Nothing is sweeter than a good book after a long day, except maybe a good book and the perfect treat to complement it. Here are some suggestions for pairing your reading material to your dessert.
Pride and Prejudice with Macarons
“‘I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love,’ said Darcy.
‘Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.’”
Craving something light, sweet, and sophisticated? Look no further! The shiny, colorful shell of these delicate French confections belies their varied flavor palette, a reminder that sometimes complicated flavor hides beneath a frivolous shell. As Lizzie discovers just how badly she misjudge Mr. Darcy, you might realize that the cookie you thought was pistachio is actually green tea flavored! Plus, they’d fit right in at a fashionable Regency-era tea party.
The Taming of the Shrew with Chocolate Roulette
“I am as peremptory as she proud-minded;
And where two raging fires meet together,
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.”
What could better evoke the violent courtship of Katherina and Petruchio than a box of delicious milk chocolates with a chance of melting your face off? Most of the chocolates in this box are totally normal, but some of them are laced with incredibly spicy chili extract perfectly suited for a couple of extraordinarily sharp tongues. Petruchio may be unfazed by the lion’s roar and heaven’s artillery thunder in the skies, but this treat could give even his hot temper a run for its money.
The Great Gatsby with Orange Chocolate Truffles
“Every Friday five crates of oranges and lemons arrived from a fruiterer in New York — every Monday these same oranges and lemons left his back door in a pyramid of pulpless halves. There was a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb.”
Jay Gatsby is in many ways the embodiment of decadence, and so his tale must be paired with an equally decadent dessert: dark chocolate truffles, almost too rich, with a tang of orange to evoke the crates on crates of oranges sacrificed to Gatsby’s weekly parties. If you want a highly authentic culinary experience, consider hiring a butler to hand-feed them to you, or have a box delivered to your married ex-girlfriend.
The Hobbit with Lavender and Lemon Cookies
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
Say what you will about Hobbits, they are undoubtedly the best cooks in Middle Earth. What is a hobbit-hole without a full pantry and the smell of something delicious in the air, something like buttery shortbread and lavender and a hint of lemon zest? As you read about Bilbo yearning for his bed and his handkerchief you should enjoy a dessert that echoes his nostalgia. Try this pairing for the perfect elevenses treat, and appreciate all the comfort and innocence of the Shire without all the tedious adventuring.
– Erin Norton Lannen
Oakland Arts Review 