A new door into the World of Desserts has opened for me, thanks to Chocolate Orange Truffles. Say it with me: "Homemade chocolate." Sounds daunting, right? Like, sure, maybe you could do it, but only if you had way more time on your hands. Or, if you were a character in a Hallmark movie fleeing to Europe after a bad breakup. WRONG. Get ready to be amazed, Tartlets. Making Chocolate Orange Truffles is way easier than I ever thought candy-making...
I'm so excited to be making Pecan Snowball Cookies as my book-inspired recipe for One Day in December. I mean, you can't get a better culinary concoction for a wintry romance than a snowball, right?? When Laurie sees love interest Jack through a bus window on a wintry day in London, the frigid air is swirling with snowflakes. It's magical, it's inspired, and although Laurie and Jack don't actually meet in that moment, they do have some other...
I really should call this Mint Chocolate Cake the “Hot Mess Cake.” Because that's totally what it looks like until the cake comes out of the oven. It’s just a whole bunch o’ ingredients dumped unceremoniously into a food processor that magically becomes one of the most delicious, moist, and mouth-watering cakes you’ll ever taste. Even though The Mother-in-Law wasn't inspired by author Sally Hepworth's mother-in-law, my book-inspired...
One of my favorite things about this time of year is how much baking I get to do. With Thanksgiving, my husband’s December birthday, and the Christmas season all within six weeks of each other, my oven is seriously put to the test. Cookies, cakes, bars, brownies, cheescakes -- you name it, I’m probably baking it. By the time I reach December 26, I’m admittedly a little baked out. Which brings me to the overabundance of baked goods every...
If you were going to eat your very last meal, what would it be? A lot of people probably aren’t as morbid as I am and therefore have not given this concept much thought. I, however, have thought about it extensively, and despite all the possible scenarios under which this “last meal” might occur (alien invasion, being on death row, brink of world annihilation, etc.), my selection remains constant: penne vodka. Penne vodka is my favorite...
When we first meet the titular character of The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein, she is traveling through dreary Ingolstadt, Germany to find her friend Victor. Even though the adventure is shrouded in creepiness, author Kiersten White’s vivid description of the medieval city made me nostalgic for Germany – particularly, for its desserts, which I believe are some of the best in the world. Since the novel is mostly set in Germany and...
It's summertime, which means that although I will perpetually crave cake, I must concede that the best dessert on a hot, steamy night is a chilled one. Enter: Chocolate Espresso Mousse. This recipe goes along with my latest read, In a Cottage in a Wood. If you read my review, you'll know that there were not many cozy cottage suppers in this novel. Neve, the main character, doesn’t have a lot of money and is a bit of a mess, so she's not...
