These little sweeties are the invention of Nico Lopez, age 4, who decided that pie dough and his gingerbread man cookie cutter were meant for each other.

Sweetie Pies are flaky pie dough babies filled with sweet fresh fruit. $1.50 Each

Peach Plum Pie with a Whole Grain Crust, perfect for ringing in the harvest!
9″, Serves 12 – 16
$40

Strawberry Lemon Wedding Cake with Vanilla Merengue Buttercream Icing

Red Gerbera Daisies and Baby’s Breath, sugared strawberries and vanilla merengue buttercream icing on the outside, fresh strawberries and homemade lemon curd between layers of fluffy white cake within. Served 150. It was made with love and recieved with much of the same!

Mulberry Gooseberry Blackberry Pie in an Almond Pastry Crust
9″, Serves 12 – 16
$40

Strawberry Shortcake with Whipped Cream and Fresh Strawberries

Every Rise Up Baking cake is personalized for you, your family, your ceremony. Our birthday cakes and wedding cakes can serve up to 150 guests and be delivered to anywhere in New York City.

We focus on using sustainably grown and organic ingredients purchased directly from small local farmers.  All our cakes can be ordered dairy-free, egg-free, vegan, gluten free or diabetic-safe.

Contact riseupbaking@gmail.com for pricing and details.

Rise Up Baking has been invited to table at Farm Spot, a CSA in Jackson Heights, Queens, NYC. Between 5:00 and 8:00pm you will find us among the vendor tables with the likes of Hotbread Kitchen, Bierkraft and Dines Farms, hawking our pastries, bread, beer, cheese, eggs and meat to hungry CSA members as they pick up their weekly share of veggies and fruits from The Golden Earthworm Farm. (Cue “We’re In the Money”, “Rakin’ In The Dough”, or other relevant song to play through your head…. Good.)

Biscuits.

I lived 29 years without biscuits. I have no idea how I made it.

Fortunately, two dear friends of our family saved me from a biscuit-less life when Nico was two, when we stayed at their house for a few weeks in August. Between back-breaking days helping them clear their wild blueberry patch, weed the garden, finish the porch and re-roof the trailer, Carol (a.k.a. “Woods Nana”) ceremoniously plopped Nico into the old metal highchair, strapped on the apron and proceeded to induct him into the world of Woods Nana’s Biscuits. Below, a taste of summer in the backwoods of Brighton, Maine: Baking, eating, fetching water and picking berries.

Welcome, friends, to Oven Season.

This is one of my favorite reasons for loving winter, the season when we joyously bake all the time, reveling in the warmth of the oven (as opposed to April – October, when I would love to sell it back to our landlord).

One of the best ways to celebrate the need for a warm house is to bake something that calls for a very, very hot oven: Pizza!

*The toppings used by my apprentice (above, bottom) are seasonally available – good luck finding grape tomatoes that taste like anything in December. Instead, go for juicy red onions, chorizo, sauteed mushrooms (all above, top). You can use hard parmesan slices, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, olives, garlic, and just about any kind of cheese you can think of. For a base you can use marinara sauce, but sometimes I’ll use pesto sauce or plain olive oil for a totally different taste. There really is no wrong way to make a pizza.

So, remember Rise Up Baking’s cure for cabin fever:

1. Make lots of pizza dough, or email Rise Up Baking to place your order.
2. Call your friends. Tell them to bring what ever they have in their fridge.
3. Turn the oven on, get creative and enjoy!

You can order pizza dough from Rise Up Baking! Email riseupbaking@gmail.com or, if you’re feeling like baking, go to the RECIPES page for a great dough recipe.

Enjoy!
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Ever hear your body say “No more food for a while, please”?

For those of you who had too many bites of buttery baked goodness after turkey last night (or who didn’t even make it to desert), here is a great recipe for helping your body get back to normal.

The term “cleanse” can mean many things, but I am using it to simply mean “intentionally giving your digestive system a rest”. After a huge family dinner, I like to make a big batch of the drink below the next morning and sip it, diluted with water, throughout the day. I often eat if I feel hungry or don’t if I don’t; other people fast by intentionally skipping one meal, a whole day or a few days worth of solid foods to help their body re-center itself. (I don’t recommend doing this unless you read up on it a bit; with some googling there are many great books and websites to help you embark on a serious fasting cleanse).

Cleansing is great to do, not only after you eat too much, but after any period of great physical or emotional stress, or to mark time and creating a “new beginning”. However you choose to cleanse, the basic lemon cleanse is a great drink to flush your system out after a big holiday meal.

BASIC LEMON JUICE CLEANSE

2 tablespoons FRESH squeezed lemon or lime juice (approx. 1/2 lemon)
2 tablespoons maple syrup, Grade B and organic if you can get it (the darker the better)*
a small pinch cayenne pepper, more if you can handle it
10-14 oz pure water

Enjoy and be well!
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In What’s On Your Plate (2009), two NYC kids lead their audience on a journey in this documentary, focusing on local kids’ experience with kid’s food culture, and exploring how accessible alternatives are for young people.

I’m really, really, reallyreallyreally excited about it.

Enjoy!
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