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Hannah Fans Can Rest Easy - The Lake Eden Cookbook Is Here
(Image from Barnes & Noble)Fans of cookie baker and amateur sleuth Hannah Swenson (heroine of Joanne Fluke's popular culinary mystery series) can finally rest easy. After many requests for a cookbook made of all the delectable recipes found in her novels, Fluke complied. The result? Lake Eden Cookbook: Hannah Swenson's Recipes From The Cookie Jar, which released a little over a month ago. Just in time for holiday baking, the cookbook contains all the recipes from the books as well as a "generous sprinkling of new never-before-published" recipes. Since the majority of Fluke's/Hannah's recipes cannot be found online (at least not officially), this is a real treat for those who love Hannah and/or those who love to bake.
Since Hannah is, primarily, a cookie baker, the majority of "her" recipes are for just that. From drop cookies to bar cookies to cut-out cookies to a cookie pizza, the variety is dazzling. Hannah's specialty might be cookies, but that's not all she does - "her" cookbook includes instructions for making several different types of candy, muffins, cakes, cupcakes, pies, even soups and salads. All of the recipes look delicious, are clearly worded and seem to be doable even for newbie bakers. Oh, and did I mention the substitutions list that starts on Page 323? I've never seen the like - who knew there were substitutes for brown sugar, self-rising flour, even eggs? I didn't.
Those bakers who also love the Hannah Swenson books will enjoy the story that runs through the cookbook. It's nothing terribly exciting (no one gets killed anyway) and you won't miss any important plot developments by ignoring it, but it's kind of fun to read about Hannah's catering woes during an oncoming snowstorm. Also, on the inside book covers is a quaint, colorful map of Lake Eden - something I, at least, have never seen before. It's a fun visual that helps bring Fluke's stories to life.
My complaints about the cookbook are few. I would have liked a bigger, spiral-bound version, which would make the book much more kitchen-friendly. As is, it's formatted like another volume in the series - hardbound, with no color (except on the map). Also, it would have been really nice to see color photos of each of the finished products, since, without a picture, I'm never sure if what I baked looks like it's supposed to look. Additionally, the recipes do not include any nutritional info at all. Considering how much fat and sugar are in many of them, maybe it's better that I not know!
Despite those little annoyances, I've been really pleased with Lake Eden Cookbook: Hannah Swensen's Recipes From The Cookie Jar. I can't wait to try more of the recipes, since they all look fantastic. If you've got a Fluke fan or a baker or both on your Christmas list this year, search this one out. Seriously. Just thinking about baking more of Hannah's sweet treats makes me salivate. Mmm, mmm, mmm. I hope Fluke's coming out with a diet cookbook next - I'm definitely going to need it!
(Readalikes: All the books in Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen series, including Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder, Strawberry Shortcake Murder, Blueberry Muffin Murder and Lemon Meringue Pie Murder)
Grade: B
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for very mild sexual innuendo
To the FTC, with love: I bought The Lake Eden Cookbook from Amazon with some of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.)
I must have been really overloaded on Halloween candy when I selected the recipes I wanted to make for this blog post. Usually, I go straight for the chocolate, but the two treats I selected both involve fruit (which totally makes them healthy, right?). Enjoy!
Oh, and in the recipes, comments in parantheses are Fluke's/Swensen's, comments in brackets are mine.
3 cups orange juice (you'll need 6 cups in all)
Pour the 3 cups of orange juice into a blender. Add the envelope of dry Dream Whip and the dry pudding mix. Blend for one minute on LOW and then for another minute on MEDIUM speed.
Pour the mixture into a 2-quart pitcher. Add the remaining 3 cups of orange juice and stir well.
Yield: Makes almost 2 quarts
- Sorry about the blurry photos. My 2-year-old wouldn't stop moving. I'm pretty sure the cup didn't move an inch, so I'm not sure why it's so fuzzy. There's a distinct possibility that the photographer didn't know what she was doing. Nah, couldn't be that :)
LEIGH'S LIME BALLS
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces, 1/4 pound) salted butter, softened
*** If you can't find key lime juice, you can use regular lime juice. Of course, it's best if you squeeze it yourself.
Prepare a cake pan by lining it with wax paper. You're going to use it to hold and refrigerate your lime balls once you've made them.
Hannah's 1st Note: You can use an electric mixer to make these little treats, or you can do it by hand.
Hannah's 2nd Note: Let the tube of frozen limeade concentrate thaw on the counter while you start mixing the first few ingredients.
If you don't want to wait for your cold butter to warm to room temperature, you can soften it in the microwave. Here's how you do it:
Hannah's 3rd Note: Check the powdered sugar to make sure it doesn't have lumps. If it does, you'll have to sift out the lumps by using a flour sifter or putting it through a fine wire-mesh strainer.
If the frozen limeade has thawed, add it to your mixing bowl. If it hasn't, spoon it out of the container, put it into a microwave-safe bowl, and heat in on HIGH for 20 seconds. Stir to see if it's melted. If it's not, heat it in 20-second increments, stirring after each increment, until it's melted. Add the melted limeade concentrate to your bowl and mix it in thoroughly.
Add the Tablespoon of lime juice and mix it in.
Add the green food coloring (if you decided to use it) and mix that in thoroughly.
Add the crushed wafers to your bowl and mix them in.
Place the coconut in a medium-size bowl. You'll be coating your lime balls with it. (I like to put my coconut in the food processor and use the steel blade to chop it even finer. I've found that most people who say they don't like coconut are really not objecting to the way it tastes, but the tendency it has to stick between their teeth.)
