Woo Hoo!!!
So to celebrate Love in the [sugar & spice scented] air, I’m offering a chance for you to sample some mouth-watering holiday treats AND enter a chance to win a free copy of Savanna’s Gift. Because somehow love and sugar and icing just go together. It's not logical, but that's okay. Love isn't logic, it's magic. Trust me.
So how does this cookie thing work, you ask? Thank you. You're so thoughtful, keeping me on task. I knew I liked you.
Leave your favorite Christmas Cookie or Treat Recipe in the comments of THIS POST, and every Friday from now until Dec 2, I will draw a winner to receive a copy of the book. Even if you don’t win, we all “win” by gaining some new holiday treat ideas! Can’t beat that! So check back often for the newest recipes!And for everyone else who doesn't win a copy, SAVANNA'S GIFT will be available Saturday, December 3 for $1.00 (Special price thru 12/31 only) for your eReader, PC, iPad, iPhone, etc.
Don’t have an eReader? (Warning: silly techno babble follows) You can easily download free software for your PC for most book types like Kindle (Amazon) or Nook (B&N) and these also support some universal ebook file types. My eBook comes in PDF form and may read just fine on your PC or any version of Adobe.
I’m excited and honored to take part in White Rose Publishing’s Christmas Romance Extravaganza. Be sure to grab your copy before the end of December to take advantage of the special low price!
www.pelicanbookgroup.com/ec/savanna-s-gift
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About the story:
When Savanna gets a second chance at the love of her life, will the dream that divided them get in the way?
Forced to return to the ski lodge where she once worked, Savanna Holt is reminded of one special Christmas and how ambition led her to make the worst mistake of her life: Leaving Luke Nelson. Stunned to discover Luke never left, but worked his way up from lift operator to manager, Savanna sees the opportunity as a gift from God. She’s determined to win Luke back. But Luke wants no reminders of his past hurt, or a relationship with the woman who put ambition before love.
Can Savanna convince Luke she’s changed and her interest isn't because of his position? And when her dream job beckons, will she sacrifice her dream for a second chance at love?
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About me:
Camille Eide writes contemporary romance and romantic women’s fiction. She lives in Oregon with her incredible husband and is mom to three brilliant college-age kids. She’s grateful for the amazing grace of God, and either in spite of or thanks to that grace, she has a PhD in Learning Stuff the Hard Way. She’s also a church secretary, a bassist, and a passably devoted fan of classic rock, muscle cars, and Jane Austen.
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Praise for Savanna’s Gift:
“Camille Eide’s fiction debut, Savanna’s Gift is an enchanted tale of lost love and second chances. With endearing characters and the smell of cinnamon-scented pinecones in the air, I was swept away in this heart-warming story. Lovely anytime. Perfect for Christmas.” ~Carla Stewart, award-winning author of Chasing Lilacs and Broken Wings
"With her trademark zany style, Camille Eide weaves a meaningful, believable romance in Savanna's Gift. Against a beautiful backdrop of a snowy Oregon lodge, she grants her characters wonderful second chances and dreams fulfilled. This is the best novella I've ever read!" ~Christina Berry, Christy-nominated and Carol-award winning author of The Familiar Stranger
"Camille Eide’s seamless writing swept me into this sweet story from the opening page. Savanna’s Gift made me laugh, think, cheer for the characters, and give a sigh of pure satisfaction at the perfect ending. I highly recommend this debut novel from a gifted writer who I’m guessing we’ll see much more of in the future." ~Miralee Ferrell, author of Love Finds You in Sundance, WY—4 1/2 Stars Romantic Times
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DONT FORGET - POST YOUR CHRISTMAS COOKIE RECIPE HERE as a comment on THIS post. Winners will be drawn each Friday through December 2. Leave your email [name (at) domain (dot) com] so I can contact the winners.
Merry Christmas, God Bless, and Bon Appétit!
