Happy New Year, Fresh Fiction folks! Thank you so much for inviting me to join
you today and
for helping celebrate the release of my tenth historical novel, A Bound Heart, with a
three-book giveaway!
When I’m not writing and traveling, I’m at home in the kitchen baking. As an
author, I enjoy
reading about as well as including culinary details in my own historical novels.
Doing so lends
a richness and authenticity to the story. My characters are historical foodies,
for sure! And so,
I’m delighted to share this Scottish shortbread recipe from my heroine, Lark
MacDougall’s,
humble hearth on the Isle of Kerrera in Scotland. This shortbread pairs
deliciously with a
steaming cup of tea or even coffee.
Sláinte!
Classic Scottish Shortbread
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar or superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup oats, traditional or quick
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8" round cake pan.
2. Grind the oats in a blender or food processor. If you don't have a blender or
food processor,
use quick oats, rather than traditional. Combine the oats with the remaining
ingredients in a
bowl and mix until smooth.
3. Press the dough into the prepared pan and score it into 16 wedges. A knife,
dipped in water
between cuts, is a good tool.
4. Bake the shortbread for 35 to 40 minutes, until it's firm and golden brown.
Remove from
oven, and after 5 minutes turn it out of the pan onto a clean work surface. Cut
all the way
through the score marks to make wedges, then place the wedges on a rack to cool
completely.
Yield: 16 shortbread wedges.
Enjoy!
To enter to win one of three copies of A BOUND HEART, leave a
comment below and tell us where you want to travel to in 2019!
Though Magnus MacLeish and Lark MacDougall grew up on the same castle grounds,
Magnus
is now laird of the great house and the Isle of Kerrera. Lark is but the keeper
of his bees and
the woman he is hoping will provide a tincture that might help his ailing wife
conceive and bear
him an heir. But when his wife dies suddenly, Magnus and Lark find themselves
caught up in a
whirlwind of accusations, expelled from their beloved island, and sold as
indentured servants
across the Atlantic. Yet even when all hope seems dashed against the rocky
coastline of the
Virginia colony, it may be that in this New World the two of them could make a
new beginning-
-together.
Laura Frantz's prose sparkles with authenticity and deep feeling as she digs
into her own
family history to share this breathless tale of love, exile, and courage in
Colonial America.
Laura Frantz is a Christy Award finalist and the ECPA
bestselling author of
several books, including The Frontiersman’s Daughter, Courting Morrow
Little, The Colonel’s Lady, The Mistress of Tall Acre, A
Moonbow Night, and the Ballantyne Legacy series. She lives and writes in a
log cabin in
the heart of Kentucky.
I would love to travel to see my daughter in Dallas. Her Hubby got a new job and she is house hunting today! (Paula Shreckhise 7:42pm January 18, 2019)
I have read reviews of A Bound Heart and have been looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the opportunity to win a couple and for the yummy shortbread recipe too! (Kt C 9:43pm January 18, 2019)
My hope is to travel to the Dry Tortugas National Park for the incredible dark skys and quiet. Maybe I’ll take some of that shortbread with me too. It sounds incredible! (Kathy Roope 9:44pm January 18, 2019)
I would love to travel to Australia this year. (Bonnie H 10:57pm January 18, 2019)
I love to travel and shortbread is my favorite treat (Isabella Wilson 1:26am January 19, 2019)
I would love to visit Australia (Joy Isley 3:14pm January 19, 2019)
How wonderful that you have family history to draw upon for inspiration for your books. Situations changed so rapidly for people in the past. Much faster than they tend to do today, and there was so little recourse to rectify the situations. We are planning a trip cross country to Alaska and back. It will be the third summer we have planned the trip. Medical issues bumped us out the past two years. We have our fingers crossed it won't happen again. We have a few short trips planned for March to Williamsburg, VA, and to Charleston, SC in April. We are going to conferences in both places. Both are only 5 to 7 hours from home. Next year we hope to go to Scotland, Ireland, and England. (Patricia Barraclough 10:34pm January 19, 2019)
thanks you for the chance to win (Susan Gannon 10:33am January 20, 2019)
I have wanted to travel to Holland every since I read about the country in my fifth grade Geography book about 80 years ago and my second choice would be Ireland, the home of some of my ancestors. I'm not sure either would look as good as my imagination. (Anna Speed 1:43pm January 20, 2019)
sounds like a really good book,love the cover too (Vickie Couturier 6:16pm January 20, 2019)
we are planning our trip for the summer to the beach. (Janeen Phillips 1:38pm January 22, 2019)
Sounds like a snippet taken from Outlander series which finds Claire and Jaime in the new colonies (Diane McMahon 2:03pm January 22, 2019)
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