Mission Accomplished

The BCRC Tea and Fashion Show was a raging success. In fact you might want to buy your tickets now for next year. We sold out ten days early and had a waiting list of 25. This is unheard of in Santa Barbara where everyone waits until the last minute to buy tickets for events.

I deeply appreciate all the people who helped plan, bake, prep, plate, and serve. It was a symphony of smiles and laughter. From now on I'm only serving on committees where our focus is on eating.

The Sad News
Dave and I have decided to give up our commercial kitchen space. That means after December, we can no longer do large scale baking or offer a weekly special. We will, however, work on our website, to put up photos of the things we can bake if you have a private party and need someone to bake.

Blogs
Stay in touch because we're always baking. I will continue to update this Starlight Bakery blog with special notes about what we are baking and my local food discoveries. The Starlight Mice will continue their adventurous mischief as well. In fact, two mice have recently returned home from a trip to Egypt.

Bries for December

This is a ready-t0-bake brie wrapped in puff pastry. Inside the pastry, the brie is topped with raspberry jam, chopped apples, and almonds.

Take it out of the freezer, bake at 400 degrees about 45 minutes (until puffed and golden). Let it sit about 15 to 20 minutes to cool the molten cheese a bit.

These keep in the freezer a long time. I recently served one I made last December. They are great to take to a party or serve as an appetizer. They also make good gifts.

I will have them available until the end of the month.

Ingredients: Brie, puff pastry, almonds, apples, raspberry jam.

Starlight Mice
We have also had requests for Starlight Mice for gifts and for holiday platters. (Actually they are really good to eat too.)

I'll be making these challah dough mice with chocolate hearts.

You can order these through the end of the year as well. Just send me an email and let me know when you need them.

Prices

• Ready-to-Bake Brie - $15 each
  
• Starlight Mice - $1.30 each

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Tea Menu

Okay, I have the best committee in the world to work with me on the Breast Cancer Resource Center tea menu. Here we are making sure that our menu works. We've eaten our way through two working meetings. We think we have the menu pinned down, but it might take a little more tasting.

It might not surprise you to note that a Starlight Mouse showed up when we started our cheese tasting. We were looking for cheeses that pair especially well with hoshigaki (hand massaged dried persimmons) and grapes. The staff at C'est Cheese helped us choose a selection of cheeses that taste delicious with hoshigaki. Then our committee tasted and narrowed down the selection to these three: Double cream gouda, Ossau Irati, and Midnight Moon.

Obviously the Starlight Mouse is eager to confirm our choices.

Also on the tea menu are a pineapple fruit bowl filled with melon, grapes, pineapple, and pomegranate; salmon with cucumber, dill, and cream cheese finger sandwiches; layered sundried tomato pesto, basil pesto, and goat cheese finger sandwiches; almond pound cake slices with lemon curd and raspberry; rosemary lemon tea cookies; and chocolate coated nibs from Chocolate Maya.

As of last night 70 of the 100 seats at the tea and fashion show were already filled. This is awesome for an event in Santa Barbara... where people usually wait until the last minute to buy tickets. So, if you want to join us, purchase your tickets ($40) quickly at https://www.regform.net/bcrc/tfs/tfs.php.

Apple Pies
This is the last week for ready-to-bake apple pies. The pies are $14 each and you need to get your order in by Sunday noon for pick up on Monday at our kitchen at 5392 Hollister between 9 am and 6 pm.

Brie en Croute
Yes, we will make bries in December, but not until after the tea. I'll let you know more about those in December.

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

P.S. There's a Starlight Mouse sighting update at www.StarlightMice.blogspot.com

A Busy Week

In addition to watching election returns and baking, we have been busy this week planning the menu for the upcoming Breast Cancer Resource Center Tea, which Starlight Bakery is hosting.

BCRC Tea
The Breast Cancer Resource Center (BCRC) is our local information and support center for women and men dealing with breast cancer and breast health issues.

The BCRC is often the first stop after a breast cancer diagnosis but we also provide information and support to anyone who needs help getting a breast lump evaluated, waiting for the results, and to family members looking for ways to support a loved one. It was built and run by the community it serves... a network of local women and men reaching out to help each other during times of uncertainty, treatment, and healing.

