Four friends bond over similar tragedies and a Sunday pot luck meal. These friends support each other through their romances and their griefs. A wonderful example of friendship and boundaries.
Friends supporting friends. Women supporting women. Life happening and good food to bring people together. Don’t miss this novel!
The Sunday Potluck Club by Melissa Storm.
Novel with Recipes
Book Review:
Outline and Tone:
This is an inspirational romance story, but it is more than just romance. At times, the romance takes a backseat to the lives of four friends as they navigate life after losing a parent. Amy, Bridget, Hazel, and Nichole meet each other in an Anchorage, AK hospital while their individual parents are in chemotherapy. Unfortunately, only one person’s parent, Nichole, was able to beat cancer, so these friends are helping each other through grief by getting together for regular Sunday night potluck dinners. Each lady grieves differently and that is one of the rules of the club, to allow each other to grieve as they need to. Amy, an elementary school teacher, meets Trent by accident and discovers not only an instant attraction, but that he is the dad to one of her students and that he lost his wife six months earlier. Now the question is how can Amy and Trent grieve and grow and navigate life together.
The author:
Melissa Storm is a New York Times bestselling author as well as a several time USA Today bestselling author. She has written several different book series and the Sunday Potluck Club is a new series for her that she started in 2020. Melissa Storm is active on Facebook, and has her own Pinterest page.
What is not to like?:
If only there were more recipes! This book has only one recipe in it, albeit a delicious recipe. Since the 4 friends meet and form a group to support each other as they go through a grief process, at first I thought it would be hard to relate to them. However, there is so much grieving like establishing healthy boundaries that the ladies were very relatable.
The verdict:
Read this book if you like romance, women supporting women, and dogs. Yes, dogs. One of the ladies volunteers at an animal shelter and dogs play a big part in several characters’ lives.
Disclaimer: In the name of full transparency, please be aware that this blog post contains affiliate links and any purchases made through such links will result in a small commission for me (at no extra cost for you).
Assemble the ingredients
Immediate note from Molly! The recipe calls for food grade paraffin wax, but that doesn’t sound appetizing to me so I’ve made an important swap. I used vegetable shortening, Crisco to be exact. While I doubt this is a healthier choice, it was easier to find and more palatable for me.
The dough is sticky and stiff. I do not recommend trying to mix it by hand. A good quality stand mixer like the Kitchen Aid above will last for years and mix even the thickest dough.
It is worth it to get the larger stand mixer. This is big enough to handle any recipe and most recipes when doubled!
Use a mixer to combine the ingredients for the inside of the buckeyes: butter, cream cheese, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. You can chill this dough if before you roll out balls, I didn’t need to do this. However, I did find the need to sample the dough. It is deliciously sweet and peanut buttery!
Yes I have the large mixer that lifts the bowl rather the top tilting up. I like this style better. It seems to be sturdier than the one where the top part tilts up.
For the chocolate coating, I found a double boiler to be the easiest way to melt the chocolate chips and the Crisco. Every time I try to melt chips in the microwave, I end up over heating it and making the chocolate a crunchy texture.
With the double boiler, it took me about 10 minutes to melt completely and be ready for me to dip the peanut butter balls.
Since the chocolate and shortening melt in the double boiler, it gets very hot. A regular plastic spatula could melt. Using a silicone spatula like this one from OXO will not melt in heat and is dishwasher safe.
When the chocolate is ready, use a toothpick to pick up the peanut butter balls and dip them. If you want to cover up the toothpick hole, use a spoon to smooth it out after it has been dipped. I liked the added visual texture of the hole, so I did not smooth it over.
I lined my Checkered Chef Cooling Rack with wax paper on top and allowed the buckeyes to harden. The wax paper made it easy to take the buckeyes off without sticking and transfer to a plastic container that I kept in the refrigerator for freshness.
What would I do differently next time?
I already made one change from the recipe and that was to use shortening instead of the food grade paraffin wax. I just can’t imagine eating wax. These were perfect! If you are a chocolate lover, they could be double dipped. Let the cholate set before you give it a second dip.
Amy and Olivia's Buckeyes
Ingredients
- 1 8-oz package of cream cheese, softened or at room temperature
- ½ pound butter, also softened or at room temperature
- 1 ½ cups smooth peanut butter
- 2 pounds powdered sugar
- â…” bar of a 4-oz paraffin wax bar [or 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening]
- 2 12-oz packages of bittersweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- For the filling, Combine the cream cheese, butter, peanut butter, and powdered sugar into one smooth batter, then roll into balls roughly the size of bonbons. Set each an inch apart on a wax paper - lined baking sheet and refrigerate.
- For the coating, melt paraffin wax [or vegetable shortening] in a double boiler, then add the chocolate chips and melt until smooth.
- Dip the balls into the hot coating mix and return to the tray.Refrigerate for an hour.Enjoy!
Are you a fan of all things chocolate? Try these recipes too.
Chocolate Mint Cookies from Chocolate Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke
Scout’s Brownies from Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson
Hot Fudge Pie from Death in Four Courses by Lucy Burdette
Red Velvet Crunchies from Cake and Punishment by Maymee Bell
