“Are you sure we’re doing the right thing?” Nessa asked, using their sisterly link to speak directly into her mind. “What if we get down here and find nothing?” She paused, her trepidation evident by the tremor in her voice. “Or worse yet, find something bad…or dangerous?”
“We’ll be fine, Nessa,” Lulu reassured. “I have my blade, and if all else fails, we’ll put out the call. You know Poseidon himself promised dad that if any of us were in trouble, all we had to do was call.”
“I know, and we could always call one of his daughters. I’d much rather one of them come than those big beefy Castle Sentinels. They make me nervous, always swinging those tridents around and filling the water with all that testosterone.”
Laughing, Lulu quickly teased, “I think they turn you on more than they make you nervous.”
Waiting for one of Nessa’s quick comebacks, the older mermaid screamed into Lulu’s mind, “Cyclone! Get to the reef!”
Sinfully Delicious Recipes
Incredibly Delicious Italian Cream Cake
Cake Mix Ingredients
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
½ Cup Butter
½ Cup Shortening
2 Cups White Sugar
5 Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Flaked Coconut
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
Frosting Ingredients
8 Ounces Cream Cheese
½ Cup Butter
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
4 Cups Confectioners’ Sugar
2 Tablespoons Light Cream
½ Cup Chopped Walnuts
1 Cup Sweetened Flaked Coconut
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease three 9 inch round cake pans. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the buttermilk; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together 1/2 cup butter, shortening and white sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk mixture, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 cup coconut, baking powder and flour. Stir until just combined. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool.
To Make Frosting : In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla and confectioners' sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Mix in a small amount of cream to attain the desired consistency. Stir in chopped nuts and remaining flaked coconut. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cooled cake.
Grandma’s Famous Divinity – An Old Family Recipe
Ingredients
2 1⁄2 cups sugar
1⁄2 cup light corn syrup
1⁄2 cup water
1⁄4teaspoon salt
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla
1⁄2cup chopped pecans(optional) or 1⁄2 cup cherries (optional)
Instructions
In a 2-quar t saucepan combine sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt. Cook to hardball stage, (260 degrees), stirring only until sugar dissolves. Meanwhile, as temperature of syrup reaches 250 degrees, beat egg white till stiff peaks form. When syrup reaches 260 degrees, very gradually add the syrup to egg whites, beating at high speed with electric mixer. Add vanilla and beat until candy holds its shape, 4-5 minutes. Stir in the chopped nuts or cherries, if desired. Quickly drop candy from a teaspoon onto waxed paper, swirling the top of each piece.
Let cool.
Šljivovica Cake & Glaze
Ingredients
Cake
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 ½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup butter
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ¼ cup milk
½ cup šljivovica (plum brandy)
Instructions
All ingredients shoul d be at room temperature. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour 10 tube pan. Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan, set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light. Add eggs and vanilla to created mixture and beat at medium speed until well mixed. Add šljivovica and flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute. Pour batter over nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
Cool.
Invert on serving plate. Prick top. Pour glaze over evenly.
Glaze
¼ lb. butter
¼ cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup šljivovica
Instructions
Melt butter i n saucepan. Stir in water & sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in šljivovica. Pour over cake.
This is an old recipe my grandmother cut from a Croatian community newspaper (name unknown) and passed down to me. The recipe is attributed to “Frank Jerbich/Lodge 32.”
Decadent Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
3⅓ c. cake flour (not self-rising)
¾ c. (12 Tbl.) unsalted butter, room temperature
2¼ c. sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 1/2 Tbl. liquid red food coloring
3 Tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1½ tsp. salt
1½ c. buttermilk
1½ tsp. white vinegar
1½ tsp. baking soda
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, room temperature
¼ tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4½ cups powdered sugar
1 Tbl. whole milk, plus more as needed for desired consistency
Instructions
Preheat oven t o 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and spray with cooking spray; set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter and sugar and mix on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, whisk the food coloring, cocoa powder and vanilla together; add to the butter/sugar mixture and mix well. Stir the salt into the buttermilk and add to the batter in three parts, alternating with the cake flour, starting and ending with flour. In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar and baking soda; add to the batter and mix well.
