Baked Apple in Pastry Hands

The third food reference is when Bella observes Alice leaving the cafeteria with an unbitten apple. Apples are pretty iconic in the whole Twilight series, so here's an idea of how to serve an apple at a Twilight gathering.

Puff pastry or pie crust 
Red delicious apples
Butter - unsalted
Brown sugar
Cinnamon

Slice in half and core.

If you want to bake them without any dough, sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon on the bottom of a pan, and add a few dabs of butter. I like using unsalted butter for sweet bakes. I baked the apple half for 15 minutes. The juice of the apple made a soft candy with the sugar and butter. It was good enough for my knees to bend. 

For the pie crust version, I was able to make 2 pies with 1 crust. Here is how I cut it. 

Next you have to smash and adapt the dough. I figure as long as the thumbs are on the top of the apple, the rest of the dough can be the best you can make it. It'll get eaten fast enough. 

Put brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter under the apple. Spread water around the edge and the press on the top.

I cut the overhanging dough off the top and then pushed it around the top edge of the exposed apple.

For the puff pastry version, I used half of one sheet for 1 apple. Here is how I cut it.

I shaped the squarish thumbs so they were rounded.

Where there was too much dough for the finger tips, I cut it off and pressed it on the top edge of the apple.
The doughed apples will take longer to bake than the plain apple. I didn't bake mine quite enough. Bake until more golden than mine, and you should be fine.

I love how the red in the skin bleeds into the flesh. I also love to cook Pink Lady apples. If you like sour, green apples - like Beau - give them a try. 

Do you see that melted butter oozing with the floating cinnamon? Oh, it was delish!
The pie crust version was saltier than the puff pastry. I prefer the puff pastry for this personal pie. Now, if Alice had this version, she just may have wanted to test it out ... or at least make it for Bella.

Sour Grapes

     The second food mentioned is when Jessica comments about how Edward doesn't date. Bella thinks Jessica has a case of sour grapes.

     How to make grapes interesting and appealing? Gelatin.

     I'm finicky about washing grapes. Take them off the stems and inspect them.  

   Put them in a bowl, fill with water and a few drops of dish soap. Stir gently and thoroughly. 

This is how dirty the water gets.  

GELATIN COATED GRAPES

You can chose any color and flavor of instant gelatin. I thought this seemed tart enough for sour grapes.

For sugar-free gelatin, get a box of unflavored gelatin. I chose lemon flavored. Mix two packets of the unflavored gelatin with one box of the flavored gelatin. This gives more powder for coverage and thins down the flavoring which can be overpowering.

I am much too lazy to roll each grape in the gelatin mix with a toothpick. Simply empty the gelatin into a ziplock bag, add the wet grapes, then shake, turn, and dump. 

You'll be amazed at your first bite. It's like candy. The gelatin coating is sweet, sour, and chewy, while the grape is cold and juicy. I watched the faces of everyone I gave them to, and they were all amazed and delighted. 

This could be a whole new analogy for Edward ...

GELATIN BLOCKS

4 cups white grape juice

4 packets of unflavored gelatin

grapes

In a glass pan, square or circle is fine, pour in grape juice and add the gelatin. Stir gently. Place in microwave for 2 minutes on high. Stir with the same spoon. If the spoon comes out without specks of gelatin, then it is ready.

Put in as many grapes as possible. Refrigerate until very hard, about 4 hours or more. 

Slicing this was tricky. I had to sharpen my knife. Getting them out without making a mess and keeping the blocks intact also proved challenging. The next time, I will try turning the set gelatin out upside down onto a cutting board and then cutting up the blocks.

This turned out to be quite fun to eat. It would be great on a hot day. You can experiment with fun ways to cut the blocks - no need to be square.

Strawberry Scented Shampoo and Chocolate Hair Cookies

   

  I believe the first mention of anything food related is when Bella smells her hair, commenting that it only smelled like her strawberry-scented shampoo. This is after Edward shrinks away as she sits at the biology table.
  At first I pictured a chocolate meringue cookie shaped like long hair viewed from the back and puréed strawberries for the shampoo. I attempted the chocolate meringue cookie recipes 3 times and didn't like the color or the taste. I ended up with 7 egg yolks from free-range hens and I hate to throw away good food so I made Greek soup, avgolemono. So with the meringue fail, I next opted for shortbread. I compared 9 different chocolate shortbread recipes and came up with this one, which worked perfectly. The taste is scrumptious - buttery and not too sweet. 

