The Mister and I recently moved to a new apartment, so we’ve spent the past few weeks sprucing it up and adding personal touches (lightsaber candlesticks here, a Hobbit map wall hanging there, etc.). Needless to say, “no place like home” has definitely been on my mind. It didn’t take long for me to decide that The Wonderful Wizard of Oz would be the perfect candidate for February’s book of the month! As a special shout-out to the film, all the recipes for this book will be in either black and white or Technicolor!
Category: Book of the Month Recipes
The Queen of Hearts’ Painted Rose Cupcakes
Time for the most important part of the meal: dessert! Cupcakes are the perfect teatime dessert, and the best thing about these are their versatility. Any cake flavor will do! I opted for sour cherry cupcakes, taking my cue from the Queen of Hearts’ tarts. Since actual sour cherries are out of season at the moment, I soaked some dark sweet cherries in a mix of lemon juice, cherry juice, and a bit of sugar. After soaking the cherries, I drizzled the leftover juice on top of the white rose cupcakes, making for perfect “painted roses”!
Fancy Dancy Stuffed Mushrooms (an Alison’s Wonderland Original Recipe)!
Hmm…what’s a good beef pasty accompaniment that’s still refined enough for a tea party? Stuffed button mushrooms, done up fancy! To make the oh-so-light-and-creamy filling, I used a ricotta cheese and egg base, then daintified it from there.
What’s that? “Daintified” isn’t a word, you say? Well, it probably should be. 😉
The Panther’s Pasties
Entrée time! Since I’m doing this particular book in tea party format, I loathe the idea of making anything too heavy. Still, I must admit I’m a carnivore at heart and don’t feel that a meal is complete without some good ol’ meat. Luckily, my mom’s delicious beef pasties are the best of both worlds: deliciously light and fluffy, yet soooo satisfying!
Bread and Butterflies
It seemed only fitting that my first Book of the Month should be Alice in Wonderland. Since it makes such a great tea party theme, each of my recipes for this book will be of the finger food variety. And with Valentine’s Day just around the bend, a dozen tarts or pasties make a great gift!
Let’s start the meal off with a mouth-watering appetizer, shall we?