Posted March 8, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
The Little Mister LOVES pizza, so that’s what we had at his Where the Wild Things Are birthday party last month. There were almost 50 people at the party (we’re a big family), so we ordered out. But if there had been fewer people, I would have made a pizza crown or two! These are really fun for children’s parties, and they come together in a snap. I’m a fan of any party food that makes a lot of servings without a lot of trouble.
This particular recipe comes from a pizza Christmas tree I saw on Pinterest, with a few slight changes. I used pepperoni and fresh basil as fillings, but you can use whatever you want! Just make sure the pieces are small enough that when you seal the pizza ball nothing tears a hole in the dough.
Read More
Posted March 1, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments
Early last month, we celebrated the Little Mister’s 1st birthday at his grandparents house. It was crowded, loud, and fun–everything a children’s party should be–as family came from far and wide to celebrate with us. The party had a Where the Wild Things Are theme, which I picked out an embarrassingly long time ago (aka literally weeks after I brought the Little Mister home from the hospital).
I figure there are only so many of his birthday’s I’ll get to make all the design decisions for, so we’re doing book themed parties for as long as he’ll let me! 😉 I thought it would be fun to make a menu based on all the foods we ate at the party, so that’s kind of what we’re doing this month. However, I’d be lying if I said this was EXACTLY what we ate at the party. That would require things going according to plan…and me cooking for almost 50 people…and to that I say HA.
I wound up making regular deviled eggs for the party, but these precious little egg boats are what WOULD have happened if I hadn’t forgotten to dye the eggs before I started filling them. I was kinda bummed that my vision never made it to the real party, but I whipped up a mini batch this week so I could share them with you all here on the blog. Maybe they’ll get a chance to make a little boy smile at one of YOUR parties! 🙂
Read More
Posted February 22, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments
I made a gingerbread house last month for my Grimm’s Fairy Tales menu, so at first it felt weird making another gingerbread house so soon. But how could I not when the house of Wuthering Heights is so iconic AND gingerbread is the most prominent dessert in the book? 🙂 Plus, I loved the idea of trying a different look for my next gingerbread project. I didn’t want to just copy and paste the structure and style from my last gingerbread escapade, so I decided to increase the challenge by adding detailed icing work, putting “glass” in the windows, and making the house two stories high. I thought of making it a HAUNTED gingerbread manor, but the ones I looked at for ideas were pretty elaborate. I didn’t think my skill set was there yet (this is still only the second gingerbread house I’ve made as an adult), so I stuck with a more classical design. I loved the thatched roof effect of the Mini Wheats on my last roof, but this time I went with chocolate Belvita Bites for a more traditional shingle pattern.
Like last time, I used a dough recipe from Sprinkle Bakes (this time a double batch) and an icing recipe from Make It and Love It. This time I incorporated Pretty Cake Machine’s advice to use brown icing for all the structural work, and I LOVE how much cleaner all the edges look.
Throw in a gingerbread ghost and a scowling gingerbread Heathcliff, and you’re all set for life at Wuthering Heights!
Read More
Posted February 15, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
The lowly, modest turnip. I’ll admit I rarely (if ever) give it a second glance in the produce section. I’m guilty of passing it up hundreds of times in favor of more attractive veggies like a bunch of fresh carrots or a head of bright green broccoli.
Yet when I saw that turnips are one of the few prominent side dishes in Wuthering Heights, I knew I needed to find a way to make them enjoyable. For me, this means ROASTING. I am a firm believer that if you’re having trouble getting yourself to eat your vegetables, a little olive oil and salt with some time in the oven goes a long way.
This recipe I found from Kalyn’s Kitchen takes it a step further and adds some balsamic vinegar for extra oomph. She suggests tossing the roasted turnips in a light coating of balsamic at the very end as well, and I highly recommend it. Turnips are mild little guys, so I think they benefit from just a bit of zing from the extra balsamic.
Read More
Posted February 8, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
Goose: it’s a dish I’ve put off cooking for years because of the horror stories I’ve heard about how hard it is to make. It’s thrilling to finally step up and tackle something you’ve always found intimidating, and even more so when your first attempt goes really well.
When I decided to make roast goose as my Wuthering Heights entree, I began the hunt for a recipe that was both manageable and reliably successful. This was surprisingly difficult. I saw recipes that insisted you must sear and flip the goose in a roasting pan to get a brown color without overcooking, others that called for multiple extra recipes like glaze and stuffing, and still more that claimed it was impossible to evenly cook a whole goose (and that the only solution was to carve it before cooking). I felt discouraged and more than a little fearful. Goose can cost upwards of $60, and I did NOT want to screw this up.
Then I found this wonderful recipe from The Woks of Life. It had more steps than some of the recipes I’d seen, but it was easier to follow and didn’t require anything weird like searing the bird in a separate pan. It was an orange five-spice goose recipe, which sounded delicious. The seasoning also caused it to roast darker than the average goose, helping to avoid the issue of a finished birth that’s too light on top. The only downside was that the flavor profile was a little inaccurate for Victorian England, but given the circumstances, I think we can overlook it. 😉
The bird turned out beautiful on my very first try. It was seasoned perfectly, and the meat was tender and rich. I felt so proud when I pulled it out of the oven, and although it’s a little pricey for a regular weeknight meal, I would have no problems making this if my family ever wants to give Christmas goose a try!
Read More
Posted February 1, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 5 Comments
Last May, I got an email from a reader requesting a Wuthering Heights menu, and I was thrilled. It was the first time anyone had ever contacted me with a menu request, though I’ll admit I was also a little nervous since I’d never read Wuthering Heights before. I was afraid I might not like it, and I have a personal rule of not making menus for books I don’t like. Still, I promised to read it with hopes that all would go well.
