For much of the Western world, today is Fat Tuesday.  In the French Quarter, New Orleans, today is Mardi Gras.  Polish tradition refers to today as Paczki Day.  No matter where you are, one this is for sure, today is a day of indulgence and celebration.  But, I dare admit that Paczki Day takes the concept of indulgence to the delicious extreme.  Because, paczki are incredible, soft donuts, dusted heavily with sugar and filled with custards, cremes, and jellies.

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During the holidays, basic pastry-making skills come in handy when you need to make pumpkin pie, mince tarts, little pastry-wrapped party appies and other festive goodies. Here are a few tips, plus a good basic formula, to take you through the season.

When making pastry, you need to use a solid fat. Lard and shortening will produce a flakier crust, while butter adds flavor – a combination of the two gives you the best of both worlds. In terms of flour, all-purpose is fine – there’s no need to buy cake & pastry flour, which has a lower gluten content.
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Apple Pie is the finest of comfort food desserts.  This roasted apple pie yields soft, cinnamon and brown-sugar flavor.  Roasting the apples first is an easy way to ensure a perfect flavor and texture.   Baking the apples in little mugs makes for a fun way to cook up single-serving offerings.  Not to mention, the ideal way to plop a dollop of ice cream right over your own mug of apple pie. 

This recipe will make two big ol’ mug fulls of roasted apple pie.  If you have smaller mugs, that will work beautifully, too. Enjoy!  Enjoy!

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There is nothing that screams summer louder than a strawberry-rhubarb pie; the kind with sticky ruby juices oozing out of its top crust, or bubbling between the rubble of crumble topping and the crimped pastry edge. I make one at the earliest opportunity, as soon as my rhubarb pokes its way out of the ground and some half-decent strawberries show up at the market. This year it happened to be on a day when my last pie plate was at the neighbour’s house, so I half free-formed it in a ceramic quiche dish; I don’t see any reason to go back to my old ways now.
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