Toasted Meringue Cheesecake with Gingerbread Crust (part of my No Food Waste challenge!)

Posted March 13, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Holidays / 2 Comments

As many of you know, I gave up food waste for Lent to help me develop the habit of using all the leftovers and extra ingredients I always have. I’ve improved in some areas, but I’ve also discovered new challenges (like actually finding time to MAKE the recipes I’ve planned out! lol). Since we’re about halfway through Lent, I figured now was the perfect time for another update, and I’m happy to say the the recipe I’m sharing today was a lot of fun and turned out great!

When I made my Wuthering Heights gingerbread manor, I had a bunch of leftover gingerbread scraps from trimming the baked cookies while they were still hot. As much as I love snacking on them (the Mister and the Little Mister do too!), it’s hard for two full-grown adults and a baby to eat a whole gingerbread house in a reasonable amount of time, even if you don’t count the cookie trimmings. I knew they’d go to waste if I didn’t find a use for them, so the brainstorming began.

I loved the idea of making a gingerbread cookie crust, but of course, you need something to fill the crust, right? Luckily, I also had some spare cream cheese and egg whites that needed using up as well. Thus, the idea of a meringue cheesecake was born! I used this cheesecake recipe and this meringue recipe, and I must say I’m very pleased with the results! The cheesecake recipe was easy, and it came out smooth and delicious. Plus, it looked great with the toasted meringue on top!

I think my favorite part was the balance of flavors. The light, fluffy meringue complimented the rich, creamy cheesecake, and the spice from the gingerbread was welcome without being overpowering. We ate it right up! 🙂

King of the Wild Things: Pull-Apart Pizza Crown

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.

TTT: 10 Famous Quotes about the Power of Reading

Posted March 6, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 8 Comments

Making this Top Ten Tuesday post was both easy and difficult. There are so many great book quotes out there, but that’s just it: there are SO MANY. How do you choose? I did quite a lot of searching to find the quotes that resonated most with me. The GoodReads quote page was a huge help, since they had a lot of lesser known quotes as well. I made graphics for my favorites and posted them below. Enjoy! 🙂

Max’s Boat Deviled Eggs

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! 🙂

TTT: 10 Books I Could Re-Read Forever

Posted February 27, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Link Up / 4 Comments

Rereading old favorites is one of the many joys of being a bookworm. It’s hard to make time for it when there are always so many shiny new books being added to my TBR, but there are times when you just want the cozy familiarity of a book you KNOW you’ll love, especially when life gets hectic.

I loved putting this Top Ten Tuesday list together because it reminded me of all the good times I’ve had with my favorite books. Many of them come from my childhood or middle school days, and I think the reason I love revisiting them is because they remind me of a time when life was simpler (and certainly less busy). I’m really excited that I’ll be able to introduce the Little Mister to some of them soon. Maybe one or two will end up on HIS list of life-long favorites!

Wuthering Heights Gingerbread Manor

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!

Chocolate Mocha Frosting: An Update on My No Food Waste Challenge

Posted February 20, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Holidays / 6 Comments

At the end of January, I posted this year’s plan for my annual Lenten sacrifice: cutting down on food waste. One of my goals in this challenge is to always find uses for leftover ingredients. I had an extra container of Greek yogurt after making orange poppy seed cake, so I decided to use it to make this no-measure chocolate cake from Food 52, in hopes that it would serve as a go-to method for using extra yogurt in the future.

“But this isn’t a post about cake,” I hear you say. “This is a post about frosting. What gives?”

You’re absolutely right. And the reason this isn’t a post about cake is because I managed to majorly screw up what was supposed to be an easy recipe. >.< Pro tip: ALWAYS read ALL the ingredients and instructions before starting a recipe, even if you’ve read them before and think you remember. In short, don’t be like me and just wing it.

First off, the recipe called for full fat yogurt, and mine was fat free. Mine was also two ounces less than what the recipe called for, so I added a couple ounces of sour cream to make up the difference and increase the fat content. The recipe also called for self-raising flour, so I made my own using some instructions I found online, though I couldn’t helping thinking that the suggested 3 tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp salt sounded like a lot for one single-layer cake.

When I tasted the batter, it was just…off. Slightly bitter and oddly sharp. I became VERY worried about this cake, but I couldn’t throw it out since the whole point of the exercise was to avoid waste. Once baked, the flavor wasn’t as bad as the batter, but still very weird. It was also WAY too dense and moist on the inside, even though it was thoroughly baked.

This sad fail cake clearly required some buttercream TLC. And that’s where this chocolate mocha frosting comes in! I wanted something rich to mask the weird flavors in the cake, so I experimented with adding cocoa powder and instant coffee to my vanilla buttercream recipe. It was FANTASTIC. I’m definitely adding it to my list of go-to frostings. The Mister even liked it, and he normally won’t touch anything with coffee in it.

At the end of the day, I may have made the most depressing chocolate cake ever, but I came out with a delicious new frosting recipe. So I guess it evens out? Plus, I technically met my goal of using up extra ingredients, so yay for that! 🙂

Balsamic Roasted Turnips

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.

A Wuthering Heights Reading Kit

Posted February 13, 2018 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Reading Kits / 4 Comments

For the past week we’ve been trapped inside due to family-wide illness and a foot of snow, so putting together this Wuthering Heights reading kit was a nice break from all the tedium. I had a blast reading through Kate Beaton’s six part Wuthering Heights comic series to find just the right print to include in my kit. I also wanted to include at least one of the many wonderful quotes in Bronte’s book, so I made sure a quote is featured in one of the items below. I tried to avoid candles, scarves, and t-shirts this time since I tend to use those a lot in my kits (gotta widen those horizons!). In the end, I like to think I curated a thoughtful list of fun, unique items perfect for keeping close at hand while you read Emily Bronte’s famous novel. Let’s take a look! 🙂

Wuthering Heights Roast Goose with Potatoes

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!