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The Hungry Bookworm

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recipe

Sleeping Giants + Mini Cinnamon Rolls

August 15, 2016 by Megan 3 Comments

Sleeping Giants was the first book I received as part of Book of the Month. I joined the club towards the end of June, primarily because I like books but also because I love getting mail and they were doing a summer promotion, which meant discounted books plus sunglasses plus a must-have tote bag. (Score!)

Anyway, I picked Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel, which was selected as an option for July by Liberty Hardy of Book Riot. It was supposed to be The Martian (which I loved) meets World War Z, and Liberty’s description touted “action, science, adventure, romance, and intrigue,” so naturally I was excited to receive my copy.

FullSizeRender

It was as page-turning as promised. Jumping from interview to interview, Neuvel weaves together a story of very dedicated (if not flawed) characters as they uncover and retrieve giant robot body parts across the globe. Together, the top secret team must decipher an unknown language and superior technology to determine how it works.

With every breakthrough, a new obstacle arises and questions remain. What is the robot’s purpose? Who left it here (and when)? Why are we finding it now? What should be done with it?

Neuvel’s interview style leaves very little room for much description beyond the immediate action of the story, and so food is barely mentioned in Sleeping Giants. In one instance, however, it makes an appearance; surprisingly, cinnamon rolls show up in a pivotal scene, with the potential to change one of the character’s outcomes.

While BOTM opted for cocktails when looking for a perfect food pairing - and to be fair, alcohol plays a more prominent role throughout the story - I went with the cinnamon rolls. Le Creme de la Crumb’s Mini Cinnamon Rolls may not seem like an obvious choice, but I disagree. Eating mini versions of regular food always has a way of making me feel just the littlest bit like a giant. (And now you can too!)

The best part about this recipe is that it's easy and quick, especially for cinnamon rolls. (Most take at least twice as long in my experience.)

To get started, I let the yeast do it's thing while I assembled the rest of my ingredients. After it was bubbling (a little over 5 minutes), I began incorporating the flour and salt, wishing I had a standing mixer but thankful at least for my new (and improved) hand mixer. Those dough hooks worked their magic and I ended up with a lovely little ball of dough.

dough

It hung out for about 10 more minutes, while I greased my muffin pans and whisked up the cinnamon mixture. Once I rolled it out, there was more than enough dough, which I dutifully cut into a 9 x 15 rectangle and covered in butter and cinnamon-sugar goodness.

cinnamon roll topping

Then came some rolling and cutting (and a little re-rolling) until I formed these 24 little beauties.

unbaked cinnamon rolls

They baked. I whipped up the frosting. When the oven timer went off, I pulled a few out of the pans right away and drizzled on the frosting. I was hungry, and these looked delicious!

iced cinnamon rolls

Mini Cinnamon Rolls
Print Recipe

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Total Time1 hr
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Servings: 24 mini rolls

Ingredients

Dough

  • 1⅓ cups warm water
  • 1 TBS active dry yeast
  • 2 TBS honey
  • 3½ cups flour
  • 1 tsp salt

Filling

  • 4 TBS butter completely softened
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • 1 TBS cinnamon

Frosting

  • 2 TBS butter softened
  • 2 ounces cream cheese softened
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • milk

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 and lightly grease a muffin pan. Add water, yeast, and honey to the bowl of a stand mixer fitting with a dough hook and stir to combine. Allow to rest for 5 minutes (mixture will rise and foam).
  • Add flour and salt to bowl. Turn the mixer on low and allow to mix until ingredients come together, then increase mixing speed to medium-low for 5 minutes. Remove dough from bowl and allow to rise for 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface.
  • While dough is rising, prepare the filling by whisking together sugars in a bowl.
  • Use a floured rolling pin to roll dough into a 9x15 inch rectangle. Use a pizza cutter to trim off the sides if it isn't perfectly rectangular. Spread softened butter over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over the butter.
  • Tightly roll one 15-inch side (the long side) of the dough toward the other 15-inch side to create a long log. Pinch the seam so it closes off the log. Use a very sharp knife or a pizza cutter to cut the ends off and then to cut the log into 24 equal parts. Place each cinnamon roll in the greased muffin tins. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
  • While cinnamon rolls are baking, prepare the frosting. Cream together butter and cream cheese. Mix in the vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time [I ended up using 6 tablespoons] until frosting reaches a spreadable consistency. When cinnamon rolls are finished baking, drizzle or spread frosting over rolls and serve.

