Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

When it comes to baking, there are victories and there are failures. Sometimes the cakes don’t rise, and sometimes they rise like lopsided mountains. Sometimes cakes stick so badly to the pan they have to be eaten with a fork and never make it to the cake plate. Being a baker means accepting that your recipes (and you) will never be 100% perfect every time.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Chocolate Donuts with Peppermint Bark

During the month of December, it seems as though sweets are waiting for you around every corner. Cookies spring up like daisies in the spring. Cakes lie around beneath glass domes and entice us to them. Truffles and candy canes and sufganiyot crowd inside gift bags for your enjoyment.

Bea’s Bakery in Mystic Water fills to bursting with sweets and treats of all kinds during December. Townsfolk flock to the glass cases from morning until closing time to fill their bellies with gingerbread cookies or snowflake sugar cookies.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Oreo Truffles

Poet Pablo Neruda wrote, “Laughter is the language of the soul.” When was the last time you laughed? Can you remember when you last laughed so hard that your face and your stomach ached, when tears rolled down your cheeks?

If you can’t immediately recall when laughter burst from your smile, then you need to stop by Bea’s Bakery in Mystic Water and order at least a half dozen Oreo truffles.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Peanut Butter Truffles

Ever felt like a hamster on a wheel? Or like just another rat in the rat race? Ever feel as though one day leads into another, leads into another, leads into another, and you’re tired of being tired?

Sounds like you need a vacation, a place to rest and relax, or at the very least, a visit to Bea’s Bakery in The Baker’s Man. Anna O’Brien can whip up just what you need to feel rested, rejuvenated, and like your old self again (back when you had energy and you were excited about every new adventure).

Cooking Through Fiction: The Giver's Red Apple Pie

Can you imagine living in a seemingly ideal, although colorless, world of contentment and conformity? Your freedom of choice and your independence are non-existent. Instead, you are surrounded by sameness, but you don’t even know everyone is all the same.

Imagine not knowing the vibrancy of colors, not knowing what sunshine feels like as it warms your face, or the pelt of rain against your cheeks. Imagine never feeling pain or sadness, but in giving up the difficult emotions and experiences, you are also forfeiting true happiness and real love. Is it worth it?

Cooking Through Fiction: Frankenstein's Cake

When most people hear the name Frankenstein, they immediately imagine the monster depicted in the movies. The tall, grotesquely built lump of flesh given life by whom….? Victor Frankenstein.

Frankenstein isn’t the monster stitched together with human remains; he’s the monster’s creator. After reading the novel many times and even watching the movies, I think people are right in thinking that Frankenstein is the monster in Mary Shelley’s novel, but only if they’re referring to Victor.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Critters

 

If you’re passing through Mystic Water on a Tuesday, you should stop by Bea’s Bakery. On Tuesdays, Anna creates a few animal-themed treats that the after-school kids love as well as the adults.

Feeling tired? Out of sorts? Heart-weary? Anna has a cure for you on Tuesdays. She makes turtles and bears and critters, oh my! Customers in need of a boost of happiness buy dozens of turtles (chocolate-covered pecans) every Tuesday. Those who need peace in their weary hearts buy bears (chocolate-covered walnuts).

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Chocolate Hazelnut & Peanut Butter Cream Donuts

I love surprises (of the good variety), but it’s difficult to surprise me. I tend to pick up on people’s shifty behavior, and I seem to know when something amiss is afoot. I don’t like to ruin surprises, honest, but if you keep acting weird around me because you’re trying to surprise me, I’ll figure it out. Your goal: play it cool, and I won’t notice a thing!

Anna, Mystic Water’s baker extraordinaire, oversleeps one morning and wakes to the smell of donuts cooking. She runs downstairs to her bakery and finds a surprise of the most epic variety in the kitchen. And I don’t mean the chocolate-glazed donuts she sees sitting on the counter. 

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Double Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Most people have Saturday rituals, such as two cups of coffee before breakfast, reading the newspaper at the table, or sitting on the back porch watching cardinals.

I like to sleep past 6:00 a.m. (what a rebel!), think about what I’m going to eat for breakfast, and relish being a rebel who sleeps past 6:00 a.m.

Cooking Through Fiction: Percy's Blue Cheesecake

When I need comfort, there are a few items or activities that spring to mind. Just to name a few: 1) my twin-size Mickey Mouse quilt that used to be on my dorm bed in college; 2) my too-big Northwestern sweatshirt with frayed arm cuffs; 3) a long walk in nature; 4) laughing with friends and family; and 5) watching one of my favorite romantic comedies.

