December 9 National Pastry Day #NationalPastryDay

December 9th is National Pastry Day #NationalPastryDay. I sure would like to have a Pastry or two for #breakfast this morning. Then we could celebrate National Pastry Day with the Hot Chocolate David made Charlie and I. Would you like to join my family for breakfast?

I may different than most people who haven’t ever met a Pastry they didn’t like because I don’t like any Pastry with Fruit and neither does Charlie. Although, David loves Cheese Danish’s and Fruit Danish’s. What about you. Do you like #FruitDanish’s ie #Pastrys?

That’s why we’re thrilled to celebrate National Pastry Day on December 9th and we would like to ask you to come celebrate with us. Did you know Pastries date back to ancient times: when the ancient Egyptians made Pastry Dough out of Grain Meal and Flour and sweetened the Pastry with Honey, and the ancient Greeks and Romans made sweets out of paper-thin pastry Dough (the predecessor to what we now know as Phyllo Dough).

Pastries traveled to Europe in Medieval times, where they added fats like Butter and Shortening to make a sturdier Dough. Did you know you’ll find Pastries in pretty much every culture you can think of, but Pastries became incredibly refined in French kitchens during the 18th Century. Which is why we think of France as the Pastry capital of the world. Today there are countless types of Pastries out there, and today is the day to celebrate all things Pastry.

National Pastry Day Activities

Today it doesn’t matter if you live in a tiny, remote Town or a huge City, we pretty much guarantee that you won’t have to travel too far to find a delicious Bakery. Find one today and walk in, and today don’t you dare think about the word “calories,” just purchase as many Pastries as your heart desires. Remember you’re supporting a local business, after all.
Take the opportunity today to eat with your eyes and binge-watch a bunch of Pastry Baking Shows. Including the recent mega-hit “The Great British Bake Off,” or the singular-pastry-focused “Cupcake Wars.” If those aren’t enough Baking Shows to make you happy, try “Ace of Cakes,” and “Top Chef: Just Desserts,” or one of our personal favorites: which could include old YouTube footage of Julia Child.
We know it can be tempting to take a Pastry shortcut and purchase premade Dough from the freezer aisle at the grocery store. But in honor of National Pastry Day, why not try your hand at making Pastry Dough entirely from scratch? It might not be easy, but it will be extremely rewarding. Plus you’ll get to channel your inner child and sneak bites of the unbaked Dough. Set aside an afternoon, throw an apron on, and get to kneading. Just make sure you have plenty of Butter on hand.

Desserts That Will Have You Drooling

I was online this morning and found out about BomboloniIt which might sound like “bomb baloney,” but the similarities end there. This Vanilla Cream-filled, Sugar dusted delicacy is closer to a Donut than anything else. Have you ever had this dessert because my family hasn’t.
Toasted-Marshmallow Butterscotch Pie isn’t your ready-in-a-jiffy dessert. Decked out with Chocolate, Cream, Brown Sugar, and a WHOLE lot more, and let me tell you this #dessert will have jaws dropping.
Jam-Filled Cronut is Croissant? Or Donut? We don’t even care. We’ll go nuts for Cronuts any day of the week. Which is another dessert my family hasn’t had the opportunity to try. Have you had a Cronut?
Peanut Butter might be more popular, but there’s no convincing us that Nutella’s not the best spread out there. When combined with Pastry you’ve created Heaven. Although, I may be the only person in the world who doesn’t like Nutella which David will eat but like me he isn’t to crazy about Nutella which Charlie loves. How about you?
Hold up, Croissants. Did you know there’s another hybrid dessert on the block called Brookies. After trying one of these gems, there was only one question: why didn’t someone think of Brookies sooner?
Caramel-Filled Chocolate Munchkins is here in case the Bombolonis were a bit Vanilla for you, we’ve got something with even MORE decadence. Meet this majesty which probably got enough Sugar to give an Elephant a rush, but who’s checking labels?
For those of us who are familiar with a Snickerdoodle Cookie why not try a Snickerdoodle Cupcakes which are SURE to be a crowdpleaser.

Why People Love National Pastry Day

When people say the word “Pastry,” we imagine your mind immediately jumps to Dough-based sweets. But there are tons of delicious savory Pastries out there, too. Think Quiches, Vegetable Tarts, Biscuits, and Popovers. Yes, that does mean that you can celebrate National Pastry Day by having a Pastry for your main course and a Pastry for dessert. Don’t worry we won’t tell.

National Pastry Day gives you an excuse to indulge and we all know Carbs, fat, and Sugar: are three things we love, but aren’t necessarily the healthiest foods to put in your body. But hey, if there’s only one day of the year where we get to celebrate all things Pastry, bring on the Donuts and Croissants. Eclairs and Fruit Tarts.

In the culinary world, becoming a Pastry Chef is no cake walk it takes a ridiculous amount of professional training because baking is, after all, more of an exact science than cooking. There’s a lot of chemistry involved! It’s very easy to screw up a Pastry if you don’t get the measurements or temperatures just right. The job also requires a lot of creativity to take the different kinds of Pastry Dough and make them into a vast variety of desserts. Pastry Chefs don’t often get as much acclaim as regular Chefs, so we’re glad we can take this holiday to applaud them.

Recipe for Honey Buns

Ingredients

For the Honey Buns

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
⅔ cup whole milk
1 packet instant yeast
⅓ cup butter, melted, cooled
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1½ tsp vegetable oil
2 tsp cinnamon
2-2½ cups vegetable oil, for frying

For The Icing

3 tbsp butter, melted
1¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tbsp milk
2 tsp honey
½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

For The Honey Buns

Using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, add flour, sugar and salt.
Heat milk in a microwave safe bowl for about 30 seconds until milk is 110°.
Next, add yeast, melted butter, egg and vanilla to warm milk. Whisk ingredients together until combined.
Pour wet ingredients into stand mixer and knead on medium for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides to ensure all ingredients are mixed.
Grease a large bowl with oil.
Remove dough and form a ball. Place dough into prepared bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let dough rise for about 1½ hours or until it has doubled in size.
Press down the dough, with clean hands, then transfer to a lightly floured surface.
Press dough out into a rectangle. about 15 inches long and 8 inches wide.
Sprinkle dough with cinnamon and spread evenly over the top.
Start rolling the long side of the dough into a log shape, dip fingers in water and run wet fingers along the edge of the dough, pinching the seam to seal.
Once sealed, use unscented floss to cut the dough log into 1 inch size buns.
Place buns on a piece of wax paper and spray the top of the honey buns with a non stick cooking spray and lay a piece of plastic wrap over the top. Let the dough rise for 30 additional minutes leaving a little space between dough slices to allow dough to rise.
In a large pan, heat oil over medium heat.
Once oil is hot, place each bun, a couple at a time, in oil and fry each side until golden brown.
Remove honey buns from oil and place on paper towels to absorb any excess oil.
While buns are cooling, make the icing.