the Winter Holiday Recipes (+ reads!) from Harlequin with Cathy Gilen Thacker

I am honored and excited for Books & Spoons to be part of this tour where two of my loves - books & food - are presented side by side!
​So I want to give a warm welcome to Cathy Gillen Thacker. I love her stories and the latest A Texas Cowboy's Christmas was a story so delightfully filled with Christmas cheer, with one adorable little cowboy, and sizzling chemistry between the hero and the heroine, and lots of baking! 


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FOOD IS LOVE*
*ESPECIALLY AT THE HOLIDAYS
    It always starts with the run up to Thanksgiving, continues through Christmas, and follows through to the New Year.   The cooking, the baking, and the eating…  It’s hard to know which I like best!  And that is never truer than when I am in the kitchen making pies and my mother’s sage stuffing and fresh cranberry sauce.  Not to mention roasting a turkey, mashing potatoes, and finishing it all off with fresh veggies and homemade pan gravy!
For me and my family, preparing holiday foods is not just tradition, it’s an act of love.  A way to bring us all together, and honor those who have passed.  It encourages us to pause and give thanks for all that we have, to reconnect and have faith and hope for the future.
In my newest book, A TEXAS COWBOY’S CHRISTMAS, heroine Molly Griffith bakes a different kind of confection every day during the holiday season.  The recipes she uses were handed down to her by her mother and German-immigrant grandmother.  And though neither of the two women are still with her, she feels a real connection every time she enters her kitchen—usually with her three year old son Braden at her side.
Braden loves cooking with his mommy but he really loves her new friend/old enemy cowboy Chance Lockhart.  Braden wants his idol Chance to tell Santa to bring him a live baby bull for Christmas.  
Chance can’t do that, but he just might be able to wrangle something even better for the little tyke and his adorable mother before the yuletide ends.
I hope you enjoy my latest Christmas tale.  (Set in Laramie, Texas, of course!)  And to make the reading more enjoyable, I’ve enclosed a recipe for Christmas stollen, a German holiday sweet bread Molly, Chance and Braden make in the novel.
Happy holidays!
Cathy Gillen Thacker

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Molly Griffith’s Christmas Stollen    

• ½ cup diced citron
• ½ dried cranberries
• ½ cup almonds
• ½ cup dried cherries
• ¼ cup orange juice
• ½ cup lukewarm milk (scalded)
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3 eggs
• 4 to 4 ½ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon finely shredded lemon peel
• 2  Tablespoons melted butter
• Powdered sugar​​

1. Mix citron, cherries, cranberries and orange juice.  Let stand one hour.  
   
2. Drain and reserve orange juice.
3. Dissolve yeast in warm water in large bowl.  
   
4. Stir in reserved orange juice, milk, ½ cup butter, granulated sugar, salt, nutmeg, lemon peel, eggs and 2 cups of the flour.  Beat until smooth.  
   
5. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic; about five minutes.  Place in greased bowl.  
   
6. Cover and let rise until doubled.  About 1 and 1/2 hours.  Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
7. Punch down dough.  
   
8. Sprinkle almonds, cherries, citron, and cranberries over dough, and knead to work in.  
   
9. Then shape into two loaves.  Transfer to parchment lined baking sheets. Cover with linen cloth.  
   
10. Let rise again, until double, about an hour, and then bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Cool.  
    
11. Brush with melted butter and top with granulated sugar so nice crust forms.  Enjoy!  

    

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Cathy Gillen Thacker is a popular Harlequin author of over one hundred novels.  Married and a mother of three, she and her husband resided in Texas for eighteen years, and now make their home in North Carolina.  Her mysteries, romantic comedies, and family stories have made numerous appearances on bestseller lists, but her best reward is knowing one of her books made someone’s day a little brighter.
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Connect with Cathy Website | Facebook | Twitter

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