Notes

From: Creme de la Crumb [Annotations from me]
This recipe made a considerable amount of frosting - at least double the amount you need to cover the cinnamon rolls. I would recommend cutting this portion of the recipe in half, or planning something else delicious to use it for!

___________

Sleeping Giants is the first novel in a series called Themis Files, and even though Neuvel does a good job of wrapping it up so you don’t have to read further if you don’t want to, his unexpected prologue left me wanting more. (The follow-up won’t release until 2017.)

This post contains affiliate links. Full disclosure here.

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: baking, book of the month, breakfast, brunch, fiction, science fiction

Bridge Daughter + Zucchini Pancakes

August 11, 2016 by Megan 2 Comments

Bridge Daughter came to my attention when a friend, who happens to know author Jim Nelson, recommended it. Based on the concept alone, I knew I had to read it. Once I got started, I finished it in less than a day.

cover

A short dystopian novel, Bridge Daughter describes a world very similar to our own, with one exception - when a woman gives birth, she always gives birth to a bridge daughter. Fourteen years later, the bridge daughter gives birth to her actual child.

Hanna is one of the lucky ones. Raised by caring parents and taught to read, she grows up hoping to attend college and start a career. These dreams seem possible, until she learns that she, too, is a bridge daughter. Hanna must decide if she wants to accept her fate or become the woman she always dreamed she’d be.

A strong character, I found myself sympathizing with Hanna and rooting for her until the very end. The morning her mother forces her to make pancakes for breakfast, it becomes clear things are shifting for Hanna. Later on, pancakes are on the table again as her life takes another unexpected turn.

I’m sure Hanna made traditional breakfast pancakes, but since I decided to make them for dinner, I opted for a more savory recipe - adapted from Wonderland Kitchen's Pancakes with a Heart of Gold. An apt name, I think, as Hanna counts on the goodness of many along the way.

I began by finding my sifter so that I could get my dry ingredients together and shredding my small zucchini, so it would be ready to go.

After combining all of the ingredients to make the pancake batter, I heated my griddle and put the first one on. Here it is with some cheddar, pre-flip.

img_1277

I always find pancake-making a little precarious - a flip too early can create a mess, just as a misplaced turnover can end up folding the little guy in half...or off the griddle onto the stovetop. Fortunately, no pancakes were harmed in the making of this post, so I call that a success.

img_1275

Print Recipe

Zucchini Pancakes with a Heart of Cheddar

Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time10 mins
Total Time30 mins
Course: Main Course
Servings: 2

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 egg
  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • 1 small zucchini about 1 - 1 1/2 cups shredded
  • 2 scallions finely sliced
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 8 thin slices of cheddar from a block (I used sharp white cheddar)

Instructions

  • In a medium-sized bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Set aside.
  • Shred zucchini and blot well with paper towels to remove as much excess moisture as possible.
  • Beat egg into the buttermilk and add this mixture, the oil, zucchini, scallions, and lemon zest to the dry ingredients. Whisk together until just incorporated. Allow to rest while bringing your skillet or griddle up to medium heat.
  • When hot, grease lightly with a little butter. Drop batter by the roughly 1/3 cup onto griddle.
  • When dry around the edges and ready to flip, place a slice of the cheese on top of the uncooked side and turn in over in the pan. Continue in this manner until all pancakes are made. I got eight 6-inch cakes.
  • Serve hot topped with a pat of butter and a drizzle of honey.

Notes

Adapted from: Wonderland Kitchen
Yields approximately 8 six-inch pancakes.

This post contains affiliate links. Full disclosure here.