And I thoroughly enjoyed it! Gothic romance holds a special place in my heart, and I loved Emily Bronte’s descriptions of the bleak moor and Cathy’s desolate ghost. I finished it quickly and immediately started planning a menu. February seemed like the perfect time to premiere it, what with all the stark, gray weather outside. So here it finally is!
I love the food’s Victorian flair throughout the book: goose, porridge, oatcakes, etc. There are also several references to tea and cake, so I decided to take that as the inspiration for my appetizer. One common form of tea cake is seed cake, a quick bread with caraway or poppy seed mixed through the batter. Although caraway is more traditional, I’m not a big fan of the flavor, so I decided to go with poppy seed. I also wanted to incorporate the oranges that are mentioned in the book, so orange poppy seed cake it is! The recipe I use here is mostly based on this blood orange poppy seed cake from The Whole Bite.
I was definitely eager to get to work on this! One downside of planning my menus so far ahead is that I don’t always get to make what I’m in the mood to cook, but I was SO in the mood for this. The weather lately has been gray and depressing, and a citrusy, not-too-sweet quick bread was just what I wanted. And this bread didn’t disappoint! It was tender without being too delicate, dense without being heavy, and absolutely beautiful. The glossy effect from the glaze is fantastic. And the flavor was perfect—just enough orange and just enough sweetness. Everyone in the house (including the baby) loved it. It was gone is just a few days!
Read More
Posted January 25, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 2 Comments
Here it is: the pièce de résistance of our Grimm’s Fairy Tales menu! When you all voted in December on which fairy tales you wanted to see in our Grimm menu, Hansel and Gretel easily snagged the most votes. Since I knew this particular recipe would be highly anticipated, I wanted to make sure it was something special. Luckily, gingerbread cottages are about as special as they come. 😉
This was actually my first time making a gingerbread house as an adult, and my very first time ever making one from scratch. Since I’m planning a gingerbread house for another menu coming up as well, I decided to use this gingerbread cottage as a chance to test out cookie and icing recipes, along with tips and tricks from the pros. I wound up using Sprinkle Bake’s gingerbread recipe, which I loved. It was flavorful with a pleasant texture, while still sturdy enough to make a structurally stable house. I used Make It and Love It’s icing recipe, which came together in a snap. I also relied heavily on the gingerbread expertise of Katharina from Pretty Cake Machine, who shares a lot of her gingerbread tips and tricks here.
Read More
Posted January 18, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments
Time for our Little Red Riding Hood recipe! Unlike Rumpelstiltskin, which required me to get a little creative with finding a recipe, I knew from the beginning what I wanted to make for Red’s recipe: the bread she brings her grandmother! Of course, plain old white sandwich bread wouldn’t do. I wanted something different, something special. I decided to make 3 kinds of bread rolls—all of them German, since that’s the kind of bread the Brothers Grimm version of Red would be carrying. I gathered a list of traditional German breads and chose the three that I felt were the prettiest, most distinctive, and most iconic of the culture. Pretzels, cinnamon raisin braids, and kaiser rolls made the final cut! Kaiser rolls are technically Austrian, but since they’re served in Germany too, I decided to give them a pass. 😉 And since I was totally new to making pretzels, I used the baking instructions from Sally’s Baking Addiction as a guide.
When the idea occurred to me to make 3 kinds of bread, I was a little intimidated at first. That’s a lot to get done in one week. Still, I loooved the idea and didn’t want to abandon it. I decided the best way was to use frozen dough as a base for all 3 bread rolls and prepare the dough differently for each one. This would allow me to cut down on prep time and dishes, and as an added bonus, it would be a great way to showcase the versatility of a basic white dough.
I had a blast making these bread rolls, and they were a hit at our house (especially the pretzels!). The Little Mister loves bread in any form, and when he realized you could put raisins in it (one of his favorite snacks), the kid just about lost his mind. Maybe we’ll throw some in a basket and take them to grandma’s house this weekend!
Read More
Posted January 11, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 5 Comments
Entree time! I was a little surprised when Rumpelstiltskin beat out classics like Snow White and Cinderella in our Grimm’s Fairy Tale poll in December, but I was also excited. It meant I was gonna have a chance to get creative!
While I was trying to decide what to make for my Rumpelstiltskin recipe, I kept fixating on the idea of turning straw into gold. It made me think of spaghetti and how the stiff, unappetizing sticks of uncooked pasta can be turned into something delicious with just a little water. I don’t have the chance to make pasta on the blog very often, so I took the idea and ran with it!
I knew I wanted something simple but elegant, something that showcased the pasta itself while still appealing to the tastes of someone as discerning as Rumpelstiltskin (I imagine someone with the ability to spin gold whenever he wants can probably afford to have refined taste). I found this brown butter Parmesan pasta recipe from The Kitchn and LOVED it! I tweaked just a few things to make it my own and served it with dinner the same night. It was a big hit!
Read More
Posted January 4, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments
In December, I asked you guys to vote on which fairy tales you wanted to see in my Brothers’ Grimm menu this month, and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” was in one of the top spots. I was thrilled, since this was one of my favorite stories growing up, and I had a great idea for a recipe: white chocolate-covered strawberry ballet slippers! I’ve seen them done in pink on Pinterest, so to make them more my own, I did them in a variety of colors and set them up as 12 distinct pairs of shoes. I love how bright and cheery the final slippers looked!
I normally do an appetizer as my first dish each month, but even though these are a little too sweet to be a true appetizer, they were just too fun to pass up! In fact, they’re easy enough that I’d recommend them as a fun activity for older children (maybe 8 years old and up). It makes me wish we had a little ballet dancer in the family so I could make them for a birthday party! 🙂
Read More
