Product Description

The annual Fredericksburg Christmas parade marks the beginning of the 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, gooey chocolate, and a sleigh's worth of savory indulgences to meet the Texas-sized entertaining-to-go orders of her neighbors. In THE PASTRY QUEEN CHRISTMAS, Rebecca shares nearly a hundred traditional recipes reflecting her made-with-love-from-scratch philosophy and the tastes of small-town Texas. Tree-trimming, open houses, cookie decorating, and Santas running down Main Street . . . Christmas time is here.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62197 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 225 pages

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.

From the Publisher
* The sequel to THE PASTRY QUEEN, featuring 95 sweet and savory recipes from the Rather Sweet Bakery and Café, plus entertaining ideas inspired by the holiday traditions of small-town America. * Includes more than 100 full-color food and location photographs shot in Rebecca's hometown of Fredericksburg, Texas. * Chapters are organized by occasion: Holiday Open House, Ranch Barn Brunch, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year's Eve. * Features entertaining and craft ideas for hosting tree- trimming parties, building gingerbread houses, decorating Christmas cookies, and making edible holiday gifts. * Rather Sweet Bakery and Café was named one of the top ten pastry shops in the country by Nick Malgieri, author and director of the baking program at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York.

From the Back Cover
"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

Customer Reviews

Reviewing: "The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-Hearted Holiday Entertaining Texas Style"
Fredericksburg, Texas area resident Rebecca Rather, owner of the "Sweet Bakery and Cafe" since 1999 has created a very good holiday book full of Texas color and recipes. After an acknowledgment that thanks her customers as well as many others who helped in some way with her writing career, and an introduction that gives personal background, it is time for the recipes.

Chapter One "Holiday Open House" starts with "Old-Fashioned Eggnog." Be warned, this isn't the kind of eggnog one buys in the grocery stores these days. Recipes for "Cranberry-Walnut Scones, Mustard Baked Ham, Green Chile and Cheddar Baking Powder Biscuits, Red Velvet Cupcakes with Mascarpone Cream Cheese Icing" are just a few of the delectable recipes in this chapter. Pictures are many and include not only the finished product but also often a picture at some point in the recipe before it is a finished product. "Tips" are many as well with various suggestions concerning adding other ingredients to the recipes mentioned. Along the way there is the occasional story about the recipe detailing the background of the dish.

A subsection of Chapter One begins on page 43 and is titled "Outdoor Tree Trimming" along with brief instructions on how to make "fresh fruit ornaments, dried fruit ornaments,"etc. there are the recipes. The recipes start with "In-The-Bag Chili Frito Pie," and move to "Rather Minty Brownies, My Mistake Cookies" and other treats. This is a very short section at six pages.

"Ranch Barn Brunch" is the title for Chapter Two beginning on page 51 and the Chapter works off the theme of the author's love of horses. Friends of the author provided the barn for the party pictures and she again explains about her love of horses and how the party was designed. The recipes begin with "Larry Doll's Famous Cranberry Margaritas" and include among other mouthwatering recipes "Seasonal Fruit Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing, Brown Sugar Bacon, Mexican Ranch Chilaquiles, Mexican Camp Bread" among many others. Like in Chapter One, there are numerous color photos of the meals as well as numerous tips along with personal stories about the history of the recipes and the people in the author's life.

Chapter 2 concludes with a section on "Making Gingerbread Houses." Templates for the houses are included in the appendix. As part of the making gingerbread houses, which is a kid involved activity, she makes a few other suggestions of what to make now that the kids are in the kitchen. "Sour Cream and Chicken Enchiladas" is one with "Torched S'mores" being another of the several possibilities.


"Christmas Eve" is Chapter Three (page 99) which kicks off with "LBJ Ranch Crown Roast of Lamb with Rice Stuffing and Jalapeño-Mint Sauce. If that doesn't strike your fancy, maybe "Blue Corn Blinis with Crab and Avocado Crema" will work for you. The recipe makes 28 servings which means since they are appetizers, you might need to double upon it. There is always "Green Olive Beef Tenderloin" as well as "Martha's Best -Ever Rolls. Save room for the "Christmas Coconut Cake." As in every chapter, there are far more recipes than I have mentioned here, along with color photographs, history and tips.

"Cookie Decorating" is a little section at the end of this chapter and is all about the kids and having fun. Pretty much self explanatory and this section begins on page 133.

"Christmas Day" marks Chapter Four in a chapter working around the theme of the day and beautiful Christmas dinners. It begins on page 143 and buffet is the order of the day in the author's house. One of the first dishes to be consumed is her "Green Bean Bundles." The "Texas Spice-Rubbed Roast Pork" sounds mighty good and looks good too. As does the "Cajun Roast Turkey" (no picture though) and numerous other dishes. Included are the usual photographs, tips, and personal history.

At the end of the Chapter is another small section titled "Wrapping Up the Holidays with Edible Gifts." Aptly titled and self explanatory, it covers little tasty treats such as "Denise's Vanilla Caramels, Lola's Sunday Fudge," among other items.

"New Year's Eve" is the title for Chapter Five and the final Chapter in this book which begins on page 183. Beyond the gorgeous photograph of a spinning windmill against a Texas sunset there are recipes such as "Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadillas with Cranberry-Pecan Salsa, Mother's Lobster Bisque, Ken Hall's Standing Rib Roast" and many others with a distinctive Texas flavor. Of course, there are more photographs, tips and history here following the format used throughout the book. This chapter closes the book and is followed by the aforementioned templates for a gingerbread house and an index.

At 225 pages, this is a beautifully photographed book full of recipes, Texas history and culture and ways to do the season right. Written in a down home style, this is not a pretentious book and does not at any time talk down to readers. It provides easy clear instructions, something many cookbooks lack, along with pictures, to help you through the recipe process.

It does lack basic info on dietary issues. While it states how many servings a dish has, it doesn't make any mention of sodium counts, fats, sugars, etc. in regards to health, Granted, it is a book for the holiday season and many folks ignore such issues during that time, but for others such information is critically important year around.

That being said a lot of that sort of info can be determined by considering the recipe itself before making the item. Therefore, the lack of info is a minor quibble overall and one that can be ignored simply because this is such a beautifully done book full of mouth watering recipes. A book well worth your time and investment in and one sure to assist you for many holidays to come.



Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008

PASTRY QUEEN AWESOME!
ANYTHING FROM REBECCA IS GREAT! I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL SHE COMES OUT WITH ANOTHER BOOK!

A must have for any cook book collection
If you are ever in Fredricksburg, Texas you must visit the author's restaurant "Rather Sweet". I did and promptly ordered both of her cook books. Everything I have made was devine! The recipes are easy to follow and have been a hit with everyone I served! I can't wait to try more of them.