A Tree Grows In Brooklyn for The Book Club Cookbook Cooking Crew #thebookclubcookbookCC

This year I joined a new blogging group called The Book Club Cookbook Cooking Crew organized by Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla. Each month for a year, a different blogger picks a novel from which we will be creating a recipe. The novels and recipes are provided in a cookbook named The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club’s Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp.

You can follow along by following #thebookclubcookbookCC on social media and find out more about the event here. 

There is a giveaway of the cookbook which you can find at the end of this post.

I am excited to be hosting this month's #thebookclubcookbookCC selection.  I had a really hard time picking the book. I couldn't decide if I should base my selection on the book or the recipe.  In the end I went with the book and choose A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. However the recipe is for Chocolate Russe. Something I have never made but it is chocolate so I am bound to like it. 

And guess what? You can join in the fun too.  You can choose to read the book, make the recipe provided, adapt the recipe, or create your own recipe inspired by the book. Join in by following the below guidelines:

• Draw inspiration from the chosen recipe/book.
• Blog about it! It doesn’t have to be a lengthy post. Just share your dish.
• Include a link back to this post somewhere in your post. Grab the logo and use it if you’d like.
• Your post must be current (during November 2015). And of course we don’t mind if your post is linked to other events. The more the merrier.

Email your entries to me at emmajeanne16 (at) aol (dot) com by March 29th and include:

• Your name
• Your blog’s name and URL
• The name of your dish and the permalink to the specific post you’resubmitting
• Attach a photo of any size (or just give me permission to”pull” one from your post)
• Indicate #thebookclubcookbookCC in the subject line

Deadline for submission is March 29th.  I will be posting a roundup of all recipes on March 31st!

Chocolate Russe

Cook Time: Freeze 4-6 hours

Keywords: dessert chocolate

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Ingredients (serves 10)

• 1/4 cup kirsch
• 2 Tbsp juice from maraschino cherries
• 2 - 3 oz packages of ladyfingers
• 3 Tbsp instant coffee powder
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream

For Garnish:

• Maraschino cherries
• Sweetened Whipped Cream

Instructions

Combine the kirsch and cherry juice in a small bowl, then brush the flat side of the ladyfingers with the mixture. Line the side of a 9 inch springform pan with ladyfingers, brushed side facing in. Ling the bottom of the pan with the remaining ladyfingers, brushed side up.

Dissolve the instant coffee in the boiling water. Set aside.

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Set aside.

Beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer at high speed until foamy, then add the sugar gradually, beating until thick. Reduce the speed and add the vanilla and almond extracts, coffee and melted chocolate.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Stir 1 cup of egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining egg whites.

In another bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Fold into the chocolate mixture.

Pour the mixture on top of the ladyfingers in the prepared pan. Freeze until firm, about 4-6 hours.

Before serving garnish with a ring of maraschino cherries. Serve each piece with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

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Giveaway

This month Emily at Life on Food, this month's host, is giving away a copy of the book.* Enter to win a copy of the cookbook so you can join us in future months, if you wish!

One of our lucky readers - US and Canada only! - can enter to win a copy ofThe Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp, courtesy of Tarcher-Penguin. Giveaway runs from March 1st till March 31st at 6 o'clock PM, Pacific time. Please see terms and conditions in the rafflecopter widget below. Many thanks to Tarcher Books. You may find Tarcher: on the web, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on Pinterest.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclosure: Emily received a complimentary copy of The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp as an opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.