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Mrs. Claus

Reindeer

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Around my house Christmas is all about food, and while Mrs. Claus doesn’t spend all her time baking cookies that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Over the next few days I’d like to share some of Mrs. Claus’ favourite recipes with you! Each one of these recipes is written in the voice of one of the incarnations of Mrs. Claus from my latest anthology, Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say.

Enjoy!

Reindeer

From Mrs. Claus of “Wight Christmas” by Laura VanArendonk Baugh

Autumn is a time of change: a time when leaves turn and wildlife prepares to migrate or hibernate, a time of frenzied activity for the elves as they try to get Nick ready for his annual event, a time when women in wholly unnecessary activewear wax lyrical about spices cheaply available year round. (You people have no idea what it was like in the old days, when we traveled months to trade or… borrow spices.)

But the best part of autumn is gathering with friends to celebrate the rich harvest collected by that farm village you just relieved of its overstock. (No worries, bleeding hearts! We also relieved them of excess population, so they’ll be better able to survive on the stores they have left.)

One of my favorites is roast reindeer. Oh, don’t make that face. Yes, Nick has a team of eight which is quite the public face for the operation. They’re more famous than the Budweiser Clydesdales! But reindeer have always been a part of our culture and diet. Where do you think Santa’s fur trim came from? Uh-huh.

Besides, reindeer is good for you. It’s a very lean meat, so you don’t have to worry about fat and cholesterol and whatever else you people fret about this decade. And reindeer are free-ranging herds which serve a valuable ecological purpose, none of this disgusting feedlot business. Your reindeer probably roamed the forest eating lichen right up until its final day.

And finally, reindeer is tasty. It’s tender and milder than venison. It’s perfect for your guests. Remember, hospitality is important!

For an intimate gathering, I like to start with about 5 pounds (2 and a quarter kilograms) of reindeer haunch, which should feed two to three Vikings as a main course, but you can work with what you have available. You can certainly scale up if you have a shipful to feed, but remember that a whole reindeer takes longer to prepare than a small roast.

It’s best when wrapped in pork fat to keep it moist. If you happen to be visiting North America, pick up some American bacon, as the strips are perfect. Use about half a pound to wrap the roast, lay some rosemary sprigs over the bacon on all sides, and tie everything in place. If you have any extra pork fat, lay it on top to cap it all off.

Combine lingonberry sauce—mmm, lingonberries!—with a few peppercorns, some onion slices, and whatever honey you saved from mead-making. Set the roast on this base and, well, roast it on a low fire until it bleeds clear. For those of you using an gas or electric cooker, this will be about 275 F or 135 C for two or three hours, depending on your roast.

Meat is not a complete meal, so fill a pan with your favorite root vegetables. Don’t be afraid to use some New World varieties such a potatoes; caribou are found in North America, too. And you’ll have time while it roasts to make some buttermilk flatbread.

When you pull it out, like all meats it will need to rest to reabsorb the best juices. But like all meats, it will likely be raided by hungry hands. Keep your short axe ready for a quick defense as necessary, and it should be ready in about twenty minutes. Alternately, place the mead and drinking horns at the far side of the hall, to distract the diners and keep them busy elsewhere.

Make sure you keep a healthy portion of mead for yourself! Slice the reindeer roast thin when it’s ready, and serve with the lingonberry sauce and roast vegetables. Enjoy!

 

Excerpt from “Wight Christmas” by Laura VanArendonk Baugh:

Lik and I sat companionably in the dark, waiting. It wasn’t awkward;. I was a Valkyrie, a Chooser of the Slain, and he was the slain. We had more in common than you’d think.

“So, you were a valkyrja.”

“Am a valkyrja. I just don’t get called in to work as often these days.”

“And you married Santa.”

“Nicholas is what he goes by most often now. Yes.”

“But Nicholas was a Christian bishop, at least for a span of years.”

“Yes.”

“Bishops…can’t have wives. Or sex.”

I nodded. “Frock-blocked.”

Lik’s explosive laughter boomed across the parking lot, shattering any pretense of concealment or stealth. He slapped his bare knee and threw his head back, laughing freely as any dead and drunk warrior in Valhöll.

Available Online:

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Mrs. Claus

Myra’s Beastly Christmas Butter Balls

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Around my house Christmas is all about food, and while Mrs. Claus doesn’t spend all her time baking cookies that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Over the next few days I’d like to share some of Mrs. Claus’ favourite recipes with you! Each one of these recipes is written in the voice of one of the incarnations of Mrs. Claus from my latest anthology, Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say.

Enjoy!

