The Leader • Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020 • Page 1B
Baking traditions bring joy during holidays Zarah Parker Managing Editor
In 2001, Garden Oaks residents Doug and Julie Mischlich started a cookie baking tradition. In the years since, that tradition has turned into a full holiday operation. “It started out delivering a plate of 30 or so cookies to 25 neighbors and friends,” Doug said. “There were nine different types of cookies that were a compilation of simple family recipes we received from our parents. They took a couple days to bake and delivery weekend was, and still is, three weeks before Christmas.” Now a box of cookies from the Mischliches average 100 per box, with 15 different types including the original nine, and are delivered to up to 65 families. “It has become quite the logistical event to bake the cookies over a five-day period and then deliver them from Friday through Sunday,” Doug said. “Some dropoffs are quick while others may involve conversation and a cocktail. As times have changed, this dropoff is the only time we see some families.” The only years the Mischliches have missed this tradition was in 2009, due to Hurricane Ike, and this year, because of COVID-19. “I am a spreadsheet kind of guy, so the shopping list is generated by adjusting the number of boxes, batches and cookies,” Doug said. “It takes 45 pounds of flour, 30 pounds of butter, 50 pounds of sugar, 14 dozen eggs, 1.75 liters of rum, etc.”
Contributed photo Amy Williams’ son, Rhett, cuts out sugar cookies. Williams and her family make cookies and a blueberry cream cheese French toast casserole every year as a Christmas tradition.
Last year, the family made rum balls, tea kisses, spiced nuts, candy canes, magic squares, ginger snaps, almond cookies, pressed cookies, pralines, salted toffee
bars, Rollo treats, macarons, cinnamon pinwheels and cocoa snowflakes. “The yearly Christmas event is so much fun for our family in see-
ing people and seeing the joy they get from the cookies,” Doug said. The Mischliches aren’t alone in keeping baking traditions alive because of the joy it brings others
during the holidays. Another local resident, Amy Williams, makes sugar cookies every year and decorates them with her children. And on Christmas Eve she makes a blueberry cream cheese French toast casserole for Christmas morning. “It’s two things the kids look forward to every year,” Williams said. “So much so that they start talking about it before Thanksgiving.” For Williams’ blended family, she said keeping the tradition is important because it’s special to them. Oak Forest resident Susan Moreno bakes an assortment of cookies to give to teachers and coworkers every year. She said they look forward to them. “I enjoy baking them. And I think it shows to those who receive them that we think they are important enough to spend time doing something for them,” Moreno said. “Traditions, like this one, are important to show others you care and because they are an opportunity to be festive and celebrate.” For some people, it just doesn’t feel like Christmas without continuing their baking tradition. This is how Garden Oaks resident Frannie Gary feels. Her mom always made candy at Christmas: chocolate, butterscotch, divinity fudge and pralines. And now Gary says it doesn’t feel like the holiday until she has made them. And while most traditions bring joy to all, Garden Oaks resident Aitu Taube said she likes to torture her children with a Christmas morning tradition. “I make an egg and sausage ‘Christmas wreath’ every year for breakfast on Christmas morning,” Taube said. “Our kids hate it but we love it, so they obligingly eat it in exchange for opening gifts.”
Local bakers give tips for making cookies By Zarah Parker zarah@theleadernews.com
Allan Hursig believes cookies bring warmth and love to the holidays. “Everyone has an image of that special cookie baked by someone they love during the holidays,” Hursig said, “and that nostalgia just brings such comfort and pause to our lives when we are trying to get by and survive probably the most stressful time of the year.” Hursig, who recently opened his Heights bakery The Bearded Baker at 518 W. 11th St., is known for his decorated sugar cookies. Letting
himself be creative and try new things is how he said he learned most of what knows now. So when giving tips to those baking and decorating at home, he said to also let themselves, and their children, be creative. “For families decorating cookies at home, the first tip I would give is to go into decorating cookies with a fun and excited attitude,” Hursig said. “They’re cookies. They’re supposed to bring joy and lasting memories.” Hursig also said people don’t need fancy equipment to decorate sugar cookies at home. A Ziplock bag with ic-
ing with the tip cut off works fine as a piping bag. If home bakers are going for a fancier cookie, then Hursig said the key is patience. If cookies need to cool, let them do so completely, and if the icing needs to dry, let it. Hursig said the process ends up taking longer if you rush through it. “My biggest tip for baking from home is to buy a kitchen scale and try to measure ingredients in grams or ounces as much as you can,” Hursig said. “Baking is a science and consistency is crucial.” He also suggests making See Cookies, P. 2B
Pictured are holiday cookies from The Bearded Baker at 518 W. 11th St.