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: brunch, coming of age, dinner, dystopia, fiction, lunch, vegetarian

Once Upon a River + Cinnamon Bread

August 4, 2016 by Megan 1 Comment

Confession: I’m probably in too many book clubs. My last post was about a novel I read for my book club, and this one is too. At this particular book club, we try our best to choose a restaurant we haven’t been to before that also reflects the culture or location of our latest selection. For August, we opted to vote on all Michigan-based books and ultimately went with Once Upon a River by Michigan author Bonnie Jo Campbell as our pick. (Our restaurant choice was a local brewery.)

cover

When I received this book as a gift about two years ago, I was initially excited. It’s a novel by someone from Michigan about characters in Michigan, and as anyone who knows me will tell you, I am nothing if not ridiculously proud of being a Michigander. That being said, I started it and couldn’t get past the first few chapters. So I set it aside, only to suggest it as a part of this vote. I don’t like giving up on books, and I wanted to give it another try (with some motivation to help me along).

Once Upon a River follows the journey of Margo Crane, a beautiful sixteen-year-old with a penchant for target shooting, a skill that ultimately changes the course of her life. As Margo sets off along the river in search of her mother, she does what she must to survive, both taking advantage of others and being taken advantage of by them. For me, Margo was a hard character to connect with - she wasn’t particularly personable and I questioned many of her decisions - but I warmed to her towards the end. She stumbles along the way, but she also grows stronger and more sure of herself.

Because of her ability to shoot a rabbit in the eye and her extensive knowledge of the world around her, Margo rarely goes hungry. She is able to hunt (and gut and skin) various game and to find edible plant-life along the way. Still, nothing beats the comforts of home, specifically her Aunt Joanna’s cinnamon bread.

Twelve times throughout the course of the story, Campbell mentions and describes this delicious bread. At one point, she writes, “Margo awoke dreaming of cinnamon bread and apple butter so vividly she could taste it.” I, too, found myself hankering for this delicious homemade bread.

So, despite it being 80+ degrees all week long, I decided to make some myself. (Thank goodness for central air!) I found a recipe for Amish Cinnamon Bread from Farm Girl Tails and got to work.

As I was assembling the ingredients, I realized my butter wasn’t softened, which is always the case when I am preparing to bake. Instead of making the mistake I usually make and softening (er, melting) it in the microwave, I remembered to use this handy Pinterest trick. I hadn’t tried it before, so I was a bit skeptical, but it worked like a charm! I left the butter sticks under the glasses for about 5 minutes, but 10 minutes would probably have been better.  

IMG_0888

After I was done creaming the (mostly) softened butter with the eggs and sugar, which I decided to do by hand rather than with a mixer, I added the remaining ingredients. The final mixing process was a bit slow-going, but I managed to work up the strength to get through it. Ta-da!

IMG_0887

I filled each loaf pan with 1/4 of the batter and sprinkled with 3/4 of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. It felt like a LOT of cinnamon and sugar. I covered it with the rest of the batter and cinnamon-sugar, swirled, and tossed it into the oven. Here’s the before:

IMG_0886

And, following 65 minutes of baking and 20 minutes of cooling, here’s the after:

IMG_0885

It was definitely best served warm from the oven. I personally wanted it to be more cinnamon-y, but everyone else who ate it didn’t seem to have the same complaint, so that was probably just me.   

Amish Cinnamon Bread
Print Recipe

Amish Cinnamon Bread

Total Time1 hr 30 mins
Keyword: quick bread
Servings: 2 loaves

Ingredients

Batter Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda

Cinnamon Sugar Mixture

  • 2/3 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

  • Grease two 9x5 loaf pans. Set aside until needed.
  • Cream together butter, 2 cups sugar, and eggs. Add milk, flour, and baking soda. Mix well.
  • Put 1/4 of batter in each greased loaf pan.
  • Mix the 2/3 cup sugar and cinnamon in separate bowl.
  • Sprinkle 3/4 of the cinnamon mixture on top of the batter in each pan. Add remaining batter to pans; sprinkle the remaining cinnamon topping. Swirl with a knife.
  • Bake at 350 degrees in a preheated oven for 45-50 minutes or until tester comes clean. [I had to bake them for 65 minutes before they were finished.]
  • Cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing from pan.

Notes

From: Farm Girl Tails [Annotations from me]
Excellent if eaten warm out of the oven [yes!] but great toasted with a little butter or cinnamon butter. [Margo would recommend it with apple butter.]

This post contains affiliate links. Full disclosure here.