Camille Eide, Faith-inspiring Love Stories
http://www.camilleeide.com/
17 comments:
...aaand I'll be the first to share. Snowball Cookies are like Russian Teacakes. They're a favorite at the Eide house because they are delectable AND easy to make. My kind of holiday baking. :D
Snowball Cookies
2 cups butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups all purpose unbleached flour, sifted
½ tsp salt
1 cup toasted nuts
½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
Cream butter & sugar till fluffy, add vanilla. Add flour and salt; blend thoroughly.
Stir in nuts & cranberries.
Chill well.
Preheat oven to 300. Shape chilled dough into small balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 6 rows of 5 (30 per sheet). Bake for 30 minutes at 300.
When TOTALLY cooled, roll in powdered sugar and store in an airtight container.
Makes 8 dozen.
Absolutely the Best Pumpkin Bread!
5 c. flour
3 1/2 c. sugar (less by 1/3 if unrefined organic)
2 c. cooked or canned pumpkin
2 c. each walnuts and raisins (or to taste)
1 c. cooking oil
1 t. each: cinnamon, cloves, salt
1 t. baking powder
3 t. soda
COMBINE flour, spices, baking powder and soda.
MIX together sugar and oil and add pumpkin.
BLEND flour mixture into pumpkin mixture.
ADD nuts and raisins.
SPOON into 9x5x3 inch loaf pans (or small ones), well oiled and floured.
BAKE at 350 for 70 minutes (less time needed for small loaves)
Don't skimp on the oil. That's what makes it rich and delicious.
Sorry, Camille, I don't have a particular Christmas cookie recipe to share. Hubby and I are on a diet. But, I did want to offer congrats on your upcoming release, SAVANNA'S GIFT!
My favorite give-away cookies are Pecan Ball Cookies also known as Mexican Wedding Cake cookies. They are so easy to make and you make a lot of them fast! Very yummy with coffee or your favorite tea or cappuccino.
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
2 cups finely chopped pecans
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Beat butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup of the sugar, vanilla, and salt; beat until well blended. Stir in flour and pecans.
2. Shape into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.
3. Bake 15 minutes. Remove from baking sheets. Immediately roll hot cookies in remaining 2 cups sugar. Place sugared cookies on wire racks to cool. When cool, roll again in sugar.
These look really pretty in a colored cellophane wrapper with a ribbon!
Peanut Butter Bars (can you say "Reeses"?)
1 C peanut butter
1 C graham cracker crumbs
3 C powdered sugar
1 C melted butter
Mix together well and pat into 9x13 pan. Frost with 1 6-oz package melted chocolate chips. Refrigerate 10 minutes.
Sorry, Dora - I know the feeling! (I can't actually eat this stuff either! But I love to share it with family & friends).
Karla, sounds yummy! :-)
Jan - YUM! Sounds good AND easy.
I'm gonna give you an easy peasy one for folks who have to watch their sugar. You can use Truvia or Splenda, either works fine.
Yummy low carb, high protein Peanut Butter Cookies.
(No flour, that's right-NONE!)
1 cup sugar, splenda OR Truvia
(Pick one and go with it depending on your diet)
1 egg
1 c peanut butter
1-2 ts vanilla.
Just mix till all is smooth and drop by heap t's on cookie sheet. bake 8-10 mins at 350. Cool and enjoy!
My favorite cookies at Christmas are the cut out cookies. Here's my recipe:
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs baking powder
3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
2 tsp almond extract OR 1-1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix the butter, milk, eggs and extract until well blended. Mix dry ingredients and gradually add to the butter mixture. No need to chill, but have lots of flour on hand to roll out the dough. Divide into thirds to roll out.
Bake 8 minutes at 350 degrees
I am the worst cookie maker in the history of the world, but I'll be trying some of these recipes! Looking forward to reading your book, Camille!
