Category: Book of the Month Recipes

Raised Cheese Bread

Posted September 4, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

This post is not sponsored by TALES OF THE SHIRE or Wētā Workshop Game Studio.

Welcome to the first recipe in my TALES OF THE SHIRE menu! I’ve been looking forward to this game ever since it was first announced in 2023, and I’ve been playing it nonstop since it came out in July. I love the cozy aesthetic, relaxed pace, and—of course—deeply integrated cooking system.

There are 120 recipes to learn, and much of the game’s progress is tied up in inviting other local hobbits over for meals. Many of the recipes require general ingredients, and whatever specific ingredient you choose to fill that slot affects the flavor of the dish. For example, a recipe might just call for mushrooms, but using chanterelles can make the dish spicy while morels make it bitter. I love how the cooking skill slowly expands, adding more cooking stations to your kitchen, which allow you to further transform the flavors and increase the quality of each dish.

It was difficult to narrow down which recipes I wanted to use for this menu, but I knew for sure I wanted to include a hearty homemade bread. One of the early recipes you learn is Raised Cheese Bread, which requires flour, yeast, cheese, and onion.

For the base dough, I reworked the dough from the Dracula Dinner Rolls in my cookbook, A LITERARY HOLIDAY PARTY. It makes a delightfully soft, fluffy, almost smooshy bread, which was exactly the texture I wanted. I mixed shredded Cheddar into the dough, as well as grated fresh onion and snipped fresh chives. Although chives aren’t listed in the ingredient list for Raised Cheese Bread, they are an available seasoning in the game, and the thumbnail image of the bread shows little green flecks in the dough. For the finishing touch, I topped the bread with as much shredded Cheddar as it would hold.

This bread is so soft and perfect slathered with butter, and the fresh onion and Cheddar complement each other well. I LOVED this and will definitely make it again. The recipe makes two loves, and I brought one to a get together with friends—they ate it right up!

Changeling Dumplings

Posted August 21, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Today’s final DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON recipe is a 3-in-1: three flavors of dumpling in one recipe, inspired by the array of dumplings the characters eat after being transformed by a changeling mushroom ring. This is my favorite episode in the whole season because my favorite character, Senshi the dwarf, gets temporarily turned into an elf. Wherever he walks, the air around him blooms with flowers and glitters with sparkles. 😆

Senshi makes fried dumplings, and in a moment of inspiration, he passes the dumplings through the mouth of a changeling statue, transforming the food into a variety of tasty dumplings.

Only a few are described, so I used those as the inspiration for my three flavors. Izutsumi says one of the dumplings is filled with Barometz meat, a dungeon monster that looks like a lamb, so I filled one dumpling with ground lamb seasoned with garlic and onion. Marcille bites into a dumpling filled with stretchy yellow cheese, so I made one stuffed with Velveeta. Laos says one of the dumplings is sweet, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation. I LOVE Nutella-stuffed fried wontons, so I filled my final dumpling with a mix of Nutella and cream cheese.

These all turned out amazing, but I think my favorite was the Velveeta. How is no one already doing this? It was like eating deep-fried grilled cheese! Plus, it was easy to assemble since the cheese is solid but soft at room temp. My kids, on the other hand, loved the lamb dumplings. They’re already asking me to make them again!

I’m sad that this is the end of my DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON menu—I had SO much fun coming up with monster-inspired recipes—but I’m glad I got the opportunity to try some things that were a little more “out there.” I’m also excited for my next menu. I can’t reveal it yet (you’ll have to wait a couple weeks), but I’ve been looking forward to doing it for two whole years. I can’t wait to share it with you!

NOTE: This recipe needs to chill for 2 hours before frying.

Senshi’s Quick Risotto with Mushrooms and Cheese from the Orcs

Posted August 7, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Welcome to my latest DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON recipe! Today’s recipe is shortcut mushroom risotto with cheese, which Senshi makes for Izutsumi, a new party member who joins them partway through the dungeon. I chose this recipe because quick mushroom and cheese risotto has long been one of my go-to meatless recipes at home, and I reeeeally wanted to make a DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON recipe that features mushrooms, since the walking mushroom monsters feature so heavily in the show.

I used Senshi’s recipe instructions in the show as my inspiration, with the details filled in by my go-to risotto recipe. Senshi’s instructions call for adding the water all at once instead of adding it a bit at a time and letting it absorb before adding more (which can take a while). This is what makes it a “quick” risotto, rather than a true risotto. Usually, shredded Parmesan is added, but in the show it looks like Senshi uses Swiss, so I did that instead.

For the titular mushrooms, I used royal trumpet mushrooms I found at the farmers’ market, but you can use regular baby bellas if you want. I just think the look of the trumpet mushrooms is more similar to the walking mushroom monsters. One of the ones I bought was even split at the bottom in a way that looked like legs (here’s a photo!).

I love how this turned out, which was no surprise since I’ve been making something similar for years. It was so rich and creamy, and the mushrooms offered a delightful earthiness. The perfect dish to welcome Izutsumi to the party!

