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 "M

I have over 600 cookbooks. This was a definate MUST. Great twists, overall excellent new ideas. I don't have time (its christmas) to really go over it, but a cookbook I WILL use over and over.

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.

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).