It’s the Holiday Historical Cookie/Sweets Hop 2023! Grab your biscotti!
Italian cookies that originated in medieval Tuscany – sigh! Cookies that are twice-baked (which is what biscotti means in Italian) and hold up to dunking in tea or milk or chocolate or wine or Prosecco. Another bonus in addition to the wide range possible flavors is that being twice-baked gives them a longer shelf life – so more time to enjoy them! Yes, it’s true – I love biscotti!
My favorite flavors tend to be plain – vanilla (or a touch of almond flavor) is my usual one but I do like chocolate chip, too. Oh, and gingerbread, too. Or one called a Snicker-cookie biscotti that turns out like a sugar cookie with a hint of cinnamon. Mmmmmm. They are easy to make and simply delicious. And although they don’t have a specific link to the Holiday season, I find I make them more near Christmas than other times of year.
I should admit that I turned to trying them because of my cookie-baking failures. It’s true – I can successfully make most other baked goods – gosh, my pound cake is always in demand at family gatherings and events. But cookies? They defeat me. Too flat. Too hard (often compared to small hockey pucks!). Not right. Not enough. So, when I made my first batch of biscotti and they turned out hard and crumbly, I realized they were perfect — LOL!
There are lots of biscotti recipes all over, online and in cookbooks and in family recipes so it’s not difficult to find one to try. I’ve found a great basic recipe along with more recipes that turn them into so many flavors on the Kristine’s Kitchen Blog. I’ve also had some success with recipes from an online site (BiscottiRecipes.org) but it seems to be gone now. Luckily I have print and digital copies of those recipes!
Have you tried making biscottis or other holiday cookies? Are you a Pizzelle maker? Those were my younger sister Mar’s favorites and she made them every year…so good! Or is your Holiday superpower eating them? Hey, bakers need people to enjoy their creations!
Since I’m part of the Historical Authors Holiday Cookie (and Treats) Hop, here’s the list of all the participating authors (many of whom are doing giveaways on their pages so don’t miss them!):
Historical Romance Authors Cookie Hop Link List 2023
(look below for directions if you haven’t seen them)
After you collect the names of all 30 recipes, e-mail the list of authors with their treats to Heather@HeatherMcCollum.com with the subject line: Historical Romance Authors are Sweet. One winner will be chosen on Wednesday, 13 December and announced on the FB event page and on Heather’s website: https://www.heathermccollum.com/ .
For my giveaway, I’m giving one winner who makes a comment below a lovely 2024 Scottish calendar along with a wee Scottish giftie, too! So just tell me if you bake or make Holiday treats or just like to eat them or what your favorites are and I’ll choose a winner TWO WINNERS who will be announced on December 13. Could be one of these calendars below or another of the ones I’ve collected for the New Year! Good luck!
Across a Windswept Isle – it’s here!
Nothing more exciting that releasing a book into the reading world and, today, I’m doing that!
Across a Windswept Isle is the tale of a love forbidden and lost forever….or was it? This novella was previously part of the very limited edition collection THE FORBIDDEN HIGHLANDS but is now available on its own. Hope you will give it a try!
Ailis lost the love of her life … or is he standing right in front of her?
Lachlan MacLean loved his enemy’s daughter but duty called for him to marry another. Attacked by an unseen assailant and left to die in a fiery grave, he survived and now wanders the isle of Mull without any memory of his past. He seeks anyone who might know him but the one he wishes to find is the woman who haunts his dreams and visions. When he encounters her, she is being given in marriage to another man. He doesn’t know her name, but he knows he must have her to regain his life.
Ailis MacKinnon lost the love of her life in a terrible fire and months later is being forced by her father to marry. When she refuses and is given to the next man who enters the keep instead, she discovers that the mysterious ‘Iain’ reminds her of the man she lost. Worse, he encourages her to be the woman she should be. As the battle of wills between father and daughter builds, so does the passion between her and this hooded man.
Will she be able to claim the man she lost knowing that exposing his identity brings danger back to him? Or can she give him up now that she has found him?
Upon a Misty Skye – preorder now!
I was so excited to be invited to write a story for a limited-time-only Celtic ghost/haunted castle collection of novellas last fall and even more excited when that collection – ONCE UPON A HAUNTED CASTLE – hit the USA TODAY bestseller list! Now, I’m releasing my novella UPON A MISTY SKYE by itself — and it’s available now for preorder!
The story — On Scotland’s Isle of Skye, Alexander MacDonald and Isabel MacLeod were not supposed to meet or fall in love or marry. Now that they have, their parents mean to separate them, by any means possible. But the ghost of Duntulm Castle has other plans for the forbidden lovers.
Here are some links to the preorder pages —
Sneak Peek – Mistress of the Storm
It’s not the final cover but my editors gave this to me over the weekend — isn’t it simply stunning? It’s a July 2011 release:
The back cover blurb says:
An epic struggle for dominance is ravaging the Isle of Skye. And in its midst, a man and a woman are locked together by fate—and fantasy…
Odious though it is, Isabel knows what she must do: go to the one known as the Healer, seduce him, and recruit him to her power-hungry stepfather’s cause. If she refuses, her innocent young sister will pay the terrible price of her disobedience. Yet after just one night with the man she must manipulate, it is clear to Isabel that even if she succeeds, the deceit will not leave her unscathed. For in the Healer’s powerful arms, her heart is lost forever…
Duncan of Skye knows there are those who would use his unusual gift for their own selfish gain. Even so, he yearns to trust the beautiful temptress who warms his bed and fills him with insatiable passion. And when he must choose between her future and his own, he may have to risk everything—even his life…
What do you think?
Terri
A Storm of Pleasure is here!
It’s here!! Yes it is!! The second book in my STORM trilogy hits the stores in just hours…I’ve been staring at this gorgeous cover just waiting to share it with readers. I hope you’ll look for it and give it a try.
RT Book Reviews called it ‘fast-paced and wildly hot, with a touch of supernatural’ and Romance Junkies said it’s a ‘sensuous, lush historical tale with its basis in legends and folktales’. Both sound good to me!
Bottomline – it’s for anyone looking for a sexy, emotional story set in the highlands and islands of Scotland when the Vikings ruled and when magic still glimmered in the air….
And hey, isn’t the cover just gorgeous!?
To celebrate — I’ll be doing a couple of signings — first, this week, Wednesday September 29 at the Barnes and Noble store at the Christiana Mall in Newark DE. I’m signing from 5-7 and then meeting with the romance readers’ group to chat about both A STORM OF PASSION and A STORM OF PLEASURE.
Then, on Tuesday October 5th I’ll be visiting the Barnes and Noble store on Route 18 S in East Brunswick and signing and chatting with romance readers and authors like Judi McCoy, Jenna Kernan and Shelley Freydont. It’s all begins at 7:30pm….
And, A STORM OF PLEASURE is being featured in a special Nook promotion that provides some original contest that is downloaded to any Nook ‘activated’ in a B&N store! I’m thrilled to be part of that… Please let me know if you have a Nook and receive my article at a store.
Terri
