2025, books, Fantasy, Food, Gatherings, Mysteries

When the Moon Hits Your Eye..

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If  you don’t like this post – it’s Jacque’s fault!

As those of you in Blevins know, I sometimes like to bring something for the potluck that aligns somehow with one of the books we’ve read or is a favorite of the author.  Walter Mosley got espresso chocolate brownies.  Louise Penny got miniature croissants with chocolate sauce on the side.  For the book Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos I was very pleased with my cupcakes adorned with shards of “glass” – made by melting Jolly Rancher candies and then breaking it up into sharp-looking pieces.

This month I was in the mood to do something fun but wasn’t sure what to make.  I didn’t think I’d get an answer in time from John Scalzi about his favorite food and I figured the only way I would find out about Mary Shelley’s favorite would be if she communicated from beyond the grave.  Not my cup of tea.

I decided that moon pies would be fun, except that all the commercially available moon pies have gelatin in them- that’s why I haven’t had a moon pie since I was a kid.  So I headed to the internet and found a relatively straightforward recipe using marshmallow cream.  Marshmallow cream is easy to make but purchasing a jar of marshmallow cream from the grocery store is even easier.  I made the graham biscuit dough, rolled it out, cut it with a crimped cutter and baked.  That turned out to be the easy part.  Marshmallow cream is incredibly futzy to work with.  First I tried to pipe it from a pastry bag, but getting the cream into the bag was just about impossible and having a star piping tip was worthless as the cream settled into a star-less blob anyway.  I abandoned the bag and just used a spatula but at this point had cream all over.  I had to put the sandwiches in the freezer for a bit and then I started the chocolate.  I was really having trouble just dipping the whole cookie so I switched to icing the top and the sides with a spatula instead.  I had chocolate EVERYWHERE (think both hands, handle to the double boiler, the counter, spoon, the spatula, the floor….).  I had to use my teeth to pull up my sleeves at one point.  There’s something to be said about having stuff made in factories with enrobing machines:

But in the end, it was very satisfying to make them and they turned out to taste great… quite rich so if I ever try this again, I’ll make them smaller.  Of course, we’ll have to read another book about the moon!

Tell me about a favorite book and what food you would bring to represent it to a potluck!

49 thoughts on “When the Moon Hits Your Eye..”

  1. i gather blevens was yesterday. if i had noticed it on my calendar i would hve missed it reguardless . i enjoy the group but sunday at 2 causes me to miss three of out 6 meeings. i am really enjoying frankenstein and the different perception of the story wriitten vs the boris karloff version.
    book related menu search is not an instinctive thread for me. maybe to kill s mocking bird and meatloaf with molasses

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      1. scout brought the Cunningham boy from school for lunch in the book and because he was from a backwards out of the city part of town his family was used to squirrel and rabbit, and my guess would be that because everything taste a little gaming they would cover up with molasses or syrup and so when he ate lunch at Scouts house, he asked for some syrup scout asked him what the heck he thought he was doing for syrup on it and the maid grab Scout and brought her in the kitchen and said he’s your company you let him do whatever he wants don’t you ever criticize him or doing what is natural for him and the lesson for scout

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  2. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    It is my fault! I said that. I could not get over how sweet the moon pies are. I finished the one I started during the group later in the evening and it was still so sweet.

    Book–Prince of Tides. Shrimp and Rice; Shrimp and Grits.

    Book –The Godfather. Italian food with red sauce cooked on the back burner all day

    There are more and it is early.

    OT: House training report: last night McGee pottied where he should not while looking me in the eye several more times. After isolating him on the porch was ineffective, I gave him a gentle swat on the butt with the firm verbal NO and put him back on the porch. He yelped and cried in shock. Sad puppy eyes replaced the defiant look. This puppy is a drama king! And this morning he is 100% compliant on the paper pads. Go figure. I so dislike any corporal punishment that it pains me to tell you a gentle swat worked. I feel guilty, yet it got his attention. Sigh.

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    3. Our Luna, the rescue, I was telling Kelly a story about a dad loudly scolding his kid during the quiet portion of a concert, (honestly, it was more funny than sad) but the loud scolding voice scared Luna.
      Clearly some triggers there for her, and she’s been with us 2 years.

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    4. Well, to this minute somebody has a perfect day. And now when he poops on the pad I am greeted with three sharp barks that mean “Where is my treat? I want it right now.”