Myra’s Beastly Christmas Butter Balls

A recipe by Myra of “Red to Hide the Blood” by Hayley Stone

“Not sure what you want me to say here, they’re butter balls. Small sugary cookies covered in powdered sugar. They taste best with fudge.”

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter (the good stuff—you know, from a cow, none of that low-fat, goat milk nonsense; stop by if you need to borrow some proper butter)
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 2 ½ cups flour*
  • ¼ tsp. salt (that’s teaspoon, Olli)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • ¾ nuts (if you like that kind of thing)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 345 degrees.
  2. Cream butter and sugar. If your arm’s not hurting by the end, you haven’t done a good enough job. Crank that spoon a couple more times. Won’t hurt to work that arm a bit, especially if you plan on helping Nick with his sleigh repairs later.
  3. Add remaining ingredients. (Except the nuts. You should just skip those. Yes, I know Nick likes them. I don’t hold it against him. Might if he ever makes me eat them though.)

  4. Roll into balls and arrange on a baking sheet an inch apart. Bake 10-12 minutes.**
  5. Remove from oven and let sit a moment. We’re making balls, after all, not thumbprints.
  6. Using a sifter, sprinkle the powdered sugar over the warm cookies.

That’s it. You said you wanted simple. It’s not hunting a waheela, so you shouldn’t have much trouble. And like I said, the best way to improve the recipe is by serving the cookies alongside fudge. You need a recipe for some proper fudge, you know where to find me.

Oh, and make sure you have some milk at hand. Nick gets so fussy about dry cookies.

 

* If you want the dough to hold together better, reduce the flour. If you like your dough crumbly as all get-out, then by all means, do it the hard way.

** These puppies can be a bit dry. I like to bake mine for 8-9 minutes to keep them more moist.

 

Excerpt from “Red to Hide the Blood” by Hayley Stone:

When I finally got up the courage to peer inside the cave, the beasts saw me before I saw them. Large, hulking shadows flexed within the dark—coming toward me fast. I barely managed to sight my rifle before the first monster charged, and my shot went painfully, embarrassingly wide.

So much for getting the drop on them.

The waheela knocked me back into the failing light, pinning me to the icy ground. Wind rippled the fur over its massive shoulders, while the last remnants of the sun sloped down its enormous snout and its nose glistened with blood. Beast must’ve been the size of a small pick-up truck. Damn near felt like it, too.

I wheezed, struggling to dislodge the waheela.

Its lips pulled back from its teeth in an angry wrinkle, spit hanging to its canines from its lower lips like webbing. I waited for it to growl or snarl.

Instead, the bear-dog spoke.

Available Online:

Direct from the publisher

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Barnes and Noble

Kobo

iBooks

 

Mrs. Claus

Morning Bread

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Around my house Christmas is all about food, and while Mrs. Claus doesn’t spend all her time baking cookies that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Over the next few days I’d like to share some of Mrs. Claus’ favourite recipes with you! Each one of these recipes is written in the voice of one of the incarnations of Mrs. Claus from my latest anthology, Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say.

Enjoy!

Morning Bread

A recipe by Eve Claus of “Good Morning” by Kristen Lee

(Adapted from James Beard’s “Beard on Bread”)

1/2 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of  baking soda
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 teaspoons of buttermilk (or soured milk)
1 cup of chopped apple
1/2 cup of walnuts or pecans (chopped)
1 teaspoon vanilla or grated lemon rind

Pre-heat oven to 350° and butter a loaf pan.  Pour prepared batter into the pan and bake for around 45 minutes to an hour.  When the bread begins to pull away from the side of the pan, you’ll know it’s done.  Allow bread to cool in the pan for a few minutes before loosening and removing the loaf.  Slice when completely cool.  Best enjoyed at sunrise.

Excerpt from “Good Morning” by Kristen Lee:

The breaking of the spell starts in her fingers and creeps through her veins. Her dreams muddle as the thaw spreads, and there’s always a brief, glorious second during which she believes she will open her eyes to the soft glow of a newborn sun.

Instead, Eve is greeted by the navy-dark of the North Pole. Even the faerie fires that illuminate the chamber blaze with the cold, blue light of stars. Their glow—though relatively dim—burns her eyes, and tiny replicas flash behind her closed eyelids. Her vision adjusts before her body remembers how to move, and as her blood rekindles, she watches the slumbering form of her husband.

Nick is still confined within the crystalline ice. The uneven facets warp his glamour, so he flickers young-and-beautiful and old-and-jolly all at once. Beneath his age-whitened hair are Nick’s black curls; beneath his cloud of beard, the squared-off jawline Eve had pressed countless kisses to before their lives became bound to December 25th. Even frozen, his long-lashed eyes flit in dream beneath his lids. She wonders if he dreams of her.