The tea will include a Coldwater Creek fashion show featuring models from the BCRC. The event will be held on Saturday, Dec. 6th at the Unitarian church hall (where we held our first organizatonal meeting for the BCRC). Tickets ($40) are available online at https://www.regform.net/bcrc/tfs/tfs.php or by calling the Breast Cancer Resource Center at 569-9693. There will also be an admission free Artisan Faire in the courtyard with opportunities to buy holiday gifts made by local craftsmen.

Apple Pies
I have more apple pies. I will continue to stock the freezer until Thanksgiving. But get your order in now, so you won't be disappointed when we run out.

Rosemary Focaccia
This bread is really versatile. For the tea, we are slicing it in thin horizontal slices and layering it with smoked salmon, cream cheese, and cucumbers. Then we cut it into strips and cut those into colorfully-layered finger sandwiches. The strips can be wrapped in plastic wrap and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to cut the sandwiches... an easy make-ahead appetizer.

I'll add a photo the next time I make them.

Special Items this Week

• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00
• Ready-to-Bake Apple Pie - $14.00
  

Drawing of Week
I've been hired to bake pans of cinnamon rolls and sticky buns for a weekly meeting at a local technology company. I have an extra pan of 8 sticky buns available this week. If you place your apple pie order by this Sunday noon (for pickup on the 10th, 17th, or 24th), I'll enter you in a drawing for the sticky buns.

Roxanne Erskine won the apple pie last week. Yay Roxanne!

Pickup or Delivery
You can pick up your order from 9 am to 6 pm at 5392 Hollister on Monday or I can deliver it to your place on work on Tuesday morning.

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

American-Made Apple Pies

Get your order in now for our frozen ready-to-bake apple pies.

I have to warn you that if you plan to taste your pie ahead, you might want to order an extra. You may remember the story of my neighbor Daniel who baked one to take to a holiday dinner. He and and his brother Javier decided to take a little taste while it was cooling. Then they sat down and ate the whole pie. Oops.

Daniel ran across the street to get another one, but we had none left.

We are using Granny Smith apples with brown sugar and a light touch of orange in the filling. The streusal topping contains homemade almond paste (no almond extract flavoring). The crust and topping are buttery and delicious.

Baking is easy. Defrost your pie for 30 minutes to an hour, then bake it at 375 degrees for 1 to 1-1/2 hours (until the filling bubbles like jam). Try to let it cool before eating.

Pie pick ups will be from 9 am to 6 pm on Mondays November 3rd, 10th, 17th, and 24th at our bakery kitchen at 5392 Hollister. Tell me the date you want your pie(s) ready for pick up. It will help us a lot if you let us know now, even if you don't want to pick up a pie this week.

We are making 9" pies. If you'd like us to use a special pie plate from your collection, bring it by on one of the Mondays before your pick up.

Ingredients: Apples, organic unbleached flour, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, almonds, tapioca starch, cornstarch, orange zest, and salt.

Rosemary Focaccia

The IV Co-op Fair was a great success! We took an oven and generator so we could serve hot samples of rosemary focaccia made into fragrant garlic bread. I noticed several people came back for thirds. Lots of people told us they buy our bread weekly. One woman said her roommates sent her out to pick up the focaccia for a special dinner they were making and by the time she got to the Co-op, it was sold out.

We are back to one day a week at the bakery (Mondays). Dave bakes his breads on Monday evenings, so you can either stop by to pick up frozen focaccia during the day on Monday or set up a delivery time and place with me for Tuesday. The good news is all our breads freeze well and only need about 10 to 15 minutes in the oven to crisp the crust back up when they are almost defrosted.

Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Special Items this Week

• Ready-to-Bake Apple Pie (9 inch) - $14.00
• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00

Drawing for an Apple Pie
Answer the poll question of the week by noon Sunday and email me that you participated. I'll put you in our drawing for a free apple pie. Anyone who orders this week will be entered in the drawing automatically. (The last person who won an apple pie is now an enthusiastic an apple pie customer.)

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Padaro Pumpkins

Yesterday my sister Barbara and I took a trip out to Carpinteria, got off at the Santa Claus exit and turned left over the bridge, then right onto Via Real and headed toward the large pumpkin balloon we could see floating above the Padaro Floral pumpkin patch. (The balloon lets you know that the pumpkin patch is open.)


