Diamonds, Chocolate, and Cookies are a Girl’s Best Present

With: Lisa Belcastro

Congratulations to "Tammy Y.", the winner in Lisa's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!

            The Christmas season is upon us. It is my favorite time of year, and the only time of year I enjoy snow.  I try to do the bulk of my Christmas shopping before December rolls around, allowing more time for friends, wrapping, cooking, and baking.

            In A Shenandoah Christmas, winner of the 2015 Booksellers Best Novella Award, Katherine Roberts, the matriarch of the family, loves to cook. From homecoming lasagna to Christmas Eve dinner to Christmas roast to muffins, pancakes, and glorious desserts, Katherine is famous for her skills in the kitchen.

            I also love to cook, and I spend many fulfilling and filling hours in my kitchen during December. Fudge, peppermint bark, and sugar cookies are family favorites, with the sugar cookies topping the list. Everyone seems to love this simple recipe, and you can substitute almond extract for vanilla if you want a change of flavor.

Giveaway:

Question: What’s your favorite Christmas/Holiday cookie?

One commenter wins a box of chocolates, a new recipe book, and a copy of A Shenandoah Christmas.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Ingredients: 

2 Sticks Butter (1 cup), softened

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg, slightly beaten

3 Cups Flour, sifted

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

1 ½ Teaspoons Baking Powder

½ Teaspoon Salt

3 Tablespoons Milk

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

3. Cut in butter until particles are fine.

4. Add egg, milk, and vanilla – blend.

5. Roll out dough onto a floured area, and cut with cookie cutters as desired.

6. Decorate with colored sugar, or an edible decoration. *

7. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, depending on thickness of cookie. (We like them on the thicker side in my family so it’s normally 8 minutes.) 

* If you’d rather frost the cookies, bake them without sugar or sprinkles, and then apply frosting when the cookie is completely cooled.

Excerpt:

“Drew?”

Her sweet voice stopped him. She sounded puzzled, but not angry.

His body moved as metal drawn to the magnetic power of her lips when they spoke his name.

“Hey.” Thirty years old, and that was the best he could summon from his mental vocabulary list? Pathetic.

“What are you doing here?” Allyson walked past a customer and stood before him.

“I didn’t know you were working here.”

 “Sorry I didn’t tell you.” She uttered the words, which sounded sincere, except for the fact that her focus was on a woman examining the rack of shower curtains. “I, ah, wanted to pick up the extra cash while I could.”

 “Want to grab some coffee when you finish?”

Her usual eager smile did not appear. “Sorry, Drew, but I’m already beat. I’ve got another two hours here. Can we meet at church in the morning?” She lifted her hand as if to touch him, then tucked it into her jeans pocket.

The urge to point out the movement, to ask what gives, filled his throat. Andy choked it back, aware of the couple standing six or seven feet to his left. The answers he desperately wanted would have to wait.

He nodded. “Church it is. Any chance we could grab lunch after?”

There it was, for a split second—a flash of pain that darkened her cornflower-blue eyes. He closed the gap between them and ran his hand along her left arm. “Allyson, are you okay?”

“Fine. Just tired. And I’m working tomorrow from noon to eight, so I’ll be eating lunch as I drive from church to the Emporium. But I’ll see you for dinner at your parents’ on Christmas Eve. Okay?”

“Okay.” No, it wasn’t okay. Nothing about this was okay, but what more could he say to her? He lowered his lips to her cheek and gave her a gentle kiss. “I love you.”

“Me too,” she said as he stepped back. A customer seized that moment to approach her. Before walking off with the guy in the tacky Christmas sweater, Allyson smiled and said, “See you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there.” His feet felt weighted, walking away from her. The conversation hadn’t gone as he’d hoped, not even close to what he’d imagined.

As he pulled the store’s door shut behind him, the click of the latch shifted a puzzle piece into place within his heart. Allyson hadn’t said “I love you.” Not tonight, and not for days, maybe weeks. She said, “me too,” but she hadn’t spoken an “I love you” to him since—when? Thanksgiving?

He needed to think. He drove to the dock and stared out at the water, at the stars in the sky, at the Shenandoah’s empty mooring ball. Andy began scrolling through all their text messages on his cell phone. December 4—there it was. The last day Allyson had written an “I love you” to him. How had he missed it? How had three weeks gone by and he hadn’t picked up on it?

The dull throbbing of doubt that had plagued him all day grew to an intense searing pain as his heart rent into unrecognizable pieces. 

Allyson didn’t love him anymore.

Ebook Buy Links for A Shenandoah Christmas

Amazon:  http://amzn.com/B00Q8PUNOE

Kobo: http://ow.ly/Vp1nB

Nook: http://ow.ly/Vp1OZ

iBooks: http://ow.ly/UKuYJ

Paperback: http://amzn.com/0986299375

Website:  www.lisabelcastro.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/belcastrolisa

Twitter: www.twitter.com/VineyardRomance

About the Author:

 Lisa Belcastro lives with her family on Martha’s Vineyard.  She loves time with her family and friends, running, gardening, outdoor activities, cooking, chocolate, reading, traveling, a healthy dose of adventure, and her cat, Ben, who keeps her company while she creates fictional lives for the numerous characters living inside her head.

Lisa runs as an ambassador for TEAM 413 (www.team413.org), and has completed a marathon (26.2 miles) in all fifty states.

Lisa’s stories are set on the Vineyard amidst the magnificence of the ocean, the beauty of sandy beaches, rolling hills, and ancient cliffs, as well as the people and events that make the Island so very unique.

When she’s not at her desk, Lisa is living in paradise, volunteering at her daughter’s school, serving in her church community, planting and weeding her numerous gardens, training to run the Walt Disney World Dopey Challenge in January 2016, walking the beach looking for sea glass, or enjoying a great meal while she pens the cuisine column for Vineyard Style Magazine.

Giveaway ends 11:59pm EST Dec. 6th. Please supply your email in the post. You may use spaces or full text for security. (ex. jsmith at gmail dot com) If you do not wish to supply your email, or have trouble posting, please email maureen@JustContemporaryRomance.com with a subject title of JCR GIVEAWAY to be entered in the current giveaway. US residents only.