Friday, July 26, 2013

Last Friday of the Month Recipe From Edie Hart & Her Excerpt from One Bad Day


Cherry Shortbread Squares
 
Hi L.A.
Thanks for giving me the chance to share this recipe, my mother-in-law makes it, and it's one of my favs. I hope everyone enjoys the shortbread and the excerpt from One Bad Day.
 



 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (or 1 Tbs lemon juice)
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 can cherry pie filling or berry pie filling
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a half-sheet pan (about 12×17 inches) with a 1-inch rim, or spray it with baking cooking spray (with flour).

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the lemon extract, lemon zest, vanilla and salt. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the bowl. On the lowest speed, stir in the flour until just barely mixed.

Spread the batter onto the sheet pan and smooth it into an even layer. Score the batter into 24-30 squares with a toothpick (don’t worry about perfectly even squares as the lines will disappear during baking; it just makes placing the cherries easier). Place 3 cherries in the center of each square.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Just before serving, cut into 24 squares and dust lightly with powdered sugar.

Makes 24 3-inch squares





Blurb:
Tessa is having one seriously bad day. After agreeing to dress as a cheesy mascot at a convention for her boss, her clothes get stolen, she gets chased through a sinister parking garage, and her apartment gets broken into and turned upside down.

Gray, an off-duty police officer, can’t resist the sexy legs he sees in costume at a hotel convention. When he catches sight of her running for her life through a dark car lot, he's determined to find out what her story is and ends up promising to keep Tessa safe...even if that means taking her home with him.


Excerpt:
Gray stepped outside of the hotel ballroom hoping the air would be cooler out there. He hated stuffy gatherings. Hell, he hated weddings. How two people could think they'd love each other forever was beyond him. Gray didn't do love. Which was why he was stag at a co-worker's wedding. He'd originally planned to invite Monique, but several months back she'd become demanding and talked about moving into his place with hearts and flowers in her eyes. So he'd ended it. Deep down, he'd known that she didn't really want him. She wanted any warm body that would take care of her. She had slowly been trying to mold him into some GQ tycoon, telling him what to wear, how to act, and even going as far as telling him what he needed to do career-wise.

A loud crash on the other side of the hall caught Gray's attention. In the open ballroom across the way he saw legs. Glorious legs in strappy high heels. The beautiful legs were tangled on the floor and attached to an ass that was just as gorgeous. After taking a closer look, Gray realized that above the amazing ass was an enormous, white light bulb-shaped head with blue googly eyes. It had blonde hair and wore a glittery purple hat. The tangled-up legs and heels were flailing around in a pile of what looked like empty light bulb boxes. Several gentlemen nearby were quick to help Legs get her feet beneath her. From their smiles and laughter he could tell that they were all quite happy to be of assistance. Gray didn't blame them.

He watched Legs find her balance in those high heels, and with a little wiggle and tug of her skirt she went on her way. 
 
Book Links:




 
 
About The Author:
 
Edie Hart was born in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago, where she now resides with her husband, two children, dog, and three cats. After spending her childhood making up stories in her head, she finally decided to put them on paper. What came of it was her first novella, One Bad Day. Edie is a die-hard romantic and believes that everyone deserves to be loved unconditionally—both in print and real life.

Edie also admits that "Edie Hart" is a pen name and an alter ego to an otherwise boring wife and mother. Edie is 20 pounds lighter, loves to skydive, travels to foreign places, and is a total sex kitten as compared to the uninteresting other half who is none of those things.

In reality the counterpart of Edie is a lackluster 40-something-year-old, whose main goal is to keep The Big One (The Boy) from torturing The Little One (The Girl). This week he hit her in the head with a 12-pack of Juicy Juice. Last week he left ravioli handprints on the back of her white T-shirt. The week before that he told her she was adopted and she believed him.

To learn more about her, and find out what The Big One and The Little One are up to, visit her via her website, Facebook, or Twitter:




 

5 comments:

  1. Thanks so much for having me L.A.!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love. Love. Love.
    Loved the recipe - sounds fantastic - will make it this weekend!
    Loved the cover - sexy!!
    Loved the excerpt - super fun. Will have to check this out.
    Tweeted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You are going to looove the cherry squares Victoria. I am addicted.

    So glad you like the cover and excerpt!

    Thanks for stopping by.

    : )

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a cute excerpt. I'm intrigued. :-) And thanks for the recipe. I'll try it out on my family.
    *hugs*
    ~JD

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks JD!
    I know your family will love the cherry squares. They are soooo good!

    Thanks for stopping!

    Edie

    ReplyDelete