for book groups

she is one smart cookie

So the lovely and talented Lindsey has made something for you. A downloadable, print-outable reading group guide, with a favorite recipe. Because we all know that a book club meeting without food is like a day without sunshine, eh? Enjoy!

Lakeshore Christmas- book club

My book club has trouble staying on topic. It’s such a great time to get together with friends. The one thing that excites us, though, is a really great read, one we can’t stop talking about. This fall, I convinced my gang to adopt When Autumn Leaves by Amy S. Foster for an upcoming meeting. I adored this debut novel and want to make all my girlfriends read it. I’m also excited about Tell Me Something True by Leila Cobo (yes, THAT Leila Cobo). Interesting that both Leila and Amy have strong, strong ties to the music industry. Look them up and see what I mean.

I would love to hear about your book group. What are your meetings like, do you get in cat fights, are Cheetos involved, what?! Inquiring minds want to know. Post in comments below.

just a taste

A sneak peek at Lakeshore Christmas. Maureen Davenport and Eddie Haven are bringing sexy back to the library.

Bake some cookies. Save the library. Save the world.

Click the link for a great recipe:

09_283_Postcard_Lakeshore

cookie tiiiime

“Think what a better world it would be if we all–the whole world–had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap.” –Robert Fulghum

"Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you." --Robert Fulghum

I sort of made this recipe up, based on the typical toll house cookie recipe. Do yourself a favor and whip up a batch today.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1-3/4 cup self-rising flour (maybe more if the dough seems too wet)
• 3/4 cup oat bran or rolled oats
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup macadamia nuts (coarsely chopped)
• 3/4 cup dried cherries or craisins

Cream butter and shortening together with sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat. Add flour and oats, then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350F until they just start to brown around the edges.

Also would you please check out the flowers in the photo? My bulbs are kicking ass this year.

Shoot. The theme for April is supposed to be mothers and daughters. I’m totally blanking on how to tie this post into the theme. My mother’s favorite cookie recipe was always “rip into that tube of Oreos and I’ll pour the milk.”

Hey! Tell us about your mom’s favorite cookie recipe in the Comments section!

top o’ the morning

Nothing fancy, just a nice recipe for something called Irish Soda Bread, which has nothing to do with Ireland but it’s simple and delicious, so here you go. If you’re like me, you don’t keep buttermilk around so use yoghurt or cream or something, and a squeeze of lemon.

tastes better than it looks

4 cups unbleached flour, plus more for kneading

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

6 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons butter

2 eggs, beaten, optional

1 1/4 to 2 cups buttermilk (use more if you omit the eggs)

1 cup raisins or currants, soaked in hot water

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter, add eggs and buttermilk. Stir in raisins. Knead a few times and let rest 10 minutes. * Shape into an 8- or 9-inch round. Score top with a knife in the shape of a plus sign. Place in 9-inch cast-iron pan and bake at 375 degrees until top is brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Remove and cool on rack.

Serve toasted with butter. Try it with a wedge of sharp cheese and a bit of hard-smoked salmon. Good luck!

Speaking of luck, I have written several books about Ireland because I love it there. I love the people and their history and heritage. Irish Magic and Irish Magic 2 are anthologies written with some of my favorite writers–Roberta Gellis, Morgan Llywelyn, Barbara Samuel. The Mist and the Magic takes place in Tudor Ireland. And the late, great Dancing on Air will be republished this year with a new title: At the Queen’s Summons. Good luck with that, too!

November 26 gratitude

Three things I’m grateful for:

1. The Internet, for enabling foreign publishers to inquire about translation rights to my books. I’m also grateful to my foreign rights agent and publisher for following up on each inquiry. Thanks to these connections, I’m going to be published in a bunch of new foreign countries.

2. My favorite Italian food site, by Deborah Mele, with recipes like Winter Minestrone and links to Italian pottery.

3. Sweet videos like this, a global performance of “Stand by Me.” First seen (I think) on Bill Moyers Journal. Be sure to watch to the end. Four minutes of fun!

 

What are you grateful for right now?

Magic Muffins

I love my readers. I love the honest and heartfelt posts they leave on my message board. Like this one:

I just wanted to let Susan know how her recipe for “Morning Muffins” couldn’t have come at a better time. My son was diagnosed with Leukemia in September of 07. One of the side effects of all that chemo is constipation. Which is one more complication that we could do without. Your muffins took away that potentially serious problem (also tasting great!). He also has Down Syndrome so it is even more important for him to “move” things out! I shared one of those muffins with one of my sons nurses and she was amazed at how well they worked. She even commented to me later that she thought about my “Magic Muffins” when a few days later another patient was having to take even more drugs to try to help alleviate her constipation.

