Tag: Over the Garden Wall

BEATRICE’S DIRT: Pudding Cups with Marzipan Mushrooms, Edible Moss, Frog Gummies, and Pumpkin Candies

Posted October 24, 2024 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

When we meet Beatrice’s bluebird family in OVER THE GARDEN WALL, her mother continually reminds everyone to “eat some dirt,” even going so far as to spoon feed it to Wirt. It’s never explained why she fixates on this, though it could be a reference to the fact that some birds eat sand and grit to help grind up their food. I loved the idea of making pudding and Oreo dirt cups for my OTGW dessert, but of course I wanted to jazz it up a little bit!

Instead of topping the cups with gummy worms, I decided to decorate them with stuff from the show: gummy frogs and candy pumpkins! Originally I did chocolate rocks too, but I decided they made it all look too busy in the pictures (you can definitely add the chocolate rocks to yours though!). To make the top of the pudding cups look more like the forest floor of the Unknown, I added a bed of edible moss and some morel mushrooms sculpted from homemade marzipan! I got the idea for the moss from a cake I saw by Must Love Herbs (you should seriously check out all her cakes—they’re sooo beautiful!).

My kids loved these pudding cups! My son, a big marzipan fan, especially loved the mushrooms. These were so fun to make, and I love that all the decorations are little throwbacks to the show. Perfect for an OVER THE GARDEN WALL watch party!

Autumn Popcorn: Apple Pie Popcorn with Maple Candied Walnuts

Posted October 10, 2024 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

It’s time for the next installment in my OVER THE GARDEN WALL menu! My original plan was to make the banana nut duck bread from the show. I baked my go-to banana bread recipe in a set of 3D duck ice molds, which tasted good but came out looking reeeeeally ugly. * sigh * Ain’t that just the way?

I panicked a little at that point, because I didn’t have a backup plan. I scoured the internet, searching for other food references in the show. I came across a reference to a character called Corn on the Cob, who is literally an anthropomorphized corn cob. He appears in TOME OF THE UNKNOWN, the short film that preceeded OVER THE GARDEN WALL and is set in the same world with most of the same characters. Corn on the Cob plays in a band in the Big City, but he has to stop playing when he starts to feel ill and pops into popcorn. I loved the idea of making an autumn-themed popcorn inspired by the seasonal aesthetic of the show, so Apple Pie Popcorn was born!

I started with my standard popcorn recipe, adding a bit of apple pie spice. Then I made some apple chips using the recipe from my Treasure Island menu. Then I threw in some maple candied walnuts, a variation on the walnuts from my butterscotch chocolate cake recipe. I love how it all combined together. I think my favorite part was the walnuts. I just love the crunch and sweetness they add!

P.S. I just learned that this is the 10 year anniversary of OVER THE GARDEN WALL, and Cartoon Network is planning something to celebrate (to be announced Nov. 3rd). I’m so excited! Any guesses what it will be? I’m thinking another short like TOME OF THE UNKNOWN.

Pottsfield Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup

Posted September 26, 2024 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

In the second episode of OVER THE GARDEN WALL, Wirt and Greg visit is a village called Pottsfield, which is populated by what appear to be people with corn husk bodies and pumpkin heads. These pumpkin people are celebrating their annual harvest festival. They become suspicious of the boys, who say they are “just passing through.” According to the pumpkin people, no one passes through Pottsfield.

Their eery and overbearing leader, Enoch, gives the boys the task of digging in a barren field. When they accidentally dig up some skeletons, Wirt is convinced they’re being made to dig their own graves, but then the skeletons become animated and joyously join the pumpkin people, who welcome them. Wirt and Greg realize all the pumpkin people are actually skeletons in costume. They are invited to stay in Pottsfield but insist they must continue on through the forest. Many fans of the show consider Pottsfield to be an allegory for purgatory, partially because Enoch assures the boys as he bids them goodbye, “you’ll join us one day.”

Pottsfield is one of the most iconic locations in OVER THE GARDEN WALL, so I knew I had to make a pumpkin recipe for this menu! Pumpkin waffles immediately came to mind, maybe because I’ve never made waffles for the blog before (I’m not sure how that happened, because I LOVE waffles). This particular recipe is mostly based on a recipe by Sally’s Baking Addiction, but I tweaked it a bit to make it my own.

For some extra fun, I made a special syrup to go with it: apple cider syrup! It took lots of experimenting to get the recipe just right, but it was worth it! It’s sooo easy and delicious, and perfect for fall. The perfect tribute to the people of Pottsfield.

Potatoes and Molasses: Molasses and Soy Glazed Potatoes

Posted September 12, 2024 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 0 Comments

Last year I watched OVER THE GARDEN WALL and loooved it. If you haven’t heard of the show, it’s a cartoon mini series aimed toward adults in which two young brothers, Wirt and Greg, are lost in an eerie, magical forest called the Unknown. Considered by many to be a modern retelling of Dante’s INFERNO, the show follows the boys as they try to find their way home, encountering danger, monsters, and new friends along the way. OVER THE GARDEN WALL is known for its strong use of symbolism and old-timey art style (which reminded me of the 1929 Walt Disney short Skeleton Dance), as well as its autumnal aesthetic, muted color scheme, and hauntingly beautiful folk Americana music. It’s an annual autumn rewatch for many fans like me, so I decided to make a menu for it!

There’s lots of food in the show, but perhaps the most iconic dish is potatoes and molasses, which is served during Episode 3 in a schoolhouse attended by small animals. Greg sees how sad the animals are eating plain mashed potatoes every day for lunch, so he comes up with the idea to add some molasses and sings them a song about it.

Lots of food blogs have already made film-accurate versions of potatoes and molasses (I especially like this recipe by Feast of Starlight), so I decided to make a re-imagined version. I liked the idea of doing fried potatoes with a sweet and salty glaze, kind of in the style of Korean gamja bokkeum, so I went in that direction. I coated my potatoes with cornstarch to give them a delicate crispness when fried, then tossed them in a glaze of molasses, soy sauce, and garlic.

They’re sooo satisfying: sweet and salty on the outside with a warm and tender center. The perfect snack to sustain you as you travel through the Unknown in OVER THE GARDEN WALL!