The holidays are a time for celebration, including the enjoyment of traditional and special meals. To help get you in the mood, three Whatcom County restaurant professionals, whose passion for food includes cooking for a living, share their lives, their gastronomic inspirations, their kitchen secrets, and a recipe for the season.
KATHY WHEELER, LYNDEN DUTCH BAKERY
Cake decorator and baker
Lynden Dutch Bakery
421 Front St., Lynden
360-354-3911
Bio
Kathy Wheeler was 8 or 9 years old when she started baking 50 years ago, influenced by her mother, Bea Petersen, whom she still considers was one of the best pie makers in Whatcom County.
"I really liked baking, even when I made mistakes," she says. "Mom found my mistakes for me; and there were a lot of them."
After high school, Wheeler took classes at Bellingham Technical College and specialized as a cake decorator for nearly 15 years. With more educational courses in Seattle and California, she eventually branched out into all forms of baking.
Home life
Married with grown children, Wheeler lives in her grandparent's former home in the Lettered Streets neighborhood of Bellingham, next door to where her parents once lived.
"My husband does not cook and isn't allowed in the kitchen unless he's making microwave popcorn," she says with amusement.
Kitchen secrets
"My KitchenAid mixer is the best appliance I have, and I've used this one for 20 years."
If she needs special ingredients, she's allowed to order them through the bakery, although she doesn't cook everything like her mom did.
"My Mom's pies used lard," she says, "but I use shortening now."
A secret ingredient at the bakery, she says, is that the cream pies contain ice cream.
Most unusual orders
"I decorated with icing an entire case of beer once, and I just did a flag cake with a hammerhead shark coming out of it."
Work influences
"I love working in a bakery. It makes me feel good to make a great product that people like. I like to bake at home, but often I give away things to my neighbors and my kids."
Holiday favorites
"The Lynden Bakery's pies are the most popular item all year long, especially the caramel apple pie and fresh berry. But during the holidays we also create real Dutch treats like the 'speculaas,' a molasses ginger spice cookie, using a 100 year-old machine. We hand-crank the dough into different designs.
"We also make girl and boy Dutch figures wrapped individually for stocking stuffers. Another big seller is oliebollen, which is like a doughnut hole, containing special secret ingredients, apples and nutmeg.
"At home I decorate yule logs, a chocolate rolled cake with custard filling decorated with candles and poinsettias. The family is also fond of peanut butter balls, chocolate cheesecake, Mexican tea cakes and mincemeat made with venison from my grandmother's recipe."
RECIPE: SUPREME CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE
Crust
1 1/2 cups crushed creme-filled chocolate cookies
1/4 cup margarine, melted
Filling
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
3 eggs
12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate pieces, melted
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese
Icing
1/3 cup margarine
1/2 cup powdered sugar
16-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate pieces, melted
2 teaspoons orange-flavored liqueur
Directions
Combine cookie crumbs and margarine, press onto bottom of 9-inch spring form pan.
Combine cream cheese and milk, mixing at medium speed with electric mixer until well blended.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in chocolate and vanilla; pour over crust.
Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Loosen cake from rim of pan; cool before removing rim of pan.
Beat margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add chocolate and liqueur, mixing until well blended. Frost top and sides of cheesecake. Chill. Serves 10 to 12.
MATT HANSEN, BOUNDARY BAY
Chef
Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro
1107 Railroad Ave., Bellingham; 360-647-5593
Bio
Born in south San Francisco and raised in California, it took Hansen until his early 20s to discover that he loved cooking as a profession. A former political science major, and then a writer, he gravitated toward food because "I had a knack for it and it's creative."
He graduated from Bellingham Technical College in 2009 and has worked at Boundary Bay Brewery and Bistro for three and a half years. Hansen also caters small events on the side.
Home life
Married with no children, Hansen loves the relaxation of cooking at home. "It's different than at work," he says. "We're feeding 200 people at work. It's stressful. At home I can take the time to enjoy the sensory pleasure of cooking, the tastes, smells and sounds. It's a mélange of inputs. I could take 6 hours to make a stock. I don't necessarily cook the same things at home as I do at work, but beer has had a huge influence on my cooking.
Social Life
Hansen likes to be left alone after work to recharge, cooking for himself and his wife, who is busy with a full-time job.
Kitchen secrets
"I'm a caveman cook at home," Hansen says. "I forgo kitchen appliances and make everything by hand, even whipped cream, putting on music and getting totally lost in the process. I have a KitchenAid covered in dust."
"I love Asian markets; you never know what you'll find, like kefir lime leaves for a Thai influence. I also like exploring what's fresh at Joe's Garden or Youngstocks. If I didn't have to work on Saturdays, I'd go to the downtown farmers market."
