Tag: Dessert

Coconut Macaroons with Guava Jam

Posted June 23, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

This recipe goes out to my brand new “brother-in-law-in-law” (anybody know the term for a sister-in-law’s spouse?). My sister-in-law got married last month, and her husband LOVES guava! For her bridal shower, she made cupcakes filled with super luscious guava jam, and I’ve been dreaming about them ever since. So when I saw guava mentioned in SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, I knew I had to try my hand at making my own guava jam.

But what to pair with it? That was easy: coconut. In the book, coconuts are mentioned no less than 36 times! Such a prominent ingredient simply HAD to be in my dessert, so I decided to make coconut macaroons and turn them into little guava thumbprint cookies. I used this macaroon recipe from The Slow Roasted Italian as my jumping off point, then started riffing from there.

These cookies turned out SO good. They’re sweet, a bit tart, and caramelized at the edges where the coconut get nice and toasty. Plus, the cookies are egg free, so they’re perfect if you have an egg allergy!

DEFINITELY making these again soon. Maybe for the next family gathering!

Mini No-Bake Blackberry Cheesecakes

Posted April 14, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 2 Comments

For the last dish in my PETER RABBIT menu, let me introduce you to these sweet little bites of heaven: mini no-bake blackberry cheesecakes! As soon as I started planning my menu, I knew I wanted the dessert to draw from the blackberries and milk Peter’s siblings enjoy at the end of the story. I tossed around lots of ideas, eventually deciding on no-bake cheesecake because my daughter loves cream cheese (her egg allergy prevents her from enjoying regular cheesecake). Plus, cheesecake is one of my husband’s favorite desserts. I made several batches during recipe testing, and he LOVED being my guinea pig! 😀

This was my first time developing a cheesecake recipe, so to make sure my proportions were right, I consulted two no-bake cheesecake recipes from Live Well Bake Often and Chenee Today. I found my filling to be a bit too loose after it set (possibly due to the additional liquid from the blackberry puree I mixed in), so I used a method I found at Simply Recipes, which calls for mixing a bit of gelatin in at the end. It set perfectly, which was a huge relief, since I would have been so sad to nix the puree. Not only does it provide a fun sweet-tart kick, but it turns the cheesecake an adorable lavender color. Bon appetit! 🙂

NOTE: THIS RECIPE NEEDS TO SET FOR AT LEAST 4 HOURS.

Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake

Posted February 17, 2022 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

If you can believe it, today’s recipe is actually inspired by Wilbur’s slop in CHARLOTTE’S WEB! Stay with me here. 😉 When the author lists the scraps included in Wilbur’s meals at the farm, he mentions upside-down cake and baked apples. I loved the idea of merging the two together into an amazing dessert, so here we are!

When it comes to upside-down cakes, I’m a total novice. I made one once but didn’t like how it turned out. So rather than try to develop my own recipe for this post, I turned to the Caramel Apple Upside-Down Cake from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Sally’s recipes are always winners for me, and I knew a sure-fire recipe would give me a good sense of how an upside-down cake should look at each step in the process. That way I’ll feel more confident developing my own upside-down cakes in the future!

As expected, the recipe was easy and turned out great. It was a HUGE hit with my 5-year-old son, who gobbled it up while chirping that it was “A-MA-zing!” I whole-heartedly agree. The caramel apple topping moistens the tender spiced cake just the right amount, and I appreciated that it wasn’t super sweet, allowing the apples and cinnamon to shine. It reminded me a bit of a breakfast bread, which has me scheming about making upside-down banana bread in the future! 😀

Peanut Butter Skillet S’more

Posted December 16, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 1 Comment

Time for the ultimate camping recipe: a s’more! Of course, not just any s’more. This bad boy has peanut butter mixed into the graham cracker crust, a layer of intense dark chocolate, and a crown of toasted marshmallows scattered with peanuts, Reese’s Pieces, and mini marshmallows. Do I have your attention? 😉

Technically, there are no s’mores in HATCHET, but the main character often fantasizes about chocolate during his hungry times out in the wilderness. And nothing says “wilderness treat” like a s’more! Of course, plain s’mores would be too easy, so I decided to make a skillet s’more to amp up the specialness without losing the outdoorsy feel. My biggest fear was that it would be too sweet to actually enjoy, so I decided to make it a peanut butter s’more in order to add as many savory/salty elements as possible to create balance.