We parked and followed a wall sunflowers to patch. The patch was packed with kids.


Many of the kids were sitting on benches listening to Michelle, one of the owners, tell them about pumpkins, and gourds, and Indian corn... all available at the patch.


Interesting shapes and colorful corn and all at really reasonable prices. I think the Indian corn was 50 cents an ear.

I was most intrigued by the bumpy gray Hubbard squash that Michelle and her father both told me was really good for pumpkin pie. Michelle said customers always come back to buy more before it sells out.


Uhh, yeah. I wouldn't have bought it either if my sister hadn't assured me that I could trust their judgement (she knows from experience that Michelle is an excellent baker). It was $8 for this boulder-sized squash.

We lugged it home and then tried to figure how exactly to cut it. It was like trying to open a coconut. The outer skin could be chipped away, not peeled. None of my knives would cut through it.

Using the cleaver like an ax was slightly more successful but a little scary. Together we came up with a plan where I placed the cleaver where I wanted to cut it and Barbara pounded on it with a hammer. Then we forcefully dislodged the cleaver and moved it gradually around the circumference until the squash opened enough that we could crack the two halves apart.

It's a very meaty squash without a lot of seeds or that stringy gooey stuff in the center.

I roasted the hunks in my convection oven. Eventually the pulp got soft and caramellized. The bits that I tasted as I scooped it out and bagged it up were delicious. I'm looking forward to making a pumpkin pie with it. The texture is dense, not watery, smooth, and the flavor is richly sweet.

Apple Pies in November
We will only offer Rosemary Focaccia bread this week again so we can ramp up for apple pie making in November. You have one more week to decide how many ready-to-bake apple pies you want to order in November.

This Week's Special Item

• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00

Pickup and Delivery
I can deliver your bread to a place of work on Tuesday morning or you can pick it up from our kitchen at 5392 Hollister on Tuesday between noon and 6 pm.

Thanks!

Nancy & Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

P.S. Don't forget the I.V. Co-op Fair on Saturday. We'll be baking some Belgian Ginger Rolls (vegan) for you to taste in the morning and Rosemary Focaccia garlic bread in the afternoon.

Isla Vista Co-op Country Fair

Here is the place to be a week from Saturday (October 25). Seville Road in Isla Vista will be closed to traffic for the Co-op's annual membership gathering and fair. There will be live animals, local farmers, music, and even some Starlight Bakers!

Dave and I will be baking up some tasty items (all vegan, of course). I hear we will be near the coffee so we're planning to sell some delicious pastries and looking forward to meeting some of our customers. If you haven't been to the Co-op, this is a good time to check it out. Their produce is awesome and they have great bulk prices on organic herbs, spices, flours, etc.

Since our baking will be focused this week on preparing items to sell at the Fair, we will not offer any special items other than fresh-baked Rosemary Focaccia.

November Baking
We will be going back to one day a week (Mondays) at the bakery in November. I'll only be making sweet items that can be frozen and picked up on Mondays.

We can deliver fresh bread to you on Tuesday mornings, or you can pick up frozen breads on Monday from our freezer. Since our breads freeze and reheat well, we will keep a variety of breads in the freezer to be purchased at any time. Just let us know what you want and we'll tell you if we have it or when we can bake it. We will continue to bake Rosemary Focaccia on a weekly basis.

Apple Pie
I plan to sell apple pies for a few weeks in in November. Like last year, these will be unbaked apple pies with an almond streusal topping (homemade almond paste). Customers who bought these last year told me I made them look like really good cooks during the holidays.

I won't offer any weekly special items (other than the Rosemary Focaccia) the last week of October because I'll be making apple pies ahead for pick-up on the following Monday (November 3rd). I'll send you a reminder to get your pie order in for November. My friend Denise will be helping me but we are limited by how much dough we can roll out in one day.

Challah Mice Winner
The winner of the challah mice last week was Barbie Deutsch. The answer to the poll was, of course, "All of the Above," which means any answer was correct. No poll this week, but watch for future polls and prizes.

Price on This Week's Items

• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00
• Various Other Breads - $5.00 (ask for availability of a specific type)
• Unbaked Cookie Dough (12) - $8.00 (ask for availability of a specific type)

Tuesday Pickup
You can pick up your orders from the our kitchen at Crumbs 5392 Hollister on Tuesdays from noon to 6 pm. We also offer Tuesday morning delivery to your place of work if that is more convenient. Feel free to stop by for a visit on Tuesday afternoons.