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: adventure, baking, book club, breakfast, brunch, coming of age, contemporary, fiction, snack

The Age of Miracles + Pineapple Salsa

July 30, 2016 by Megan 4 Comments

The Age of Miracles is the first book I’ve reread in a long while, and I’m really glad that I did. There is only so much time in a day, and with an ever-growing to-read list, I’m normally not much of a re-reader. As time is something this book calls into question, it seems a fitting choice.

book cover

When I originally read Karen Thompson Walker’s debut novel three years ago, I truly enjoyed it. I suggested it to friends, and I bought a copy of my very own. (I tend to buy books pretty selectively, preferring instead to borrow from the local library.) Its place on my bookshelf brought it top of mind when my book club was looking for suggestions, and so we chose it as our most recent selection.

In The Age of Miracles, the world changes suddenly and inexplicably - the earth experiences a “slowing” and time as we know it begins to shift. Normal begins to look very different. Narrated by Julia, an insightful preteen living in California with her parents, we experience the smaller struggles of her family and her community and witness the larger struggles of society as everyone tries to adjust to this new concept of time, and ultimately, the impending end of the world.

I first read this novel in the winter, when days were short and nights were long. This time, in the height of summer, the opposite is true - the sun rises early and sets late, days are hot and bright and stretched out. None of this compares to the lengths of the days and nights within Walker’s novel, of course. She does an excellent job of taking an overwhelming concept and keeping it simple and human.

For a book with very little plot - something that tends to be a negative for me - I found it a pleasure to read because Walker’s prose paints a vivid picture of the characters as they figure out their new world. So many of her lines had me reaching for a pen.

As I was thinking of what to bring to our book club potluck, one such line struck me: “They were the last pineapples we’d ever eat in our lives.” If my memory serves, it’s the first time Julia mentions a specific food that they never have again.

I ultimately decided to make pineapple salsa because it was something I could prepare the night before, but mostly because it didn’t require turning on my oven in the middle of a heat wave. I went with a recipe from Barefeet in the Kitchen for The BEST Pineapple Salsa and didn’t alter it at all. I was nervous enough about tackling a pineapple for the first time.

Due to that worry, I almost didn’t even buy a real pineapple and went up to the cashier with two cans of them pre-sliced. I had glanced around the produce section, saw none, and thought, “Well, this will be easier than I thought.” But, as I stood in line, I noticed a tuft of pineapple leaves sticking out of the bag of the man in front of me. I was stuck - they had real pineapples and I knew I had to suck it up and figure it out.

Here is a picture of us (I'm trying to hide my terror with confidence):

IMG_0861

Thankfully, I thought to ask my friend and fellow foodie Scott who texted me some simple directions and encouragement to set me on the right path. It wasn’t as hard as it seemed! I ate some to celebrate before dicing the rest (perhaps a little less “finely” than suggested). I followed suit with the jalapeno, cilantro and green onion, making sure those dices were more appropriately sized. (I'm a little obsessed with cilantro, see below.)

IMG_0857

After adding the salt, pepper and lime juice, I tossed it all together and taste-tested. It was delicious! And here it is:

Pineapple Salsa

Pineapple Salsa
Print Recipe

The BEST Pineapple Jalapeno Salsa

Prep Time15 mins
Total Time15 mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 3 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 small pineapple peeled cored and very finely diced, about 2 1/2 cups
  • 1 large jalapeno seeded and finely minced, about 2 tablespoons, add more for a spicier bite
  • 1 small lime juiced, about 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 handful cilantro leaves only, finely chopped, about 2 tablespoons
  • 3 green onions very thinly sliced, about 2 tablespoons
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt adjust to taste
  • 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper adjust to taste

Instructions

  • Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Cover with lid or transfer to an airtight container. Chill until ready to serve. This will keep well in the refrigerator for about a week. Enjoy!

Notes

From: Barefeet in the Kitchen
Excellent with tortilla chips or as a topping for tacos.

This post contains affiliate links. Full disclosure here.

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: appetizer, book club, coming of age, fiction, post-apocalyptic, sauce, snack, speculative fiction, vegetarian, young adult

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The Hungry Bookworm brings together literature and food. Megan has an insatiable appetite for both.

As C.S. Lewis said, “Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.” Enjoy!

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