In my ideal world, this would be a campfire recipe just like my last post, Fire Roasted Foolbird. However, the weather hasn’t cooperated with open fire cooking the last couple weeks. If I get a chance, I’ll revisit this recipe in the summer and post open fire cooking instructions. Roasting the “foolbirds” has me eager to try all kinds of campfire recipes! 😀

P.S. Due to traveling for Christmas, I most likely won’t post a recipe on Dec. 29th. I will if I happen to have a lot of free time to work on it, but my official plan is for my next post to be for a new menu on January 6th.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Cake

Posted August 12, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Behold, the easiest fancy cake you’ll ever make!

There’s a reason you don’t see many cakes on this blog. Cupcakes, yes. I love decorating cupcakes, but full-size cakes are so. much. WORK. Spare me the crumb coats, hours in the fridge, tedious smoothing of topcoats, meticulous piping, and strategic sprinkle placement. I admire anybody who can decorate a fancy cake, but it’s just not for me.

However, I knew the day was fast approaching when I could avoid it no longer. This whole Very Hungry Caterpillar menu has a birthday party theme, and my last two blog desserts were cupcakes. I knew it was time for a full-size cake. My bone-deep hatred of cake decorating inspired me to get creative, and I gotta say this cake turned out GORGEOUS. Plus, it was genuinely easy.

I just made 3 layers of the go-to chocolate cake recipe from my cookbook, a triple batch of my favorite vanilla buttercream (also from my cookbook), and Life, Love and Sugar’s recipe for chocolate drip ganache. If you’ve never done a drip top, don’t worry. This was my first time too, and it was really easy and forgiving.

Here are a few tools that I found super helpful (though they’re not required):

Turntable. This makes it a lot easier to get a smooth finish on the sides, and it allows you to focus on the timing of your ganache drips instead of trying to turn a heavy plate smoothly at the same time. I took a detachable one from underneath a rotating serving plate my grandma gave me, and it worked great!
Large frosting knife. If you have a bench scraper, use that to get a smooth finish on your frosting, but if not a big frosting knife will do. It also helps smooth the ganache.
Tall enough fridge space for a 3-tier cake. I’m lucky enough to have a basement fridge with one shelf removed. If you’ll be storing this in your main fridge, plan accordingly.
Squeeze bottle. You can add your drip top with a spoon, but if you’re new to the method (like me) a squeeze bottle gives you lots more control.

I shared the finished cake with my nieces and nephew, who came after I took pictures. It was EXTREMELY well received (this is a big deal, since my 8-year-old niece has an even more discerning dessert palate than Paul Hollywood). Enjoy!

Stuart Little Roadster Cupcakes

Posted June 17, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

I know what you’re thinking. “But, Ali, you already made a recipe inspired by Stuart Little’s car.”

Yes, I was thinking that too. But hear me out:

That was savory, and this is sweet!
Plus these cupcakes have flavors inspired by rocky road ice cream.
And they’re topped with a car with a little “S” on the hood and a wee mouse in the driver’s seat. UNBEARABLY CUTE.
And I really REALLY wanted to make them.

These Stuart Little cupcakes are perfect for a birthday party or baby shower. I made them using my favorite, super-moist chocolate cake batter, marshmallow frosting from a recipe by Lil Luna, and the cutest little marzipan toppers. I loved the idea of developing a recipe with a chocolate/marshmallow/almond flavor combo reminiscent of rocky road, given the car theme. Plus, you can serve them with rocky road ice cream! Too perfect. 😀

My 4-year-old LOVED these. He’s been obsessed with cars since he was a baby, and he got hooked on marzipan after taste-testing the decorations when I made rüeblitorte. Plus, we read Stuart Little together not long before I started this menu (our first chapter book read-aloud! 😭 ), so he loved that he could connect the food to something he knew. Do I sense a theme for his next birthday party?