I’m so grateful that I found that recipe! I’ve made it so many times that I know it by heart. Thank you for putting recipes in your books!

In honor of Anne and her son, here’s the recipe. You can tweak it any way you like, substituting craisins or dried cherries, sunflower seeds, etc. I like to add craisins and grated orange or lemon peel sometimes. Enjoy!

Morning Muffins from the Sky River Bakery (from Snowfall at Willow Lake)

1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup ground flax seed
3/4 cup oat bran
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup vegetable oil
2 cups peeled and shredded carrots
2 apples, peeled and shredded
1/2 cup raisins or currants
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, flax seed, bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, eggs, vanilla and oil. Add to the dry ingredients. Fold in the carrots, apples, raisins and nuts. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full with batter.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Broke-bunny cookies

This is the only cookie recipe I’ve ever committed to memory. These are pretty much the best rolled cookies on the planet. Just ask Barkis.

• 1-1/2 cups pure unsalted butter at room temp
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups flour

(You can add optional flavorings like lavender, almond oil, lemon extract, etc.)

Cream the butter together with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, then salt and flour. Roll and cut. Don’t make these too thin, because they’re very tender and will break (see above). Make them nice and thick. Lay on ungreased baking sheets and bake at 325F for about 10 minutes, just until they start turning brown at the edges.

Icing: Make a glaze of confectioners sugar mixed with an egg white. Sprinkle on colored sugar.

Heard any good books lately?

Snowfall at Willow Lake is available in unabridged and abridged audio format from Brilliance. You can even download a copy here. Where do you listen to books on audio? In the car? On the treadmills? While walking the dog? Gardening? Shoveling snow?

The abridged edition doesn’t have the recipes, so here’s a quick peek at one:

Gougeres

These delicate puff pastries originated in France, and are traditionally served this time of year, with champagne–dry, not brut.

• 1 cup water
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the water, butter and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to moderate. Add flour all at once and beat with a wooden spoon until the mixture pulls away from side of pan.

Transfer mixture–known as pate a choux–to a bowl and use an electric mixer to beat in the eggs, one at a time. If the batter is too stiff, add another egg.

Stir the Gruyere into the pate a choux and drop by tablespoons about one inch apart on the baking sheet. Bake for about twenty-five minutes, or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Baking for the right-brained

From the Wiggs family right-brained recipe file. No cookie cutters required!

Christmas Morning Plum Bread

2 c. self-rising flour

2 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1 c. oil

3 eggs

2 jars baby food plums

Dump everything in a bowl and beat with mixer. Pour batter into oiled and flours pans. Makes 2 medium loaves, 4 mini loaves or one bundt pan. Bake at 325-350 for 50 min. to 1 hour.

Intensely Flavored, Moist Gingerbread

I adapted this from the Splendid Table website. I cannot tell a lie–I simplified it, increased the sugar and added the candied ginger and cayenne pepper. It’s pretty much the best gingerbread ever.

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 cup chopped candied ginger
• 1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup molasses (dark corn syrup works, too)
• 3/4 cup very hot water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 350°. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with waxed paper (you can also use 2 loaf pans or 4 mini loaf pans), coat with nonstick spray and dust with flour. Beat together the butter, molasses, hot water and brown sugar. Beat in the egg and quickly add the rest of the ingredients, stirring until blended. Pour into pans. Bake 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool on a rack in the pan.

Queen of Tarts

I have a tart pan! I love that I have a tart pan! Here’s a recipe I adapted from Real Simple Magazine.  

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup flour
2 Bosc pears, peeled and sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1-1/2 tablespoons demerara or turbinado sugar (plain white will work, too)
1/2 cup apricot jam
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Heat oven to 350° F. Spray a fluted tart pan with nonstick spray. Cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar Add the egg, and beat until incorporated. Gradually add the flour and baking powder until fully incorporated. Press the dough into the pan with floured fingers to form an even crust. Arrange the pear halves, top to bottom, cut-side down. Combine cinnamon and demerara (coarse-grained) sugar and sprinkle over tart. Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 45 minutes. While the tart is cooling, warm the apricot jam and lemon juice in a small saucepan over low heat until melted. Brush gently over the entire tart. Serve at room temperature.