The Ingredients of Us: The Recipes Behind the Story
Love doesn’t come with a recipe…good thing desserts exist!
Blackberry Jam
FIND THE RECIPE ON PAGE 1
“Imagine your husband cheated on you; what do you bake? Pies are too cheerful, cookies too festive, chocolate mousse too sensual—you probably decide on jam.”
Adult Chocolate Bundt Cake
FIND THE RECIPE ON PAGE 182
“It’s one of those cakes that’s richer than it appears, where a small piece seems inadequate until halfway through eating it, and then the fork slows down, and that last bite may or may not be left on the plate.
Warn people that it’s more rich than they think, but overserve anyway, and don’t fret when they don’t finish their slices—it’s never because they didn’t like it.”
Heart-Stopping Cheesecake
FIND THE RECIPE ON PAGE 254
“By now your mouth will be watering, the waft of cream cheese overpowering your senses as you hover over the mixing bowl.”
Double-Chocolate Comfort Cookies
FIND THE RECIPE ON PAGE 203
“Have a taste [of the dough]. It’ll present itself as an explosion of chocolate, but more than that, something deep and complex, full bodied in flavor. Appreciate the sugars’ grit, the disintegration of the dough on your tongue. Salivate. Have more.”
Too-Many-Bananas Bread
FIND THE RECIPE ON PAGE 212
“Why is it that bananas are green forever, ripe for a moment, and brown too soon? Whether you bought more bananas than you needed or forgot to eat them while they were ripe, this recipe will save you.”
The Story Behind the Recipes
The Ingredients of Us
A delicious novel about the sweet and sour ingredients of life and love.
Elle, an accomplished baker, has a recipe for every event in her life. But when she discovers her husband’s infidelity, she doesn’t know what to make of it. Jam, maybe? Definitely jam.
Fed up with the stale crumbs of her marriage, Elle revisits past recipes and the events that inspired them. A recipe for scones reminds her of her father’s death, cinnamon rolls signify the problematic courtship with her husband, and a batch of chocolate cookies casts Elle in a less-than-flattering light. Looking back, Elle soon realizes that some ingredients were missing all along.
After confronting her husband, Elle indulges her sweet tooth in other ways, including a rebound that just leaves her more confused. As secrets from the past collide with the conflicts of the present, Elle struggles to manage her bakery business and maintain the relationships most important to her. In piecing her life back together, will Elle learn to take the bitter with the sweet?
Praise for The Ingredients of Us
“The Ingredients of Us is a literary confection filled with multifaceted characters and a compelling story line. Gold’s bittersweet look at love will satisfy any contemporary women’s fiction reader’s sweet tooth.”
“Come for the story of a baker facing a crisis in her marriage. Stay for the recipes – lush, beautiful things, filled with life lessons. From that very first recipe for passive-aggressive blackberry jam, you know you’re in for something special.”
“A delightful and delicious read, The Ingredients of Us delves into the fabric of marriage and what happens when some ingredients in the relationship are missing. Gold has crafted a smart storyline with memorable characters and mouth-watering recipes that are sure to appeal to fans of Jenny Colgan and Amy E. Reichert.”
“Take a marriage in crisis, add a heroine you can’t help but root for, and toss in an ending you won’t see coming: Voilà—you’ve got The Ingredients of Us. Jennifer Gold’s debut is deliciously fun.”
“The Ingredients of Us is a delightfully original novel filled with love, regret, and recipes that are themselves like little short stories. You’ll want to cry for Elle as she navigates the breakup of her marriage and flashes back on the earlier, happier days. And then you want to follow her to her kitchen and feast on her buttery concoctions as she finds healing and strength.”
“A mouthwatering tale that takes you inside a complicated marriage, raising questions about love, fidelity, family, and when career takes over. This book provides a unique take on a perennially interesting topic. ”
What readers are saying on Goodreads
“This author...will forever be on my TBR list.”
“Damn, these recipes? AMAZING.”
“Exquisite writing with a delectable plot.”
“A delicious, sweet, complex confection of a book!”