Misty breath gusts over Eve’s hand. In her frigid state, the ghostly warmth burns, and she twists to escape the pain. Hooves clatter against the icy floor of the chamber, and Eve draws herself painfully upward to see Dancer—her favorite of the reindeer—staring dolefully at her. She wants to reassure the beast, but her lips are cold-cracked and her tongue frozen to her teeth. Instead, she raises her stiff arm, and Dancer sheepishly creeps back over to rub her shaggy head against Eve’s outstretched hand.

Eve loves the reindeer, but in moments like this, she misses the dogs. She yearns for their ever-wagging tails and their soft-tongued kisses. She misses their love of running so strong that it twitches their legs in their sleep. She misses the dogs and the rising sun and holding Nick, talking to him, and—

Mrs. Claus

Fianna’s Fudge

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Around my house Christmas is all about food, and while Mrs. Claus doesn’t spend all her time baking cookies that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Over the next few days I’d like to share some of Mrs. Claus’ favourite recipes with you! Each one of these recipes is written in the voice of one of the incarnations of Mrs. Claus from my latest anthology, Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say.

Enjoy!

Fianna’s Fudge

A recipe by Fianna Claus of “You’d Better Watch Out” by Maren Matthias

Cookies may be classic but I am of the mind that the superior of all holiday treats is fudge, particularly this recipe as it contains one of my favorite things: Scotch Whiskey.

What you will need:

19 oz. of bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup – 1/2 cup scotch – I recommend Laphroaig

In a saucepan – over medium-low heat – combine the chocolate and condensed milk and cook until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove from heat and let cool a bit before you add the whiskey or you’ll kill the alcohol, which would be a damn shame, but not TOO cold or it’ll kill the chocolate, which defeats the entire purpose. As it starts to thicken but isn’t fully solidified add the scotch, stirring until smooth.

Spread in prepared pan, then cover and refrigerate until firm. If you live somewhere frosty, like myself, you can just put it out on the back porch! Enjoy with scotch.

Excerpt from “You’d Better Watch Out” by Maren Matthias:

Nick beamed at her from behind the island counter.

“Darling!” he crowed. “I think I’ve finally perfected my sugar cookie recipe! Come, come, have a taste.”

“This is the urgent issue you had that couldn’t wait until I’d brought back the tree?” she asked sternly, although she couldn’t deny how adorable her husband was, giddy and completely covered in flour. She never tired of it.

“He took me away from reindeer training,” her eldest, Erin, was sitting on the far edge of the counter, her curved lips peppered with sugar.

“You both always take so long and this couldn’t wait. Here.”

Fianna accepted the cookie he handed her and took a bite. It was perfection. Nick chuckled to himself. She knew he didn’t need her opinion to know he’d succeeded; he just wanted to see the look on her face.

“I hate to interrupt…” They all turned to see Damien standing in the doorway. “There’s been another abduction. A children’s center in Oslo, Norway.”

Four sets of eyes zeroed in on Fianna. It was always the same reaction—an eruption of fire followed by a deep breath that wasn’t calming enough.

“This calls for Scotch.”

Available Online:

Direct from the publisher

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Barnes and Noble

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iBooks

 

Mrs. Claus

Really Good Cookies

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Around my house Christmas is all about food, and while Mrs. Claus doesn’t spend all her time baking cookies that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Over the next few days I’d like to share some of Mrs. Claus’ favourite recipes with you! Each one of these recipes is written in the voice of one of the incarnations of Mrs. Claus from my latest anthology, Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say.

Enjoy!

Really Good Cookies

A recipe by Bella Claus of “Christmas Magic” by Jennifer Lee Rossman

Season’s greetings, humans! It’s me, Belle Claus, your favorite extraterrestrial and one half of the hottest celebrity couple since William and Kate.

As part of my ongoing attempts to assimilate into the culture of my beloved adoptive planet, I’ve been learning how to bake and today, I’m sharing my recipe for moon cookies. I expect I’ll have my own cooking show and line of designer cookware soon. (Move over, Rachel Ray.)

Ingredients:

1 cup chocolate chips

6 tbs butter

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

(makes about 24 cookies)

Step 1: Put on an apron. I know, I know, so unflattering, but you don’t want unsightly butter stains on your best dress.

Step 2: Melt chocolate chips and butter, mix in brown sugar. Let it cool.

Step 3: Add eggs one at a time, mix well after each one.

Step 4: Mix in vanilla, baking powder, and salt. Add flour and mix well. At this point, I usually dab a little flour on my nose. Instagram eats that stuff up.