P.S. My 5-year-old nephew saw me working on this and pointed out you could also make Mario characters to put in the cars. So it turns out these work for a Mario Kart birthday too! Whodathunk? 😀

Rüeblitorte: Mini Swiss Carrot Cakes with Homemade Marzipan Carrots

Posted April 15, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Dessert time! And I am SO ready. Though to be honest, I’m always ready to dessert. 😉

Given the carrot-y theme of today’s recipe, I was hoping to have this published by Easter, but alas, twas not to be. It seemed like to no matter how hard I tried, I could NOT make it to the store soon enough! But that’s ok, because this is fun to make for Mother’s Day too, especially if your mom is as big a fan of marzipan as mine is. 😀

While planning what to make for today’s HEIDI recipe, I took my inspiration from the tiny cakes Clara sends for Grannie to have with her coffee. The book gives no description as to the flavor of the cake, which left lots of room to get creative. I decided to make a mini version of traditional Swiss rüeblitorte, lightly sweetened carrot cake topped with little marzipan carrots.

In terms of taste and texture, the cake itself is more reminiscent of a breakfast bread. It’s the sweetness of the marzipan that really pushes it into the realm of dessert. I love the versatility of it!

The recipe I’m using today is a muffin-sized version of one by Thahn from Eat, Little Bird (the marzipan recipe comes from The Spruce Eats). My 4-year-old helped me mix the batter, a testament to the ease of the recipe, and also faithfully taste tested the results. Turns out he has something in common with my mom—he loves marzipan too! 🙂

Mr. Rochester’s Bonbons

Posted February 18, 2021 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Make way for bonbons! Today we’re making the last recipe in my Jane Eyre menu: bonbons inspired by Mr. Rochester’s time in France. Although the rest of this menu was heavily influenced by early 19th century recipes, I had a difficult time finding bonbon recipes from the period. Luckily, the basic process doesn’t appear to have changed that much over the years, so I decided to use modern techniques but stick with period-appropriate flavors. Let’s take a look at the flavors we’re using today: Read More

Mana Cookies from The Wizard’s Dessert Cookbook

Posted October 8, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

This post contains affiliate links. For more details, see my legal page.

Hi, folks! As I celebrate the release of my new cookbook, A LITERARY HOLIDAY COOKBOOK, I’m taking the opportunity to share recipes from other fiction food cookbooks as well. Today’s recipe is from THE WIZARD’S DESSERT COOKBOOK by Aurélia Beaupommier. With Halloween just around the corner, Aurélia’s book is just what I needed to get me in the mood for mysterious, magical, fantastical food!

When I first opened THE WIZARD’S DESSERT COOKBOOK, I expected to find references to pop culture staples like Harry Potter and D&D. This book has a lot to offer in that regard, but the recipes I appreciated most came from less obvious sources, like Baba Yaga, Stardust, Nostradamus, and Inkheart. I could see Aurélia did a lot of research to ensure her book was a comprehensive resource, and although there’s plenty of spooky food, she doesn’t confine herself to a Halloween theme. There are lots of magical foods perfect for Christmas, birthdays, or even game nights! I had difficulty choosing between so many delicious recipes…that is, until I came across one inspired by Magic: The Gathering.

WICKED WAYS: Jekyll & Hyde Hard Cider Whiskey Potion & Apple Pie Truffle Antidote

Posted October 1, 2020 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Every autumn, I like to read something spooky to get me in the mood for Halloween. Since I’m currently drafting a series of Edwardian paranormal short stories (like you do), I wanted my seasonal read to be set near the same time period as my stories to keep me in the right mindset. To that end, I found myself turning to an old favorite: “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

Jekyll & Hyde has that spooky Victorian Halloween aesthetic that makes my gothic-literature-loving heart go pitter pat. We’re talking foggy London streets, a troubled scientific genius, murder, mysterious potions, and the dichotomy between good and evil. What’s not to love? Plus it’s a super quick read—easily done in less than a day—which is just what I need in my chaotic mom-with-2-small-kids life.

I actually made a Jekyll & Hyde moon pie a looooong time ago as part of a set of classic monster moon pies, but I’ve always wanted to create a recipe dedicated to JUST this story. Granted, it barely mentions food, but that was ok with me. I already knew I wanted my recipe to riff off the famous potion that turns the good, kind Dr. Jekyll into monstrous Mr. Hyde.
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