Pastry

One recipe Basic Pie Crust ( recipe here ) Flour for the counter 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water 6 tablespoons strawberry jam Powdered sugar   1. Prepare the pie crust in two discs according to the recipe, and refrigerate it for at least two hours and up to two days. 2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 3. Roll the first disc of pie pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 9-x12-inch rectangle, cutting with the sharp knife any errant edges.

There's a nice little family show running at Beau Monde at Sixth and Bainbridge Streets, but you won't be able to take the kids to see it. For one thing, the earliest performance of She Who Makes the Moon the Moon is at 9:30 p.m. and on some nights the show gets under way at midnight. For another, although Beau Monde is a creperie, it also is a bar. Pig Iron Theatre Company obviously does not regard She Who Makes the Moon the Moon as a family show. However, if it were to present this artful, diverting puppet presentation as one of the older-age shows at the annual Philadelphia International Children's Festival, it would fit right in. Moon tells a fabulist story (it's based on a tale by Italo Calvino)

J&J Snack Foods Corp., Pennsauken, said Thursday it bought California Churros, a privately held company that had about $11 million in sales last year. California Churros will remain in Colton, Calif., and the founding Martinez family is expected to remain with the business. J&J Snack already has a line of churros, a fried pastry sold at snack-food stands nationwide. The price was not disclosed. J&J had revenue of $653 million in its latest fiscal year.    -Harold Brubaker

For more than 50 years, critic Burton Wasserman was saying, he has been involved in art. But never had he seen anything quite like this. "It's utterly delightful," he said Thursday, excitement in his voice. "It's whimsical and offbeat and - well, what these patissiers have done is good for the art community. " The Cadme Gallery at 2114 Locust St. was beginning a four-week observance of its first birthday with an artistic doubleheader: an exhibit of pastry creations by some of the area's leading pastry chefs, as patissiers are generally known, together with an exhibit of new paintings by Nina Beall.

There were spice-cookie gondolas skimming over a river of blue-sugar glaze, and a Japanese tea house built entirely of chocolate. There was a Noah's ark bobbing over a sea of Canada mints, and the Russian spaceship Mir orbiting a confection-lover's Earth. Those were just some of the creative concoctions that local pastry chefs dreamed up this month for a not-just-gingerbread holiday dessert competition at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Tethered to the themes "international architectural wonders" and "peace around the world," pastry experts from local hotels and catering companies demonstrated just how far from plum pudding and pumpkin pie a holiday baker in a well-stocked kitchen can go. The rules were simple enough: The creations had to be edible.

In today's economy, hard work does not seem to be enough for small businesses to prosper. Fulfilling the dream has become much more complicated. In the Philadelphia area, small-business owners have struggled with the difficulties of the uncertain economy. Independently owned Jacquette's Bakery in Broomall has struggled with the failing economy and has been able to survive. Dennis Jacquette, the pastry shop's owner for 31 years, described the economy's effect as "a little challenging, but not much of a problem.

In patisseries across France, delicate sandwich cookies in every color of the rainbow take their place beside elegant eclairs, tarts and other works of pastry art. French macarons - not to be confused with chewy coconut macaroons - are tiny dome-shaped pastry shells filled with ganache, buttercream or fruit mixtures. They're gently crunchy on the outside, light as air and chewy inside. But these days, there's no need to hop a plane to enjoy them. You can find the dainty treats in various pastry shops and in the freezer case at Trader Joe's.

Cream puffs are a delicious mystery, starting as a paste of water, butter, flour and eggs, and finishing as crisp, airy shells. What is equally amazing is how simple and versatile the recipe is. Unlike a pie crust or puff pastry that can be tricky, a cream puff is practically fail-proof - and faster to make. Use it as an alternative to pastry for a filling of fruit, custard or cream. Or, if tuna salad on whole wheat is too mundane, substitute tuna in a cream puff shell. The basic recipe of water, butter, flour and eggs can be increased or decreased proportionately for any number of servings.

Pie for dinner? That might sound strange, but only because we're so accustomed to thinking of pie as a sweet dessert. Alter the concept a little, and you can create a nearly one-dish meal that provides protein, grain and vegetable in a neat, pastry-wrapped package that we call a savory pie. You probably know these in their steak-and-kidney and liver-and-onion forms. But there is no reason to confine entree pies to those Old World, fat- laden standbys. You can fill a homemade or commercially prepared pastry with slivers of smoked salmon and paper-thin crescents of cucumber; top a tomato tart with fresh mozzarella tangled in threads of basil; or overlay shingles of ham, cheese and apple with a honey-mustard glaze.

Who says pie is as easy as pie? Mastering pastry crust takes as much practice as preparing for a marathon. Assembling the filling is a whole other step. Then there's lining the pan and crimping the crust, and its baking, which can easily exceed an hour. By the time a pie cools enough for the first bite, the better part of a day has passed, between sifting the flour and reaping its rewards. No, making a pie isn't easy - unless you learn how to break it apart, before you put it together.

