Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownie

Sometimes when you need a bit of comfort, sharing a dessert with a good friend, while you’re both tucked away in a bakery’s corner booth surrounded by the smell of baking cookies gives you that. Sometimes when you need a bit of comfort, you don’t want to pick only one dessert from the menu. You want two or three. Why can’t you have that?

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Peanut Butter Cookie Pie

As the end of the school year approaches, kids become fidgety and excited for the freedom of summertime. Their eyes become brighter and their smiles wider. They skip up the sidewalks in Mystic Water and chatter about upcoming vacations and days spent exploring around Jordan Pond.

Anna bakes up the school children’s favorite candies in all sorts of sweets. One of the town’s favorites is her Peanut Butter Cookie Pie, rich and chocolately and decorated with favorite peanut butter candies.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": S'Mores Brownies

Fall is a beautiful season in Mystic Water. People gather around fire pits and bonfires and laugh, tell stories, and make S’mores. But what about in the spring and summer when the heat starts rolling in and you’d burst into flames if anyone so much as a lit a match around you?

That’s when Anna starts baking S’mores brownies. She knows when people are longing for the changing leaves and the crackling flames that the next best thing to a campfire S’mores is a brownie version.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Cheesecake Waffles

I love breakfast. I could eat breakfast for any meal—I’m not picky. Give me grits and eggs for lunch; pancakes for dinner; waffles for a snack. I’m also not ashamed to admit I could eat cake for breakfast.

Tessa Andrews, one of Anna’s best friends in The Baker’s Man, is with me on having cake no matter what time it is. In fact, she told Anna one day that she wished she could combine two of her favorite foods—waffles and cheesecake—into one mash up.

Cooking Through Fiction: Moby-Dick

There are a few books that have first lines that when read aloud are immediately recognizable. For example, this next one:

Call me Ishmael.  Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. 

You guessed Moby-Dick, correct?

Many of us are fanatics about something. Music, sports, books, food. Captain Ahab, captain of the Pequod, was a full-blown, maniacal fanatic about the great, white whale: Moby Dick. And can you blame him, knowing that on a previous voyage, the whale bit off Ahab’s leg? He must find the whale. He must kill it. He has one singular focus, but does he succeed?

Cooking Through Fiction: The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye, written by J. D. Salinger, was published in 1951 and was originally meant for adults, but its popularity rose among teenagers due to its rebellious, angst-driven themes.

Holden Caulfield, the protagonist and narrator, is a sixteen-year-old, six-foot-two-and-a-half-tall cynical, foul-mouthed young man who despises all things phony. And yet, he is still one of the most loved characters of the 20^th century. He’s one of my favorites as well. But dang, that boy has the mouth of a sailor on a bad day.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Dark Chocolate Oreo Tart

Oreos were first introduced in 1912. They’ve been warming hearts, creating smiles, and causing debates for more than one hundred years. There are those who will never agree whether or not to dunk a cookie into milk, twist the sandwich cookie apart first, or shove a whole cookie into the mouth without twisting or milk. But there won’t be much debate on whether or not people love Oreos.

After a late night conversation, Beatrice realized her close friend Mary Margaret suffered from the winter doldrums and a lonely heart. Beatrice, owner of Bea’s Bakery, whipped up a dark chocolate Oreo tart that she knew would not only find Mary Margaret’s smile even if the sky was gray, but also it would give her heart a jolt of happiness.

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

Valentine’s Day in Mystic Water is a red-and-pink paper hearts, cupid-shooting-arrows, and overload-on-chocolate kind of day. People leave anonymous valentines pinned beneath windshield wipers, kids shove suckers and conversation hearts into handmade Valentine’s Day shoeboxes, and townsfolk rush into the bakery for chocolates and sweets of all kinds.

Anna’s red velvet cream cheese brownies will soften the heart of anyone, even those who loathe Valentine’s Day. So spread love and a lighthearted feeling all day—buy a dozen and share them with your friends. No one will turn these down, and smiles will abound.