Step 5: Chill dough in a snowbank (or, in a pinch, the refrigerator) for at least four hours. I use this time to bingewatch The Bachelorette with the elves.

Step 6: With your hands, roll the dough into walnut-sized balls. Roll them in powdered sugar until completely coated.

Step 7: Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool for two minutes, then place on a baking rack to cool completely.

The cookies spread out as they bake and the powdered sugar breaks apart, leaving patches of black and white that remind me of my planet’s cratered moons.

Well, that’s all for today. I’m off to muck reindeer stalls. And by “muck reindeer stalls” I mean “eat cookies while the elves muck reindeer stalls.”

Ta-ta!

 

Excerpt from “Christmas Magic” by Jennifer Lee Rossman:

But here we are. It’s Christmas Eve and Nick’s about to leave the North Pole for the first time in nearly a century. Presents are loaded, Nick has been prepped on the use of my shrink ray and cloaking devices, and Rudy’s bioluminescent nostril alterations bathe the scene in a warm red glow.

Everything according to plan.

The rapid fire assault of flashbulbs turn my sincere smile into a practiced grin that does not extend to my eyes as I glare out at the photographers and reporters. I’m going to kill the elf who gave them access.

My husband, on the other hand, is nothing if not a people pleaser. He steps out into the snow, giving them the hearty “Ho ho ho!” they’ve been waiting for, all while posing with his hands on the big bowl of jiggling jelly that is his stomach. Then he walks over to me, and we fake our way through a kiss.

Affection is the one thing we haven’t perfected. He didn’t want to marry me, and I certainly didn’t love the idea of wearing a frilly white apron and baking cookies all day for my old, way too jolly husband. And I could certainty do without paparazzi invading every second of my life and magazines scrutinizing every hairstyle and clothing choice.

“Who wore it better—Mrs. Claus or Princess Kate?” “Mrs. C. steps out in a hideous reindeer-skin jacket!” “Santa Baby Bump!?”

(For the record: I did, it was faux reindeer and that reporter wouldn’t know fashion if it bit him in the jingle bells, and not a chance. Our species can’t interbreed.)

 

Available Online:

Direct from the publisher

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iBooks

 

Mrs. Claus

Baklava

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Around my house Christmas is all about food, and while Mrs. Claus doesn’t spend all her time baking cookies that doesn’t mean she doesn’t know her way around a kitchen. Over the next few days I’d like to share some of Mrs. Claus’ favourite recipes with you! Each one of these recipes is written in the voice of one of the incarnations of Mrs. Claus from my latest anthology, Mrs. Claus: Not the Fairy Tale They Say.

Enjoy!

Baklava

A recipe from Phaedra Claus of “Shouldering the Burden” by M.L.D. Curelas

This is a variation of the more traditional walnut and honey baklava, made with pistachios, cardamom, and rosewater. The pistachios evoke pleasant memories of Nick’s and my time in Turkey, as well as our native Greece. It’s a treat sure to please your most curmudgeonly guest.

Ingredients:

Syrup:
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
1 tbsp lemon juice
10 black peppercorns
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp rosewater

Nut filling
12 ounces shelled pistachios
1 tsp ground cardamom
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Pastry and Butter
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter
1 lb frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Begin with the syrup. Combine the syrup ingredients in a saucepan, except for the rosewater, and bring to a full boil over medium-high heat. You need to make sure the sugar dissolves, so stir occasionally while it cooks. Transfer the syrup to a measuring cup and set it aside to cool while you assemble the baklava. Once it has cooled, remove the peppercorns and stir in the rosewater.

While the syrup is cooling, start the nut filling. The elves have built a fabulous steam-powered grinder that will chop the pistachios for me. It saves so much time! If you aren’t favored with steam-powered technology, then your modern food processor should do the trick, in short pulses. Once the pistachios are finely chopped, transfer them to a bowl. Measure out a tablespoon of nuts and set it aside to use later as a garnish. To the main bowl, add your cardamom, sugar, and salt. Toss until well-combined.

And now to assemble! Adjust your oven rack to the lower-middle position, and preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a 13×9 pan with butter (use a non-stick pan, if possible). Unwrap and unfold your thawed phyllo dough onto a large cutting board. Flatten gently with your hands. Cut the sheets crosswise with a knife, so you have two stacks of phyllo dough. Don’t panic if one side is slightly narrower than the other. To prevent the dough from drying out, cover with plastic wrap and top with a damp kitchen towel.

