Welcome to Recipe for Romance!
I’m sharing a snippet of THE DREADSTONE KING, a fantasy paranormal romance that’s a Beauty and the Beast Retelling. It’s the first day that the knights have gone into the Dreadstone Tombs to search for the King’s Relic, and Allira is waiting on the last guy to come out. She’ll be waiting a while.
Available Now: The Dreadstone King
Come on, Danville. Where are you?
But after ten minutes, he still hadn’t appeared, and she realized he wouldn’t be coming. The Tombs had claimed its first hero of the year. A combination of anger and disgust settled into her belly as she swung up into the saddle and turned from the Tombs, tugging Danville’s horse behind her. What a stupid, fucking waste. The only thing the Tombs brought was death and despair for families.
Allira rode back to camp and tried to find something good about the day.
Make a list, minhra. Her Mima’s voice echoed in her thoughts. List all the good things so you may count your blessings, even in times of strife.
She ground her teeth as she rode into camp, trying to ignore the men who were picking over Danville’s possessions like vultures at a corpse. She claimed his horse and figured it would provide a relief mount for her own. She paused at her tent and slid off Javalina, her gray roan. The horse eyed Danville’s bay mare, but settled down as soon as Allira took their tack off and fed them.
“Hey, Allira. What makes you think you can keep Danville’s horse?” Markus sneered as he carried off Danville’s extra weapons.
“Let me think.” She tilted her head like a coquette as she ticked off her fingers. “I took care of it all day. I waited for him at the entrance to the Tombs. I took it with me when I left the Tombs. Sounds like ownership to me.” She gave him a patently false smile. “The horse and her tack are mine.” She rested one hand on her dagger. “Got a problem with that?”
He scowled but said nothing as he continued on to his tent.
“I thought not.”
Gluten-Free Clementine Thumbprint Cookies
This turned out to be one of my most favorite cookie recipes ever. And they didn’t last. The combination of shortbread cookie with orange flavoring and the orange curd was out of this world. A great springtime treat.
INGREDIENTS FOR CURD
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1 packed tsp finely grated clementine or satsuma zest
2 large egg yolks
1 Tbsp corn starch
1/2 cup (125 ml) freshly squeezed clementine or satsuma juice (or citrus juice of your choice)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp (28 grams) butter, thinly sliced
DIRECTIONS FOR THE CURD
In a small saucepan, combine sugar and zest, and rub together with your (clean) hands until very fragrant. Add the egg yolks and corn starch, and whisk until a thick paste forms.
Slowly whisk in the citrus juices, then place the pan over medium-low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and begins to bubble, about 5 minutes. Whisk mixture vigorously and let boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in butter until smooth.
Transfer to a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap pressed directly to the surface. Use immediately, or chill in fridge up to 3 days.
INGREDIENTS FOR COOKIE DOUGH
1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature
1/3 cup (75 grams) packed brown sugar
1/3 cup (67 grams) granulated sugar
1 packed tsp finely grated clementine or satsuma zest
1 tsp salt
2 egg yolks, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups gluten-free 1:1 baking flour
DIRECTIONS FOR THE COOKIES
Position a rack in the center of your oven and preheat it to 350 F (177 C). Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, both sugars, zest, and salt, and beat on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes.
Add the yolks and vanilla, and continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the flour and mix on low speed until just combined.
Form the cookies by rolling the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls and place them, evenly spaced, on the cookie sheets. It’s recommended to bake one pan at a time. Bake on the center rack until the cookies begin to puff and expand, about 5 minutes, then remove pan from oven.
Using a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon, press a deep indent int the center of each cookie – be careful as the pan will be very hot (and the cookies too).
Fill each indent with about 1/2 tsp of the curd, then return the pan to the oven and bake until the cookies are dry to the touch and just barely turning golden around the edges, 5-6 minutes more. The cookies will still be pale and soft, but will harden as they cool.
Let cookies cool on the pan. You can dust with powdered sugar, but we found them to be sweet enough without. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 hours, or in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Makes 24 to 30 cookies.
