#AFTH2014 w/ Kimberly Kincaid--It's the most wonderful time of the year! Unless...you hate to bake! + giveaway

So! Kimberly Kincaid. She writes foodie romances and the woman...is a menace to diets everywhere! lol Incredibly fun and sexy romances and man alive they will make you HUNGRY! I so haven't ever not even once had to make a grocery store run mid-book. Nope. Never happened. Ever. ::snort:: Anywho she's bringing some FOOD to the blog today. Check her out and leave her some comment love!  ~Anna

But never fear, kitchen-phobes. I (and cocky pastry chef Pete Mancuso…and by-the-book cake caterer Lily Callahan) have your back this holiday season. Shall we take your kitchen from easy-does-it to oh-I-got-this?

I say yes!

A few gimmes before we start: On the baking end, many recipes yield best results with room temperature ingredients (this is especially true of butter), so pull those out about twenty minutes before you’re ready to roll. Also, in order to save time, you can bake two cookie sheets full of goodies at the same time, but you’ll get delicious and evenly-baked results if you switch the position of the sheets halfway through baking time. Once your cookies are cool (be patient, grasshopper. Let them cool or you’ll end up with a mess!), package them in airtight containers or plastic bags nestled inside colorful boxes if you’re sharing.

Now that we’re ready to roll, let’s grab recipes! The recipe I’m sharing today, for my Grandma M’s Butter Gems, has an “easy” setting and a “more challenging but still not too tough” setting. They taste great either way, though. Swearsies!

The recipe for these cookies is fairly self-explanatory, and also fairly easy. The “more challenging” part comes when you decide whether or not to use a cookie press (mine is from the fabulous folks at Pampered Chef, but the Interwebs have many choices. Pick your favorite!) If you go the cookie press route for these butter gems, you must (must, must, must) chill the dough well. Thirty minutes will be your minimum. Also, this dough is sticky. So if you go the spoonful route, just keep that in mind. And I know “Silpat” is a fancy word, but God almighty, these cookies love baking sheets, so line yours (parchment works too) if you don’t want to remove your treats with a chisel :)

Lastly, these cookies don’t get particularly brown in the baking (except for the bottoms), so don’t look for a golden cookie through the oven window. But do expect your house to smell fabulous, and your belly to feel even better—and if you’re looking for more treats to bake (and a little sizzly romance to read as you curl up by the fire), you can check out The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap. It kicks off the Pine Mountain series (chefs don’t just get hot in the kitchen!). My novella, Sugar and Spice, is about a cocky pastry chef and a pragmatic cake caterer, both of whom want the same grand prize in a Christmas cookie bake-off.

Just don’t read hungry!

Ingredients--

½ cup butter
½ cup shortening (butter flavored if possible)
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 egg (large)
2 ¼ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt (about an eighth of a teaspoon)
½ to 1 teaspoon almond extract (to taste, but I always use the full teaspoon)

Directions--

• Heat oven to 400 degrees. 
• Cream butter and shortening in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). 
• Add sugar gradually until well mixed. 
• Add egg. 
• In a small bowl, sift together dry ingredients and add in small batches until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the mixer as needed. 
• Add extract and mix until just blended. 
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. 
• Fill a cookie press (or drop by rounded teaspoon for round cookies) with the dough, piping cookies onto parchment or Silpat lined baking sheets. 
• Decorate with colored sugar, sprinkles, or decorations of your choice. 
• Bake 10 minutes per batch, or until bottoms just begin to brown. 
• Yield= approximately 3 dozen.

Where There's Smoke by Donna Kauffman

When flames from a recipe gone disastrously wrong send hunky fire-fighter Will Mason to pretty Clara Parker's rescue, the sparks really begin to fly! And once Will gets a taste of Clara, he aches for more than just a little sugar from the famously single food columnist...

The Gingerbread Man by Kate Angell

Folks have always told fun-loving Abby Denton that her anatomically correct Gingerbread cookies are...impressive. But those erotic cookies have nothing on the sexy stranger Abby saves from a snowy country road. Could Lander Reynolds be the Christmas treat she's truly been longing for? 

Sugar And Spice by Kimberly Kincaid

When caterer Lily Callahan goes up against hotshot pastry chef Pete Mancuso in the bake-off of the season, the stakes are high - and scandalously passionate. Will the gorgeous gourmand steal Lily's heart - and the top prize in the Christmas cookie competition?

Amazon | All Romance | BAM | Book Depository | Goodreads

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Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance novels that split the difference between sexy and sweet, taking the traditional idea of boy-meets-girl and infusing it with a sassy magic all her own. She believes in fiery yet flawed characters destined for a crash-course in falling in love-- usually the hard way-- and injects her trademark humor as well as poignant touches into her writing to create her stories.
Kimberly's writing journey has led down some bumpy roads (that first manuscript is under the bed, where it is very likely to stay), but there has been some fresh pavement too (her second manuscript earned her very first contest final, and landed the fantastic Maureen Walters at the Curtis Brown Literary Agency). One thing is certain -- the wild ride of being a writer is a lot richer in both its ups and downs because of friends and readers along the path.

When Kimberly's not sitting cross-legged in an ancient desk chair known as "The Pleather Bomber", she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to eclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book. She resides in northern Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters.

Find Kimberly Online

Website | Facebook | Twitter

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Soooos! We have a huge grand prize drawing going on during AFTH2014!

Just leave Kimberly a comment then jump over to THIS page to enter the Giveaway Widget!
Do yall have a favorite Christmas cookie?
Do you like to bake? Or do you run screaming from the kitchen?
Feel free to share your favorite recipes (or disasters) in the comments!