Fill cupcake liners ⅔ full with batter and bake in preheated oven for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Do not over bake. Repeat with remaining cupcakes. Cool completely and top with Cream Cheese Frosting. Makes about 3½ dozen cupcakes.
For the Crea m Cheese Frosting: In a large bowl, mix together butter, cream cheese, salt and vanilla until smooth. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating well after each addition. If frosting is too thick, add a little milk. If you are planning to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes, you want it thick enough to hold its shape. This makes enough frosting to pipe a big swirl on the top of each cupcake. I used a Wilton 1M piping tip.
*If you do not want to pipe a large swirl onto each cupcake and prefer to spread a small layer on top instead, the amount of frosting can be cut in half.
Ginger Snap Cookies
Ingredients
• ¾ c. shortening
• 1 c. sugar
• ¼ c. molasses
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 c. flour, sifted
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 tsps baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. clove
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
Cream shortening an d sugar. Add molasses and egg. Stir in sifted, flour, salt and baking soda. Then cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Dough will be soft and sticky. Roll,
into walnut-sized balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350°F for 7 to 8 minutes. Cookie will flatten out while baking.
Gram’s Famous Red Velvet Cupcakes
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) Red Food Coloring
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract
¾ to 1 cup of finely diced Bing cherries (Or whatever is in season or in the freezer section)
Instructions
Preheat oven t o 350°F. For the Cupcakes, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
Beat butter and granulated sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat. Fold diced cherries in with a wooden spoon. Spoon batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
Bake 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.
After cool, cut out centers with a paring knife or melon baller.
Kalliope’s White Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
6 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
¼ cup heavy cream
Instructions
Place finely choppe d chocolate in small heatproof bowl.
Set over warm water on low heat (water should not touch bottom of bowl).
Stir very frequently until almost melted. Remove from heat and hot water; stir until smooth, pressing out any lumps with back of spoon or a rubber spatula.
In small saucepan over low heat, heat cream just to a simmer, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat; all at once, add about two-thirds of hot cream to melted white chocolate.
Gently stir to incorporate, then beat or whisk until smooth, scraping bowl as necessary with rubber spatula.
Gradually stir in remaining cream.
Place in frosting bag with large tip
Fill cooled and cored cupcakes with ganache.
Kalliope’s Cherry Rock Candy
Ingredients
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting
2 cups white sugar
1 cup water
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon cherry flavored oil
1 teaspoon red color food coloring
Instructions
Generously coat a cookie sheet with confectioners' sugar and set aside.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, stir together the white sugar, water and corn syrup until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil over medium-high and cook to a temperature of 300 to 310 degrees F (149 to 154 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard, brittle threads.
Remove from heat and stir in the flavored oil and food coloring.
Immediately pour the sugar mixture onto the prepared cookie sheet in a thin stream (this helps it cool).
When the candy is cool enough for the outer edge to hold its shape, using a tiny heart cookie cutter, cut into bite size pieces, or use scissors to create your own miniature shapes.
Let cool completely, before sprinkling over the ganache in the center of your cupcakes.
Gram’s Swiss Meringue Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
4 egg whites
1 cup (225g) caster sugar
1 1/2 cup (337.5g) unsalted butter, cubed
12 oz (340g) softened cream cheese
A pinch of salt
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract
Instructions
Place the bow l over a pot of gently simmering water and heat the egg white-sugar mixture, whisking constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is hot to the touch, about 160˚F (71.1˚C).
Attach the bowl to the mixer base and beat the mixture with the whisk attachment on medium speed until foamy, then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until you get a stiff-peaked meringue. If the meringue is still warmer than room temperature, reduce the speed to low and stir until completely cool.
Meanwhile, cut the unsalted butter into cubes and let it come to room temperature while the meringue whips. The butter should be a spreadable consistency and not melty in any way.
Add the butter, cube by cube, to the meringue, stirring on low speed. The meringue will fall and start to look curdled, but keep adding the butter and stirring and it will come together into a fluffy frosting.
Scrape the frosting into a different bowl and set aside.
