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.

Mrs. Enger’s Cinnamon Rolls with Coffee Frosting #thebookclubcookbookCC

Did you make any new year's resolutions? I don't really. I am constantly setting goals throughout the year and I find it somewhat silly so many people pick January as a time to re-calibrate for the whole year. I kind of feel like I need to re-calibrate once a week. If not more.

One of the things I miss most from my pre-baby days is reading.  I have mentioned it before and as we go into the new year it is one of my focuses.  I really want to find more time to read. And yes, I am counting magazines at the gym as part of this reading :)

I have been thinking about reading more for a while and so even though #thebookclubcookbookCC had the month of December off, I dutifully picked up the January book. This month's book is Peace Like A River by Leif Enger picked by our hostess for the month, Sarah at the  The Pajama Chef

Not familiar with the  #thebookclubcookbookCC?  Well it's a group of 11 bloggers where each month we pick a book, to read or not is up to you, and then make a recipe either from 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 or something inspired by the book. If you are interested in joining see this post from Camilla, our leader or Sarah's invitation.

There is a giveaway at the bottom of this post for The Book Club Cook Book so keep reading. 

I really enjoyed the book. It is something I never would have picked up on my own but enjoyed never the less. The story is of a father and his three children. The father has a great sense of faith and seems to have some miraculous powers based on observations from his son. This faith is put to the test as the eldest child, Davy, ends up in jail and then escapes. The family goes on a search adventure into the west to find Davy.  They end up meeting someone special along the way. Together everyone ends up back home after some unexpected trials and tribulations. The book had a lot of potential recipes as food brought comfort and solace at many points throughout the novel.

I loved the cinnamon rolls featured in the book and ultimately in the recipe chosen for The Book Club Cookbook.  I am a huge cinnamon roll fan and knew that was going to be my recipe even before I opened page one of the book. I made these when we had extra family around during the holidays. The recipe makes 4 dozen and although I am up for the challenge and could probably consume all 4 dozen on my own it would not have been a good idea. Yea, for being ahead of the game.

Be sure to check out the other bloggers participating as well!

A Day in the Life on the Farm
Adventures in All Things Food
Cheese Curd In Paradise
Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Life on Food
Mostly Food and Crafts
The Pajama Chef
The Spiffy Cookie
Things I Make (for Dinner)
Tortillas and Honey
ZooeySuff

Mrs. Enger’s Cinnamon Rolls with Coffee Frosting

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 30 minutes, plus rise time (3

Cook Time: 18-20 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast bread cinnamon coffee

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Ingredients (4 dozen rolls)

For the Rolls:

• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or lard
• 1 scant tablespoon dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 6 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 8 cups flour
• Melted butter

For the Frosting:

• Coffee
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions

To make the rolls: 

Bring to a boil 2 cups water, the honey, and oil or lard. Allow to cool.

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water, with a dab of honey to hasten proofing. Put cinnamon and granulated sugar in a bowl and mix.

Place cooled water-honey-oil mixture in a large mixing bowl and add the eggs and salt. Add the yeast mixture. Stir in flour; you want a fairly stiff dough, so you may need to adjust the amount.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead well 15-20 minutes, until smooth and elastic. (I used a stand mixer for about 5-10 minutes. Shape into a ball, place in a greased bowl, cover, and set aside to rise at least 3 hours.

Punch the dough down and knead a few minutes. Roll out dough thin—it will make 2 or 3 large flats. Brush the top surface with melted butter, then lay on a heavy coat of cinnamon and sugar. Roll flats up into tight cylinders and pinch the edges together to seal. Slice cylinders into three or four dozen rolls, place on jelly-roll pans, and allow to rise overnight, covered.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls 18 to 20 minutes.

To make the coffee frosting:

While the first batch bakes, set up a pot of strong coffee. Use 1/2-3/4 cup in a bowl containing confectioners’ sugar and melted butter. Stir until smooth and not too thin. Drizzle over the warm cinnamon rolls, or spread it on with a knife.

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Giveaway

This month Sarah at The Pajama Chef, 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 January 1st till January 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: Sarah 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.