Hi, Camille... Savanna's Gift sounds wonderful, can't wait to read it! Favorite Christmas recipe... hmm... I wish I could say it was some wonderful French thing (I love French cooking!) But I have to admit that my family would revolt if the holiday didn't include this traditional recipe that has been passed down for at least five generations, now. So, here it is, so very American (with my apologies to France).
DATE NUT ROLL
In a large mixing bowl combine:
2 packages of graham crackers
(the kind that come 3 to a box, and it's better if you don't use 2 leftover packages from previous years) crushed into crumbs. You can buy "ready-made crumbs" but if you have young people to help, this is the fun part.
1 pound of chopped dates
(I used to seed and chop these, myself, but besides being time-consuming, it is now considered "too gross" for today's young people)
1 pound chopped walnuts
(also not good for young people to do "from scratch" as when they discover the stain from walnut shells takes a couple days to wear off fingers, they won't help you, at all, next year)
2 cups mini-marshmallows
(a little more if you had to scrimp on the store-bought shelled walnuts because they seem to double in price every year)
1 can sweetened condensed milk.
Mix all until uniform consistency, scoop several heaping tablespoons onto squares of tin foil and form into rolls by wrapping and banging on the table until they are more square than round (also enjoyed by young people). Refrigerate for an hour to two months (they get better with age, but they never make it past New Year's at our house). Makes six to eight rolls. To serve, slice into half-inch rounds (or squares) and enjoy.
FUN! I think my favorite treat is Peanut Butter Balls... supersimple and supergood.
1-2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
Melt peanut butter, butter and vanilla in a small saucepan. Add powdered sugar until mixture resembles a thick dough.
Roll into balls, dip in melted chocolate. That's it!
PEPPERNUTS
(Traditional German Treat)
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup milk
3 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. ground cloves
Enough flour to make a stiff dough (about 5 cups)
Mix all ingredients in mixer. Chill 2-3 hours or overnight. Pinch off walnut-sized piece of dough and roll by hand on a floured surface into a long rope, a little larger than a pencil. Cut into ¼ to ½ inch pieces and bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until light brown.
These are rather time consuming and worth every single minute it takes to make them!
While I was looking for the peppernuts recipe, I ran across this recipe that you shared for my blog.
Camille’s Sugar Cookies
Camille’s Super Simple Very Vanilla Sugar Cookies
(soft & chewy!)
400*
1 cup butter
2 Tb shortening
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 box BC French Vanilla Cake mix
½ tsp salt
1 tsp soda
Optional: Sugar sprinkles, turbinado sugar crystals, frosting, etc
Mix butter, shortening, and sugar till fluffy. Add eggs and blend well. Blend in flour, salt soda, and cake mix. Shape into 1 ½ inch balls on a cookie sheet (flatten slightly) and bake at 400 for about 7 minutes till very lightly golden. May look slightly underdone, that’s good. Cool a minute or two on cookie sheet to finish cooking before removing to cooling rack. Leave plain or frost and sprinkle for holidays! Or dip dough balls in colored sugar or big sugar crystals before baking.
O' Henry Bars
Servings: 12
"Very good bars."
INGREDIENTS:
4 cups rolled oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup white corn syrup
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Mix the oats, brown sugar, butter or margarine, and white corn syrup. Pat into a 10 x 15 inch pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Do not over bake.
3. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter. Spread over baked crust while hot. Cut into bars right away.
Here's mine, Camille. I LOVE sugar cookies with frosting, but my husband prefers them without. Here, it's like the best version because they don't need frosting at all! :) mmm. making these tomorrow!
Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 12 minutes per batch (I did 11. They were perfect.)
Oven: 300 degrees
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat mixture until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.
2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes or until edges are set; do not let edges brown. Cool cookies for 1 minute on cookie sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
Sounds like we've got a good selection to try - who's ready to start baking for Christmas? Beats trying to be at the mall today... (Black Friday)
We will hold another drawing TODAY (5:00pm PST). Can't wait to see who wins.... I will employ my handsome husband to draw another name out of the "hat". Stay tuned!
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