In the mixer bowl, whip the cream cheese until very light and fluffy.
Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl several times with a spatula to make sure it is thoroughly whipped.
One spoonful at a time, gradually add the SMBC to the whipped cream cheese, stirring on medium-low speed. Once combined, the frosting should be like softly whipped cream. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is like stiffly whipped cream. Add a dash of vanilla and a pinch of salt. You can use the frosting right away, or chill it to firm up a bit (re-whip before using).
About the Authors
Linda Boulanger ha s always been a hopeless romantic, which spills over into her eclectic mix of published books, numerous story singles, and short stories in a few group anthologies. She spends her "free time" designing book covers for others through Tell~Tale Book Covers and TreasureLine Designs, all from her desk just north of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
www.LindaBoulangerBooks.com
Crystal Miles Gauthie r lives with her husband, Joe, and her three lively cats in the beautiful city of Louisville, Kentucky. A mother of five children and thirteen grandchildren, Crystal enjoys reading, crocheting, writing, traveling, and is a supporter of saving wolves, owls and sea turtles. Her very first book was Angel Unaware by Dale Evans. She usually writes sitting with her laptop in her recliner. She is currently working on her time travel society series and a few novellas.
When people ask why do you write, she says: “Because the people in my head are asking for their stories to be told. Whether my stories are good or bad, they are inspiring to some and a way of life for me. I hope you enjoy my books, they are supposed to be entertaining. Let them just flow through your mind, don't think too hard.”
www.amazon.com/Crystal-MilesGauthier/e/B00MEFQN6Y
Darlene Kuncytes was born and raised in Northeast Ohio and still happily resides there with her spoiled rotten fur-babies. She has loved losing herself to reading and writing for as long as she can remember and has always had a special place in her heart for romance. She’s got a wicked sense of humor who loves to find the humor in everyday life and believes that anything is absolutely possible as long as you believe it is! And, yes…she is exceedingly, and sometimes disgustingly happy! Life is way too short to waste a moment of it hating!
She is currently hard at work on the fourth novel in The Supernatural Desire Series – Harper’s Heavenly Embrace!
www.DarleneKuncytes.com
Marj W. Ivancic grew up in northeast Ohio, on the shores of beautiful Lake Erie. From an early age, she was an avid reader, losing herself in the stories of people from days long gone by. Her love of the past led her to earn a degree in History and has kept writing at the forefront of her life. Her own stories range from historical romance to the paranormal. Married to her soulmate and raising a feline furball, she currently lives one town over from the one in which she was born and raised. “The Shadow and the Sugar Bean” is her debut novel.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100015982036431
Andi Lawrencovna live s in a small town in North
east Ohio where she was born and raised. After completing her Masters in Creative Writing, she decided that it was time to let a little fantasy rule her life for a while. The Never Lands were born out of a frustration with happily-ever-afters, and a burning desire for the same.
www.AndiLawrencovna.com
Julia Mills i s a sometimes sarcastic, always southern, woman who would rather spend all day laughing than a minute crying. She lives with her two amazing daughters and a menagerie of animals surrounding by a dragon’s hoard of books to read. In her writing, you’ll find romance, humor, and a happy ending. She is the USA Today Bestselling Author of the Dragon Guard Series.
Dare to Dream! Have the Strength to Try EVERYTHING! Never Look Back!
www.JuliaMillsAuthor.com
Works Cited
H, Jenn. “The BEST Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.” The Recipe Critic, StudioLMH, 17 Dec. 2017, therecipecritic.com/2017/02/best-red-velvet-cupcakes-cream-cheese-frosting/.
Jim, Maryland. “Gingersnaps (Soft & Chewy).” Gingersnaps Soft And Chewy Recipe - Baking. Genius Kitchen, Genius Kitchen, 14 June 2007, www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/ gingersnaps-soft-chewy-234707.
Rory, et al. “Incredibly Delicious Italian Cream Cake Recipe.” Allrecipes, Allrecipes.com, 2 Nov. 2007, allrecipes.com/recipe/7871/incredibly-delicious-italian-cream-cake/.
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