Thanks,
Nancy & Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Taking a Deep Breath

Feeling stressed out seems to be a way of life lately, so when my friend Jo pointed out that the weather has been beautiful and we should go for a ride in her plane, I agreed. By departure time, Dave had decided he wasn't going to be left behind. He grabbed the camera and joined us. That's why I get to share this refreshing picture with you. Dave took this photo as we flew over the mountains behind La Conchita. Three Starlight mice to Jo for reminding us it's really great to be living in this beautiful place.

Peanut Butter Cookies
Now back on the ground, we're thinking about next week's baking. I will make more peanut butter cookies, so get your order in if you are out of them.

For those of you who haven't tried them, you can bake all twelve at once or just a few at a time. These were baked in my toaster oven set to 375 degrees. A quick easy dessert sure to impress anyone who stops by for coffee or tea.

Ingredients: Organic unbleached flour, butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, peanut butter.

Zucchini Bread Winner
Our winner last week was my friend Kathy... of rosemary mouse fame. Kathy and I have been friends since 2nd grade. Neither of us really wants to believe how many years that is.

And speaking of Starlight mice... a couple of them have made it all the way to Belgium! Who knows where they'll turn up next. I think some are already on their way to Hawaii.

Chocolate Tasting
In addition to the three challah mice for Jo, I'll give the winner of this week's poll three challah mice. I just have to figure out what question to ask in the poll. I'm running off to help with an election mailing so you'll have to check back for the poll question later tonight.

Hmm, a woman who worked on the mailing with me is a nurse. As our conversation turned to chocolate, she told us that she often prescribes chocolate to relieve stress. That explains why the chocolate tasting we had after the first debate was such a success.

This week when my neighbor Barbara joined us to watch the debate, she demanded chocolate before it was even over... I think she already knows about the stress reduction thing. So, that leads us to this week's poll question. Email me if you submit an answer so I can add you to the drawing. I'll put some really excellent chocolate hearts inside those three challah mice.

Breads of the Week
This week it's Rosemary Focaccia and a new bread requested by my friend Barbie. We'll bake a Rustic Wheat Raisin Bread with Walnuts. Rustic means that it has some wild yeast (sourdough) starter in it.

Rosemary Focaccia Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Rustic Wheat Raisin Bread Ingredients: Organic unbleached bread flour, whole wheat flour, wild yeast starter, yeast, salt, canola oil, agave syrup, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon.

Prices on this Week's Items

• Rustic Wheat Raisin Bread with Walnuts - $5.00
• Rosemary Focaccia- $6.00
• Unbaked Peanut Butter Cookies (12) - $8.00
• Baked Peanut Butter Cookies (4) - $3.00
  

Tuesday Pickup
You can pick up your orders from the our kitchen at Crumbs 5392 Hollister on Tuesdays from noon to 6 pm. We also offer Tuesday morning delivery to your place of work if that is more convenient. Feel free to stop by for a visit on Tuesday afternoons.

Thanks,
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Zucchini - Fruit or Vegetable?

While the answer I was seeking in last week's poll was zucchini, I was reminded by a friend that botanists would classify zucchini and green beans as fruit, not as vegetables. The only actual vegetable on the list was arugula... so if you answered arugula you were also correct (I've never tried to make a tea bread with arugula, but it might be quite tasty).

That, of course, led me to wonder why there is a disconnect between culinarians and botanists over what goes into the vegetable category. For a botanist zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, green beans, etc. are fruits because they are part of the reproductive process of the plant. Culinarians seem to be okay with calling things that grow on trees and bushes fruits, but most things that grow on vines or ground plants we call vegetables (well, except for grapes and berries). We also think of sweetness as part of our fruit vs vegetable classification. We consider the sweeter ones fruit... but then what about vine-ripened tomatoes? Oh well, making sense of it seems pretty hopeless.

Poll Winner
Elda Rudd was last week's winner. I shared the second loaf with this cute little Starlight mouse. Fortunately he didn't eat much. But we did. This is a good recipe, no pineapple, but lots of zucchini and some pecans. I also use a little wheat flour. If you'd like a second chance to win one of these tasty loaves, answer this week's question and email me to let me know that you participated.

