Recipe Weekend: A Literary Tea Party: Blends and Treats for Alice, Bilbo, Dorothy, Jo, and Book Lovers Everywhere by Alison Walsh

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book,free of charge,from Skyhorse Publishing via Edelweiss, for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it

A Literary-Inspired Cookbook for Voracious Readers at Teatime

Synopsis:

Tea and books: the perfect pairing. There's nothing quite like sitting down to a good book on a lovely afternoon with a steaming cup of tea beside you, as you fall down the rabbit hole into the imaginative worlds of Alice in Wonderland, The Hobbit, and Sherlock Holmes . . .

Fire up your literary fancies and nibble your way through delicate sweets and savories with A Literary Tea Party, which brings food from classic books to life with a teatime twist. Featuring fifty-five perfectly portioned recipes for an afternoon getaway, including custom homemade tea blends and beverages, you will have everything you need to plan an elaborate tea party. Cook up and enjoy:

Turkish Delight while sipping on the White Witch’s Hot Chocolate from The Chronicles of Narnia

Drink Me Tea with the Queen of Hearts’s Painted Rose Cupcakes from Alice in Wonderland

Eeyore’s “Hipy Bthuthday” Cake with Hundred Acre Hot Chocolate from Winnie the Pooh

Hannah’s Sweet Potato Bacon Pastries and Jo’s Gingerbread from Little Women

Tom Sawyer’s Whitewashed Jelly Doughnuts from Tom Sawyer, and more!

Accompanied with photographs and book quotes, these recipes, inspired by the great works of literature, will complement any good book for teatime reading and eating.

Review:

Ever wanted to plan a tea part around your favorite classic book? Make the scrumptious treats from Alice in Wonderland, or the narnia series? Well Alison was already ahead of you in thinking that and took a lot of time, and effrt, to recreate those treats lovingly and realistically. Now you CAN have that Mad Hatter Tea Party, or tea with Pooh and friends! This is a must have for all book lovers, who love a good cuppa while curled up with their favorite book and a light nosh! It's a darling book and I can see giving it to a pre-teen/tweenwho loves cooking, with some of the classic books and a teapot and cup. It's the gift that will KEEP on giving. It's also perfect for planning those Spring kids parties and picnics, and will be a book you fall back on over and over! We can't recommend it enough!

Recipe:  Scotch Eggs

A classic recipe from the Narnia stories, this is a dish that we have allmarch long, as it is popular at many of the Celtic events we attend! Alison's recipe is VERY simple, but produces perfect eggs!

Makes 8 scotch eggs

Ingredients:

- 8 large eggs

- 1 egg, lightly beaten

- 16 oz Italian sausage, removed from casing

• (I’ve found the best way to remove a sausage from its casing is to give the link a few good twists in the middle and push the meat out the ends (if the ends aren’t already open, you might need to slit them with a knife).
- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp pepper

- 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs

- 4-6 cups vegetable oil (depends on the size of your pot)

Directions:

1. Hard boil your eggs using any method you choose 

2. While you wait for your eggs, place your sausage in a large bowl and break it up into bits with your fingers. In a small bowl, lightly beat your extra egg. In another small bowl, stir together your bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Line up your bowls into an assembly line.

3. When your eggs are cool, peel them. For each egg, take a palmful of sausage and flatten it out on your hand. Encase the egg in a thin layer of sausage, creating a sausage ball. One at a time, dip the sausage balls in the beaten egg and flip them once or twice until completely coated. Finally, roll each sausage ball in the bread crumbs.

4. Heat your oil on medium heat in a large pot. When the oil is hot, fry the scotch eggs two at a time. How long your scotch eggs need to cook will depend heavily on the thickness of the sausage layer. I recommend slitting the first batch with a knife to check doneness after cooking for 3 minutes on each side. If the sausage is still pink, put them back in the pot until the sausage is fully brown. Adjust your cook time for the remaining batches accordingly.

5. Set your finished scotch eggs on a plate lined with a paper towel and let them sit for 5 minutes. Serve warm to your favorite Narnian dwarves! 

Note: If you are making multiple batches, we've found that wrapping the eggs in foil, then placing in a 200 degree oven, in a warming pan, helps keep the crispness, without leaving them soggy. but don't hold them for too long, they are meant to be eaten after being cooekd!

Note for reheating: If you’re reheating the eggs in the microwave, poke them with a fork in a few spots, making sure to insert the fork deep enough that you pierce the egg. An unpierced egg can store a lot of pressure after being microwaved and runs the risk of exploding, whether cooked or not. TRUST US! LOL

About the Author:

Alison Walsh first began cooking as a way to stretch her post-college paycheck, and her love of cooking grew. In 2014, she combined her love of food and books into Alison's Wonderland Recipes, a food blog dedicated to book-inspired recipes. She has written for Real Life at Home and her recipes have been featured on MuggleNet, the number one Harry Potter fan website.