Delia Latham – Recipe for Romance – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Delia Latham shares insight into her latest Contemporary Romance Novella,  Never the Twain, plus a yummy recipe for Caramel Banana Pudding. Comment or answer the question at the end of the post to enter the drawing for a signed, print copy of Hummingbird Kisses, Book 1 in the Hummingbird Hollow series. Deadline: June 8th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Delia:

A fun romance and a mouth-watering dessert make a relationship twice as sweet!

I’m so excited that my novella, Never the Twain, is finally available as an individual eBook! It released last fall as a paperback, and as part of a seasonal eBook collection with four other authors—Fall in Love: Five Sweet Tales of Autumn Romance. After six months, however, the collections are taken off Amazon, and we are all free to release our individual novellas in eBook format. I’m eager to share this sweet romance with readers. It’s Book #2 in my Hummingbird Hollow series. Needless to say, hummingbirds are a big part of these stories, but this one also gives space (a necessarily LARGE space, of course…) to a big, angry, mama black bear. It was a lot of fun to write, and I hope, every bit as enjoyable to read.

Cass and Ryder both indulge in the following totally decadent dessert…but not together. At the time it is served at Inn the Hollow (the Arkansas bed and breakfast where they met) they are in the midst of a disagreement that seems insurmountable. After the meal that culminates in this tasty banana pudding, Ryder disappears into the woods with a friend. Cass has a visit with Toni Littlebird, who owns the bed and breakfast. During their conversation, Toni gives Cass a piece of wisdom that I want to share with all of you. Maybe someone out there is in need of this reminder, just as Cass was. Here it is:

“Oh, Toni…I’m an awful person, and a terrible Christian! I can’t believe I’ve become what I’ve proven myself to be on this trip.”

“Well, I don’t think you’re an awful person, nor a terrible Christian. We all make mistakes, Cass. We all get over-confident and under-Godfident sometimes. Funny thing is, every time we do, it ends up in situations like this one. We’re strange creatures, we humans…but Daddy God understands us, sweetie. We are His beloved children. He’s ready to forgive, and eager to help…when we ask.”

Over-confident and under-Godfident… Ever been there? Yeah, me too.

I hope you enjoy this rich dessert. Hubby and I sure did! Bless his sweet heart, as the cook in our family, for being willing to experiment and ultimately come up with desserts for my stories. He’s a keeper…and I’ve kept him for forty-five years. Here’s to as many more years and sweet desserts as Toni’s “Daddy God” allows!

CARAMEL BANANA PUDDING

Banana pudding has never tasted so dreamy! This recipe is very rich, so you might want to start with small servings.

Ingredients

Pudding:

¾ c sugar

¾ c flour

½ tsp salt

1 c milk

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

1½ evaporated milk

5 egg yolks (slightly beaten)

¼ cup sour cream (optional)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 T butter

Caramel:

1 c packed brown sugar

½ c butter

¼ c milk

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp sea salt (optional)

Whipped Cream:

1 pt. heavy cream

¼ powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Additional ingredients:

1 box of vanilla wafers

½ to ¾ cup of coconut (toasted)

3-4 slightly ripe bananas (just starting to show dark spots on peeling), sliced into coins

3-4 maraschino cherries (optional)

Instructions:

Pudding

1. Stir together dry ingredients in large sauce pan.
2. Whisk all milks in thoroughly—no lumps!
3. Bring to full boil until thickened well at medium high heat.
4. Remove from heat. Add egg yolks.
5. Return to heat, boil for 2 minutes on medium heat.
6. Remove from heat. Fold in vanilla, butter and sour cream.
7. Cover with saran wrap (directly on top of mixture) and refrigerate until cool.

Caramel

1. Bring brown sugar, butter and milk to gentle boil.
2. Boil 2 minutes at gentle boil. Remove from heat.
3. Add vanilla
4. Set aside to cool.

Whipped cream

1. Mix heavy cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat on high until stiff peaks form
2. Set aside half of mixture

• Fold other half of whipped cream into cooled pudding, along with ¼ cup of caramel.
• Cover bottom of trifle dish or ramekins with wafers.
• Top with 1/3 of pudding mixture. Stand some wafers up around edge of dish.
• Cover pudding with layer of vanilla wafers, banana slices and toasted coconut.
• Drizzle caramel sauce over layer.
• Continue layering pudding, wafers, bananas and coconut, ending with final layer of pudding.
• Top with a dollop of whipped cream, toasted coconut, drizzled caramel sauce. Garnish with crumbled vanilla wafer, a few extra banana slices, and maraschino cherry halves (if desired) for color.
• Refrigerate for several hours, or even overnight, if time permits, before serving.

Serves 8-10

About Delia: Writing Heaven’s touch into earthly tales, Delia Latham puts her characters through the fire of earthly trials to bring them out victorious by the hand of God, His heavenly messengers, and good, old-fashioned love. You’ll always find a touch of the divine in her tales of sweet romance.

Delia and her husband Johnny live in East Texas, where their pampered Pomeranian, Kona, kindly allows them to share her home. The author enjoys multiple life roles as wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend, but above all, she loves being a princess daughter to the King of kings. She admits to a lifelong, mostly unbattled Dr. Pepper addiction, and loves hearing from her readers. Learn more and connect:

Delia’s Website               Delia’s Amazon Author Page                Delia’s Facebook               Delia’s Twitter

About the book – Never the Twain:

Hollywood agent Cass Townsend makes a more-than-satisfactory living helping talented, “wannabe” actors become stars. Thanks to a younger brother who made it big in Hollywood and then estranged himself from his family, rugged Texas horse rancher Ryder Hayes sports over-sized chips on both very broad shoulders toward celebrities. He’s not convinced any good at all can come out of Hollywood.

She’s prim and proper to a fault. He’s laid back and fun-loving, with a streak of pure mischief. Ryder’s a good man, but not a Christian—not by a Texas mile. Cass can’t remember missing a single Sunday service since childhood. They’re the epitome of polar opposites, and never the twain shall meet…or so the saying goes. But things don’t always happen quite as one might expect in Hummingbird Hollow.

Can’t wait for the drawing or worried you won’t win? Get your copy now:   

Question for Readers: In Never the Twain, Cass and Ryder spend some revealing moments together while hiding from a furious mama bear. Has something you truly feared ever become a special blessing in your life? If so, in what way?

Come back June 4th for Karin Beery!