AMAZING HOLIDAY PIE ART DESIGNS!!

hen it comes to beautiful desserts, cakes often get all the credit. It’s easy to see why—with spectacular trends like buttercream flowers and sculpted sugar brushstrokes, there’s a definite “wow” factor with these confections. But you can’t underestimate the power of creative pies. Lauren Ko, a home baker from Seattle, produces spectacular pie crusts that are as much a work of art as they are tasty.

Many of Ko’s pies utilize a lattice pastry approach, but with a twist. She will arrange the long, thin strips of dough in complex weaving and graceful crisscrossing patterns. The results often frame the pie fillings; in some of her recent creations, the lattices enclose a bunch of berries for a bullseye-style design, while another pie has a mandala-like shape in the center.

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FIRST ANNUAL BOURBON AND BEYOND FESTIVAL SEPT 23-24 2017

New BOURBON AND BEYOND Festival Announces its Headlining Lineup of Top Chefs, Bourbon Experts, and World-Class Musicians to Take Over Louisville for One Weekend Only on September 23rd & 24th 2017

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

FEATURING: The Finest Kentucky Bourbons Curated by Top Bourbon Experts, One-Of-A-Kind Creations From Louisville and The Country's Most Celebrated Chefs & Beyond

PERFORMANCES BY: Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder, Steve Miller Band, Joe Bonamassa, Band of Horses, Gary Clark Jr., Paul Rodgers and More

LOUISVILLE, Ky. Danny Wimmer Presents is thrilled to announce the official headliners and first phase of musicians, chefs, food and beverage experiences for BOURBON AND BEYOND, its bold, new, bourbon-inspired festival taking place for the first time on Saturday, September 23 and Sunday, September 24, 2017 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Recognized for his monumental music festivals, Danny Wimmer's newest venture moves above and beyond music. Together with best-selling author and acclaimed bourbon authority, Fred Minnick, and nationally-celebrated Louisville chef, Edward Lee, Danny Wimmer Presents blends the best elements of a bourbon festival, a food festival, and a music festival into one all-encompassing celebration in honor of the soul and spirit of Kentucky.

BOURBON AND BEYOND will be an enriching weekend featuring the best bourbons, master distillers, national and local chefs, bartenders, musicians, and many other artisans.

The Big Bourbon Bar: A 20,000-square-foot bar featuring delicious bourbon cocktails presented by the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The Hunter's Club: A bourbon hound's dream come true with experimental, rare, and hard-to-find bourbons.

The Bourbon Barrel Cooperage: A behind-the-scenes look at how coopers craft the oak barrels used to age bourbon.

The Distillery: An interactive experience to discover the life of a master blender, taster, and distiller.

Bourbon Workshops: Access to bourbon's best and brightest in a series of free and intimate distilling, bartending, pairing, and cooking workshops.

HOW CANDY CANES ARE MADE

A candy cane is a hard cane-shaped candy stick. It is traditionally white with red (Since 1900 when red coloring was added) stripes and flavored with peppermint however, it is also made in a variety of other flavors and may be decorated with stripes of different colors and thicknesses. The candy cane is available year-round, but traditionally surrounds the Christmas holiday.

In its early form, the candy cane began as a simple white stick of sugar for children to enjoy - there was no "cane" shape or stripes to speak of. While it is uncertain where the first canes originated, it is clear that by the mid-17th century, if not earlier, its use had already become widespread across Europe.

These sticks were made by confectioners who had to pull, cut, twist, and (in later years) bend the sugar sticks by hand, making it a time-intensive process. Candy cane production had to be done locally, since they were easily damaged and vulnerable to moisture. The labor required, and difficulty of storage, combined to make these candies relatively hard to get, although popular.

The distinctive "hook" shape associated with candy canes is traditionally credited to a choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany, who, legend has it, in 1670 bent straight candy sticks into canes to represent a shepherd's crook, and gave them to children at church services.

The stripes are made similar in fashion to a barber's pole, with the red stripes twisting around the white stick of sugar. These signature stripes did not become part of the candy cane until the 20th century.

It is uncertain who first started using the stripes, but evidence of their use only appears after the turn of the century. At around this time, candy makers began using peppermint as a flavor. One of the first documented candy canes in this form is the Polkagris, invented in 1859.