Challah Mice
I've been making various pastries with our vegan challah dough in preparation for some upcoming events. The challah mice are yummy. They have a bit of semisweet chocolate inside and a sprinkling of crystalized sugar on top. I'll offer them to you as well this week. They look very cute perched on a plate of salad, a cheese plate, or a fruit platter. You never know where one will show up!

Ingredients: Organic unbleached spelt flour, all purpose flour, and bread flour, Bob’s Red Mill egg substitute, soy milk, Earth Balance butter substitute, agave nectar, salt, yeast, chocolate, crystallized sugar, almonds, cloves.

Breads of the Week

Rustic White Bread is our specialty bread this week along with Rosemary Focaccia. This is the bread made with an added wild yeast starter to increase flavor.

Rustic White Bread Ingredients: Organic bread flour, water, barm (wild yeast starter), yeast, salt.

Rosemary Focaccia Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Prices on this Week's Items

• Rustic White Bread - $5.00
• Rosemary Focaccia- $6.00
• Vegan Challah Mouse with Chocolate Heart - $1.30

Tuesday Pickup
You can pick up your orders from the our kitchen at Crumbs 5392 Hollister on Tuesdays from noon to 5 pm (usually it's 6, but we need to get home in time for the debate). We also offer Tuesday morning delivery to your place of work if that is more convenient. Feel free to stop by for a visit on Tuesday afternoons. We usually have some extra loaves of bread if you suddenly realize you really can't wait another week without a loaf of Starlight bread.

Thanks!
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Finding Solace in Chocolate

After listening to far too much news this week, I've decided to buy myself some really good chocolate. If you haven't been there yet, the place to go is Chocolate Maya at 15 W. Gutierrez St (that's down near Santa Barbara Roasting Company). Maya carries local chocolates as well as chocolates from around the world. I'm planning a little chocolate tasting tomorrow night, sharing some origin chocolate (made exclusively from one region) with some friends.

Challah Mice Winner
Last week's winner of 8 challah mice was my friend Laura who won them just in time to share them with her grandchildren this weekend.

This week's poll question will win you a tea bread made with the item in question. Email me when you've selected an answer and I will enter you in our drawing.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are on the baking schedule for this week. Baked cookies and pre-portioned frozen cookie dough are both available. The portioned cookie dough can be baked one cookie at a time in your toaster oven. My friend Lucy recently had an out-of-town guest who mentioned she was hungry for something sweet in the evening. When she went to bed, she found a plate on her pillow with two freshly-baked Starlight Bakery chocolate chip cookies. Now that's friendship!

Ingredients: Organic unbleached flour, chocolate chips, butter, brown sugar, eggs, cane sugar, walnuts, dried apricots eggs, crystallized ginger, vanilla, baking soda, salt.

Breads
This week's breads will be Rosemary Focaccia and Rosemary Potato Bread.

Rosemary Focaccia: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Rosemary Potato Bread: Organic unbleached flour, olive oil, water, potato flakes, yeast, fresh rosemary, salt, and pepper.

Prices on This Week's Special Items

• Rosemary Potato Bread - $5.00
• Rosemary Focaccia- $6.00
• 4 Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies - $3.00
• 12 Unbaked Chocolate Chip Cookies - $8.00
  

Tuesday Pickup
You can pick up your orders from the our kitchen at Crumbs 5392 Hollister on Tuesdays from noon to 6 pm. We also offer Tuesday morning delivery to your place of work if that is more convenient. Feel free to stop by for a visit on Tuesday afternoons. I have some carrot cakes and a few other delights you can buy from the freezer.

Thanks,
Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

And the Winners Are!

Yes, the correct answer to our vacation quiz was Cayucos, but the foggiest place on earth and somewhere with no phone were true as well. Jo Duffy and Denise Frey won the two carrot tea loaf cakes we had available this week.

Since I still have a lot of carrots, I think I'll make more carrot tea loaf cakes available this week for anyone who would like to order one. I freeze them and use them when I have friends over or I need a last minute special dessert. I've defrosted them after several months with no apparent loss in quality. The wheat germ, carrots, and pineapple make this a healthy treat... right?

