You may very well have a Ken Haedrich book sitting on your shelves. If you don’t, you probably want to. Pie and Apple Pie were published in 2011 and already are classic baking books. Ken’s list of books at Amazon is pages long. And buried there is a timely book from 1992, Home for the Holidays: Festive Baking with Whole Grains.
The book was republished as a paperback in1994 and you can track down unused and used copies at Amazon. It’s a treasure you might want to hoard.
The title says it all: this is a book for the holidays. And the chapters take you through the end of the year beginning with Thanksgiving.
The Thanksgiving Breadbasket chapter gives you a warm start to that special Thursday morning. Here you can indulge in Whole Wheat Parker House Rolls or Maple Mustard-Filled Cornmeal Rolls.
Ken is such a breakfast person that he does toss in another whole chapter for Breakfast Baking. You’ll find Maple Walnut Muffins with Maple Cream Sauce, Lemon Cream Scones, and Dried Cherry and Almond Coffee Cake. There are twenty treats here. And not all sweet! If you want a savory breakfast dish, then Ken suggests Herb Shortcakes with Creamed Turkey and Corn — I guess that’s really a Friday morning dish to use up the Thanksgiving bird.
The phrase “Christmas Cookies” is sure to bring up fond memories for many of you. Christmas seems to be the time of year when the cookie supply is unlimited. Ken supplies a battery of recipes, many of them with long histories and ingredient combinations that we have forgotten: Rose Water Almond Nuggets, Orange-Spiked Hazelnut Cookies, Rich Maple Pecan Rum Bars, and Coffee Hazelnut Cookies with Coffee Icing. You’ll find exceptional ideas here because, well, it’s a holiday and holidays demand special recipes.
The cookies are for munching, from dawn to dusk and beyond. Dessert is strictly for dinner, and the Spirited Cakes chapter provides perfect endings for any holiday meal: Ginger Honey Cheesecake, Banana Rum Cake, and Maple-Glazed Gingerbread. These are treats to be paired with warm cider or espresso or a vintage brandy.
Seasonal Pies and Sweet Tarts must be the chapter most dear to Ken, a pie maven. He does have a maple addiction so here you’ll discover Apple Butter Maple Pie. And there’s Banana Chocolate Tart with Coconut Crumb Topping and a Poached Fig and Pear Pie with Walnut Streusel. If you want your holiday meal to end on an authentic, old-fashioned note, then there are recipes aplenty for you here.
Baking can be more than just appetizers and desserts. A main course? The chapter Savory Baking for Holiday Entertaining offers you sturdy ideas: Deep-Dish Lamb Pie with Mint Gremolada, French Onion Tart in a Cornmeal Basil Crust, and the Shrimp Bacon and Jarlsberg Tart.
Ken’s recipes display his imagination and his drive for perfection. When you see one of these recipes, there is no question in your mind about what to do. You don’t want to tinker with ingredients or proportions. You don’t have to worry: “Will this dish work?” Ken is an author you can trust and his recipes are ones you will savor. Twenty-two years on, Home for the Holidays is book still to be relished and relied upon. It can make your holiday feasting especially memorable.
Go on. Go to Amazon. Find a copy and make Thanksgiving morning as important as Thanksgiving dinner.