One series I absolutely love is Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air. This series is action-packed and one of the reasons I get so absorbed in these books is the setting. Elfhame, home of all kinds of Fae, is dark and twisted, but also so enthralling. I want to live there but wouldn’t step foot there.
The scene I can vividly remember is when Jude, the protagonist, is forced to eat the Faerie fruit, specifically the apple, which is known to make humans lose control of their thoughts and actions. In this scene, Jude and her classmates are studying the stars, counting the amount falling stars (Black 92). Everyone is laying on blankets and Jude is trying to write her notes, even though it’s almost too dark for her human eyes.
Then, Valerian, one of her enemies, shoves an apple into Jude’s mouth. Jude notes that the apple was, “sweet and rotten at the same time” and when the “honeyed juice” ran over her tongue, all she could taste was “sunlight and pure heady, stupid joy” (Black 95). Jude then goes on to make a fool of herself in front of all her peers. This moment is so painful to read because of the cruelty of the characters. The combined evilness of the characters and the “honeyed juice” of the Faerie fruit is what makes this chapter so sickeningly sweet.
For this recipe, I wanted to do a dessert with apples that conveys the feeling of sunlight and joy, so I decided on making apple pie bites. Easy to bake and easy to eat!
Now for the recipe. (Makes eight apple bites).
Ingredients:
2 apples
½ cup of sugar
1 tsp of cinnamon
¼ tsp of salt
1 tbs of flour
1 tube of crescent rolls
Step One:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, combine the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and flour to a bowl and mix thoroughly.
Step Two:
Peel the skin off of the two apples and then slice them into small, skinny chunks.
Step Three:
Combine the apple slices and the mixture from the bowl together. Ensure all the
apples are coated with the sugar mixture.
Step Four:
Evenly lay out the crescents on a baking sheet. Then, put a few apple slices, about
four, on the wider end of each crescent. On top of each pile of apples, add a pad of butter. Finally, roll the crescent rolls up and pinch the sides together.
Step Five:
Put in the oven for about 12-14 minutes. Then, enjoy!!
Hopefully, these apple bites are just sweet with none of the wickedness Jude had to deal with. Then, you can imagine yourself in Elfhame lying on a blanket with Prince Cardan surrounded on the ground with “windfall apples, their golden scent blowing in the air” (Black 91).
Works Cited
Black, Holly. The Cruel Prince. Hachette Book Group, 2018.
Ragusi, Gabrielle. “Cardan- Theme Cover.” Behance, Adobe, 9 July 2021,
https://www.behance.net/gabrielleragusi. Accessed 8 July 2022.
Comments