Cap’n loves romance and cranberries! So today’s recipe via Author Whitley Cox is a boon! Welcome Lady Whitley aboard, eh? She’s got a great recipe and she’s also bringing love, passion and power to the table too!
Take it away, Lady Whitley!
Cranberry Bliss Bars – BETTER THAN STARBUCKS! And cheaper too!
For years I would make it a sinful habit to treat myself at least once a week to a cranberry bliss bar and a chai tea latte with egg nog, because they’re only around for a short time, so the belly needs to stock up. But then I decided to try and make my own, that way I could eat a whole pan if I wanted to, and in the comfort of my own home (in the dark in a corner with crumbs all over my face…you get the picture). And voila, I found the perfect recipe that mimics the original, if not improves upon it. Now I just have to figure out how to copy their chai lattes with egg nog and I never have to leave my house again!
Cranberry Bliss Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 for a glass or dark pan). Prepare a 10×15 by lining it with parchment paper or use a non-stick spray.
- BARS: With an electric mixer, beat together softened butter and sugars 3-5 minutes until light; gently blend in eggs and orange extract (don’t overbeat eggs). Add the flour, baking powder, and ginger and beat briefly. Add the cranberries and chips, stirring just until incorporated.
- Spread thick batter in prepared 10×15 pan. Bake 350 for 20-24 minutes until light brown AT EDGES and a skewer tests clean. Don’t overbake or your bars will be dry. Let it cool completely. NOTE: If you use a 9×13 pan, the bars will be thicker and will take 26-28 minutes.
- FROSTING: Blend cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add orange extract and confectioners sugar and beat until frosting is fluffy and spreadable (adding 1 t. milk if needed). Spread evenly over COOLED bars.
- GARNISH: Use a zester to remove rind from an orange; sprinkle zest over frosted bars. Chop 1/3 cup Craisins coarsely; sprinkle over frosted bars.
- DRIZZLE: Mix white chocolate and oil in a glass measuring cup. Microwave 1 minute; stirring every 15 seconds until melted. Use a fork or whisk to drizzle the white chocolate diagonally across the bars.
- Allow one hour for the white chocolate to set before cutting. **To make signature Starbuck triangles, cut into 20 large squares (5 cuts by 4 cuts with the knife). Then cut each square in half diagonally to create triangles.
Ingredients
· BARS
- 1cup butter (2 sticks, very soft)
- 1cup brown sugar (some cooks reduce this to 2/3 cup)
- 1⁄3cup granulated sugar
- 3large eggs
- 2teaspoons orange extract or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2cups flour
- 1 1⁄2teaspoons baking powder
- 1teaspoon ground ginger
- 3⁄4cup craisins (dried cranberries)
- 3⁄4cup white chocolate chips
· FROSTING
- 3ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2tablespoons butter, softened
- 3cups confectioners’ sugar
- 1teaspoon orange extract (or vanilla)
· TOPPING
- 1⁄3cup craisins, chopped
- 1 -2tablespoon grated orange rind
- 1⁄3cup white chocolate chips
He was her new beginning; she was his undoing.
When personal trainer Kendra Black saw millionaire Justin Williams walk through her door all she saw was money and a practiced swagger. A man who’s used to getting what he wants, especially when it comes to women. But Kendra is startled to realize that there is more to Justin than meets the eye, he’s kind and funny and brilliant, and she wants him, desperately. Unable to resist Kendra or her fiery spirit and zest for life, right from the start, Justin pursues her, only her troubled childhood holds her back. She’s been running from love for so long, she doesn’t know how to stop and let it catch up.
Elated when Kendra finally gives into their attraction, Justin jumps in with both feet, only his hectic and demanding life continues to interfere, and Kendra’s past comes creeping back and the two are tested. When the couple embarks on a daring, passionate and physical adventure, Justin discovers Kendra’s secrets and fears while exploring and uncovering his own wild and dark desires.
Currently available for pre-order!