Use your impeccably clean hands to form little balls from the mixture. (Lisa and I use a 2-teaspoon scooper at The Cookie Jar.) The balls should be about 1 inch in diameter, approximately the size of bonbons.
When you've finished forming and coating all your lime balls and placing them in the cake pan, cover them with another sheet of wax paper and refrigerate them for 2 to 3 hours before serving. If you're not serving them for several days, place a sheet of foil over the cake pan and secure it tightly. keep the cake pan in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve.
If you're giving these as gifts, you can place them in pretty cookie tins. You can also put them in little paper mini muffin cups and place them in a candy box. Remember to tell your lucky recipients to keep them refrigerated.
My thoughts on the recipe: Scrumptious! These have the curious tendency to be both refreshing and totally rich. My husband and I both enjoyed these, especially after the lime balls had been chilling for a day or two.
My only problems with the recipe were (1) I used the "rolling pin" method for crushing my Nilla wafers and I should have used the food processor method since mine were not fine enough. My bad on that one. I was too impatient. (2) I must have been super generous with my coconut coating because I needed at least 2 cups. (3) Not all of my lime balls fit in my 9 x 13 pan. I used an additional 8 x 8 inch one. Other than that, I made it exactly as written and the lime balls turned out pretty and very yummy.
Dark Psychological Thriller A Little Too Dark For Me
(Image from Barnes & Noble)When Abby wakes up in an alley next to a house engulfed in flames, she remembers nothing - not her name, not her age, not her address, not anything. But when a guy tries to help her up, she feels a flicker of ... something. He says his name is Sam, says Abby knows him, says he'll help her. And he does, taking her to a hidden cave in the middle of a lovely forest. It's like something from a fairy tale and sharing this cozy new home with Sam makes her almost delirious with happiness. She doesn't exactly remember the world outside their secret woods, but she trusts Sam, knows he's telling the truth when he says it's not safe for her to venture too far beyond the cave.
It's only after several weeks in the cave that Abby begins to feel uneasy. She loves Sam, but his abrupt mood shifts frighten her. With memories from her former life creeping into her mind, Abby's confused, worried. She doesn't want to anger Sam by asking questions and yet, she needs to know who she is, where she came from, and how she ended up sprawled in an alley next to a burning building. Even if the memories cause her pain, she has to know. The closer Abby gets to the truth, the more she begins to doubt the reliability of her own mind. The questions cramming her brain shouldn't be so confounding, but they are: Who is she, really? Who is Sam, really? What is real? What isn't? Where is safety? Where is danger? As Abby fights to make sense of it all, her fairy tale illusions crumble, leaving only the awful truth and the most important question: How will she escape?
Circle Nine, a debut novel by Anne Heltzel, is a dark, psychological thriller that examines a whole slew of curious paradoxes - identity, dependency, even the phenomenon known as Stockholm Syndrome. For such a sinister story, the writing really is quite lovely. Still, I found the whole novel depressing and more than a little disturbing. I kept reading since I had to know how the story ended, but I'm not sure I actually enjoyed Circle Nine. Let's just say it unsettled me - a lot - and leave it at that.
(Readalikes: Reminded me of Stolen by Lucy Christopher)
Grade: B-
If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for strong language, intense situations and sexual content
To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Circle Nine from the generous folks at Candlewick Press. Thank you!
Extras Creepy-Cool; Story Needs Work
(Image from Barnes & Noble)Warm, Authentic Friend An Enjoyable Read
(Image from Barnes & Noble)Life's not going well for 16-year-old Henry "Hen" Birnbaum. First, his girlfriend dumps him. Then, she kicks him out of her band. And then, a year after she mysteriously vanished, Hen's older sister suddenly shows up. Which should, of course, be a happy occasion, except for the fact that Sarah won't say a word about where she's been or why she left. Maybe he shouldn't be, but Hen's angry at her, angry at his parents for not being angry with her, and really just kind of angry with all the lemons life's been pelting him with lately. At least he has Emma Wood, neurotic though his BFF may be.
Since Hen's got nothing else to do with his time (unless you count watching Behind the Music reruns with Emma), he turns his attention to solving the mystery of Sarah's disappearance. He's pretty sure all the answers lie with Sarah's college friend, Gabriel Stern. The 22-year-old bass player's hiding out in the East Village, keeping a low profile until whatever trouble he and Sarah stirred up blows over. Even when Hen agrees to take music lessons from Gabriel to help the fugitive "get his life back on track" (30), Gabriel refuses to talk. At least Hen's bass is improving, maybe even enough to win back his spot in the band. And in his ex-girlfriend's heart.
The funny thing is, the more Hen tries to recapture his old life, the less he really wants it. All the discoveries he's making during this, the worst summer he's ever experienced, are changing him. The question is: How much? And will he even recognize himself by the time it's over?
Friend Is Not A Verb by Daniel Ehrenhaft is a funny, warmhearted novel about friendship, family and finding truth in unexpected places. It's an entertaining, authentic read that will appeal to readers who want a novel that's not too light, not too dark, but a satisfying blend of both. Bottom line: I enjoyed it.
(Readalikes: Hm, I can't really think of anything. Can you?)
Grade: B
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG-13 for language (no F-bombs), depictions of underrage drinking and illegal drug use, and sexual innuendo
Reading
The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor
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The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
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