Jennifer Moorman's Blog, page 17

Cooking Through The Baker's Man: BEST Childhood Birthday Cake

One of the best parts of Anna’s childhood is being in her grandma’s bakery. She loved sitting on a barstool, listening to Grandma Beatrice explaining recipes and talking about how she made Grandpa Joe out of dough.Anna particularly loved her birthdays because Grandma Beatrice made Anna the perfect cakes, using some of Anna’s favorite ingredients. Each birthday yielded a different cake, just as special as the year before.Anna’s best friend Lily asked her to create a fun, colorful birthday cake...

Cooking Through The Baker's Man: Critters

If you’re passing through Mystic Water on a Tuesday, you should stop by Bea’s Bakery. On Tuesdays, Anna creates a few animal-themed treats that the after-school kids love as well as the adults.Feeling tired? Out of sorts? Heart-weary? Anna has a cure for you on Tuesdays. She makes turtles and bears and critters, oh my! Customers in need of a boost of happiness buy dozens of turtles (chocolate-covered pecans) every Tuesday. Those who need peace in their weary hearts buy bears (chocolate-covere...

Cooking Through The Baker's Man: Tie-Dye Cake

When a week of rainy days pummels Mystic Water, the townsfolk need something to help lift their spirits and help them push through the puddles of water with positive attitudes.Anna bakes up the perfect cake! This Tie-Dye Cake, bursting with rainbow colors, brings an instant smile to everyone. Kids and adults bounce on their toes while waiting for a slice.Feel down and gloomy, sopping wet and wishing for summer? Stop by and grab a hearty slice. Ready to unhitch your boat and row outta town? Go...

Cooking Through The Baker's Man: Chocolate Hazelnut & Peanut Butter Cream Donuts

I love surprises (of the good variety), but it’s difficult to surprise me. I tend to pick up on people’s shifty behavior, and I seem to know when something amiss is afoot. I don’t like to ruin surprises, honest, but if you keep acting weird around me because you’re trying to surprise me, I’ll figure it out. Your goal: play it cool, and I won’t notice a thing!Anna, Mystic Water’s baker extraordinaire, oversleeps one morning and wakes to the smell of donuts cooking. She runs downstairs to her b...

Cooking Through The Baker's Man: Double Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Most people have Saturday rituals, such as two cups of coffee before breakfast, reading the newspaper at the table, or sitting on the back porch watching cardinals.I like to sleep past 6:00 a.m. (what a rebel!), think about what I’m going to eat for breakfast, and relish being a rebel who sleeps past 6:00 a.m.Others like to rush to Bea’s Bakery on Saturdays because it’s a chocolate lover’s fest. If I lived in Mystic Water, this is exactly what I’d do on Saturdays. I’d probably find a corner b...

Cooking Through Fiction: Son of Neptune Spaghetti

I’m a sucker for happy endings and unlikely heroes who bring these happy endings. I like when the underdog wins. I release a happy sigh when the boy gets the girl or vice versa. I especially enjoy when someone doesn’t believe he or she has the stuff that heroes are made of, only to discover by story’s end that he or she is, in fact, the one who saves the day.In Son of Neptune (a story that takes place in a continuation of the world created by Rick Riordan in the Percy Jackson series), Percy J...

Cooking Through Fiction: Little Blackbird Blackberry Pie

Inspired by my second novel, Little Blackbird, I made a special pie just for Kate (and her friends, if she wants to share).Growing up is difficult for most of us, and accepting ourselves sometimes doesn’t happen for years (and oftentimes well-past our teenage struggles). Kate Muir isn’t like others her age. She can see the future, but she’s been forbidden to change what she sees—no matter what.But will Kate change what she sees? Will she finally make friends and find love? And a final, less i...

Cooking Through The Baker's Man: Oreo Brownies

Have a case of the doldrums? Feeling blah or blech or blah-blech (not a real word, but definitely a real feeling)? Lost the pep in your step? Staring out windows? Zoning out? There is a remedy! Rejoin the living!At Bea’s Bakery in The Baker’s Man, you will find various panaceas for what ails you. If you need to get your groove back, the best choice would be Anna’s Oreo brownies, which are guaranteed to put a smile on your face, a shake in your hips, and a twinkle in your eye.These Oreo browni...

Cooking Through Fiction: Leilah's Oversize Cinnamon Roll

What if the one person who broke your childhood heart is the one who can put it back together? What if one bite of the local diner’s cinnamon rolls could sweep you right back to when you were eight, running through the backyard barefoot and dreaming?Return to Mystic Water and see how the two adventurous kids from Full Moon June have changed. In Wednesday’s Child, Leilah Hamilton, now a small-town nurse, magically brings peace and comfort to the suffering. Adam Durant, Leilah’s childhood best...

Cooking Through Fiction: Dark and Grimm German Bread

Are you guilty of watering down a story because otherwise it might be too dark or too gritty or too scary or too much-too much? I’ll admit I like rainbows and unicorns and Care Bears and sunshine and daisies. I have probably asked for the kid-friendly version of a story a gazillion times.When someone says, “I have to tell you what happened,” I normally ask, “Is this a sad story?” I need to be prepared. Don’t spring dark, gritty, scary, too much-too much stories on me. My heart needs to know t...