SABBATUS – Denise Fickett is well-known among her family and friends for her candies. The holidays are a great time for her since she enjoys making desserts, pies, cheesecakes and candies. She’d like to learn more about pastry-making too. “I’d love to be able to work somewhere and make pastries all day,” says Fickett.
Fickett, who attended Culinary Arts School in Florida, has a degree as a certified culinarian. She says that she would have liked to have focused her degree on pastry making, but it would have taken too much time. For her degree, she had to log 3,000 cooking hours. But if she had focused on pastries, she says, “I would have had to make 6,000 kinds of pastries.”
While Fickett did work in an elementary school in Florida as a baker, she is currently employed in a non-cooking job at Community Partners in Lewiston.
Fickett loves to cook for others.
“I enjoy watching people enjoy it – like homemade bread,” she said, noting she has shared a loaf of bread with someone who had never had homemade bread.
People like Fickett’s cinnamon swirl bread so much that a country club near her used to buy it to make French toast. She has graciously shared this recipe with our readers – a great holiday breakfast treat!
In preparation for holiday baking, Fickett offers the following advice: “When it comes to baking, I never use anything but Crisco and real butter. If you use real vanilla, you can tell the difference.”
Fickett also has a great hint for cooking a cheesecake that will have a lot fewer cracks. “Cook it in hot water,” she says. “Put cheesecake in a springform pan, cover it with foil and place in a baking pan with hot water and put in the stove.”
She said some of her friends are bugging her to make a cookbook. “I’ve been trying to get my recipes together and typed up.”
Fickett and her husband, Roger, have two grown children, several grandchildren and one great-grandchild. She enjoys bowling, miniature golf and reading.
Creamy teaberry patties
(From Taste of Home)
Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons teaberry extract
9 cups confectioners’ sugar
1½ pounds dipping chocolate
Method:
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and extract until smooth. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating well. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place on wax-paper-lined baking sheets. Flatten into patties. Cover and refrigerate for one hour or until chilled. In a microwave or double boiler, melt chocolate; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Dip patties in melted chocolate; place on waxed paper until firm. Store in the refrigerator. Makes 4 dozen
Cinnamon swirl bread
Ingredients:
6 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 envelopes rapid-rise yeast
2 cups water
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cinnamon
1 stick butter, melted
Method:
Set aside 1 cup of all-purpose flour from the total amount. Mix remaining flour, sugar, salt and rapid-rise yeast in a large bowl. Heat water, milk and butter until hot to the touch (125 degrees to 130 degrees). Stir hot liquids into dry mixture. Mix in enough flour to make a soft dough that does not stick to the bowl. Turn out onto floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Cover dough and let rest 10 minutes. Cut dough in half and roll out, spread each with half of the melted butter and sprinkle each with half of the sugar and cinnamon. Roll and make into loaves. Place in 9- by 5-inch lightly greased loaf pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 40 to 50 minutes. Bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on wire rack. Makes two loaves.
French toast
Ingredients:
4 eggs
½ cup milk
8 slices cinnamon swirl bread (see above)
1 stick butter
Maple syrup
Confectioners’ sugar
Method:
Mix eggs and milk together. Melt two tablespoons of butter in frying pan, dip bread in egg mixture and cook on medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Place on heated plate and spread with your choice of butter, maple syrup and confectioners’ sugar. Place a couple of slices of fruit on plate.
Chicken cordon bleu
Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts (boneless)
8 slices ham
8 slices cheese, either Monterey Jack or Swiss
1½ cups flour
3 eggs, blended well
1½ cups bread crumbs
Method:
Pound out boneless chicken, until thin, between two pieces of plastic wrap. When thin, lay two slices of ham on top of chicken, then two slices of cheese, then roll up together. First roll in flour, then egg mixture, then bread crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees in greased baking dish for 30 to 35 minutes.
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