From the stack of wider phyllo dough, take one sheet and place it in the bottom of your pan. Brush it with butter, completely coating it. Alternatively, I often brush my dough with olive oil, and *ahem* often use my wonderful clockwork spraying can to speed this process. If you have access to cans that spray oil, I recommend using them! Repeat this step with seven more sheets of phyllo dough, all from your “wider” stack.

Spread about 1 cup of nuts over the dough. Top with a sheet of phyllo from your second stack of phyllo; dab butter on it (or use your clockwork sprayer!). Repeat this with 5 more sheets of phyllo, staggering sheets, if necessary, to cover the nuts. Make sure each sheet of phyllo is brushed with butter. Repeat the layering with another cup of nuts, 6 sheets of phyllo, and then the remaining nuts. Finish up with 8-10 sheets of phyllo from your first, “wider” stack of phyllo dough. Brush each sheet with butter, except for the top sheet.

Using the palms of your hands, gently compress the layers, working from the center out to the edges. This will squeeze out any air pockets.

Brush more butter onto the top sheet of phyllo dough, covering it completely. Using a bread knife, cut the baklava into diamonds, rotating the pan as necessary.

Bake until golden and crisp, about 90 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. After removing the baklava from the oven, immediately pour your syrup over the cut lines until 2 tablespoons of syrup remain in your cup–the syrup will sizzle when it hits your hot pan. Drizzle the remaining syrup over the surface. Garnish the center of each piece with a pinch of your reserved nuts. Cool your baklava to room temperature on a wire rack (about 3 hours). Then cover with foil and allow it to set for another 8 hours. To be sure, if your elves are hungry, you can eat the baklava as soon as it cools, but the 8 hour wait time will allow the flavor to settle. Your baklava can be stored at room temperature for 10 days, if securely wrapped in foil.

 

Excerpt from “Shouldering the Burden” by M.L.D. Curelas:

A ball of light formed between her hands. Parting them, she blew a gentle stream of air at the light. The globe floated away from her, toward the shadows of the temple.

Something cackled. In the silvery light of Phaedra’s globe, malformed, black shapes writhed and capered.

“By the Pole, what are those things?” Annika gasped.

The creatures shrank from the light, but Phaedra caught glimpses of goats’ legs, horns, tusks, spindly tails, and red eyes. She gulped. “I think those are kallikantzaroi.” At Annika’s puzzled shrug, Phaedra added, “Goblins. They only come above ground during the twelve days of Christmas.”

Annika resumed hacking at the ropes. “Let’s do this quickly then, before they decide to pester us.”

Phaedra knelt, pulling her own multi-tool from her pocket.

The Caryatids hissed in her mind, and Phaedra jerked her head up. An inky black thing, the size of a badger, leapt at her. Its mouth gaped open, displaying rows of jagged teeth.

Phaedra pulled her telescoping parasol out of her boot. She raised the metal rod and batted the goblin aside.

Another capering goblin bounded from the shadows.

Available Online:

Direct from the publisher

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Kobo

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Mrs. Claus

Mrs. Claus’ Favourite Recipes

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In my Introduction to Mrs. Claus (which you can read here) I made a point of saying that Mrs. Claus doesn’t just sit around the North Pole baking cookies, but just because she doesn’t only bake doesn’t mean she never does. And food does play an important role in celebrating Christmas (at least for me). With that in mind I invited some of the contributors to Mrs. Claus to write recipes in the voice of the Mrs. Claus from their stories. Over the coming several days I’m going to share those recipes (and short excerpts from the author’s story) here on my blog. There are cookie recipes, fudge recipes and more, uh, savoury recipes too. I hope you’ll pop by over the coming days to take a peek in Mrs. Claus’ recipe book!

December 15 — Baklava (M.L.D. Curelas)

December 16 — Really Good Cookies (Jennifer Lee Rossman)

December 17 — Fianna’s Fudge (Maren Matthias)

December 18 — Raw Lumps of Heaven (Michael Leonberger)

December 19 — Morning Bread (Kristen Lee)

December 20 — Myra’s Christmas Butter Balls (Hayley Stone)

December 21 — Reindeer (Laura VanArendonk Baugh)

It’s gonna be an adventure!

2016 Giftmas Blog Tour, Personal

2016 Giftmas Blog Tour

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Money was tight when I was a kid–for several years my mom was raising three of us on a waitress’s salary and you’ve gotta know that wasn’t easy (I talked about it a bit here). Things are better for me these days, but not everyone is so lucky:

“In the wake of the plunging global price of oil, Edmonton’s unemployment rate grew from 4.9% in March 2014 to 6.9% in March 2016. This translated to a massive 31% increase in food bank use in the city. Edmonton is not alone… What sets Edmonton apart is the thousands of people who flocked to the city in May to escape the wildfires further north. This short-term crisis and dislocation, combined with a severe lack of affordable housing and an inadequate safety net for jobless Albertans, have pushed the city’s charitable sector to the limits.”

