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Monday, February 9, 2015

COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR SKYE TAYLOR AND ALMOND SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Former Peace Corpse volunteer Skye Taylor lives by the sea where she walks the beach every day with her furry companion MacDuff. She currently writing the fourth book in The Camerons of Tide’s Way series. Learn more about Skye and her books at her website.   

Sandy Cameron’s Kitchen
The Camerons are a big, close-knit, often noisy, sometimes pesky, but always loving family. Descendants of hard-working folk who came from Scotland with little more than the clothes on their backs and a steadfast faith in God, the Camerons are a patriotic, enterprising clan more apt to spend their spare time volunteering in the service of others than playing golf or checking their investment accounts. They’ve settled in Tide’s Way, a little town that grew up around the old Jolee Plantation in coastal North Carolina, where they planted their roots deep.

An orphan and alone at eighteen, Sandy Marshall Cameron dreamed of getting married and having a large, happy family. Then she fell in love with Nathan “Cam” Cameron, and her dream came true. (Believing In Love) Sandy’s children are grown and mostly on their own now, but they all still live in Tide’s Way where she can keep watch over them and dote on her growing brood of smart, adorable grandbabies. Philip (Healing A Hero), her firstborn, has been a Marine all his adult life, and he’s the one she worries about the most. Kate (Keeping A Promise), her only daughter, has become her friend and confidant. Then there are the twins, Ben with his busy, successful kennel (Loving Meg – August 2014) and Will, a North Carolina State Trooper (Trusting Will - April 2015), and last is Jake (Falling for Zoe - April 2014), her baby, who made a few mistakes along the way but grew into a man worthy of a mother’s admiration. She’s proud of all her children and grandbabies and loves nothing more than having them all under her roof as often as possible for a rollicking good family dinner. She has dozens of cookbooks and loves to try new things but always has time to bake everyone’s favorites.

In each of the Tide’s Way books you’ll find a recipe – one of her childrens’ favorites. But here is Sandy’s husband Cam’s favorite recipe: Almond Shortbread Cookies.

Sandy Cameron’s Almond Shortbread Cookies
1 cup butter
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp almond extract
2-1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour

Leave butter at room temperature until soft, then adding sugar and whip until smooth and creamy. Add almond extract and whip briefly. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Cover and chill in fridge until firm.

Heat oven to 350°

Roll dough out until 1/4” thick. Cut with diagonal lines to create diamond shaped cookies, or if you prefer, cut into shapes with floured cookie cutters.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. They are great just as they are, but you can sprinkle with sugar while still warm. (Or other holiday themed sprinkles.)

Loving Meg
When Meg Cameron joined the Marines to get an education, she never counted on being deployed to a war zone. Now that she’s home, both she and her husband Ben are struggling with the toll war, separation and regrets have taken on their marriage. Meg is tormented by guilt over the death of a military dog and the kiss she shared with her commanding officer as he comforted her. Her husband, Ben, is the love of her life; how could he possibly forgive her if he knew the truth?

Ben Cameron is just happy that his brave, beautiful wife is safely home with him and their young sons. Everything seems fine--at first. In bed, he and Meg are perfect together, until the nightmares come and she calls out a name that's not his. She's hurting and he doesn't understand, but he's trying. If only she would talk to him about what's bothering her.

Then there's Kip, a police K-9 who lost his handler and his spirit to a perp with a gun. Ben has been asked to help rehabilitate the grieving K-9.  Can Ben help these two wounded warriors find peace? Can he convince Meg to trust him with her nightmares? As Meg debates returning to active duty, a move that would surely end in another deployment, Ben's frustrations and fears climb. What if her pain and confusion take her back into harm's way again, and he lost her forever?

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4 comments:

Skyewriter said...

Haven't made these shortbread cookies in awhile but now that Anastasia has posted the photo of them, I'm getting a hankering. A chilly afternoon ahead, what could be better than the scent of fresh baked shortbread to warm the place up?

Angela Adams said...

Skye, thank you for your Peace Corp service. Love your K9 character. Cookies look yummy. I'll pass the recipe on to my sister -- she's the cook in the family. Thanks!

Vickie said...

Skye,

I love that you have created ancestors for your characters. You know their history, and that adds a richness to your story.

The shortbread looks so yummy! I'll be keeping that recipe.

Skyewriter said...

Angela and Vickie - thanks for stopping by. Adding history does add depth, but just yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time creating a timeline tree for all the family members so I could keep it straight who got married when, DOB for siblings and nieces and nephews, my current hero's Gran's death etc. The problem with a series is that there are so many more people to keep track of. Enjoy the cookies, Angela - Cam sure does (and so do I)