New Cato Log Out Tomorrow
I’ve been remiss in updating my blog because BOOK EDITS. ALL MONTH. The good news: as of this morning, a shiny new version of Call of Fire has been sent along to my editor. Huzzah! Now to catch up on a dozen other things before I dive headfirst into my next project.
First up: a new edition of the Cato Log will be deployed to email inboxes worldwide tomorrow. Sign up now so you can get an advance Bready or Not recipe for Maple Pecan Pie Bars, plus all of October’s recipes in one spot! Oh yeah, and book news, too.
Happy Halloween to all… and perhaps more importantly, Happy Clearance Candy Day tomorrow!
#SFWAPro
Read MoreSunday Quotes thinks Christie is appropriate on Halloween Eve
Read More“There is always, of course, that terrible three weeks, or a month which you have to get through when you are trying to get started on a book. There is no agony like it. You sit in a room, biting pencils, looking at a typewriter, walking about, or casting yourself down on a sofa, feeling you want to cry your head off….You forget every time what you felt before when it comes again: such misery and despair, such inability to do anything that will be in the least creative. And yet it seems that this particular phase of misery has got to be lived through.”
~Agatha Christie, Autobiography (1977)
Bready or Not: Quick Cookie Butter Pumpkin Fudge
Is frosting your favorite part of cake? Well, do I have a fudge recipe for you!
This easy microwave fudge tastes like pumpkin spice frosting. It’s that rich. That delicious. This makes a big batch, so cut the pieces small and share with a crowd!
The original version of this recipe used peanut butter. Well, you know me. Why go with cliché peanut butter when you can use creamy COOKIE BUTTER? Use Biscoff, Speculoose, or any of the new off-brand versions–heck, my local Sprouts even has their own cookie butter now!
In baked recipes, cookie butter makes cooked goodies taste like cookie dough. Here, that effect is much more mild. It adds a lovely color and helps the pumpkin and spices to shine through.
Make this for a potluck or family gathering, and share the joy of cookie butter and pumpkin spice!
Modified from Peanut Butter Pumpkin Fudge at Crazy for Crust.
Bready or Not: Quick Cookie Butter Pumpkin Fudge
Ingredients
- 4 cups white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup Creamy Biscoff or Speculoos or other brand cookie butter
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- turbinado sugar optional
Instructions
- Line an 8x8-inch pan with foil and coat it with cooking spray. Measure out all of your ingredients and have them at hand.
- Place white chocolate chips and cookie butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Heat on 50% power for 45 seconds--and stay close, because white chocolate can burn fast in the microwave. Stir well, then continue heating on 50% power in 25 second increments, stirring between each bout, until melted and smooth.
- (Yes, you could also do this in a saucepan over medium-low heat on the stovetop, but that wouldn't be quite as quick!)
- Once the chocolate and cookie butter are blended with no lumps, immediately stir in the pumpkin puree, spice, and vanilla extract. Combine it as fast as you can. Pour the fudge batter into the prepared pan. If desired, sprinkle turbinado sugar and some more pumpkin spice over the top.
- Place in fridge to set for several hours before cutting and serving--this makes a lot! Keep stored in a sealed container in fridge, with blocks of fudge between layers of wax paper or parchment. The fudge softens fast at room temperature.
- OM NOM NOM!
Sunday Quote does not dance
Read More“This book has become a misery to me because of my inadequacy.”
~John Steinbeck
Now Online: “Souls of Horses” from Clockwork Phoenix 5
So, I have this story that I love to bits. It was rejected just about everywhere and it finally found a home in the Clockwork Phoenix 5 anthology to much critical (very validating) aplomb. This story is now online for everyone to read: “The Souls of Horses,” about the love of horses and the horrors of racism and slavery, all against the backdrop of the American Civil War.
Read the full story here, and also check out the other four stories from Clockwork Phoenix 5 that are now online. The whole anthology features work well worth considering for 2016 Hugo and Nebula nominations.
#SFWAPro
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