[Source: http://bit.ly/2gdzODj ]

I want to help. So this year my annual Giftmas Blog Tour is going to be food-centric and raise money to help the Edmonton food bank. Myself and a handful of awesome women have come together to share recipes and raise money to help feed hungry families this season.

Please click here or on the image below and donate to help feed a family this month — whether it’s a dollar, ten or more every little bit helps! And, as a bonus, all these donations are in Canadian dollars so if you are American, for example, your $10 donation might only cost you $8 (I don’t know the exact exchange rate). Also, if you use PayPal to donate they will add 1% to your donation. Once you’ve donated come back to enjoy the recipe I have to share and enter my rafflecopter to win a cozy prize!

giftmas-1

Thank you so much for helping!

And if you can’t help monetarily, there is still something you can do — help us spread the word about this fundraiser. As with donations, every little bit — every tweet or Facebook share — helps. We can’t reach our fundraising goal without you!

To thank you for all your help I’m also hosting a giveaway. The winner will get a cozy crocheted throw (homemade by me!) in whatever colour(s) they choose. I will ship it anywhere in the world, and though the odds favour those people who donate to the fundraiser (even $1!), you can also earn entries by tweeting about the giveaway or just by showing up because everyone gets one free entry as my gift to you 🙂

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now, the recipe 🙂

2016-giftmas-blog-tour

 

Butter tarts are a thing my family takes very seriously. My grandmother’s in particular are kinda famous — no really. My grandmother used to run a the Northside Restaurant in Nanton, which is a small town about an hour out of Calgary.

Once, when my mother was in the hospital in Calgary my grandmother came up to visit her and brought her butter tarts. After my grandmother had left the nurse came in to check on my mother, saw the butter tarts and said, “Oh, those look just like the butter tarts from the Northside Restaurant in Nanton — have you ever had them?”

After Mom stopped laughing she and the nurse chatted about them — it seemed the nurse and her husband would always stop at the Northside anytime they went anywhere near Nanton just for the butter tarts.

…or so the family legend says 😉

This recipe isn’t my grandmother’s, it’s my mother’s. I thought about sharing Grammy’s but figured that might be more than my life is worth… and besides, Christmas really makes me think a lot about my mom (who died a few years ago now). She was never actually a big fan of Christmas, but she faked it pretty well for the sake of us kids LOL And she liked the family aspect that saw us all come back “home” and spend time together. More or less 😉

…back to the recipe!

For the pastry, both my mother and grandmother tweaked their recipes a few times over the years, but for the most part they always seemed to come back to the same one — the standard pastry recipe from the side of the Tenderflake container so if you’re not sure where to start, that’s a great jumping off point 🙂

I hope you enjoy this recipe and check out the rest of the blog tour to see what everyone else is offering — it’s gonna be something special, I can tell 🙂

giftmastourschedule

Tour Schedule:

December 5th — Introducing the tour 🙂
December 9th — Kara hosts Tiffany 
December 11th — Jennifer hosts Diamante 
December 12th — Final day for donations!

 

2015 Giftmas Blog Tour, Guest Blogger

A Corny Holiday

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giftmas_rectangle

All month long I’m going to be hosting the posts of other people as part of my 2015 Giftmas Blog Tour. All the guest bloggers are welcome to write about anything they’d like so long as their post touched on a December holiday in some way, no matter how tangentially. The blog tour extends beyond my blog as well, and I will do my best to link to each external post from the here and share them on social media using the hashtag #GiftmasTour.

But wait! There’s more!

We’re also giving away a whole whack of prizes (check out the list here) which you can enter to win using the Rafflecoper code below. Whatever December holiday you celebrate (or don’t) winning a stack of books will make it better!

 

A Corny Holiday

by Brenda Stokes Barron

Normally, I shy away from blog tours because I’m so strapped for time. But when Rhonda asked if I wanted to be a part of this project, I had to say yes. It’s the holidays and sharing in the fun and festivities while celebrating being writers and being a part of this awesome community was just too appealing to pass up.

While the temptation to wax nostalgic is strong this time of year, I’ll resist and offer a recipe instead. It’s simple and tasty, though full of butter. So, it’s not healthy at all. But…umm…yum?

Corn Casserole Souffle

A weird name for a recipe, I know, but it’s really a combination of my mom’s recipe (corn casserole) and one I found online (corn souffle) that I’ve been making for several years now. It’s rich, filling, and I could eat it pretty much forever.

