Posted October 20, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments
Today our spooky Edgar Allan Poe menu continues with Moon Phase French Fries! Several months ago I saw a post by Linda from The Baker Who Kerns, in which she described making moon phase cookies. I loved the concept and decided to make a savory version with roasted potatoes. They’re super easy and fun to make: just slice, season, and bake! And the ready-in-seconds spicy ketchup adds just the right kick to balance it all out (the ketchup is an Epic Meal Time recipe I adjusted to my own taste). Talk about a great side dish for a Halloween party…or a salty snack for some late-night reading!
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Posted October 13, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 13 Comments
Today we’re continuing our Edgar Allen Poe menu with Coffin Pizza Pockets! Death features prominently in most of Poe’s works, making these a great snack companion while reading The Premature Burial, The Fall of the House of Usher, Annabel Lee, and a host of other Poe works. Nothing like some festive food to put us in the mood for Halloween, right? 😉
These macabre calzones are filled with steamy homemade pizza sauce and melted mozzarella cheese, brushed with butter and garlic onion seasoning to make them extra delicious. Enjoy!
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Posted October 6, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 4 Comments
UPDATE: There is an new version of this recipe available in my cookbook, A LITERARY HOLIDAY COOKBOOK.
Happy October, folks! Since Halloween is just around the corner, I decided to do a spooky literary menu in honor of the season. Our theme this month is Edgar Allen Poe!
For our appetizer, we’re starting with a tribute to Poe’s famous poem, The Raven. These deviled “raven eggs” are a Halloween-y variation on our Cracked China Deviled Eggs. I used the cracked dying technique to create a black, spidery pattern over the eggs. I thought it would be fun to make the insides purple, and to avoid more dye, I used my own variation on a beet and avocado deviled egg recipe from Amazingly Tasty.
If beets aren’t your thing, I still highly recommend giving these a chance. I’m not normally a beet fanatic, but I love the subtle difference in flavor they bring to the filling. Plus, they’re healthier than normal deviled eggs, since they forgo the mayo and mustard—and you just can’t beat that color! 🙂
NOTE: The eggs need to soak for 7 hours before being peeled (this is what helps achieve the spidery pattern in the dye). I recommend hard boiling the eggs the night before you want to make the recipe and letting them soak overnight.
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Posted September 29, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments
For our Sherlock Holmes bonus recipe, we’re making a recipe I first heard of when researching this menu: London Fog Lattes. These are lattes made with EARL GREY TEA! And I was so excited to try them. Plus, there’s nothing more British than Earl Grey, so they’re a perfect send-off for Sherlock! 🙂
P.S. The recipe I use here is kind of a mash-up of two recipes I found online: one from Gimme Some Oven and another from The Busy Baker.
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Posted September 22, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 13 Comments
For our Sherlock Holmes dessert, I wanted to make something quintessentially British. I tossed around ideas for all kinds of recipes—jammie dodgers, trifle, Victoria sponge, and various tarts. Then I stumbled across brandy snaps!
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Posted September 15, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments
A Study in Scarlet: the very first Sherlock Holmes case ever! Of course I had to include it in our Holmes menu, but since no specific foods play a big role in the story, I decided to draw my inspiration from the name of the case itself. We’re making a culinary study in scarlet: Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup!
This particular recipe is my take on a soup that was originally developed by Pretty Practical Pantry. This savory, satisfying soup is the perfect side dish to accompany our Sherlock Steak Sandwiches. So stir some up and get to sipping—we’ve got a case to solve! 🙂
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Posted September 8, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 6 Comments
Sherlock Holmes is famous for having a sparse appetite, but cold beef sandwiches seem to be a weakness of his. He indulges in them several times throughout the books, mostly while traveling on a case. I can see why! What could be better brain food that hearty bread, protein that sticks to your ribs, and some choice toppings to wake your taste buds?
The recipe we’re making today features toasted whole wheat bread, seared steak, arugula, and homemade horseradish sauce (it’s an interpretation of an appetizer I saw at The Kitchen Alchemist). It’ll set your brain cells whirring in no time!
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Posted September 1, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 8 Comments
Say hello to our new Book of the Month: Sherlock Holmes! I’ve been wanting to making a Sherlock menu since Day 1 of this blog, but one of the struggles I ran into is that Holmes just doesn’t eat a lot. He subsists mainly on coffee, pipe smoke, and music—which is cool to read about, but doesn’t make for an appetizing dinner.
So up until a few months ago, I had Holmes on the back burner. Then a friend of mine specifically requested a menu for him, and I renewed my search. I tried a Holmesian recipe hunt once more, but just couldn’t find enough to make a full menu. When I expressed my frustrations to another friend, she had a great idea: make recipes inspired by the names of the Sherlock Holmes stories! Before long, we were chatting about how fun it would be to have an orange-flavored recipe for The Five Orange Pips, something ginger for The Red-Headed League, and so on. So, at long last, my Sherlock Holmes menu is FINALLY ready to premiere! 😀
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Posted August 25, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 8 Comments
I love Kiki’s Delivery Service so much! Granted, I can’t exactly relate to the part about being a witch, but I can definitely relate to being a young working girl out on her own for the first time. I remember my heart going out to Kiki as I watched her struggle to find a job and carve out a niche for herself in her new city home. It was great to see her grow and overcome bouts of self-doubt and failure to become a very happy little witch.
I think one of the best thing’s about Kiki’s Delivery Service is the emphasis it puts on developing relationships. At first, Kiki tries to do everything alone and struggles to make due, but as she makes new friends, their goodwill and helpfulness play a huge role in helping her on the way to success. A great example is the baker lady Osono, who is impressed by Kiki’s helpfulness to a stranger and offers her a place to stay and a job. And at the end of the movie, Kiki’s friend Madame bakes her a cake as a show of appreciation—and that’s the cake we’re making today!
This rich double chocolate cake is an exact replica of the one in the movie, and I had so much fun making it! The recipe was originally developed by Katerina at Diethood (and it was aptly named “Black Magic Cake”). The food in every Hayao Miyazaki movie looks delicious, and this cake is one of the Miyazaki dishes I’ve been dreaming about eating for years! Now I just need to find a plucky young witch to share it with! 🙂
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Posted August 18, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 5 Comments
Howl’s Moving Castle was actually the first Studio Ghibli movie I ever saw, and it’s main comic relief (the fire demon Calcifer) is still one of my all-time favorite Miyazaki characters. Though he can be a bit salty and sassy, Cal’s got a good heart underneath it all, so I wanted to pay tribute to him with a dish in our Ghibli menu.
When forced into making breakfast with the new cleaning lady, Calicifer famously curses her by saying, “May all your bacon burn!” So in honor of Cal (and the delicious, non-burned bacon he made with Sophie that day), I decided to make some sweet and spicy bacon!
This recipe features crisp center cut bacon rubbed with cinnamon and cayenne for spice and coated with honey and brown sugar for sweetness. The perfect snack to share with your favorite fire demon!
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