Holiday Cupcakes--and a dash of romance

 

Please welcome my guest, author Cheryl Norman, who responded to my call for holiday recipes, with a cupcake delight.

Cheryl grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, where she wrote her first mystery at the age of 13.  She earned a BA in English at Georgia State University in Atlanta. After a career in the telecommunications industry, she returned to fiction writing and won the 2003 EPPIE award for her contemporary romance, Last Resort. 

Her debut with Medallion Press, Restore My Heart, led to a mention in Publisher's Weekly as one of ten new romance authors to watch. Running Scared, a romantic suspense set in Jacksonville, Florida, and Washington D.C., received a Perfect 10 from Romance Reviews Today. Reviewer Harriet Klausner calls her writing "Mindful of Linda Howard ... " Her latest romantic suspense novel for Medallion is Reclaim My Life, and Cheryl has two novellas in the anthology Romance on Route 66. Rebuild My World, the sequel to Reclaim My Life, will be published by Turquoise Morning Press.

In addition to writing, Cheryl works with breast cancer survivors to raise awareness about early detection and treatment of the disease. She also helps writers with grammar via her Grammar Cop blog, newsletter articles, and workshops. Visit Cheryl at her Web site: http://cherylnorman.com , Twitter: http://twitter.com/cherylnorman
and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cherinorman

 Here, in Cheryl’s words, is the story behind her cupcakes.

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I recently wrote my first inspirational romance for Highland Press’s Christian Christmas anthology, The Heart of Christmas. My story is “The Christmas Prayer.” Royce Hilliard is a widower with a twelve-year old daughter who bonds with Noelle Barker, who she meets at church. Noelle is alarmed when the girl announces that God has sent Noelle to be her dad’s new wife, but Royce thinks it might be true. Noelle sure seems the answer to his prayers! Unfortunately, Noelle isn’t enthusiastic about Christmas or motherhood. Will she let ghosts of her Christmas past sabotage her happiness?

As you begin your holiday baking, you might enjoy the following cupcake recipe. I’ve made it, and I’m not much of a baker, so it must be easy. In the story, Noelle organizes a cupcake-baking marathon with the preteen church group, and they make holiday cupcakes for the senior center residents. Cupcakes are growing in popularity because they’re easy to serve and equally portioned.

If you’d like to read the anthology (it makes a nice holiday gift, too!), go to amazon.com (http://tinyurl.com/pf2g5un) or your favorite book source.

Happy holidays!

Cheryl Norman

Holiday Cupcakes

Ingredients:

·         1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened

·         3 large eggs (room temperature)

·         2 ½ cups cake flour

·         2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

·         ½ teaspoon salt

·         1 ¾ cups sugar

·         1 ¼ cups milk

·         2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 375°. Line muffin tins with paper liners while butter and eggs stand at room temperature.

2.      In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3.      In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat butter on medium speed for one minute. Gradually add sugar (about ¼ cup at a time) until all sugar is creamed. Beat on medium speed, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl, for about two minutes total.

4.      Gradually add eggs, one at a time.

5.      Add vanilla extract.

6.      On low speed, add a third of the flour mixture then half the milk, alternately, until all flour and milk are incorporated. Do not overbeat.

7.      Using a scoop, add batter to each cup liner.

8.      Bake for 16 to 20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean.

9.      Allow muffins to cool in tins for about 5 minutes.

10.  Carefully remove cupcakes and cool on a wire rack at least 30 minutes before frosting.

 

Fluffy Cupcake Frosting

Ingredients:

·         1 8-oz. package Neufchatel cheese, softened

·         1 stick unsalted butter, softened

·         2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

·         6 cups sifted powdered sugar

·         (optional) food coloring or sprinkles

Directions:

1.      With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy.

2.      Stir in vanilla extract.

3.      Gradually beat in powdered sugar, about a third at a time, on low speed until all sugar is incorporated and icing reaches spreading consistency.

