"PastryQueen" news and stories

Ice-cold lemonade making glasses sweat on a shady porch, Paul Newman's steamy-as-the-afternoon Quick flirting with JoAnne Woodward's longing-for-love Clara in The Long, Hot Summer; Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant moaning "The Lemon Song." Squeezed lemons may refresh, but they're also hot. Make a pitcher of lemonade and get busy.

Blogger Fakeginger gives us the recipe, courtesy of Rebecca Rather's Pastry Queen cookbook, for a lemonade that is brimming with fruit-luscious watermelon and berries, and slices of lemons, oranges, and limes. And since it's Labor Day, pull up a chair under a shade tree, turn off the cell phone, wrap your hands around a glass of the cold stuff, and take a good breath of what has been a breathtaking summer.

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I was sold on this cookbook the moment I laid eyes on the cover. The towering meringue topping a lemon-lime custard is gorgeous - and almost certainly too good-looking to eat. If you do give in and make the tarts - the Big Hairs Lemon-Lime Meringue Tarts - you won't be disappointed. The Pastry Queen: Royally Good Recipes from the Texas Hill Country's Rather Sweet Bakery & Cafe has 150 excellent recipes with unique takes on almost every classic diner dessert you can imagine and many signature Texas-style desserts that are popular at the bakery. Rebecca Rather, the author, proprietor of the bakery and the creator of the dishes, preserves the familiar tastes of classics that people love and putting new, often decadent, twists on them. No recipes skimp on the sugar (except the handful of savory dishes that are included) and every one is the better for it.

Rather's passion is evident and infectious, so you'll probably want to start baking as soon as you pick up the book. Fortunately, the recipes are so well-presented that no one should have a problem following the instructions to a "t". To get your mouth watering, the recipes include Buttermilk Pecan Pie, Triple Threat Chocolate Cookies and Tropical Carrot Cake.

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