the Flare

Holiday Parties - It's all about the Baked Goodies! Baking is all about melding the best flavors with an enticing appearance - especially when you're baking cookies for the holidays. Be sure to catch Kim Ode's presentations on the Kitchen Demonstration Stage at the Affair, Saturday and Sunday. Ode, who writes for the Star Tribune Taste section, will demonstrate how to create a cookie plate that has a variety of flavors, textures, and a few surprises. For example - Spritz Butter Cookies might be humbly pristine, but they also can be a blank canvas for embellishment. A drizzle of salted caramel with roasted chopped pecans elevates them to decadent bites. Twice-baked Biscotti come together faster than you might think, and these traditional dunkers can be personalized with your own combination of fruit and nuts. Madeleines provide an elegant and tender contrast on a cookie plate. Ode will show why it's worth having a sheet of the distinctive shell-shaped molds on hand for this classic delicacy. Plus, she'll offer a quick primer on homemade liqueurs and how infusing a baked good with Kahlua or Drambuie lends depth to its flavor. Kim is also an avid bread baker and author of Baking with the St. Paul Bread Club: Recipes, Tips and Stories, published by the Minnesota Historical Society Press. She will be doing book signings after her presentations, so be sure to stop by a get an autographed copy of this popular cookbook. And since we're in a baking mood, what's more Minnesotan the State Fair? What's the connection you ask? The quintessential Minnesota baking sensation - Marjorie Johnson. This 4'-8" baking dynamo has been winning piles of blue ribbons for her baking creations at the Minnesota State Fair since she first entered in 1974. And when she surpassed 2,000 ribbons in 2000, she wrote Blue Ribbon Cooking with Marjorie, filled with her award winning recipes. Sunday afternoon Marjorie will be at the Affair sharing her stories about her baking successes and her many appearances on national television baking for the likes of Jay Leno and Rosie O'Donnell. Come meet Marjorie and get your own autographed copy just in time to learn some new favorite recipes for this holiday season. - Colleen Fox Slack, Home & Culinary, the Affair