Author: joepastry
For those of you who prefer a lighter version…
Reader Barbara supplies a more contemporary recipe, which, judging from the ingredient proportions, is more like a pound cake with lots of good stuff added in. It’s not the dark, chewy stuff I’ll be making next week, but never let it be said I was dogmatic about fruitcake! She writes: I usually don’t like fruitcake, […]
READ ONPilgrims and Indians
…is how most of us imagine the first Thanksgiving, though in fact that’s mostly just a romantic image. The national holiday was actually conceived during the American Revolution. A terrific article on that subject in today’s Wall Street Journal. Go here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122765806822958269.html.
READ ONWho’s going to be the next White House chef?
There’s been so much wild speculation, it’s nice to have a little real-word perspective. This article from the News & Observer, at last, provides it. Read it and you’ll see why cooking at the White House ain’t no celebrity gig.
READ ONAttention Fruitcake Lovers
As if you didn’t have enough to do with all your Thanksgiving preparations, this is the time of year to start thinking about your Christmas fruitcake. I know, I know, but good fruitcakes are well-aged beasts. They require at least 3-4 weeks to ripen. So add some candied fruit to your last-minute Thanksgiving shopping list […]
READ ONPumpkin Square/Pie Troubleshooting
In order to get a sense for where to anticipate problems in pumpkin square and/or pie bakery, we must first know what a pumpkin square and/or pie actually is. Anyone? Anyone? That’s right: a custard. A very thick custard to be sure, but one that’s susceptible to all the same problems as, say a crème […]
READ ONWhat’s wrong with pie?
Reader and long-lost commentator Hans checks in with this comment on pumpkin-caramel bars: Ok, so what’s so cool about bars? Getting pie crust into a rectangular dish is like a round peg in a square hole. What’s so wrong with caramel pumpkin pie? (They were delicious by the way, but I’m never doing it in […]
READ ONSally Struthers Moment
I’m an organized fellow, but have great empathy for the organizationally-challenged among us. In fact I’m married to such a person, a college professor, a member of a demographic segment that often suffers from shocking disability in this area. Mrs. Pastry’s IQ is in the top one percent of civilized society, however where organizational acuity […]
READ ONGirl Thanks, Boy Thanks
Dropping the girls off at school this morning, I was treated to a great, short read on the wall of one of the classrooms. It was a poster (really one of those giant sheets of notepaper) entitled “Things we’re thankful for on Thanksgiving”. Most of what was written there was what you might expect. “Josh […]
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