Ingredients: Organic unbleached flour, butter, cream cheese, heavy cream, sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, carrots, pineapple, wheat germ, eggs, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla.

This Week's Drawing

I've been busy working on vegan breakfast pastries this week. That includes challah mice with chocolate hearts. As you can see, they are taking over my freezer, so I'd like to share some with one lucky winner. Answer the poll on the upper right and email me that you've entered your answer. I'll add you to our drawing for 8 challah mice. (hint: Starlight Mouse Sightings)

We had a friend over for dinner last night. Each of us had a challah mouse sitting on our plate, next to the salad. Challah mice cute and they taste good too! The entry deadline is noon on Monday.

Breads of the Week

Anita's Black Bread and Rosemary Focaccia are this week's offerings. Anita's bread is a hearty flavorful mix of rye, wheat, and white flours with chocolate, coffee, and molasses.

Anita's Black Bread Ingredients: Whole wheat flour, rye flour, bread flour (all flours are organic), raisins, butter, unsweetened chocolate, coffee, molasses, sugar, yeast, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, salt.

Rosemary Focaccia Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Prices on this Week's Items

• Carrot Tea Loaf - $10
• Anita's Black Bread - $5
• Rosemary Focaccia - $6

Email me your order Nancy@StarlightBakery.com by noon on Sunday. Pickup or delivery is on Tuesday.

Thanks and have a good week!

Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Back from Vacation

Yes, we are home after spending a relaxing five days on the coast. Taking along some Starlight Mice added a bit of whimsy to our trip.

Drawing

This week's drawing will be for a Carrot Tea Loaf. This is a carrot cake baked in a loaf pan. We add a little wheat germ instead of nuts and top it with a lightly sweetened cream cheese frosting. This cake freezes nicely, so you can save it for a special event.

To enter our drawing answer the poll on the upper right of this page. Hint: the answer is in my Starlight Mice blog at http://www.StarlightMice.blogspot.com.

To be entered, you must email me to let me know that you have participated in the poll. We will choose two winners.

Cracked Wheat Bread

Dave plans to make the cracked wheat bread again this week. It has a bit of wild yeast starter in it and a light wheatiness. Last time he made it into baguette shaped breads. This week he will do it as a boule. We ate all the samples before we found the camera last time, so I still don't have a photo. But it will look like this.

Ingredients: Organic whole wheat flour, natural yeast (barm), organic unbleached bread flour, cracked wheat kernels, ground flax seed, agave syrup, canola oil, yeast, salt.

Rosemary Focaccia

We'll also be baking Rosemary Focaccia. This bread is great with eggs for breakfast, soup for lunch, and pasta at dinner.

Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Oatmeal Orange Zest Cookies

I'll be replenishing my stock of Oatmeal Orange Zest Cookies this week. You can buy them baked or unbaked frozen. The frozen cookies are formed and ready to put into the oven or toaster oven one or more cookies at a time.

Ingredients: Organic unbleached flour, butter, raisins, sugar, honey, egg, oatmeal, pecans, cinnamon, vanilla, baking soda, salt, orange zest.


Prices on This Week's Special Items

• Cracked Wheat Bread - $5.00
• Rosemary Focaccia- $6.00
• 4 Baked Oatmeal Orange Zest Cookies - $3.00
• 12 Unbaked Oatmeal Orange Zest Cookies - $8.00
  

Tuesday Pickup
You can pick up your orders from the our kitchen at Crumbs 5392 Hollister on Tuesdays from noon to 6 pm. We also offer Tuesday morning delivery to your place of work if that is more convenient. Feel free to stop by for a visit on Tuesday afternoons... visiting with friends is our favorite part of having the bakery.

Thank you!

Nancy & Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Rosemary Mouse Sightings

We are finally on vacation. But reports of Rosemary Mouse sightings are coming in to us by email. To stay up-to-date on the spread of Rosemary Mice throughout the state, check our Rosemary Mouse sightings blog at http://www.StarlightMice.blogspot.com.

Two-Week Break

Our plan at the moment is to take a short break and go somewhere. So we will not offer any special items for the next two weeks. However if we run into some interesting food stories on the road, we'll post them.

This is your chance to diet for a couple of weeks so that you can order something really yummy when we get back.