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  6. This isn’t a specific dish, but a mystery series we’re reading (Below Stairs series, Jennifer Ashley), is about a 30-ish cook in 1880s London, and the author sometimes takes us with “Mrs. H” as she prepares a meal for the. OMG it sounds wonderful to be able to cook like that – makes me wonder where the author learned this much.

    Thinking…

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  7. I didn’t read the Scalzi book but I like Scalzi and so I intend to when it is more available without spending $30 for a copy.

    Frankenstein would never be on my list of favorite books but before the Blevins meeting I spent some time pondering whether there were two or three treats I could awkwardly cobble together in its honor. A Frankentreat.

    In the end I opted for something simpler, not having Sherrilee’s dedication.

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  8. I just found your blog and this is a perfect topic! My kids and I used to do Books2Eat at our local library and we made all kinds of things. Shortbread cookies decorated as 221B Baker St for Sherlock. My daughter made a chess board with cookies that represented the factions in Game of Thrones.
    And I heartily approve of your use of Moon Pies for Scalzi’s book. We listened to it in audio recently and it was weird and fun.

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  9. I’m reading Isabel Allende’s ‘Maya’s Notebook’. I’m really enjoying it. I’d have to make Chili since that’s the primary setting. There are a few food references to things in Chile, but I don’t know what they are or if they’d be possible to make here. Not ME make, but someone (Renee) make.

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  11. Ladies #1 Detective Agency! Mma Romatswe is always cooking pumpkin, and chicken stews; red bush tea with Mma Makutsi, and having fruitcake with whatsername at the orphange. There is even a cookbook: Mma Ramotswe’s Cookbook: Nourishment for the Traditionally Built, by Stuart Brown. : )

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        3. I’ve had Roobios tea several times as a friend of mine stocks in her pantry. I do believe it is South African and it is definitely delicious.

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  12. The movie The Four Seasons (Carol Burnett, Alan Alda) has a cooking scene with Chinese noodles in oil where they expand and crisp up. That inspires Bird’s Nests (a restaurant dish I have had).

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  14. I have to confess, I’ve never had a moon pie, they sound like a fancy s’more.

    It would to too hard to single out a favorite book, so here are a few:
    Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen doesn’t describe many foods in P&P, but her own favorite was a cheese toastie (grilled cheese, often open face)
    Bleak House: Could be anything from a crust of stale bread to a rich feast, I’ll stick with a cup of tea.
    Alice in Wonderland: Tarts, beautiful soup, and more tea.
    Beloved by Toni Morrison: Biscuits
    Toast by Nigel Slater: Toast, of course.
    I recently finished Song of Achilles, which would go well with cheese, olives, and ripe figs.

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    2. Excellent. I’ve had a cheese toastie once in the UK. It didn’t taste just like a grilled cheese although I can’t really explain how. Maybe some of it was just the ambience!

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    3. They are pretty much s’mores except you don’t get that burnt taste with the marshmallow cream and you don’t get the ambience of sitting out around a campfire making your own. And I think the chocolate ratio is probably a little higher on a moon pie than it is on us some more.

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  15. Karen Blixen’s Babette’s Feast serves up many courses of delectable French food, each course paired with it’s own special beverage.

    She starts the dinner with a “Potage à la Tortue” (turtle soup) served with Amontillado sherry. The soup was followed by “Blinis Demidoff” (buckwheat pancakes with caviar and sour cream) served with Veuve Clicquot Champagne. Next up, “Cailles en Sarcophage” (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) served with Clos de Vougeot Pinot Noir served with an endive salad on the side. For dessert “Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée” (rum sponge cake with figs and candied cherries) served with Champagne.

    At this point, the worst hunger satisfied, we can retire to the living room, but just to make sure no one goes home hungry she offers an assortment of cheeses and fruits served with Sauterne.

    Coffee with vieux marc Grande Champagne cognac rounds out the feast nicely.

    My late friend, Anne, was a French trained chef. She delighted in elegant and sumptuous dinners. For several years following the film’s release in the late 1980s, Ann’s New Year’s Eve celebration was her inspired take on this feast.

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    2. Ann was a truly gifted and inspiring woman. Now, several years after her death, I still cannot fully comprehend that she’s really gone. The same was true of her husband, although Mike died after battling Parkinson’s for twenty years, so we had more time to adjust to the idea that was not going to be around forever.

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