For Booking It 2012 {an online book club} this month, we “read” Desserts in Jars: 50 Sweet Treats that Shine by Shaina Olmanson
The idea of serving desserts in personal portions is so cute. And even better that you can actually bake right in the jar! Cupcakes – move over!
I loved just looking through this book. The pictures are so pretty {and make you kind of hungry}. It’s spiral bound which makes it’s super easy to read. No losing your page or holding your spot open with a can of beans. I also felt like the layout was very clean and simple. The notes and tips throughout were very helpful.
So that’s kind of my thoughts on the book itself.
But let’s get to the good stuff! A cookbook’s not a cookbook without recipes, right?!
Right off the bat, I bookmarked over 10 recipes that I thought looked delicious and easy enough for me to undertake quickly. I’ve only managed to make 3 recipes so far, but I’ll be sure to try to the others! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen some sneak peeks.
Here’s a rundown of what I bookmarked. Ready?
- Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes
- Tres Leches Cakes
- Caramel Creme Cheesecakes
- Flourless Chocolate Cakes
- Pains au Chocolat
- White Chocolate-Lime Puddings
- Banana Buttermilk Trifles
- Frozen Mudslide Pies
- Frozen Banana Splits
- Basil Strawberry-Lemonade Granitas
Are you drooling yet? That’s okay…I was too. 
But the proof is in the pudding, right? So my first attempt was…White Chocolate-Lime Pudding!
This was really yummy. I hadn’t bought mason jars yet, so I was improvised by putting the pudding in my glasses since you don’t have to bake pudding and all.
Yum, yum!
Next up, I tried Pains Au Chocolat.
Basically, it’s chocolate wrapped up in fluffy, flaky dough. Delish, right? Uh, yeah – that’s what I thought too. There is a recipe in the book for the dough, but it was pretty involved. Me + 3 kids + involved recipe = not so much. I noticed in the tips that she says you can substitute frozen puff pastry. Score! Easy, peasy. Thaw dough, cut dough, wrap chocolate in dough, bake. Done! Now…honestly, I wasn’t particularly in love with the final result. I think it would have been a million times better with the homemade dough. However, my oldest son said that it was the best dessert ever! So…there you go!
And finally…A friend had invited us over for dinner {she’s a mean cook! as in: really good} and I got to bring the dessert. Now I’m always a little nervous to bring untried recipes to serve to other people but I figured…why not?! {The people that were there were close enough friends that I knew they wouldn’t hate me if they didn’t turn out!}
So I made Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes.
Far and away my fave dessert of the three! What you see there is a devils food cake type cupcake surrounding a delicious glob of peanut butter in the middle with a chocolate melted on top. Hello, decadence!
These were SO rich though! I couldn’t even finish the jar. But it was so good. Yum…I wish there were more; I’m getting hungry! Eat it with coffee….ah!
My only complaint with that recipe is that for the peanut butter centers it called for 3/4 cup peanut butter and 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar. Though I beat that like crazy there was not enough peanut butter to get it creamy and smooth. I ended up putting probably another 1/2 cup of peanut butter in the mixer to get the consistency correct.
The only other thing that I think could be improved is that I wish they would have put the recommended jar size in the column with the ingredients instead of buried in the directions. Not a big deal, but something that bothered me slightly when I was trying to prep.
This could make a really unique gift – maybe for the foodie in your life or as a bridal shower gift? Wrap it up with some mason jars and you’re good to go!
So overall – I’m really please with Desserts in Jars
What else have I been reading?
Well…believe it or not, I JUST finished Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
That monster of a book took me 2 months, 2 check outs from the library, several renewals, and now I have some late fees. ::whew::
The first half of the book or so {so like – 450 pages} was really hard for me to get through. I felt like I was trudging along. About halfway through though, I felt like I had finally gotten a grasp on who the characters where and what was going on – so I finally started to really enjoy it.
Nolan asked me the other day if I thought it was worth it. Yes and no. I’m glad I read it. But…Parts of it were dark and sad and I didn’t like them.
I didn’t like the choice Anna made to throw away her marriage and son to pursue “love” with another man. I didn’t like the woman she became at the end, so consumed with jealousy. I didn’t like that she committed suicide as a means of revenge on her lover. Her story was pathetically sad.
The other story that is told in the book I did like. I loved the story of Kitty and Levin. Their ups and downs. Their honesty. There arguments and makeups. Just their overall realness and how they came out alright in the end. Theirs was a story of hope and triumph. I liked that.
I just have to share a quote that I found rather humorous and oh-so-true.
“Levin had been married three months. He was happy, but not at all in the way he had expected to be. At every step he found his former dreams disappointed, and new, unexpected surprises of happiness. He was happy; but on entering family life, he saw at every step that it was utterly different from what he had imagined. At every step he experienced what a man would experience who, after admiring the smooth, happy course of the little boat on the lake, should get himself into that little boat. He saw that it was not all sitting still, floating smoothly…it was only to look at it that it was easy; but that doing it, though very delightful, was very difficult.”
Can anyone relate? I LOVED that! Marriage, parenthood, new life stages….Delightful and difficult often go hand in hand.
So – that’s it from me for the month. What have you been reading?
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