Photo from Facebook
Review: Fluff Bake Bar has fun with treats By Zarah Parker
caramel buttercream. If you’re the type of person to eat some cookie dough as you bake cookies, the Booty Call Brownie is worth a try. It’s a brownie topped with chocolate chip cookie dough. The dough does not contain raw eggs. Eating it is a lot like one might think — it’s like eating cookie dough on top of a brownie. What I never knew
zarah@theleadernews.com
Cookies are more fun at Fluff Bake Bar, which has a selection of classic cookies with an upgraded twist, along with staples you can’t find anywhere else. The other dessert options at Fluff are just as good, too. The Unicorn Bait cookie is one of my favorites. It’s a sugar cookie with birthday cake crumb and covered with sprinkles. If I had to bet, I would say it is pretty enough, and delicious enough, to bring even a unicorn out of hiding. The birthday cake crumb and the amount of sprinkles really elevate this simple cookie. The cookie is soft and sweet. The times I’ve purchased this cookie, it didn’t last very long. A cookie you can only find at Fluff is The Couch Potato. It’s filled with potato chips, milk chocolate chips, pretzel sticks, cornflake crunch and mini marshmallows. Does it make you feel like an actual couch potato after eating it? Yes. But is it worth it? Yes. The salty and sweet combination of ingredients is really what made me love this cookie. It’s like stuffing your mouth with different snacks and all the different flavors end up working. The Birthday Cake Whoopie Pie almost became my favorite after I first tried it. It’s two birthday cake cookies sandwiched with vanilla buttercream. With the creami-
before is how much the two would complement each other. The dough makes the whole brownie sweeter, so I ended up sharing my brownie so I wasn’t too sugar-wired. What I like most about Fluff is that there’s always something new and different to try. Even if it’s something that’s been done, like birthday cake, Fluff still puts its own spin on it.
Fluff Bake Bar Address: 1701 W. 15th St. Hours: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Wednesday – Saturday, noon – 5 p.m. Sunday Pricing: $2.35 - $5 (this does not include full cakes/pies) Kid-friendly: Yes Alcohol: No Healthy options: No Star of the show: Unicorn Bait
#1 SHIPLEY DO-NUTS IN HOUSTON Contributed photo Unicorn Bait cookies are the star of the show at Fluff Bake Bar, located at 1701 W. 15th St.
ness of the buttercream, the cookies are given an extra softness. Biting into it is a lot like eating a slice of Funfetti cake. So, if you don’t have time for cake, this handheld option is the perfect replacement. Fluff ’s SHO cookie is its version of an Oreo. It’s hard to compete with a lifelong favorite of mine, but I really enjoyed Fluff ’s version. The filling tasted pretty similar to that of an Oreo but without all the preservatives. The chocolate cookie sandwiching the filling reminded me of the cookie part of ice cream sandwiches. Of the non-cookie selection at Fluff, I love the Cup|Cakes, which is Fluff ’s
idea of what’s next for the cupcake. It’s basically cake in a cup. I’ve tried both the Birthday Cake and Veruca Salt flavors. The Birthday Cake is Funfetti cake with chocolate buttercream, sprinkles and cake crumbles. As my fork went through the layers in the cup, it picked up a little bit of all the ingredients. It is really like a slice of cake in a cup, which makes it easy for storage and portion size. The Veruca Salt is devil’s food cake with salted caramel buttercream, pretzel crunch and chocolate crunchy pearls. As much as I love Funfetti cake, this one ended up being my favorite of the two because of the salted
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