Category: Recipes
What do Really Children Like?
August is going to be all recipes because in August it feels like all I do is cook. But it’s the kind of cooking enjoy, with fresh veggies and preserving fresh fruit. Most of those recipes will relate more to The Good Neighbor, book two that’s coming out at the end of August (August 23 to be exact!) because it’s set in August and September and Sean’s a great cook.
But before we get to that, I want to finish the Saga of Children’s Delight because in Summer of Fortune it was Maddie’s signature recipe.
My old-fashioned recipe had cinnamon, cloves and raisins and in SOF, the wonderful aroma of sugar and spice became one of Augusta’s calling cards.
The problem was, the general consensus of my millennial children (who I have to say were perfectly happy to eat those cookies when they were young) was that children these days wouldn’t like cookies like that. Everyone’s a critic.
So I charged my daughter-in-law Vania, baker extraordinaire, to come up with a new version of Children’s Delight that today’s children would love. My only caveat was that the new recipe have a component of spice.
I have to say, her new recipe is delicious. Totally different with peanut butter and chocolate chips, but what’s not to love?
Here’s the recipe – you be the judge.
I’ll sign this one, “Obviously eating way too many cookies in the name of art,”
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:2]
Save
The Saga of Children’s Delight
A story is woven from the threads of a writer’s life.
The recipe for Children’s Delight cookies has been in my recipe binder forever. Just looking at the old card, written in my mother’s scrawl, brings back a rush of memories. The recipe card is stained and had comments written in after the fact (more butter!). And up in the corner, in brackets it says “Raylene Ewing”
Raylene was my good friend in Toronto, while I was in grades seven and eight. Just seeing her name is always an emotional blast from the past.
I didn’t plan to put the recipe in Summer of Fortune, but there it was. (You writers out there know what I mean.)
On the top shelf rested a wooden box. Stretching to her full height she carefully brought it down, wiping the dust from the top. She held it in one hand, studying the scenes of the lake carved into the lid. Inside, yellowing recipe cards were written in a spidery hand: Sunday Blackberry Cake, October Relish, Children’s Delight Cookies.
An old fashioned drop cookie, they make the kitchen smell like cinnamon and cloves, an aroma that, in the story, comes to introduce the presence of Aunt Augusta the previous owner of the cabin who is, ahem, no longer with us.
The recipe also provides an introduction to Maddie’s backstory.
Maddie didn’t have any hand-me-down recipes. Most of hers came from magazines. These recipe names conjured up visions of a woman in an apron with streaks of flour on her face, like a character in an old movie. Her own mother had never cooked and Maddie was sure she didn’t own an apron. She had spent most of her time on the couch, watching her soaps with a beer in her hand.
Maddie inhaled deeply the unfamiliar scent of cinnamon and cloves that lingered in the box, and then, closing the lid, she placed the box on the windowsill over the sink where she could admire the carving.
Maddie ended up making the cookies, again and again, a sensory lure her handsome landlord couldn’t resist and a symbol of her move to another kind of life.
Here’s the recipe. Enjoy! (Are you out there Raylene?)
What mundane everyday things have inspired you?
Until next time,
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:3]
Introducing – The Good Neighbor
Cue the trumpets! Ta -da! Here is the gorgeous cover for The Good Neighbor, the next book in the Fortune Bay series.
(For those of you who have read Summer of Fortune, TGN is Sean and Frankie’s story. 🙂 )
I’m moving right along. Since the launch party for SOF, I finished the final edit of The Good Neighbor. (Whose bright idea was it to put out another book every two months this year?! Oh yeah. Mine! This falls under the category of, “it seemed like a good idea at the time.” LOL)
The release date is August 23rd, and I know it will be here before we know it. The Good Neighbor is already up for pre-order on amazon, with more platforms coming soon. (See the side bar for links.)
Now I’ve taken a week off before going back to work the final book.
A week to do some normal things, like baking cookies. Not just any cookies, but the original recipe for Children’s Delight that I promised at the end of Summer of Fortune I would share on my website.
Currents and spice – these are delicious!
(More about the Great Cookie Battles of 2016 next week when, I promise, I’ll put up the recipe.)
And I went with a friend to see a rousing version of Footloose at the Chemainus Theater. I have fun memories of volunteering there a few years ago, helping with props.They always do a fabulous job of set design, and of course the food, in this case lunch, was great.
And let’s not forget weeding. This is one of the better areas of my wild garden.
After all the rain we’ve had, I really will get out this weekend and weed.
They said in the paper that the weather will be warming up, so here’s hoping next week I’ll be ensconced on the back porch, deep in the fun part of being a writer again – writing new scenes for Home for Christmas.
I can hardly wait.
Come back for the cookie battles next week, but until then, get out and enjoy the summer.