4.      Add optional food color—carefully, a bit at a time until you get the color you want.

5.      Place frosting in a zippered food storage bag, seal, and then clip the bottom corner to form a piping bag. Decorate cupcakes and add sprinkles if desired.

Yields two dozen

 

 

 

 

Stir-fry with plum sauce

Please welcome author Cheryl Norman who shares with us a wonderful stir-fry recipe with a plum sauce she created. The thing I like about stir-fry is that you can choose the ingredients to suit your tastes—I never include bell pepper. Cheryl offers some really good hints, like don’t get that wok as hot as some chefs advise. But the glory of this recie is the plum sauce—heavenly, and I’m quite sure I’d never have invented it.

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 I think of myself as a creative person, and let’s hope I am since I’m a writer. ☺

Just as a fiction writer blends elements to weave an engaging story, a thrifty cook can whip up a meal without a special trip to the supermarket. I like to think I can do either. So for today’s potluck, I offer you stir-fry with plum sauce.
A stir-fry is a good way to use up what’s aging in your crisper drawer, which is why my stir-fry dishes are never the same. Today, for example, I had red, yellow, and orange bell peppers and some celery that needed to be used within the next couple of days. I added fresh mushrooms and onion, plus some leftover chicken. Using up produce makes me feel clever and frugal.
Today I took my creativity a step further and made my own plum sauce, too. Plums are in season, and I bought three yesterday at the store. The rest of what I needed was in my kitchen (I keep fresh peeled ginger root in my freezer). So here are my recipes.
I started the plum sauce first since it needed to simmer about thirty minutes, which gave me plenty of time to prep and assemble the ingredients for the stir-fry. The stir-fry method goes fast, so it’s important to have everything ready before heating the wok.

RECIPE FOR PLUM SAUCE

Ingredients:
·           3 plums, washed, seeded, sliced*
·           2 Tbsp. soy sauce (I buy low sodium)
·           Zest of 1 lemon
·           Juice of 1 lemon
·           ½ tsp. salt
·           1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
·           1 Tbsp. grated or minced garlic
·           Pepper to taste
·           ¼ cup brown sugar
·           2 Tbsp. honey
·           1 Tbsp. water
·           Fresh herbs (Optional, but I like spearmint and cilantro)

Directions:

1.     Combine all ingredients except fresh herbs into a two-quart covered saucepan.

2.     Heat gently over low heat for at least thirty minutes or until plums slump and sauce thickens.

3.     Remove from heat and stir in optional fresh herbs.

4.     Use to finish stir-fry by tossing with cooked ingredients.

Yield: One cup plum sauce

Note: *Peeling the plums is optional. I peeled them today, but I think I like the color added from keeping the peels intact. It’s up to you.

 RECIPE FOR STIR-FRY

 

Ingredients:
·           4 cups julienned or roughly chopped assorted vegetables (Your choice, but try to include peppers and onions in the mix.
·           1 cup poultry or seafood, your choice, cut in bite-size pieces
·           1 Tbsp. peanut oil
·           2 cups cooked brown rice (or your choice)

Directions:

1.    Preheat oil in wok or large skillet over medium heat (don’t believe the TV chefs that tell you the wok must be screaming hot).

2.    Add vegetables in batches every two minutes, starting with those with the longest cooking time, until all are heated.

3.    Using tongs, toss the vegetables often until they begin to soften.

4.    Add protein of your choice: shrimp, cubed tofu, chicken, etc. to the center of the wok, moving the vegetables up the sides and away from the hottest part of the pan.

5.    Toss frequently until protein is cooked or warmed.

6.    Remove from heat. Toss stir-fry with the warm plum sauce and serve over cooked brown rice if desired.

Yield:  Two meal size servings without rice/ Four meals with rice

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Cheryl Norman’s latest book is Running Out of Time (Turquoise Morning Press):

On her way to her best friend's wedding, Stacy experiences a time jump. Fifty years in the past, she meets the man of her dreams. But when she figures out why she has time travelled, she faces a difficult dilemma: can she save his life by sacrificing her future?