The Pastry Queen Christmas: Big-Hearted Holiday Entertaining, Texas Style

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

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.

Genres: Cookbooks, Christmas, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2007

Reviews

[Michelle]

Rebecca Rather does it again with a gorgeously photographed book of mouthwatering recipes. I just made her Torched S'mores. They were super rich- a thick graham and toasted almond crust, gooey homemade marshmallows and a thick warm chocolate sauce. If your heart doesn't beat faster after eating one of those, I think you may be dead.

[Minna]

Many of the recipes were a little labor-intensive for me at this point in my life, OR they were a little too rich, but WOW did everything look (and sound) good. The recipes seemed easy enough to follow (albeit involved), the descriptions and anecdotes were charming, and the pictures looked delicious, so I would give this book 4 stars even if I don't end up making anything from it.

[Jess]

I really enjoyed this book. The recipes are great. However, I wish there were more photos of the food. Most of the photos in the book are of people or the area, which is nice, but kinda makes this book more of a coffee table book.

[Liquidlasagna]

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

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

[Phyl]

Got this cookbook from the library - when possible i like to read the cookbook abit before deciding to purchase. I do have a fairly extensive cookbook library (I do still prefer cookbooks to finding recipes online). In this case, i am not going to go out and buy it. While there were some lovely pictures, there were not enough. In this day and age of internet recipes that all have pictures, it is hard to understand why a cookbook would not include photos. I also was not super impressed with the recipes. While there were afew that looked interesting, I was not keen on the number of recipes that had "unique" combinations of ingredients or just "unique" ingredients. Perhaps my tastes are not refined enough but just not the best cookbook in my opinion. Glad i did not spend the $39.95 price listed on the book to buy it. Back to the library for this one.

[Png]

I chose this because of the dessert recipes but the savory dishes and drink recipes deserve a mention. A few great ones that caught my eyes: Sweet Potato Scones, Apple-Spice Layer Cake with Caramel Swirl Icing, Carlton's Chocolate Chewies, and the frosting from the Christmas coconut Cake recipe is a unique version to the standard boiled frosting recipe (which I think is worth a look).

[Rachel]

Based on the cover I assumed that this was a Pastry cookbook. It is so much more. There are a variety of recipes that encompass both traditional Christmas fare as well as new favourites. This book also includes tips on gingerbread houses, decorating, trimming trees and other Christmas "stuff." I am looking forward to trying some of these delicious sounding recipes.

[Jolee]

Good stuff. Checkout the Cowboy Cookies. Wow-zie.

[Gigi]

A beautiful book full of very good pictures, with recipes that sound so good. Easy complete instructions.

[Mckinley]

Includes Ranch-style and southwestern recipes.

[Crystal]

There needed to be more pictures of the food.

[Jolee]

Good stuff. Checkout the Cowboy Cookies. Wow-zie.

[Beka]

Another fun cookbook from Ms. Rather. I'm excited to try out the sweet potato scones.