Onion Pizza Bread Topped with Seared Dragon Steak

Posted July 24, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

The most important moment in Season 1 of DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON is the party’s battle against the Red Dragon, so I knew I needed to make it the entrée of my menu! Senshi makes several dragon dishes, including dragon roast and several hams, but I decided to make the onion and cheese pizza bread, which another character tops with some strips of dragon steak.

Using premade pizza dough from the grocery store, I topped my pizza with shredded Gouda and red onion, along with some barbecue sauce (no sauce is mentioned in the show, but it felt like the perfect companion to these flavors). To finish, I seared an eye round steak (the smallest cut I could find at Aldi, since I didn’t need a lot) and laid slices of it on top the finished pizza.

It was sooo good, like something out of a restaurant. The steak and cheese bring a rich, fatty saltiness, which is balanced by the sweetness and tang from the bbq sauce. Add in the bite of fresh onion on top to brighten it all up, and you’ve got the perfect reward for fighting the evil Red Dragon!

Mandrake and Basilisk Bacon Omelet

Posted July 10, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Welcome to my latest menu! I’m so excited for this one. When DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON first premiered on Netflix, I knew I had to watch it. It’s a fun, quirky, manga-inspired anime about a party of adventurers who travel ever deeper into a dungeon, hoping to rescue a friend they lost there. The dungeon is riddled with monsters like walking mushrooms and basilisks, and the party leader, Laios, is fascinated with how they might taste. He recruits a dwarf named Senshi, who passionately loves food and cooking, and together the party makes delicious monster-based recipes as they fight their way through the dungeon.

One of the first recipes they make is a mandrake and basilisk bacon omelet. It seemed pretty easy as far as monster recipes go, so I decided to make it the first installment in my DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON menu. The basilisk (half chicken, half snake) provides both the eggs and the bacon.* Snake products aren’t exactly easy to source, so I went with standard eggs and bacon. The mandrake is a root vegetable shaped a bit like a human, and it utters a high-pitched scream when removed from soil. It reminded me of parsnips, so I sautéed some in the leftover bacon fat before mixing it with the chopped bacon. Then I enrobed it all in a golden yellow omelet.

Of course, this was amazing. You can’t go wrong with bacon and eggs! Parsnip has a mellow starchiness similar to a potato with a touch of sweetness reminiscent of carrot, so it complemented the other flavors well. My husband and I demolished it quickly. I can’t wait to make my next monster-inspired recipe!

*In the show, it looks like the bacon might actually be provided by a Big Bat one of the party members caught, but according to the Delicious in Dungeon wiki page (which covers both the show and the manga), the bacon comes from the basilisk.

Vanilla Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Rosemary-Infused Blackberry Jam Filling

Posted June 12, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

The time has come for the final recipe in my FELLOWSHIP OF BAKERS & MAGIC menu! I feel like it’s flown by—maybe because it’s been so fun to make an entire menu full of desserts! I haven’t gotten to do this since my CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY menu in 2018.

Today I’m making Arleta’s competition piece: vanilla cake with blackberry jam filling and cream cheese frosting. In the story, Arleta actually makes a last minute change to her cake that affects the final ruling of the competition, but I’m making her submission as she originally planned so as not to spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet.

I imagine Arleta made a large cake, since it was meant to feed not just the judges but also all the competition attendees. However, as I write this my family is still drowning in Easter treats, so I decided to scale mine down to a six-inch cake. I used my own vanilla cake recipe for the layers, and I used Joy the Baker’s frosting recipe prepped using a technique from Handle the Heat for improved stability. The filling is a spin on my previously posted seedless blackberry jam recipe—this time with fresh rosemary infused in the jam!

I love how this one turned out. I like the rosemary-blackberry jam even more than the basil-raspberry curd I made for the first recipe in this menu (and I liked that one a LOT). I used just enough rosemary to ground the blackberry flavor without overpowering it, giving it a warm, rich taste. I never would have thought to pair it with cream cheese frosting, but it’s a brilliant combo. The creamy richness of the frosting complements the tartness of the jam in a way that creates a well-balanced bite. I’m often content with trying one slice of each of my cakes before giving the rest away, but I kept coming back for this one. It might even beat out the hazelnut honey cake I made in 2023 as my new favorite cake.

I hope you had fun on this culinary journey through A FELLOW OF BAKERS & MAGIC with me. I hear there’s a sequel called A FELLOWSHIP OF LIBRARIANS & DRAGONS, and it stars my favorite character from BAKERS & MAGIC: Doli Butterbuckle, a dwarf who loves tea. If her story has some tasty treats, maybe I’ll make a menu for it too!

Lavender Vanilla Shortbread

Posted May 29, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Today’s installment in my menu from A FELLOWSHIP OF BAKERS & MAGIC is the traveling snack Arleta brings with her on the way to the baking battle: lavender vanilla shortbread!