Chewy Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies #thebookclubcookbookCC

One of the things I miss the most since Miss O was born is my ability to put my feet up and read.  When I was traveling a lot with work I had a lot of time to read on my flights and layovers. I also would take time on the weekends and snuggle up on the couch to engage myself in a new world through a wide variety of genres. Having a baby means almost no free time. Or at least my priorities have changed a bit. My free time is now spent playing and snuggling a baby. I miss reading but for the time being I am OK with my limited book time. 

That doesn't mean however that I cannot enjoy a good book. As part of my monthly Book Club Cook Book contribution this month I dove into Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Erin of The Spiffy Cookie, hosted this month and I could not have been more pleased with her pick. If you are interested in joining see this post from Camilla, our leader.  There is a giveaway at the bottom of this post for The Book Club Cook Book so keep reading. 

This is my second time reading this book but the first time was way long ago, dare I even say when I was in high school. Before I even opened the pages I was pretty sure I wanted to make ButterBeer. Turns out though that this doesn't come up in the series till much later. The other thing I kept turning to was the scene in the movie right before the troll storms the castle. The characters are feasting in this marvelous hall with all sorts of goodies floating around. As I was reading the book and thinking of a potential recipe, this imagine was stuck in my mind. I think of it as the most massive and decadent Thanksgiving feast. It may have been because we had just celebrated Halloween but my massive and decadent feast turned into very indulgent cookies. Cookies which included rice crispy cereal, Butterfinger candy and chocolate chips. Did I mention these cookies were gigantic? 

I believe my Chewy Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies would fit right in with the desserts offered at Hogwarts.

Chewy Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

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Ingredients (makes large 15 cookies)

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 ¼ cups Rice Krispies cereal
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped Butterfinger candy bars

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until smooth and creamy, about two minutes. On low, add in egg and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.

Slowly add in the dry ingredients until mixed together.

Fold in the oats, cereal, chocolate chips, and Butterfinger pieces by hand. Don’t over mix.

Scoop dough into balls, about a tablespoon each, and place on prepared baking sheet. 

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are slightly brown, the centers should still be soft.

Allow cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet. Move cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely.

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And be sure to check out some of the other bloggers joining in on the fun. 

A Day in the Life on the Farm      

Adventures in All Things Food    

Cheese Curd In Paradise               

Culinary Adventures with Camilla             

Life on Food       

Mostly Food and Crafts 

The Pajama Chef              

The Spiffy Cookie             

Things I Make (for Dinner)           

Tortillas and Honey         

ZooeySuff   

You can follow along with the hashtag #thebookclubcookbookCC on social media or check out the group Pinterest board. Find out how you can join along with us below.

Giveaway

This month Erin at The Spiffy Cookie, 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 November 1st till November 30th at 4 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: Erin 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.

Old Fashioned Tea Cakes #thebookclubcookbookCC

This is my September post for the The Book Club Cook Book Cooking Crew group. Despite my best intentions of getting the post up earlier in the month here I am posting on September 24th. As I mentioned last month this is a group where  each month a new book will be chosen from The Book Club Cook Book, a cook book that has recipes from many popular recent and older novels. The goal of this club is to pick a book each month and either make the recipe from The Book Club Cook Book or another recipe inspired by the novel. 

If you are interested in join see this post from Camilla, our leader.  There is a giveaway at the bottom of this post for The Book Club Cook Book so keep reading.  This September book was A Lesson in Dying by Ernest J. Gaines.  I wasn't familiar with this book until this month. I always love being introduced to something new, especially a good book.

The book takes place in Louisiana and has all sorts of Southern flair including the food.  The main character, Jefferson, is on death row. His grandmother sends all sorts of food to him to show him kindness and love.  At first he refuses but then finally accepts the gifts. The acceptance is a turning point where Jefferson feels worthy again. 

One of the food gifts Jefferson's Grandmother sends is tea cakes. These are a Southern specialty that is a cross between sugar cookies and scones. I was thinking about making some jambalaya for my recipe this month but my sweet tooth won out once I saw the Book Club Cook Book recipe. The tea cakes are sweet but not as sweet as a typical cookie. You can tell why they have the name tea cakes once you try one because they would go great with a cup of tea. 

The recipe makes a bunch - about 5 dozen cookies. We were eating theses for days which definitely wasn't a bad thing. I only wish we could have had an in-person book discussion to share these cookies.

