Alison’s Wonderland Recipes is one year old today!
It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this for a whole year now. It feels like just last weekend I was cleaning the kitchen floor and thought, “You know what would be fun? A food AND book blog.”
Thanks for joining me on this delicious journey through Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland! As a special end-of-the-book bonus, I have a surprise “recipe” for you all!
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”!
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. 😉
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!
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?