I’ve made shortbread before, a very simple recipe that sticks to the basics of what makes shortbread . . . well, shortbread. Today, I want to take the opportunity to enhance the flavors, showcasing how elevated a shortbread can be. To do this, I infused pure vanilla seeds and crushed lavender buds into the butter overnight. To develop this recipe, I combined elements from Mrs. Hall’s shortbread from ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL (which I’ve posted here before), the official Ted Lasso shortbread recipe, and Seasons and Supper’s Scottish shortbread.

The final cookies turned out delicate and buttery—everything you want a shortbread to be—with just the right amount of floral flavor from the lavender and warm notes from the vanilla bean. The perfect way to showcase Arleta’s flair for flavor!

Blood Orange Cardamom Loaf

Posted May 15, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Time for the next installment in my menu inspired by A FELLOWSHIP OF BAKERS & MAGIC by J. Penner! Today’s recipe comes from Jez, the main character’s roommate at the Langheim Baking Battle.

This blood orange cardamom loaf is one of Jez’s competition recipes. Even though all my other recipes for this menu will be from Arleta (the main character), I simply HAD to make this one. It’s described as being topped with pink citrus icing and candied orange slices, and Jez says that “the sweet, spicy, and tart combination is the ideal blend.” How could I NOT make it?

I made an orange poppy seed cake several years ago, so I made alterations to that recipe to suit this one. I was confident that the loaf itself would turn out amazing (which it did), but I was really intimidated by the candied blood oranges. I’ve never tried to candy fruit before, so I was a total novice. I used this recipe by Love and Olive Oil, which was easy to follow. Admittedly, the first time I made them I let my sugar syrup boil a bit too long, so my orange slices came out a little crunchy. They still tasted amazing though, and yours should turn out just fine, as long as you don’t walk away from the stove for too long thinking it will take awhile for the temperature to climb those last 20 degrees (like I did).

I love how the blood orange juice naturally colors the pink icing and how dramatic the orange slices look on top. Jez sure knows how to make a beautiful bake!

Raspberry Basil Tart

Posted May 1, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

A few months ago I read a book that’s been on my TBR for quite a while: A FELLOWSHIP OF BAKERS & MAGIC by J. Penner. It was such a fun, light read! It’s set in a high-fantasy world with elves and magic and tells the story of Arleta, a human baker who competes in a Great British Bake Off-style competition called the Langheim Baking Battle.

If you like cozy high fantasy, food-focused fiction, and romantic subplots, this book is for you. I was so enamored with all the delicious-sounding bakes in the book, I decided to make a menu for it! The back of the book contains recipes for some of Arleta’s competition bakes from the story (namely Earl Grey Cherry Scones, Lemon Bars with Cardamom Shortbread Crust, and Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies). My menu will be based around bakes that don’t have recipes included in the book but are still important to the story—starting with the raspberry basil tart!

In the story, Arleta is initially too nervous to enter the Langheim Baking Battle, convinced that her lack of magic will make her bakes seem lackluster next to those of the other competitors. Instead, her neighbor Verdreth secretly submits one of her raspberry basil tarts in the qualifying round on her behalf. Adding traditionally savory herbs to her desserts is Arleta’s trademark, so I felt that this would be the perfect dish to start the menu.

I started with my go-to pie crust, par-baked to prevent a soggy bottom. Then I made the egg-free raspberry curd from my cookbook, A LITERARY HOLIDAY COOKBOOK, adding basil leaves in the first step so they could infuse their flavors into the raspberries. This uses a LOT of basil, since the leaves get strained out in the first step after infusing most of their oils into the cooked raspberries. It adds a subtle herbal note to the curd, which you can strengthen by adding some fresh, small basil leaves as a garnish if desired.

Almond Pinwheel Pastries

Posted April 17, 2025 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Who’s ready for dessert? The final recipe in this month’s menu is an ode to almonds, and it’s sooo delicious!

In THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, the castaways eat lots of stone pine almonds, which are similar to pine nuts. However, since the castaways treat these nuts as a dessert, I decided to make my dessert recipe for this menu using true almonds, along with other ingredients they had on the island.

Since they have flour and dairy products in addition to almonds, I decided to combine them all to make pastries with almond-cream cheese filling. Neb is the main cook in the story, and he takes a lot of pride in his work. I like to imagine this is something he would make to celebrate a big moment on the island, like their first batch of milled flour or when Herbert recovered from a terrible sickness.

Since puff pastry is basically just flour,butter, and salt, I knew Neb would have all the ingredients to make it, so I used that as my pastry base. For the filling, I combined almond paste and cream cheese, two other ingredients Neb would be able to make with what he had on hand. I made them in a pinwheel shape as a nod to the windmill the castaways built at their home base, Prospect Heights.

These turned out AMAZING! The sweet, almond-y, creamy filling is a delightful contrast to the crisp, delicate pastry. I was really excited for my husband to try these, since he loves those flavors. He liked them, but I wasn’t prepared for how much my son would love them. He’s already asking for them for his next birthday (for context, his birthday was last month).

He’ll be excited to hear I’m planning to make more to bring to Easter festivities this year!