Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook

It's a story, a cookbook and fictional diary of bakery owner Hannah Swensen's life in Lake Eden, Minnesota. It's also a look at life in the cold climates of the northern US and I've learned that life is certainly different there in the winter!

To recap. I started following Joanne Fluke's mystery books because I collected books with cookie jars on the cover and then soon realized that the main character, Hannah Swensen, had many of the personality traits of collectors -- including thrift store shopping!

Just to get it straight -- Joanne Fluke is the author and Hannah Swensen is the main character in the series of books that spotlight a bakery called The Cookie Jar in Lake Eden, Minnesota.

Each mystery novel revolves around Hannah's life as a bakery owner. And my, who would have thought a small town could have such an array of murders taking place.

The mysteries are quick, fun-reads and very light-hearted. No nightmares or gruesome visions will be stuck in your mind.

But one of the best parts of her books is that there are always several recipes that are woven into the story. Fluke somehow manages to keep the story going, along with adding the recipe. The reader is involved in making of the dish, which always sounds delicious and many times had me going to the kitchen at odd hours to try one out. Not something I'm known for.

A few years ago, in one of the early Fluke mysteries, there was a recipe that was written about in such great detail that I went to bed thinking about it. I must have dreamt about it, because the next morning I woke up very early and had to make the cookies -- right then. They were out of the oven before 7 a.m. True story.

The cookie recipe is for Short Stack cookies and if you can imagine the taste of a pancake with a bit of syrup on it -- that's what these easy-to-make cookies remind me of. Good news -- the recipe is in this book. I've made these several times and my son's college age friends absolutely went crazy over them.

The Lake Eden Cookbook surprised me. It starts off as a story and the story continues while weaving recipes throughout the book. This particular book is about having a Christmas Cookie exchange and of course there are tips along the way on how to have one. Also, as mentioned above, there is always an involvement with the reader and the characters. It's all very conversational, almost feels like you are reading a blog where the writer will mention some aspects of the recipe and how it can be varied in different ways. The book characters feel like they are real people that the writer might be mentioning as part of the recipe's background. Like I said -- a very different take on writing a cookbook, but also lots of fun to read.

I expected it to be just a compiling of recipes from Fluke's long string of books. It does have many of them, but there are also quite a few new ones included. Since I've been known to go to her mystery novels and start thumbing through them to find the recipe I want to use, I was happy to see the tried and true ones compiled together.

As might be expected, the majority of the recipes (about six dozen) in the book are cookies of one form or another. A little more than a dozen cake recipes, as well as the same number of other sweet treats. There is a nice assortment of easy meals and soups.

And for those who have to try all the food at the State Fairs -- how about Deep-fried Candy Bars?

There are several bakers in my circle of friends and family who will follow a recipe's directions exactly, afraid to deviate even a little bit. The recipes in this book might surprise them a bit, as many of them have numerous suggestions on how to change it up, especially when all the ingredients are not available. The Lake Eden Cookbook's recipes are filled with tips and hints. These include how to serve, bake, when you shouldn't worry about what it looks like, pan sizes, as well as a great chapter on substitutions.

Substitutions include: what to use when there is no brown sugar, cake flour or buttermilk in the house. And I never realized I could make my own substitute for eggs (water, baking powder and oil) when baking cookies. I didn't, but now I do.

I've baked a lot over the years, but there were quite a few tips that I never thought of doing, not realized I could do.

All this adds up to making Joanne Flukes Lake Eden Cookbook as useful as any I have on the shelf.

From the Publisher: For those who haven't read the Hannah Swensen series, this book serves as a fun-filled introduction, with dozens upon dozens of delectable recipes as a bonus. For those who are already acquainted with Hannah and her extended family, this books contain new stories about the characters, dozens of new recipes and a handy compilation of previously published recipes from The Cookie Jar.

• Kensington Publishing
• Hardcover
• Release Date: September 27, 2011
• ISBN: 978-0758234971