Old Fashioned Tea Cakes

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

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Ingredients (5 dozen cookies)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well.

Add eggs beating until blended after each addition. Add lemon peel, beating until blended.

Combine flour, soda, and salt; gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed until blended after each addition.

Divide dough into 4 portions. On a lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies with a 2 1/2-inch round cutter, and place 1 inch apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Bake at 400° for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges begin to brown; let stand on baking sheet 5 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat procedure with remaining dough.

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If you are interested in participating see this information post from Tortillas and Honey. 

And be sure to check out some of the other bloggers joining in on the fun. 

A Day in the Life on the Farm      

Adventures in All Things Food    

Cheese Curd In Paradise               

Culinary Adventures with Camilla             

Life on Food       

Mostly Food and Crafts 

The Pajama Chef              

The Spiffy Cookie             

Things I Make (for Dinner)           

Tortillas and Honey         

ZooeySuff   

You can follow along with the hashtag #thebookclubcookbookCC on social media or check out the group Pinterest board. Find out how you can join along with us below.

Giveaway

This month Renee at Tortillas and Honey, 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 September 1st till September 30th 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: Renee 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 to use in this year-long project plus the opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.

Trail Granola Clusters #thebookclubcookbookCC

Oh man have I been baking up a storm since the oven was back up and running. Plus the sink works and we have a DISHWASHER. I tell you I am in heaven.  I forgot what it was like to have a dishwasher. 

Today I have a yummy granola recipe for my August posting in The Book Club Cook Book.  As I mentioned last month this is a group where  each month a new book will be chosen from The Book Club Cook Book, a cook book that has recipes from many popular recent and older novels. The goal of this club is to pick a book a month and either make the recipe from The Book Club Cook Book or another recipe inspired by the novel. 

If you are interested in join see this post from Camilla, our leader.  There is a giveaway at the bottom of this post for The Book Club Cook Book.  For August our host is Andrea at Adventures In All Things Food. She choose Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Although I have read other Bill Bryson books I had not read this one till this month. I thought this was kind of funny since this has been on my dad's bookshelf for as long as I can remember. Growing up we did a lot of nature vacations and walked portions of the AT. Being little we never did much but I felt like I could relate to some of Bill's more traumatic experiences. Nature and I don't seem to get along all that well when we are together.

Last month a member mentioned noting all the food mentions when reading the book. I thought that was a great idea and did the same as I read A Walk in the Woods. I was not expecting so many mentions of Snickers and Hostess cakes. In fact in time I read some of the book I was suddenly craving all sorts of junk food. Not so much the noodles though. It struck me that if I ever (not that it is really a potential) undertook such an adventure I would have planned way better food options. Primarily granola. So that is what I made for you today. 

Granola. Nutty Trail Granola. With cluster. Since clusters are way easier to eat when you don't have utensils. 

Trail Granola Clusters

by Emily Morris

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Keywords: bake breakfast snack oatmeal hazelnuts pistachios

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Ingredients (1 gallon bag of Granola)

• 6 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered or sliced almonds
• 1 cup shelled pistachios
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup maple syrup

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the oats, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine.

Whisk the oil and the honey together. Pour over the oats mixture and until the whole mixture is moistened. Pour into a large jelly roll pan in a single layer.

Bake for 20 minutes, stirring once. Bake for 10 more minutes and remove from the oven. Let it sit until it starts to cool - this helps keep the clusters.

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If you are interested in participating see this information post from Adventures In All Things Food. 

And be sure to check out some of the other bloggers joining in on the fun. 

A Day in the Life on the Farm      

Adventures in All Things Food    

Cheese Curd In Paradise               

Culinary Adventures with Camilla             

Life on Food       

Mostly Food and Crafts 

The Pajama Chef              

The Spiffy Cookie             

Things I Make (for Dinner)           

Tortillas and Honey         

ZooeySuff   

You can follow along with the hashtag #thebookclubcookbookCC on social media or check out the group Pinterest boad. Find out how you can join along with us below.

Giveaway

This month Andrea at Adventures in all Things 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 August 1st till August 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: Andrea 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 to use in this year-long project plus the opportunity to give a copy away. Opinions are our own. We received no further compensation for our posts.