Shannon here: Historical romance author, Traci Tyne Hilton shares a recipe for Huckleberry Duff passed down from her pioneering ancestors & a chance to win her latest e-book, Hearts to God. Comment on this post to enter the drawing. Deadline: Dec 28th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Traci:
Madeline Snow, the main character in my new historical romance, has to move from her home in a Midwest Shaker community to the wild Oregon Outback. Eastern Oregon is hot, dusty, beautiful, rugged, and nowhere near as progressive as her home back east had been.
Shakers raised their girls to be equals to men in their work and worship. But that’s not the cowboy way. Not in 1888, at least! Madeline has to find a husband, even though it goes against everything she believes. And then, just when that might work out okay, she is faced with some of the uglier realities of 1888. Out in the world, not all men are equal.
The course of true love never did run smooth!
Speaking of true love being a challenge, just after World War I, my Great Grandparents moved from their home in Baker, Oregon—round about where my newest book “Hearts to God” is set—to Kinzua, a logging town in the hills of Central Oregon. Kinzua is a ghost town now, but from the look of the tent houses they lived in at the time it wasn’t much more than that when they moved there! Though small, Baker was a bustling town full of family and loved ones. I can only imagine what kind of spirit my Great Grandma Valentine had to drum up in herself to make the move to the hills with her growing family.
This huckleberry duff recipe was passed down from my pioneering ancestors and is well loved in my family. To get enjoy the summer treat for Thanksgiving, make use of the delicious organic blueberries in the smoothie section of your local grocery store!
Huckleberry Duff
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar, plus 1 1/2 cups
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
1/4 cup milk
1 quart fresh huckleberries (or blueberries, blackberries, black caps, you get the picture)
2 cups water
Directions:
Sift together flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Grate cold butter into flour mixture with a cheese grater. Stir together with a fork. Add milk to form dough.
Combine berries, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and water in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Drop dumplings into berry sauce by the tablespoonful. Cover pot. Turn heat down to low and cook slowly for 20 to 30 minutes. Don’t open until your timer beeps! Serve with fresh cream, whipped cream, or ice cream.
About Traci: Traci Tyne Hilton is an award winning author and playwright from Portland, Oregon. Her newest book Good, Clean, Murder won the Mystery/Suspense category in the Christian Writers of the West Phoenix Rattler Contest, and was a finalist in the Write Integrity press Books of Hope contest.
Traci has a BA in History from Portland State University and lives in the rainiest part of the Pacific Northwest with her husband the mandolin playing funeral director from Kansas, their two daughters, and their dog, Dr. Watson.
More of Traci’s work can be found at tracihilton.com
About the book – Hearts to God: Orphaned as an infant, Madeline Snow grew up in the Shaker community—the perfect place to learn reverence, hard work, and a love for God that surpasses the need for an earthly family. But the difference between what the Bible says and what the Shakers taught was too much for Madeline, so when she came of age, she left the safety of her home for a new life with her much older sister.
Madeline had been trained to grow herbs and make medicine by the best herbalists in her community, but in the wild Oregon Outback finding a husband is the only proper occupation for a single lady. Madeline left the Shaker community, but her devotion to God and the principle of celibacy, are unchanged. Finding a husband to direct her life is her last priority. But her sister and guardian is just as stubborn as Madeline. Madeline will marry, whether she wants to or not. Unfortunately for Madeline, finding a husband isn’t simply a matter of falling in love. Some men are off limits, no matter how they make your heart thunder.
Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.com/Hearts-God-Sarah-Christian-Romance-ebook/dp/B00GVA3W62
Come back Dec 20th for Linda Wood Rondeau!
Thanks so much for letting me share the family recipe!
I’m thinking this would be a great New Years dessert…since Christmas and Thanksgiving tend to be pumpkin centric! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this family recipe, Traci. I love knowing that it has been passed down from your pioneering ancestors and is well loved in your family. I look forward to sharing it with my family soon!
This recipe sounds great!! Nothing better than recipes that have been in the family for years. Judy F
Traci
Your book sounds wonderful But is it ok if I disagree with you on the rainiest part of the Pacific Northwest?? A small town in S. Oregon averages 61 inches of rain a year!!! I live there. Did you know Baker is Famous also for an Oregon Trail Museum??
Have a beautiful God-filled Christmas
Chris Granville
granvilleATfrontiernetDOTnet
Hi Shannon. Oh how I would love to have this book, but I see it’s only a ebook and I can’t use that. I have Ann Gabhart”s Shaker books.Hope you have a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. Maxie
Thank you for the great recipe. I have read the Shaker books. I really enjoyed them. Would love to win this book. Looking forward to reading this book. Thank you for the chance to win this book and please enter my name.
I have a winner! Barbara Thompson won the drawing. I appreciate Traci for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.
Britney and Judith,
I love old family recipes, too! And I love hearing stories about my mom as a little girl going into the hills to pick huckleberries with her family. 🙂
Chris: In SOUTHERN Oregon? I’m shocked! But if it is on the South coast, I’m not at all surprised. Actually, I should amend it to say the second rainiest part anyway, as really, I don’t live in Astoria! lol. Or perhaps the third rainiest, since I don’t live in the mystery town. But really, describing it that way was my attempt to be vague about where I really live, while giving readers a sense of it, and at the same time respecting that most of the Pacific Northwest is lovely, dry, sunny, high desert!
@Maxie: I wish it was a paperback! I would send you one! It’s a short novella, so the odds of it ever being released in paperback are pretty slim. 🙁