MAKING BAKING ACCESSIBLE
Pros share lifetime of knowledge and recipes
Dust off the KitchenAid and hang on to your tuque: It’s holiday baking time!
Is there any better way to shake off the stress of the season than by spending the dreary days of December in a warm, vanillascented kitchen, happy in the knowledge that sweet treats are on the way? Of course not.
Of course, we’re not all equally adept in the kitchen.
Luckily, we can now turn to two new cookbooks by baking pros who’ve translated a lifetime of experience into accessible techniques for everything from simple drop cookies to the most sophisticated French patisserie.
In Set for the Holidays with Anna Olson (Appetite by Random House), the Food Network Canada star offers tips for making everything from cocktails to the big bird, with a special emphasis on baking.
“The book covers the period from Thanksgiving through the end of the season,” Olson says.
“It’s a project that’s been a long time coming, because I wanted to be conscious of how I cook over the holidays.”
Meanwhile, In French Pastry 101 (Page Street Publishing), author Betty Hung shares the knowledge she’s accumulated first as baker and, since 2017, co-owner with her brother of Vancouver’ celebrated Beaucoup Bakery.
“It was the perfect timing to do it right now,” says Hung, whose intention is to make French pastry accessible to the home cook. “French pastry is a little bit intimidating and complex for people to do it at home. In the book, I try to keep it simple and not use complicated ingredients and equipment. And I try to demystify the recipes.”
One of her best tips is to “break down” a recipe and make it in stages, perhaps over a couple of days, so you’re not stuck in the kitchen for hours at a time.
For instance, you could make a tart shell one day and the filling the next.
After all, she points out, “We’re all busy doing other things in our lives. We’re not baking all the time.”
She also advises: “Start with the simple recipes and work your way in.” Once you’ve mastered basic techniques and learned how your kitchen works, you’ll be ready to tackle trickier things like puff pastry.
Although, Hung ’s classic French recipes aren’t specifically designed for the holidays, they still make great gifts and are an ideal finale to a festive meal.
“Every year I try to make a holiday cookie box for family and friends. I try to put five or six different kinds of cookies inside the box,” she says. That might include pecan sables, snowballs or jam-filled sandwich cookies. “And there’s always shortbread in it,” she adds.
Olson, on the other hand, is all about the holidays. For one thing, she’s a regular at Jasper Park Lodge’s annual Christmas in November, a festive preview getaway for the big event.
“As someone who loves to bake, I love that you can cook to abundance at this time of year,” she says.
Many of the recipes in her new book are inspired by her mother, who is big fan of making things ahead of time and freezing them — that’s why she’s included plenty of “make ahead” tips to help you avoid doing everything at the last minute.
“Every single recipe has that mom moment in it,” Olson says.
Olson notes that baking things yourself is not only enjoyable, it’s also handy if you have friends or family with food restrictions, whether they are vegan or kosher or have allergies to nuts, dairy or gluten. After all, when you have a house full of guests, you want to ensure that no one goes hungry.
“Everybody deserves to be included in the holiday festivities,” she says. “And when you bake it yourself, you control every single ingredient.”
Her best advice to bakers of all levels of expertise is to use time to your advantage.
“Start baking now, but instead of making and baking your Christmas cookies right away, take this time to make the dough, wrap it, write the instructions on it, freeze it and bake the cookies when you want them,” she suggests.