This is the day we celebrate Pastries! December 9th is National Pastry Day!
First let's define a pastry. The word "pastry" suggests many kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder, and eggs. It could be pies, danish, tarts, croissants, doughnuts, scones and more. All of which I am pretty sure have their own National Day. It is not easy to pick just one pastry. Some runners up would be chocolate croissants, pastelitos with guava and cheese and pecan tarts.
I cannot let this day pass though without talking about my favorite pastries that Jeddy makes. His secret recipe donuts. He makes the best yeast doughnuts and I have always been the one to come up with the glazes, icings and fillings. Together we make, if I dare say so, one of the best donuts out there. It all began in 2007. The economy was crashing all around us and Jeddy decided as our real estate and construction businesses had come to a standstill to go into the doughnut business. It took weeks upon weeks of perfecting the recipe for the dough as I worked on fillings, glazes and icings. Needless to say by the time we perfected them, we were just about done with doughnuts. But I have to tell you, no matter how over the doughnut one feels, that first doughnut that comes fresh out of the fryer dipped in its glaze, icing or filled was something that still makes my mouth water to this day.
Honestly we have struggled over the years to find a doughnut that compares. As we traveled across the country, if we heard of a special doughnut shop that their small town or city touted, we were definitely about testing them out. And on the rare occasion we would find a doughnut that was phenomenal. But alas, most missed the mark. The science of the dough and compliment of the glaze, icing or filing are crucial. There is a balance that many miss.
Some of our favorites were our Florida citrus glazed, our dark chocolate iced and our lemon curd filled. Those years bring back many fond memories. I will say the alarm going off at 2:30am is one thing I do not miss but with the song "time to make the doughnuts" in our head, we didn't miss a day, enjoyed our early mornings creating together and always sold out. Over the years we have made doughnuts at someone's request for a party or Jeddy will get a wild thought and wake up in the wee hours to make the dough. Then once the dough is rising he makes me a coffee and I prepare the glaze or filling. Then we share that first doughnut together.
The pic is a stock photo...not our doughnuts. I am looking for those old files cause maybe just maybe I can find some pics to share.