Elaine Hamilton is a wallflower. She’s shy, awkward, and desperately doesn’t want to go to her mother’s alma matar Dartmouth. What she does want is to quietly perfect every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, attend Smith College, and eventually study at the Cordon Bleu in Paris — just like her hero Julia Child. A lofty set of ambitions to say the least, but Elaine’s mother, a consummate feminist and politician, thinks Elaine is absurd for wanting to “stay at home and slave over a burner.” Undeterred, Elaine continues to churn out mouthwatering and complex dishes on a daily basis for her parents and five rambunctious brothers.

Until Elaine meets the notorious Lucida Sans (yes, like the font) her only real excitement stemmed from writing unsent letters to Julia documenting her cooking missteps and accomplishments, and marketing trips to local specialty food stores for Parail de Brebis and glacéed fruit.  But where Lucida goes, drama and mayhem inevitably follow. Soon Elaine has more adventure in her life than she can possibly handle, including rescuing her eclectic friend from the treacherous clutches of a gorgeous bully, and undertaking the task of auditioning for a televised cooking show.

Coming out of her comfort zone does wonders for Elaine and this charming young adult novel culminates in a very whirlwind and whimsical way that I found quite satisfying. I absolutely loved the detailed cooking scenes throughout the book. Admittedly, it did take me a few chapters to warm up to Elaine’s verbose manner but eventually I found myself heartily rooting for her to stand up to her overbearing mother, break out of her shell, and succeed at her culinary dreams.

Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zemser will be released on October 14, 2008.

A few moments ago, after enjoying our room service breakfast of Belgian Waffles and French Toast, this very brave bird jumped onto our balcony, stole a pat of butter, and flew away.

Warning! This is so incredibly bad for you, but tastes so ridiculously good that you aren’t even going to mind not being able to fit into your pants on Monday morning. I’ve made Monkey Bread quite a few times the traditional way — with refrigerated biscuit dough, but last weekend I got a very naughty idea. What if I followed the same basic premise but substituted cinnamon rolls for the biscuits? [Cue evil scientist laughter].

To make this breakfast treat even more fabulous I sprinkled walnuts and cranberries amidst the cinnamon and sugar coated dough before baking. Then I heated the pre-packaged icing and drizzled it over the top of the cooling mountain of bellyache producing sweetness. When paired with a great cup of coffee you have a seriously sinful Sunday morning on your hands. Enjoy! Just make sure you set your alarm a bit earlier on Monday so you can run around the block a few dozen times.

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread (based on the Grands Monkey Bread Recipe found at Pillsbury.com)

1/2 cup sugar
2  teaspoons cinnamon, divided
2 cans Pillsbury refrigerated Cinnamon Rolls
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
Cinnamon Roll icing

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan.

In large plastic food-storage bag, mix sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Separate dough into 16 rolls; cut each into quarters. Shake in bag to coat. Arrange in pan, adding walnuts and raisins among the biscuit pieces.

Mix brown sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and butter; pour over cinnamon roll pieces.

Bake 28 to 32 minutes or until golden brown and no longer doughy in center. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Turn upside down onto serving plate. Warm the packaged icing in the microwave briefly (20-30 seconds) and drizzle over the bread. Pull apart to serve. Serve warm.

Note: Can be reheated in the microwave the next day.

CK and I are having an absolutely amazing time at The Longboat Key Club. The weather, ocean, and pina coladas are all perfect! I may never come back.

A few weeks ago Sarah, of Sweets by Sarah, posted about making Amish Friendship Bread. I’d never heard of this cinnamon baked good before. In all honestly I was also a bit dubious about the chain letter aspect of the baking experiment, not to mention the frequent directive to “mash the bag” of starter mix that is bestowed upon you.

As fate would have it, a few days later my friend Courtney brought in a ziploc baggie of the yeastie concoction to the office for me to try. I dutifully followed the marathon list of instructions (a commitment of 10 days) and was pleasantly surprised to have two enormous loaves of seriously delicious cinnamon bread at the end of the process. For an extra zing I added a cup of cranberries to the batter. Now four of my friends and co-workers have been given batches of their own to try. Hopefully one of them will give me back a bag so I can make it again! Hint. Hint.

Happy first day of fall! I’m sure most of you aren’t feeling very excited about this change, especially if you reside in New England like I do.  The onset of Fall means that sunblock, bathing suits, and flip flops will soon be distant memories and the inevitable snowflakes are lurking just around the corner. In the meantime though I fully intend to take advantage of the crisp cool air, visit my favorite local orchard, and maybe even bake a pie or two. Of course my fondness for fall is probably made possible due to the fact that I’m flying to Florida for an extended dose of sun soaked laziness this week. It’s much easier to get excited about bundling up in scarves and mittens when you know you have an upcoming date with a frozen rum soaked concoction and a chaise lounge in 48-hours.

Beach retreat or not, I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the changing seasons than with a spicy pumpkin muffin topped with a subtle orange icing. This substantial snack is the perfect way to ready yourself for the pumpkin flavored onslaught that is bound to take place over the next few weeks. Are you ready for the pumpkin?

Orange Frosted Pumpkin Muffins (originally published in A Harvest of Pumpkins and Squash by Lou Seibert Pappas)
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup pumpkin or winter squash purée, canned or homemade
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup golden raisins

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, and molasses. Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat until creamy. Add the pumpkin and eggs and beat until smooth. In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture along with the raisins and mix just until incorporated.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling each almost to the rim, and smooth the tops. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool slightly, then turn the muffins out and let cool compltely in their liners on the rack.

Orange Frosting
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons butter melted
1 tablespoon thawed orange juice concentrate

In a small bowl, beat together the confectioners’ sugar, butter, and orange juice concentrate. Spread over the cooled muffins. Serve at room temperature. Note: I really wanted my icing to be orange tinted so I added one drop of yellow and red food coloring to the mixture.