Ingredients 

4 oz butter (one stick, melted)

1 egg

8 oz sour cream

1 can of whole kernel corn (drained)

1 can of cream style corn

1 pkg of corn muffin mix

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Combine butter, egg, corn, cream style corn, sour cream, and corn muffin mix in a bowl.
  3. Grease 9″ x 9″ baking dish and pour mixture into it.
  4. Bake for 45 minutes or until you can poke the center with a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Simple, easy, and super delicious. It ends up with the consistency of pudding and bread, is sweet and savory, and a great complement to other holiday dishes.

The Giveaway

There’s a seriously impressive list of prizes for this giveaway, which includes tons of books like Seeing the Light by E.C. Bell, I Heart Robot by Suzanne van Rooyen, and signed copies of Fae, Corvidae, and Scarecrow–all of which are edited by Rhonda Parrish. Plus, there are other nifty goodies in the giveaway, too, like art prints, electronic copies of books, and a coffee cup cozy knitted by yours truly. See the full list here.

Entering the giveaway is super easy. Just use the form below:

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Thanks for reading! It was fun to be included in the tour and thanks to Rhonda for hosting me. 🙂

2015 Giftmas Blog Tour, Guest Blogger

Hot Buttered Rum

2 Comments

giftmas_rectangle

All month long I’m going to be hosting the posts of other people as part of my 2015 Giftmas Blog Tour. All the guest bloggers are welcome to write about anything they’d like so long as their post touched on a December holiday in some way, no matter how tangentially. The blog tour extends beyond my blog as well, and I will do my best to link to each external post from the here and share them on social media using the hashtag #GiftmasTour.

But wait! There’s more!

We’re also giving away a whole whack of prizes (check out the list here) which you can enter to win using the Rafflecoper code below. Whatever December holiday you celebrate (or don’t) winning a stack of books will make it better!

Hot Buttered Rum

by S. L. Saboviec

Hello, everyone! My name is S. L. Saboviec, and I’m a SFF author. I’m excited to be part of Rhonda’s Giftmas blog tour, and I’m so glad to be here today on her blog.

When I was growing up, my mother used to bake all the time. For Christmas, we had gingerbread houses and sugar cookies; for birthdays, we had homemade cake; for Thanksgiving, we had pumpkin and blueberry pie.

It’s a tradition I’ve continued. Although my daughter is only a year old, I’ve been baking my own treats around holidays for much longer than she’s been alive. And I love making new things.

Of course, I’m a grown-up now, or at least, that’s what people say a mortgage means.

Last year, I was listening to Christmas music, and I thought to myself, “Self, what is this ‘hot buttered rum’ of which the carols speak?” It sounded a bit old and fuddy-duddy; however, that’s also what I thought about Star Wars until I was forced to watch it in high school and therefore discovered its awesomeness. So, not wanting to be that girl that won’t try new (or, in this case, old) things, I googled “hot buttered rum recipe.”

Oh. Em. Gee.

Do you like sugary goodness? Do you like butter? Do you like easy-to-make alcoholic beverages that everyone’s going to be impressed over?

WELL, HOLD ONTO YOUR FANCY, OLD-FASHIONED HAT BECAUSE I HAVE A DRINK FOR YOU.

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Image by Dennis Wilkenson

The original recipe is from the Food Network, so you know it’s good. I halved it because, well, it is a lot of sugar/butter/rum. But you can make the mix ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks, so go ahead and quadruple this sucker if you want. Take it out, have a nip here and there, ya know, to warm you up when you come in from the snow.

Hot Buttered Rum
(Prep: 10 minutes. Makes 5-6 servings)

½ stick butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves
Pinch salt

Also:
Rum
Boiling water

Cream together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Refrigerate until almost firm. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of the butter mixture into each mug. Pour about 3 ounces of rum (about 2 shots—yep, you read that right) into each mug, filling about halfway. Top with boiling water to fill the remaining half. Stir well. Serve immediately.

If you want to get all Martha Stewart on it, you can garnish with cinnamon sticks, whipped cream, and/or cinnamon sprinkles. But there’s a reason I didn’t pick the Martha Stewart recipe: I’m not that fancy.

And now you know what you’re making for tomorrow’s holiday party.

About Me:

fa7c28f1c29e422fe98df2d61fedc998I’m an author whose dark, thought-provoking science fiction & fantasy contains flawed, relatable characters and themes that challenge the status quo. My first release, Guarding Angel is available at several major eBook retailers and on Amazon in paperback: Kindle | Kobo | Nook | Google Play | Paperback (Amazon) | Goodreads. The sequel, Reaping Angel, will be released in spring 2016.

