Last Friday of the Month Recipe ~ Sweet & Spicy Chocolate Crinkles from Katya Armock

This recipe is perfect for the Labor Day Weekend! Cayenne powder is the spice, blended with chocolate, it sounds like my kind of cookie

From Katya Armock. Enjoy

I’m a foodie, so you’re going to find that food factors into all of my books. Baking has been a hobby as long as I’ve been writing—which means pretty much my whole life since I could hold a pen and/or measuring cup.

These days, I like my desserts like I like my romance: mostly sweet but with some hot spice to keep things interesting. So today I’m sharing a family favorite recipe that I altered a bit to have some bite.

Sweet and Spicy Chocolate Crinkles

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 2/3 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 6 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 1/2 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2  teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup milk
• powdered sugar to coat

Cream shortening, sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Add cocoa, oil, cinnamon and cayenne and blend. Alternate flour and baking powder with milk. Form into 1 to 1.5 inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Short Book Blurb:

She just wants to make it through her whirlwind wedding. Too bad life isn’t cooperating.

Chloe thinks her life is just about perfect. She’s finally got her psychic abilities under control, her relationship with her father has never been better, and she’s finally marrying her shape-shifter boyfriend Jorge. But when a teenage shape-shifter in need of help leads Jorge’s rival to their door, Chloe’s perfect life deserts her. 

Chloe’s mother and grandmother find themselves in a psychic feud that leaves Chloe caught in the wake, and a woman with suspect motives insinuates herself into Chloe’s life. Throw in a shocking revelation about the origins of her family’s extrasensory abilities, and she’s not sure she’ll make it down the aisle in one piece, let alone live long enough for a happily ever after…

And she thought meeting her in-laws was tough.

Buy Links:

• Amazon
• BN
• AllRomance
• Etopia Press
• Kobo
• Amazon UK
• Amazon.ca

Bio:

I like books that are funny and fun to read (and hot!) but also make me think or look at the world in a new way. These days you’ll find me writing, pet sitting, juggling a number of freelance gigs, and reigning as my home’s domestic goddess. I live in the Midwestern U.S. with my husband, dog and cats. Alas, I have, as of yet, been unable to teach my husband how to purr. I love to hear from readers. 

Connect with me:
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Five Secrets from Author J. Hughey

Eruption is available as a preorder--.99 cents and .99 cents until 9/27 - releases 9/13   Amazon

Today we learn 5 Secrets from author J. Hughey!  

Bio: J. Hughey knows what a girl wants. Independence. One or two no-matter-what-happens friends. A smokin’ hot romance. A basic understanding of geological concepts. Huh? Okay, maybe not every girl is into geology, but J. Hughey is, and in the Yellowblown series she combines her passion for a timeless love story with her interest in geeky stuff to help Violet Perch get a life, despite an ongoing global catastrophe. J. Hughey is the alter-ego of historical romance author Jill Hughey.

Hi J., please tell us Five Secrets we may not know about Eruption, but will after today!

1) I originally didn’t intend Eruption to be categorized as a romance. I wanted Violet Perch’s relationship with her freshman crush to be important, but not the driving thread. My editor thought I needed to more strongly pick a genre, and since romance is my favorite thing to read and write, it was natural to lean the story a little more heavily in that direction, though Violet’s best friend and family are also important keystones in the series.

2) At first, Violet’s home was set in Pennsylvania. I soon decided to move her west to Indiana to heighten the impacts of a Yellowstone eruption. In a similar vein, Boone Ramer, Violet’s love interest, was going to be a Texan. I realized he also needed to be closer to the action, so I brought him north to Nebraska. I’ve really enjoyed creating this down-to-earth cattle rancher.

  

3) I’ve actually trademarked the term “Yellowblown.” I guess that isn’t truly a secret since it was published in some national register somewhere, but I haven’t exactly publicized it.

4) I wrote some really cool scenes from the points of view of people across the U.S. as a means to show what is happening across the nation during the eruption. The editor hated them, hated the interruption of flow between chapters. So, after much gnashing of teeth, I pulled them — the scenes, not my teeth. The first deleted scene is actually on my website as an intro to the story. 

5) My husband likes Eruption. I know you’re thinking, “Of course your husband likes your book!” But, he hasn’t even read most of my historical romances, so I can honestly say he doesn’t just humor me where my writing is concerned.

Blurb : With Violet’s perfect college semester underway, obviously the Yellowstone caldera will erupt for the first time in 630,000 years.

Violet Perch savors every minute with her best friend roomie and a freshman crush showing signs of becoming a sophomore boyfriend. When devastation in the west combines with the volcano’s ash to muck up the works all over North America, her deny-deny-deny strategy does the trick…until college closes and the hot guy gives her a ride home.

  

Buy Links: Eruption will be available on September 13!  Amazon

Find J. Hughey at:

Website

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