Nothing says “Hello, Summer” like Citrus Breeze Ice Cream. Confession: I've wanted to do an ice cream riff on the ever-popular Man Catcher Cake for awhile; its subtle hints of orange, lemon, and vanilla make everyone scrape their dessert plates and ask for seconds. One day, I decided that the cake flavors would be fantastic in frozen dessert form. (Spoiler: I was right). However, I didn’t have a book to pair with this culinary brain child,...
The first time I turned on my oven in 2020 was to bake Vanilla Oatmeal Cookies, and they were the perfect way to kick off a new year of baking. And, it just so happens that these delicious cookies pair perfectly with my recent book review of Finding the Gift. Finding the Gift is about many things, but it’s mostly about focusing on the little, happy moments that make life worth living. Finding the “gifts,” so to speak, in everyday life....
One of the most delightful things about reading The Lost for Words Bookshop was discovering what Parkin Cake is. I love books set in different places, and a large reason why is that they allow me to discover new cuisines. A “Parkin” is repeatedly mentioned in The Lost for Words Bookshop as something that Loveday and her mother would bake together for her father. Baking a Parkin carries supremely happy memories for our heroine before...
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 can't stop staring at these gorgeous Hocus Pocus Cupcakes. *all the heart eyes* The sprinkles! The frosting! THE SPRINKLES AND THE FROSTING!! Although The Hocus Pocus Magic Shop takes place around Halloween, these delicious confectioneries flavored with chocolate, cherries, and roses are like Valentine's Day shoved into a cupcake. Which is exactly what you want in a dessert modeled after a love potion. You heard me: love potion. These are LOVE...
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...
You know what’s really hard to take pictures of, you guys? ICE CREAM. I’ve made ice cream before for the blog, and I think I managed to pull off some pretty good photos. This time, however, I got cocky, and I tried to do my Mint Chocolate Chip Hot Fudge Sundaes photo shoot after I got home from work. Since I’m basically awake around 4:30am each day, doing anything after work that involves patience and a modicum of creativity is not the...
Brush up your Play-Doh skills, everyone! Because we’re baking Rainbow Pinwheel Cookies on the blog today. Colors are a big theme in The Things She's Seen. Beth sees beautiful, beckoning colors that she knows she should go toward ("the afterlife"), and Catching and Crow have "the colors" viciously torn out of them by the Feed. The concept of colors represents SO much in this incredible novel -- hope, strength, happiness, peace -- that I knew...
I love a good chocolate chip cookie. However, I admit I’m a bit of a snob – I really only like my own chocolate chip cookies. You can keep your Tate’s Bake Shop and your Entenmann’s, and although I used to house Chips Ahoy like no tomorrow, I won’t even touch a bag of those now. I’ll certainly take chocolate chip cookies baked from scratch by others (I always love a treat I don’t have to bake myself!), but if I’m really craving a...
One of the reasons I love Southern fiction is that it relies heavily on food to tell its story. A good meal acts as a bonding ritual between friends and family, and a delectable dessert is enough to make you forget the worries of the day, at least temporarily. This book-inspired recipe blogger was thrilled to find that Glory Road contained more than enough mouth-watering inspiration. The peach cobbler that main character Gus bakes up is known as...