Speaking of yummy, Carol Carter won this week's apple pie. She was at the bakery in a flash to pick it up. She said she's never won anything... up until now. She emailed me to tell me it was the best apple pie she'd ever eaten in her whole life. Whew, the pressure. Can I ever make one that good again? What exactly did I put in that pie? Oh yeah, it's those apples from Ladybug's apple tree. Our dog Ladybug looks like she weighs 350 pounds after this apple season and now she's picking the fig tree. Sigh.

Kathy's Rosemary Mice

You may recall The Story of the Rosemary Mice I shared a few weeks back from my friend in Ojai. Well guess what? I discovered one sitting on my cutting board this week! I think they are breeding.

Actually, I've been making vegan challah for the co-op (an egg bread without eggs...), and using the scraps to make challah mice, birds, and hedgehogs. This week when Dave and I were forming the Rosemary Potato Bread and Buns, we had some leftover dough so I made Rosemary Mice!

When I made a delivery yesterday to the Breast Cancer Resource Center, they were just putting together a platter of cheese and fruit. We added a Rosemary Mouse. Now who could look at that and not laugh? I can visualize these mice spreading to cheese platters across town.

Since we always have a little dough left when we loaf the breads, we may find our freezer filling up with Swedish Rye mice, Anita's Black Bread mice, Rustic White Bread mice, and Multigrain mice as well as Rosemary mice. Be sure to ask us if you are preparing a cheese platter

Rosemary mice meet to discuss breeding plans.

So off we go to places unknown. Start dieting. We'll see you in two weeks.

Thanks!

Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Grandmotherhood and Apple Pie

Congratulations to Lucy Thomas and Dale Taylor who won last week's drawing for Starlight Sticky Buns! Both winners left smiling.

Oh yeah, did I mention that I'm a grandmother?

Well, since my apple tree gave us a crop of sweet tasty apples this year (and I became a grandmother), I'm going to do a drawing this week for one ready-to-bake apple pie. My streusal topping includes homemade almond paste (made with real almonds and no artificial almond flavoring). To enter your name, you must vote in the Starlight cookie poll on the upper right of this page and email me (Nancy@StarlightBakery.com) to let me know you voted.

Your pie can be kept in the freezer until about an hour and a half before baking. Defrost, then put it into a 375 degree oven for about 1-1/2 hours. Our apples are really good this year.

Rosemary Potato Bread or Hamburger Buns

There are two options for our specialty bread this week. You can purchase it as a Rosemary Potato Boule or as hamburger buns. The buns come in groups of 6. We just used the last ones in our freezer so it's time to make more.

Ingredients: Organic flour, potato flakes, olive oil, water, rosemary, pepper, yeast and salt.

Rosemary Focaccia
Our fragrant and lovely Rosemary Focaccia will be available as well.

Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Ready-to-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies
We have a good supply of Chocolate Chip Cookies on hand, so let us know if you need some. My friend Anita had her granddaughter visiting from France this summer. She says her granddaughter enjoyed baking up these cookies for special treats.

Ingredients: Organic unbleached flour, chocolate chips, butter, brown sugar, eggs, cane sugar, walnuts, dried apricots eggs, crystallized ginger, vanilla, baking soda, salt.

Prices on This Week's Special Items

• Rosemary Potato Boule (1 lb) - $5.00
• Rosemary Potato Hamburger Buns (6) - $5.00
• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00
• 12 Unbaked Chocolate Chip Cookies (what, no Rosemary?) - $8.00
  

We've Added Tuesdays for Pickup!
Now you can pick up your orders from the our kitchen at Crumbs 5392 Hollister on Tuesdays from noon to 6 pm. We will continue to offer Tuesday morning delivery to your place of work if that is more convenient. Feel free to stop by for a visit on Tuesday afternoons... visiting with friends is our favorite part of having the bakery.

Thank you!

Nancy & Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Peanut Butter Cookies

This week I'm making frozen portioned peanut butter cookie dough. We use these a lot when we want a quick snack. Just put the frozen cookie onto the tray and pop it into the toaster oven set at 375 degrees. I usually bake about 8 minutes and then press down the centers. I bake them another 4 minutes to crisp up the edges.

This is good if you are watching your calories because they taste wonderful and they're easy to make but you can't get very many into the toaster oven.

I'll also sell them baked, but frozen is safer if you're watching calories.