Work influences
"I like the broad spectrum of foods we cook at work, and like an influence of lots of countries and flavors. Cooking with beer or other alcohol adds many layers of flavor to a dish. Working at a brewery offers lots of opportunities to experiment."
Holiday favorites
"One of my holiday favorites is a braised beef shank in stout beer. I think roasted and braised meats really lend themselves to the holidays. I also like to make chocolate spongecake rolled with mint with a berry coulis, or desserts made with mulled wine."
RECIPE: BEER BRAISED LAMB SHANK
Ingredients
11/2 to 3 pounds lamb foreshank
1 onion, julienned
6 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup Boundary Bay Oatmeal Stout
beef stock, enough to cover the shanks
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, for garnish
Directions
Put enough oil in the bottom of a Dutch oven to cover the bottom. After the oil is hot, drop the shanks in. Season with salt and pepper and cook each side 2-4 minutes, until deep brown
Add onion, garlic and herbs. Pour in beer and scrape the bottom of the pan.
Pour enough beef stock into the pot to submerge the shanks. Depending on the shanks and the size of your pot, it could be 2 to 4 cups.
Reduce heat to very low, cover, and simmer 4 to 5 hours.
The braising liquid can be made into a sauce by taking half of it and pouring it into a separate pan. Reduce by half and add 1/2 cup of cream. If the sauce's beer taste is too strong, add more cream.
Continue to reduce until the sauce reaches a consistency where it coats your tasting spoon. Finish with 1 teaspoon of butter.
Season to taste.
Garnish with fresh thyme.
RICK BAXTER, SKYLARK'S
Chef
Skylark's Hidden Café
1308 11th St., Bellingham; 360-715-3642
Bio
At age 8, with parents who worked late, Rick Baxter discovered he had a knack for food when he began cooking dinner for himself and his younger brother.
"It just clicked in my head," he says. "I was really good at it and found I could create things without using a recipe and knew how they would taste."
By watching television and practicing, he created hits like spaghetti in barbecue sauce at age 12. He took home economics in high school and went to work for Round Table Pizza at 16.
Baxter was out on his own by age 18, working for Our House Deli, learning all aspects of the restaurant profession, including baking. The catering and restaurant was so busy that he sometimes slept in the restaurant rather than go home.
Baxter worked his way through Bellingham Technical College and received a degree at age 26. Then he joined Skylark's Hidden Café. Now 32, he's been working in restaurants for half of his life.
Home life
A single father with a 15-month-old boy, Baxter spends his time off with his son. "He's the brightest kid and the brightest thing in my life," he says.
Asked if his son might go into cooking, he says, "It's important to do something that you love to do and I'll see if that's what he wants. I do it because it's my passion."
Baxter lives simply, riding a bicycle to and from Skylark's. "I'm happy every day. I live on very little and I cook without needing to buy every little gadget."
He has helped write a vegan cookbook and is working on gluten-free recipes for friends.
"There is so much available out there now to use," he says.
Kitchen secrets
"My most cherished kitchen item is my egg pan," says Baxter. "I bought it at a restaurant store. It was my splurge."
He doesn't own a mixer, preferring to make things such as pie dough by hand.
"I learned that the oils in your hands can act with the dough, and it helps the texture. It's always consistent that way."
His other "musts" include using a timer when baking, and cleaning as he works.
Baxter shops at Cost Cutter, (it's near his house), Asian stores and the Community Food Co-op.
Work influences
"Don's (Skylark's owner) clam chowder recipe is one of the best I've ever had. I've been able to recreate it both in vegan and gluten-free at home."
Holiday favorites
With his entire family living in Washington, holidays are held at a cousin's house. "I'm a pastry guy, doing the pies or the fudge," he says.
With diabetics in the family, he has mastered a diabetic, gluten-free pumpkin pie made with Splenda. "Everyone says it tastes like regular pumpkin pie," he says.
RECIPE: PUMPKIN PIE (DIABETIC-FRIENDLY, GLUTEN FREE)
Crust
2 cups gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup ice water
3/4 cup shortening
Directions
Mix flour and salt, cutting in the shortening until the texture looks like crumbles. Add ice water 1/8 cup at a time and mix together until it forms a ball.
Work with your hands the rest of the way until it is a perfect ball, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1-2 hours.
Filling
15-ounce can of pumpkin
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
14-ounce can unsweetened condensed milk
2 eggs slightly beaten
1/2 cup Splenda
Directions
Mix pumpkin and spices, then slowly add remaining ingredients until thoroughly mixed.
Roll out pie dough and place in standard pie pan. Pour ingredients into prepared pie shell.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees and bake 30-45 minutes.
Thoroughly cool pie before serving.