Food offers comfort of its own. For me, nothing quite beats a home-cooked southern meal. And then there’s homemade pizza. And melty double chocolate chip cookies. And rice (yeah, this is weird, but I really do love rice). Obviously, lots of food offers me comfort. For Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, he finds blue food especially comforting. And, boy, does he need comfort on his latest quest.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": American Flag Cake

There are a couple of events to celebrate this week. First, the US Men’s National Team faces Belgium in Round of 16 at 2014 FIFA World Cup. Go USA!

The second event to celebrate is my birthday. Happy Independence Day America (and happy birthday me)! What better way to celebrate than with cake?

Cooking Through Fiction: Son of Neptune Spaghetti

I’m a sucker for happy endings and unlikely heroes who bring these happy endings. I like when the underdog wins. I release a happy sigh when the boy gets the girl or vice versa. I especially enjoy when someone doesn’t believe he or she has the stuff that heroes are made of, only to discover by story’s end that he or she is, in fact, the one who saves the day.

In Son of Neptune (a story that takes place in a continuation of the world created by Rick Riordan in the Percy Jackson series), Percy Jackson has amnesia. He can’t remember anything about his life but Annabeth. He ends up in a Roman camp for demigods, and instead of being the son of Poseidon (a Greek god), he becomes known as the son of Neptune.

Little Blackbird Blackberry Pie

In celebration of publishing my second novel, Little Blackbird, I made a special pie just for Kate (and her friends, if she wants to share).

Growing up is difficult for most of us, and accepting ourselves sometimes doesn’t happen for years (and oftentimes well-past our teenage struggles). Kate Muir isn’t like others her age. She can see the future, but she’s been forbidden to change what she sees—no matter what.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Oreo Brownies

Have a case of the doldrums? Feeling blah or blech or blah-blech (not a real word, but definitely a real feeling)? Lost the pep in your step? Staring out windows? Zoning out? There is a remedy! Rejoin the living!

At Bea’s Bakery in The Baker’s Man, you will find various panaceas for what ails you. If you need to get your groove back, the best choice would be Anna’s Oreo brownies, which are guaranteed to put a smile on your face, a shake in your hips, and a twinkle in your eye.

Little Blackbird Giveaway!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Little Blackbird

by Jennifer Moorman

Giveaway ends June 30, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Cooking Through Fiction: Dark and Grimm German Bread

Are you guilty of watering down a story because otherwise it might be too dark or too gritty or too scary or too much-too much? I’ll admit I like rainbows and unicorns and Care Bears and sunshine and daisies. I have probably asked for the kid-friendly version of a story a gazillion times.

When someone says, “I have to tell you what happened,” I normally ask, “Is this a sad story?” I need to be prepared. Don’t spring dark, gritty, scary, too much-too much stories on me. My heart needs to know that I’m about to venture down a dark path, and even then, I’m not always ready.

Little Blackbird Now Available!

The wait is over! Little Blackbird is now available!

Summary: At five years old, Kate Muir blacks out. She sees a vision of her parents, a man with blue eyes, and a semi-truck with broken headlights. After another episode on her tenth birthday, her mama explains the meaning of these strange occurrences—Kate has the ability to see the future. But no matter what she sees, her mama forbids Kate to alter what is to come.

Kate, unlike her charming brother, Evan, has trouble fitting in with the people of Mystic Water. When Evan dies in a tragic accident, teenage Kate becomes even more of an outsider. But after a chance encounter with a young man from the most prestigious family in town, Kate’s life changes, and she receives a surprise knock at her window two days later.

What follows is a whirlwind of new experiences for Kate, but her gift refuses to allow the excitement to last. She has a gut-wrenching premonition, and the vision could change her life forever. Will Kate break the rules and alter the future? Will she stop the event from happening before it’s too late? Overflowing with longing, love, and a dash of magic, Little Blackbird is an enthralling tale of compassion, young love, and accepting one’s self.

Buy it Now!

Paperback from Amazon

Kindle version from Amazon

NOOK version from Barnes & Noble

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Rainbow Truffles

Randy Pausch, writer of The Last Lecture, said, “Never lose the childlike wonder. It’s just too important. It’s what drives us.” Try and remember what it was like when you saw the world through childlike eyes full of awe, when so much of what you saw was so marvelous it stole your breath, left you speechless.

Walt Disney said, “Too many people grow up. That’s the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don’t remember what it’s like to be twelve years old.” It’s easy to become caught up in everyday life—rush hour traffic, bills, crazy work environments, making dinner, working out, cleaning house… Becoming an adult isn’t always as awesome as it seemed like it would be when we were young. But it doesn’t have to be routine, boring, or dull.