.

I also made the apple-pear chutney. Again, some details would be helpful. For example, I would use bosc pears. They are a bit firmer and probably wouldn't get as mushy as the chutney did with the pears I used. Also, it was pretty sweet, so the next time I will cut down on the sugars. The recipe said if you put the chutney in apples, bake them for 30-45 minutes. I did put it in apples, but you don't want to leave them that long in the oven. About 25 minutes tops.

I intend to try more of the recipes. If you do as well, be prepared to try them a couple of times until you can figure out the missing information.

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

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.