COOKIE - THE HAIR
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350˚.

     While the butter is hard from the refrigerator, remove from paper and place in large bowl. Let butter soften to room temperature.
     Using a large spoon (I used a serving spoon,) mix in the sugar and salt. Mix in the vanilla. Blend in the cocoa powder, stirring slowly so the cocoa doesn't fling up into the air. I used Hershey's Special Dark Cacao. 
  
   Fluff the flour with the measuring cup and scoop gently so the flour doesn't get packed. Add flour all at once and begin cutting in with the spoon. When the flour is incorporated and all the contents are the same color, use your hand to press the loose mixture together into a ball. 



    Form the dough onto wax paper into a long log of the shape you want for "Bella's hair." Refrigerate for an hour or more. Slice the log into 1/4" pieces. You can reshape it or add to pieces together for the shape you like. I imagined Bella's long brown hair as slightly layered at the ends, like Kristen's was in the movie, so I made the bottom shaped in a curve. 

 As you can see, they don't need to be shaped perfectly. It's hair, right?
Bake it on parchment paper for 15-20 minutes. The color won't tell you if they are done. You want them firm enough in the center so they won't fall apart. I cooked them for 15 minutes in a gas oven and thought they were a bit soft when they were warm, but the next day I ate one from the fridge and they were just right.

Remove from oven and place chocolate chips to melt. I used Ghiradelli 60% Bittersweet gourmet chips, they're big. And they aren't bitter. 
The chocolate gets bulbous and shiny when they are at the right stage to spread.
I used an old Tupperware chevron edge tool. Wilton also has different ones. You can also make your own with plastic from a strawberry clamshell.
I found it best to spread the chocolate widthwise to spread the chocolate and then run the edge tool lengthwise for the "hair." Next time I'll try placing the chocolate at the edge so I only need to go one direction.

Let the chocolate cool and harden. I did straight, wavy, and crimped hair for variety. Some turned out better than others - it's a casual thing. 

STRAWBERRY PURÉE - THE SHAMPOO

Rinse, core, and halve a quart of fresh strawberries. Place in blender and pulse. Do not add any liquid. I used stevia for sweetener. Sugar would be fine, too. The stevia is lighter and bubbled up nicely. It stayed frothy for days in the fridge.

Serve in a pitcher so guests can pour their own "shampoo" onto the "hair" cookies.
The surprise in the taste of these cookies was how the chocolate acted as a melding agent between the shortbread and the purée. I hope you love them.
I'll next try the recipe with regular cocoa powder and milk chocolate.

Breaking Dawn Apron

     I like to cook with an apron. Hunting down the right fabrics at the fabric store takes both perseverance and flexibility. You have to start with a concept in mind and see what can meet the original idea. I didn't want a black calico with a print that would take away from its blackness unless it was printed with red design. No red design on black, but I settled on this small subtle print of circles and dashes. The store also didn't have a plain checkerboard for the chess symbolism so I decided the diamond checkered pattern could work as a skewed perspective. This red calico - I love! It's perfect. Both the background and the print have ranges in red giving it interest and depth.

     My official first project for my embroidery machine, a gift from my "Edward," is this apron. I'm sure you get the words. Now to get started with the first recipe - onward!

Welcome

     I have long wondered how the foods mentioned in the Twilight novel series would look and taste. Some foods Bella cooked herself, a symptom of her nurturing side and of caring for Charlie. Sometimes she was practical and just got food ready. Other times, she marinated steak or made enchiladas seemingly from scratch. Much of the Twilight books and movies affects the senses, activating them to imaginary heights. I salivate when I think about the tang of tomatoes in the enchilada sauce and the smoothness of the melted cheese. And the onions. Did Bella put in thinly sliced raw onions?
     This blog will take every food mentioned in the Twilight books and movies and experiment with them. The results may be the perfect addition to your Twilight party whether it's a party of one or more.