Shannon here: Contemporary romance author, Lesley Ann McDaniel shares a recipe for cream puffs from her latest release, Big Sky Bachelor – Book #2 in her current series. Comment on any post dated Oct 14 – 16 to enter the drawing for a copy. Deadline: Oct 26, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Lesley:
Recipe for Romance from BIG SKY BACHELOR by Lesley Ann McDaniel
The timer beeped, and Janessa reached up to turn off the oven. She grabbed a hot pad, then opened the door and pulled out the baking sheet, staring glumly at the perfectly browned, but perfectly flat little ovals. Discouragement rippled through her spirit. She had so wanted this to be the day she mastered the art of the cream puff.
Poor Janessa. She has her heart set on becoming a chef, but this particular French delicacy is presenting her with a challenge. I know how she feels, because the secret to a successful cream puff eluded me for years. Sometimes, all it takes is just the right recipe, and just the right special someone to bake them for. Janessa has the first part down—which she’s happy to share. Now all she needs is the right BIG SKY BACHELOR to do the taste testing!
Janessa’s Cream Puffs
TOTAL TIME: Prep: 25 min. Bake: 35 min.
Ingredients
1 Cup water
½ Cup butter
¼ teaspoon salt
1 Cup flour
4 eggs
2 Tablespoons milk
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
2 Cups heavy whipping cream
¼ Cup confectioner’s sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Additional confectioner’s sugar
Montana huckleberries or raspberries for garnish
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°
In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter and salt to a boil over medium heat. Add flour all at once and stir until a smooth ball forms. Remove from the heat; let stand for 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny.
Drop by 1/4 cups 3 inches apart onto greased baking sheets.
Combine milk and egg yolk; brush over puffs. Bake at 400° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks. Immediately cut a slit in each for steam to escape. Allow to cool.
In a large bowl, beat whipping cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until almost stiff. Split cream puffs; discard soft dough from inside.
Just before serving, fill the cream puffs with the whipped cream. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and surround with berries if desired.
Yield: 10 servings. Better make that 5 if you’re serving them to a bunch of ranch hands. You know how those boys can eat!
About Lesley: LESLEY ANN MCDANIEL is a lifelong lover of words, and theatre. While earning a degree in acting, she fell in love with theatrical costuming, and pursued that as a career while nurturing her passion for writing on the side. Through God’s guidance, she has shifted her focus to honing her skills as a writer of Women’s and Young Adult fiction. She is a member of the Northwest Christian Writers Association and of a wonderful critique group. A native Montanan and a Big Sky girl at heart, Lesley now resides in the Seattle area.
About the book – BIG SKY BACHELOR:
Janessa Greene is leaving Thornton Springs.
All she’s ever wanted is to attend cooking school in Seattle. But when a big-shot rodeo rider comes to work on her family’s Montana ranch, Janessa’s determined not to let the cowboy distract her from her goal—no matter how charming he is.
Micah was a rodeo star, but he’s been trampled by one bull too many. While he’s deciding his next move, he gets sidetracked by a pretty cowgirl who’s headed out of town. Can Micah convince her to take a chance on a cowboy ready to put down roots?
Come back Oct 18th for Josie Downey!
Sounds yummy! 🙂
Thank you for the recipe. Yes, I will be trying it. Let’s just hope it works. My family will really love these.
here’s my ever expanding list of links, in case anyone is interested:
http://www.lesleyannmcdaniel.com
facebook.com/LesleyAnnMcDaniel
https://www.amazon.com/author/lesleyannmcdaniel
http://www.twitter.com/LesleyMcDaniel
http://pinterest.com/lesleyannmc/boards/
Thanks for stopping by, Cecelia and Katrina. I’d love to hear how your cream puffs turn out. They’re really pretty simple, but so delicious.
These cream puffs sound very yummy–the trick will be to be at home long enough to make them (I travel all the time w/ my hubby for work) AND have others around to enjoy them, so we don’t eat them all. We are not so successfully trying to lose weight–not an east task while traveling–plus I’m diabetic. Maybe I just have to enjoy the picture and the lovely story you have written to go with it. It would be very nice to win this great sounding book–thanks for the opportunity.
Vicki
These sound wonderful – sounds like a good recipe to try for my next girls only night!
Vicki, your life sounds exciting! I hope the travel is for fun and not just for work. Yes, I find that sometimes a picture of something delicious can be enough. Thank goodness, otherwise I’d be eating all the time.
I love being able to visualize this scene with the picture and recipe you provided. What a great blog idea, the recipes! Now I’m hungry for cream puffs….
I’m craving cream puffs too. I’m thinking the picture was a bad idea. Mindy, if you’d like more recipes, you can hover your mouse over Inkslinger Blog at the top of the page. A box slides down, click on Talks with authors. All my interviews and recipes are there and you can click on each one.
Romancce novel and cream puffs! What a way to spend an afternoon!
Cream Puffs look delicious. Wish I had one now. Thank you for the chance of the giveaway.
I love cream puffs!
I have a winner! Sharon Timmer won the drawing for Lesley’s book. I appreciate Lesley for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.