Amazon / B&N / Kobo / Books2Read
~ Excerpt ~
I turned my head around as I continued up the path and his smile was adorably cocky, shit-eating and amused beyond words. So I quickly spun back around to face the path, wondering if I should give him the satisfaction of playing into his comment and questioning it or if I should play my own game and ignore him, let him sweat -I’m not one for head games!
“What the hell did that mean!?” I asked, stopping in my tracks and facing him.
“Relax,” he said. Smile not leaving his eyes or his lips as he gently placed his hands on my shoulders to ground me, “I’m not asking you to marry me right now. But I KNOW for a fact that I am going to marry you. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted and I’ll wait until you’re ready and feel the same, but I WILL make you my wife, Kendra Black.” He shrugged again and smiled that adorable triumphant grin that made my heart melt and leap and spin and dance.
A small smile crept its way on to my face no matter how hard I tried to fight it, damn he was handsome. “Now get moving and stop fretting. I can see by that wrinkle between your brows that you’re worrying. Please don’t.” He turned me around by my shoulders and smacked my butt again until I started hiking. My mind reeling and going in all directions about what he’d just said. And maybe, just maybe, if I’m being 100% honest, thinking of bridal gowns, honeymoon destinations and flowers.
Born and raised on the West Coast of Canada and married to her high school sweetheart, with a spirited toddler and a fluffy dog. Whitley spends her days making food that gets thrown on the floor, vacuuming Cheerios out from under the couch and making sure that the dog food doesn’t end up in the air conditioner. But when nap time comes and it’s not quite wine o’clock, Whitley sits down, avoids the pile of laundry on the couch, and writes.
A lover of all things decadent; wine, cheese, chocolate and spicy erotic romance, Whitley brings the humorous side of sex, the ridiculous side of relationships and the suspense of every day life into her stories. With mommy wars, body issues, threesomes and role playing, these books have everything we need to satisfy the curious kink in all of us.
Ports of Call:
Facebook / Blog / Twitter / Website
Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog and I hope you and your family have a safe and happy holiday season. All the best for a successful and prosperous 2017!
Cheers,
Whitley Cox
What a great pleasure it’s been having you aboard ship, Whitley! Thanks for the yummilicious recipe! I can’t wait to see if I’ll find myself in a corner hiding said crumb face. Huzzah!!! 😉
Wishing you following winds,
Katherine
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Welcome aboard, Author Cathy Skendrovich. We’re super jazzed you’ve come to share your new release with us today. Holidays and pirates! What’s not to love, eh? And you’re bringin’ ’em both. Huzzah!!!
For those of you who don’t know me, I write historical and contemporary romance. Today I’ll be talking about one of my favorite characters, pirate captain Andre Dubois, and giving you five reasons why you’ll fall in love with him in my Christmas novella entitled The Pirate Bride’s Holiday Masquerade, coming from Literary Wanderlust publishers on Oct. 1st. You first meet him in my novel The Pirate’s Bride, when he is forced to marry Sophie Bellard, a spitfire with whom he eventually falls in love. He’s an extreme Alpha male of whom readers, and Sophie, can’t seem to get enough. Read on for a few reasons you might want him for yourself. Continue reading 
Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day, me hearties!
Starved for blood, vampire, Nicholai Peterhof is greatly relieved when two tourists, in Russia for the Christmas holiday, decide to grace his restaurant, but one sip from the pretty brunette and his world is forever turned upside down. Juliette Staint-John is everything he could have asked for in a heartmate; pretty, smart, built with curves in all the right places…and totally unavailable.
Born in Virginia, 
Special Security Agent Sebastian Berlin is eager to track down his partner’s killer. Instead, he’s assigned the job of baby-sitting a scientist. His boss thinks she’s the key to an Ancient Warrior Prophecy. Science never interested Sebastian, but the know-it-all female standing at the end of his Alaskan dock could persuade him to do a little experimenting. That is, if he can keep his Neanderthal Warrior genes from taking control.
GOLDEN CUPS