MONDAY ESSENTIALS: It's National Pastry Day, Forget the Guilt

It’s not like those with a big sweet tooth need an excuse to enjoy a good pastry, especially around the holidays, but today is National Pastry day.

Yes there is such a day. Go ahead and enjoy that cupcake. According to several sites we checked into, pastries and breads can trace their roots as far as ancient Egypt. A lot of the old recipes – i.e., Baklava – are still as tempting as they were when they were being served centuries ago.

Now-a-days, National Pastry Day aims to encourage everyone to pick up something sweet; it encourages people to bake, if they can.

Of course there are ready to bake cookies and already made cakes and pies, which work fine. A few brave souls, like your author here, like to try “from scratch” recipes.

Here are a few recipes that you might want to try. But we want you to share your favorite pastries. What’s your favorite sweet? We'd love for you to share your favorite recipe too.

• Snickerdoodle cookies
• A Yule Log. This hopefully may be an easier recipe than most.
  
• Pastel de Tres Leches, aka Three Milk Cake (Latin favorite.)
• Gingerbread cookies
  
• Pecan Pie