Ingredients: Organic unbleached flour, butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, peanut butter.

Cracked Wheat Bread

This is actually a picture of our multigrain bread because Dave hasn't made me a loaf of cracked wheat to photograph yet. I'll change the photo as soon as I get one.

The difference between the cracked wheat and the multigrain is that it will be a bit wheatier and will have just cracked wheat rather than the variety of grains Dave uses in his multigrain.

Here is our tentative ingredient list. (It has been a busy week trying to get back to work... last night was our first baby bath, which took 4 people plus baby.)

Ingredients: Organic whole wheat flour, natural yeast (barm), organic unbleached bread flour, cracked wheat kernels, ground flax seed, agave syrup, canola oil, yeast, salt.

Rosemary Focaccia

Our weekly standard. Great for sandwiches or toasted garlic bread.

Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Prices on This Week's Items

• Unbaked Frozen Peanut Butter Cookies (12) - $8.00
• Cracked Wheat Bread (1 lb) - $5.00
• Rosemary Focaccia - $6.00

Orders and Workplace Delivery

Email me your order (Nancy@StarlightBakery.com). Our deadline is Sunday noon so that we can shop for ingredients. I will send you a confirmation email when I receive your order. If you don't receive one, email me or call me (252-0418) to confirm that I received the order.

We bake on Mondays. During the day I work on cookies, muffin mix, scones and cinnamon rolls to keep in the freezer so you can order those anytime. We bake our breads on Monday night.

We can arrange delivery to a place of work or a neighborhood (if you order with a group of friends so several customers can pick up from one place). When you email your order we can plan pickup or delivery.

Thank You!

Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers

Pure Sweetness

Yes, the great moment finally came. Saraphina has arrived. She is, of course, beautiful, sweet, and sure to be brilliant. She was born on Thursday afternoon weighing in at 7 pounds 6 ounces. Are we lucky or what? Both of her parents are well and very happy... although a bit tired.

New Blog Format

After hearing from many of our customers that they are no longer receiving our weekly newsletter, we have decided to switch to the blog format so that your weekly news will not get caught in your spam filters. This is apparently what has been happening. This means that you will need to bookmark this blog site and check it weekly for the specials of the week, food stories, and other interesting tidbits on food happenings around town. I am planning to update it on Wednesdays so that you will have more time to check it and order for the following Monday baking.

Friends of Hannah-Beth Jackson BBQ

Speaking of food, I'll be baking chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies this week for a free BBQ at Stowe Grove (580 N. La Patera Rd) to honor Gap firefighters. It takes place on Sunday August 17th from 12 pm to 3 pm. Hannah-Beth is running for State Senate so this is a chance to thank the firefighters, hear from Hannah-Beth (which is always interesting), and have some good BBQ. Or you can just come to eat my cookies. To RSVP, email barbie4HBJ@cox.net or call 967-6165.

Rustic White Bread

I know our newsletter is a little late this week, but we will be making Rustic White Bread on Monday evening (made with a wild yeast starter that gives it a bit of a sourdough taste and texture). If you want to order some loaves, let us know by Monday noon and we'll include your order in the count.

Ingredients: Organic bread flour, water, barm (wild yeast starter), yeast, and salt.

Rosemary Focaccia

We are also making our Rosemary Foccaccia, as usual.

Ingredients: Organic flour, yeast, water, olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper.

Prices on This Week's Items

• Rustic White Bread (1 lb.) - $5.00 ea.
  
• Rosemary Focaccia (1 lb.) - $6.00 ea.
  

Orders and Workplace Delivery

Email me your order (Nancy@StarlightBakery.com). Our deadline is normally Sunday noon so that we can shop for ingredients. However, this week we will take orders until Monday noon since we are a day late in getting our newsletter published.

I will send you a confirmation email when I receive your order. If you don't receive one, email me or call me (252-0418) to confirm that I received the order.

We bake on Mondays. During the day I work on cookies, muffin mix, scones and cinnamon rolls to keep in the freezer so you can order those anytime. We bake our breads on Monday night.

We can arrange delivery to a place of work or a neighborhood (if you order with a group of friends so several customers can pick up from one place). When you email your order we can plan pickup or delivery.

Thank You!

Nancy and Dave Oster, Starlight Bakers