Welcome to Fresh Fiction's Holiday Potluck! Some of your favorite authors
are bringing scrumptious treats to this virtual gathering, and they are even
offering their recipes so you can make these goodies at home and share them with
friends and family this season.
This is a dessert I make every Christmas Eve for my family. It’s simple and easy
to whip up. This is a dessert we eat after dinner. Unlike other folks, we’ve
always opened Christmas gifts on the night of the 24th.
We have a marvelous meal of stuffed turkey and of course, we’re busting at the
seams because we ate too much! We then clear the dishes from the table, put them
in our dishwasher. My husband David then goes to our Christmas tree and begins
to parcel out the gifts to everyone. We spend lots of time opening them up.
By the time we’re done, we’re ready for dessert, coffee or tea. And the
cheesecake is light and you can have a small sliver or a thick wedge, depending
upon how much room you have in your tummy! This cheesecake has been a family
tradition for 41 years in our family.
In my March, 2015 Ebook release, ON FIRE, HQN, Shadow Warriors
series,there is a warm, fuzzy Christmas scene between the reunited hero and
heroine. It is the “Director’s Cut” to the paperback/ebook, TAKING
FIRE, HQN, Shadow Warriors series with US Navy SEAL Mike Tarik and US Marine
Corps Sergeant Khat Shinwari.
I loved creating this Ebook only that is 40,000 words in length and takes the
readers from TAKING FIRE ending to “the rest of the story” that I
couldn’t leave in because of book length limit had been reached. I hope my
readers enjoy “more” of the story than they would get in the 100,000 word length
book (which has a very nice HEA ending. You don’t need to buy ON
FIRE in order to have a full and satisfying resolution to TAKING
FIRE, no worries). You know how after you read a wonderful book that you
WISHED it would go on and on? Well, that’s what happened here! ON
FIRE is just an extra, extended peek into these two incredible people’s
lives and poignant love for one another.
I got carried away with my brave hero and heroine’s story, forgot to keep count
of words, and the chapters flying off the printer. My editor discovered TAKING FIRE
was 140,000 words long! I was 40,000 words over the limit! So, I had to
refashion the HEA ending but I didn’t want to throw away 40,000 words either.
Especially on Mike Tarik and Khat Shinwari, who had a solid grip on my heart.
They were two people that deserved a longer book, but the traditional publishing
company can’t handle anything longer than 100,000 words in a paperback.
Harlequin came up for a fix for that because they didn’t want to see those
40,000 extra words on my valiant characters wasted either. Thank goodness for
the digital age and ebooks!
Homemade Cheesecake
3--8 oz of “Light” Philadelphia Cream Cheese
4 eggs
2 tbsp. vanilla
1 cup sugar (I use 1/2 cup and it’s fine...up to you but I like less sugar)
Use 1 cup of crushed graham crackers.
Cream together sugar and cream cheese. Add eggs one a a time. Blend well after
each addition. Add vanilla. Blend well.
Use a springform pan. Coat with 2-3 tbsp. butter (or olive oil spray). Sprinkle
with graham cracker crumbs (sides and bottom).
Pour batter in and bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes. Then put on sour cream topping. Beat until smooth and put on
top of the cheesecake--put back in the oven for 10 minutes
Sour Cream Topping
1 pint sour cream--light
6 tbsp, sugar
1 tbsp. of vanilla
Cool 1 hour before putting in fridge and for several hours in the fridge. Top
with cherry pie filling before slicing.
No comments posted.