You can also follow me on social media: Twitter | Pinterest | FaceBook | My newsletter (No spam!).

Thank you, Rhonda, for having me here today!

Enter the Giveaway:

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2015 Giftmas Blog Tour, Guest Blogger

Fergus the Wonderdog’s Cheesecake

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giftmas_rectangle

All month long I’m going to be hosting the posts of other people as part of my 2015 Giftmas Blog Tour. All the guest bloggers are welcome to write about anything they’d like so long as their post touched on a December holiday in some way, no matter how tangentially. The blog tour extends beyond my blog as well, and I will do my best to link to each external post from the here and share them on social media using the hashtag #GiftmasTour.

But wait! There’s more!

We’re also giving away a whole whack of prizes (check out the list here) which you can enter to win using the Rafflecoper code below. Whatever December holiday you celebrate (or don’t) winning a stack of books will make it better!

 

Fergus the Wonderdog’s Cheesecake

by E.C. Bell

I love baking, especially in winter. I bake cookies, mincemeat pies (really), Christmas cakes (really!), and often, for the Christmas meal, I bake a cheesecake.

This recipe comes from a recipe book my Mom used (a lot) while we were growing up. I didn’t even realize it was fairly complicated until I checked out other recipes online, but it is still one of the best tasting cheesecakes I’ve found.

Fergus the Wonderdog’s Cheesecake
1 (6oz) package zwieback (graham crackers to most people)
1/4 c soft butter
1 c plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1 pound cream cheese
1 cup light cream
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind

Topping
I use cherry pie filling, with a touch of grated lemon rind warmed into it. Cranberry sauce is good, too.

Roll or grind the zwieback. Mix with the soft butter, 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon. Grease a 10×21/2 inch spring form pan generously with the butter and pat the crumb mixture on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Soften the cream cheese and stir in the cream, add the remaining sugar which has been mixed with flour and salt. Beat egg yolks until thick and light. Fold these in carefully and flavour with vanilla and lemon rind. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and fold in. Pour into the crust.

Bake in a moderately slow oven, 325 degrees, for an hour, and then leave in the oven another hour with heat off. Cool thoroughly, but under no circumstances place it on the frozen water barrel outside your back door in the middle of winter to hurry the cooling process.

Once it is cooled, top with your favourite berry topping, and enjoy!

Okay, now the story.

It was Christmas Eve, 1983, and I had this dog, see? (Do you know how many of my stories start this way?) Fergus was a red boned hound that we got from the SPCA the year before, and he was a wonderful dog. (That wasn’t why we called him Fergus the Wonderdog, though. We called him that because he’d managed to live through a bout of Parvo he came down with one month after we got him. But that’s another story.)

Since we lived on a farm, he was mostly an outside dog. (We let him sleep inside most winter nights, but the rest of the time he spent in the great outdoors.) So, Fergus was outside, and I was prepping the dessert for the Bell family Christmas Eve meal, traditionally held at my parent’s house.

I had decided to make cheesecake, from a recipe I’d found in Mom’s best cook book. It was the first time I’d ever tried the recipe, and of course I didn’t read the whole thing before I started. I nearly lost it when I realized I was supposed to let it cool for at least two hours before plating. I had barely an hour before we had to leave.

So… I set the cheesecake outside, on the ice-filled water barrel by our back door, to cool it quickly. It was really cold that year, and I figured that just a few minutes would do the trick.

Five minutes later, I opened the door to check and caught Fergus, up on his hind legs, leaning against the water barrel. Steam billowed from his cheesecake-covered muzzle. The remains of my beautiful cheesecake was a white volcanic eruption in a spring form pan between his front paws. He smiled as only a dog can smile, then blinked twice and broke for safer ground when I started to yell.

I don’t remember what I took to replace the cheesecake at the family Christmas Eve meal, but the story more than made up for the lack of dessert. And from that moment on, this has been known as Fergus the Wonderdog’s cheesecake.

Happy holidays!

Bio: Eileen (E.C.) Bell’s debut paranormal mystery novel Seeing the Light (2014) won the BPAA award for Best Speculative Fiction Book of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Bony Blythe Award for Light Mystery. The second book in the series, Drowning in Amber, was released into the wild at the end of October, 2015. Her short fiction includes the Aurora Award winning Women of the Apocalypse and The Puzzle Box. When she’s not writing, she’s living a fine life in her round house with her husband and two dogs.

Website: www.eileenbell.com
Twitter: @apocalypse woman
Facebook:www.facebook.com/eileen.bell.90

Giftmas 2015 Giveaway:

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