TCO is so excited to bring you 12 Days of Kissmas. We have 12 of your favorite authors ahead over the coming days, bringing you beautiful pictures of men kissing that the authors have chosen themselves, along with exclusive posts, excerpts, and giveaways. The idea sprang from a conversation with an author that just turned into a “what if…”, and when I started asking a few authors, they immediately said they were in. Make sure you enter the giveaways, as there are lots of them! Thanks for stopping by, and a HUGE thank you to all the authors for their generosity, and loving spirit. Happy Holidays to everyone!
Hi! I’m Avon Gale, and I’m here sharing a delightful picture of two boys kissing – er, almost kissing. I like this picture because I love that moment of tension right before the kiss. Also this one cutie is wearing a bowtie! Adorable, right?
My most recent novella, Whiskey Business, is out December 28th from Dreamspinner Press and is a part of their States of Love line. It’s about a bourbon distillery in a small Kentucky town, and it features an opposites-attract love story and a lot of really bad puns.
I’m from Kentucky, so writing this was super fun for me. Also, I love bourbon (and pie), which is why I decided to share this recipe with you! Ignore that “or water” part of the directions, because trust me, you want the bourbon 😉 And make sure it’s good Kentucky bourbon, too – none of that Jack Daniels nonsense (sorry, Tennessee!) for this pie.
(Kidding, you can use whatever you want, but in my humble estimation, Kentucky bourbon is the best and that’s all I have to say about that.)
Kentucky Bourbon Pecan Pie
1/2 (14.1-ounce) package refrigerated piecrusts
1 1/2 cups chopped toasted pecans
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels
1 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup bourbon or water
4 large eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 teaspoons plain white cornmeal
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Preparation
Hands-on: 15 Minutes
Total: 2 Hours, 10 Minutes
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Fit piecrust into a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate according to package directions; fold edges under, and crimp. Sprinkle pecans and chocolate evenly onto bottom of piecrust.
Stir together corn syrup and next 3 ingredients in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
Whisk together eggs and next 4 ingredients. Gradually whisk one-fourth of hot corn syrup mixture into egg mixture; add to remaining hot corn syrup mixture, whisking constantly. Pour filling into prepared piecrust.
Bake at 325° for 55 minutes or until set; cool pie completely on a wire rack (about one hour).
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Dreamspinner Press
Avon Gale is giving away an ebook of winners choice. Give us your favorite traditional recipe. (Any tradition you like).
Stuffed Flank Steak:
1 (2 1/2 pound) flank steak, trimmed
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound fresh spinach, washed and drained, stems trimmed
4 small thin carrots
4 large hard boiled eggs, peeled and quartered lengthwise
1 cup large pitted green Spanish olives, halved lengthwise
1 large onion, sliced into rings
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (750 ml) bottle dry red wine (recommended: Argentine Malbec)
1 head garlic, halved
1 large onion, halved
1 handful fresh thyme sprigs
1 handful fresh oregano sprigs
2 bay leaves
This is somthing my dad always prepares. It’s pretty yummy, lol. Looking forward to reading Whiskey Business. Happy Holidays!
Not really a recipe as such, but more a way of eating. I am of Jewish descent and at Easter we always eat matzes (flat bread) with butter and brown sugar. You have to put a piece of bread underneath the matze in order to butter it. Otherwise the matze will break.
One of the cookies our family always makes around Christmas is these modified Sugar cookies:
1/2 cup crisco
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon lemon flavoring
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
Blend crisco and sugar together well, then add lemon flavoring and egg. Mix well. Combine the dry ingredients and add slowly to mixer with additions of milk as necessary. Finished dough shouldn’t be sticky. Roll out portions of dough and cut out cookies. Add whatever decorations wished then bake at 400 degrees F for 7 -10 min.
I love the guys in the photo’s tentative beginnings of a gently kiss, lingering to just make certain… Thank you for a chance to win one of Avon’s books – happy holidays <3
I love to bake (converting recipes to suit) and my family like me to make them Rock Buns, which I adapt by adding crystallised ginger pieces, chocolate drops, cherries, lemon or almond essence and sometimes bits of marzipan for seasonal buns.
Ingredients:
225g/8oz self-raising flour.
75g/2½oz caster sugar.
1 tsp baking powder.
125g/4½oz dairy free margarine.
150g/5½oz dried fruit.
1 free-range egg.
1 tbsp non-dairy milk substitute
2 tsp vanilla extract.
Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Mix the flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl and rub in the margarine (or butter) until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs, then mix in the dried fruit. In a clean bowl, beat the egg and milk together with the vanilla extract. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until the mixture just comes together as a thick, lumpy dough. Add a teaspoon more milk if you really need it to make the mixture stick together. Place golfball-sized spoons of the mixture onto the prepared baking tray. Leave space between them as they will flatten and spread out to double their size during baking. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden-brown. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a couple of minutes then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool.
Well I wish I could! I love my mom’s Italian cheesecake which she makes at Christmas. Unfortunately, she can’t give me a recipe as she throws it together off the top of her head. Every year I intend to go over and observe and write it all down but I forget.
One of my favorite things is the peanut butter pie my sister-in-law makes. I don’t know the exact recipe but it has graham cracker crust, peanut butter mixed with powdered sugar until it crumbles, vanilla (or chocolate) pudding cooked on the stove and Cool Whip. Yum!
For Christmas we don’t really celebrate so the meal isn’t usually set. It varies year to year and no one really cooks anything special. Although we have a pressure cooker this year so that might be a game changer.
I love the old Italian family recipes that we make, especially the cookies like pignoli cookies and struffoli.