Becca and I are joining in on a fun event to celebrate Angela Felsted’s release of her YA Contemporary, Chaste. Instead of the usual blog splash type launch event, Angela is tapping into the holiday spirit and forming a cookie exchange. Why cookies? Because Quinn, the teenage main character in Chaste, knows his way around a kitchen!
Hey, I love cookies. Becca loves cookies. And, we’re willing to bet you guys love cookies too! So, here is a favorite cookie recipe from both Becca and myself. Enjoy!
Angela’s recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries & 1 1/2 cups pistachio nuts
DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until well blended. Mix in the vanilla & almond extracts, then beat in the eggs. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder; gradually stir into egg mixture. Mix in cranberries and nuts by hand.
Divide dough in half & form two logs (12×2 inches) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Dough may be sticky; wet hands with cool water to handle dough more easily. Bake for 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until logs are light brown. Remove & set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C) and cut logs on diagonal into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet & bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until dry.
Becca’s recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
12 ounces white chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon almod extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup strawberry preserves or jam
1/3 cup slice almonds
foil
non-stick spray
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil, letting the ends extend 2 inches over the edges on both sides. Coat with non-stick spray.
2. Melt butter and chocolate chips in a medium saucepan over low heat (mixture may look curdled).
3. Beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl until lemon-colored. Stir in white chip mixture and extract until combined, then the flour until blended. Remove and reserve 1/2 cup of the batter. Spread remaining batter in prepared pan.
4. Bake 20 minutes. Gently spread preserves evenly over crust. Spoon dollops of reserved batter over top. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake 30-35 minutes until lightly browned. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Then lift by foil ends to a cutting board and cut into squares.
Want to find out a bit more about Angela’s book, Chaste? Here’s the blurb:
When he steps into his physics class on the first day of senior year, Quinn Walker is too exhausted from staying up all night with his three-month-old nephew to deal with moral dilemmas. As a devout Mormon who has vowed to wait until marriage for sex, the last thing he needs is a very hot and very sexy Katarina Jackson as his physics partner. Regrettably, he has no choice.
Kat feels invisible in her mansion of a home six months after losing her older brother in a fatal car crash and will do anything to get her parents’ attention. Since her pastor father has no love for Quinn’s “fake” religion and her ex-boyfriend refuses to leave her alone, she makes an impulsive bet with her friends to seduce her holier-than-thou lab partner by Christmas.
Oh, now that is a blurb! You can feel the tension and I love characters who are so far apart on the morality scale. I hope you enjoyed our cookie exchange, and kudos for Angela for thinking up something different for her book launch. We love it when creativity allows someone’s book to stand out!
Do you have a family favorite cookie recipe? Let’s get an exchange going–please post it below, or tell us about the best cookie you ever ate!
Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.
CHASTE sounds very good!
I pretty much pooped out on baking cookies many Christmases ago. But my daughter suggested we do it together this year, and we’re going to make at least two kinds.
Yay for amazing Angela and these fab scrummy recipes! Take care
x
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I am all over the White Chocolate-Strawberry Squares like I assume Kat is all over Quinn in the book…LOL! Beautiful cover too. Congrats to Ms. Felsted! 🙂
My utter weakness!! Though I’ve managed to cut myself down to 2 types of cookies this Christmas instead of the dozens I usually make. There simply isn’t time and we end up cookied out by January when the healthier stuff is supposed to kick in. Lol. Wishing you much success, sounds like a fun book!!
Thank you for the recipe! Best of luck of Chaste. Love the tension
I love it how cookies brings us all together! Congrats to Angela on her book! Z, I will check out your recipe–I LOVE Pumpkin Cookies!
Congrats to Angela on her new book! And thanks for the great recipies.
Yay for fun and unique ways to promote books! I’ll have to remember this in the future when my (by then finished and gorgeous) book is released 🙂
Until then, my favorite cookies are pumpkin white chocolate chip – and since we’re sharing recipes, here’s the link to when I blogged about the divine easiness and taste of these cookies!
http://zenaparks.blogspot.com/2012/10/pumpkin-cookies-why-yes-i-think-i-will.html
Oooh! Double dose! And I love biscotti!
This is seriously a wonderful theme. Who doesn’t love cookies?
I love how Angela has incorporated this into promoting her book! So many amazing cookie ideas!!
So naughty of you! But, I love it. Going out for a biscotti now, mmmm….and some hot chocolate. There goes my diet!
I have so many favorite cookies! Our writer’s group is having a cookie exchange at our next meeting . . . and we will be reading something Christmassy that we wrote. I think the cookies I will bring are pizelles! They are so tasty and light.
The cookie exchange is a great idea. Good luck to Angela on her new book.