One recipe Basic Pie Crust ( recipe here ) Flour for the counter 1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water 6 tablespoons strawberry jam Powdered sugar   1. Prepare the pie crust in two discs according to the recipe, and refrigerate it for at least two hours and up to two days. 2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 3. Roll the first disc of pie pastry on a lightly floured surface into a 9-x12-inch rectangle, cutting with the sharp knife any errant edges.

If you want your friends and family to think you're a superstar at the stove, make them some crackers. It's a lot easier than it sounds. The "wow" factor stems from the simple fact that most people never consider making their own crackers, even though the ingredients cost just pennies and you can finish a batch in minutes. "Crackers are one of those things we automatically buy without thinking about it," says Alana Chernila, author of the new book The Homemade Pantry (Potter), which provides from-scratch recipes for dozens of typically store-bought items, including cheese, chai tea, and sauerkraut.

WELCOME TO Philadelphia, a city renowned for its vibrant, seasonally centric dining scene and colorful farmer's markets. You'll find some of the finest dishes on any table here, and confections that rival those served in the patisseries of Paris. Here, too, there is a culinary school geared to producing top-quality cooks as well versed in pastry as they are in producing savory delights. No, we're not talking about Philly's contemporary gastronomic scene, as fabulous as it is. It's Philadelphia of the early 1800s we're invoking - when the city was arguably the best place to wine and dine in the new America.

To say the region is in a brewpub frenzy is no understatement. Iron Hill just opened its ninth location, in Chestnut Hill, and is planning a 10th in South Jersey in 2013. In Ambler, Forest & Main Brewing Co. is due to open toward the end of the month. A bit further off is Ardmore's Tired Hands Brewing Co. Opening last month: Bill Mangan's third McKenzie Brew House , a bright, tasteful transformation of the Charlie Brown's Steakhouse in Valley Fair Shopping Center off Route 202 (324 W. Swedesford Rd., Berwyn, 610-407-4300)

In today's economy, hard work does not seem to be enough for small businesses to prosper. Fulfilling the dream has become much more complicated. In the Philadelphia area, small-business owners have struggled with the difficulties of the uncertain economy. Independently owned Jacquette's Bakery in Broomall has struggled with the failing economy and has been able to survive. Dennis Jacquette, the pastry shop's owner for 31 years, described the economy's effect as "a little challenging, but not much of a problem.

For years, the Night Kitchen Bakery made do with a cramped kitchen in which to turn out raspberry crumb tarts, pecan pies, double fudge brownies, lemon curd, hazelnut buttercream, three-tiered wedding cakes, and a personal favorite, snails. At a single small table by the front door, engaged couples could leaf through photos of wedding-cake options, but other customers had to pretty much get what they wanted and go because there was no other seating. Amy Beth Edelman, who bought the bakery in 2000, often looked with longing at the consignment shop next door (later, a hair salon)

Think of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France as the Olympics for artisans whose crafts do not normally lend themselves to cutthroat competition. One such area is pastry chefs, and every four years, the best and brightest French concocters of confections gather in Lyon for a to-the-teeth battle for sweet supremacy. Veteran documentarians D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus - the team behind the Oscar-nominated "The War Room" (1993) - focus their lens on this aspect of the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France in their new doc "The King of Pastry.

Like so many aspects of Chelsea Clinton's spectacular wedding Saturday, the cake was remarkable. The nine-tier vanilla cake, filled with dark chocolate mousse, frosted in white fondant, and decorated with 1,000 edible sugar flowers, was also gluten-free. That's because the former first daughter is allergic to the gluten found in most cakes and breads. The creation was a triumph for Frances and Maarten Steenman of La Tulipe Desserts in New York's Westchester County. The Steenmans, who have owned and run their business for nearly 12 years, specialize in all kinds of exquisite tarts, pies, cookies, and of course cakes, not just those that are gluten-free.

ONCE THE FOOD Network turned chefs into stars, it became inevitable that they would next become guest-stars. Throughout the area and throughout the summer, a variety of mostly local chefs will be creating dishes for their competitor's eateries. A combination of fun and marketing (dare we say, branding), for some it will be a one-night stand, for others a long-term relationship. For all of them it will be something different. Beginning last week at Max Brenner's (15th Street south of Walnut)

The man with the hand truck - Ian Brendle, by name - had it tipped back, the better to negotiate the threshold at the eatery called Noble, on Sansom Street west of 20th. If you'd come from a lunch of salt oysters and pickled vegetables at a bar nearby one recent day, and ambled west, you might have encountered that hand truck just before it ducked inside. It was stacked with boxes of local produce, the top one open, showing heaps of strawberries that glistened in the midday sun. Could Ian Brendle - he was from Green Meadow Farm in Lancaster County - spare a strawberry or two?