The Black Spot Cookie by Edward Chupack

My name is Edward Chupack. I do like my cookies and even though I tend to write about grisly matters, I have a wonderful "pirate" recipe called The Black Spot Cookie. SILVER, by the way, is my first novel. I am, in my "other life" an attorney with a large law firm.

Here is my recipe:

3 cups brown and white sugar

1 cup butter

4 whipped egg whites

2 teaspoons chocolate extract

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups chocolate pieces

4 tablespoons rum

Mix sugar, butter, eggs and extract. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Add chocolate pieces. Use spatula to spread mixture in two large pans. Bake at 350* until just hard. Cut into circles, drizzle with rum and serve on a large platter.



I recently wrote a novel, "SILVER--My Own Tale As Told By Me With A Goodly Amount Of Murder" that has received universally good reviews, including, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly (starred review) and in the March 16th edition of the New York Times:

"The resurrection of fiction’s most popular characters — in novels like Geraldine Brooks’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “March” and Donald McCaig’s “Rhett Butler’s People” — has become a popular genre in recent times. But these books, with their well-polished 21st-century prose, have little in common with Edward Chupack’s “Silver,” a scabrous reimagining of the life of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous creation. Instead, this witty romp resembles nothing so much as George Macdonald Fraser’s Flashman novels, with their deliberately antique 19th-century style. Like Flashman, Long John Silver makes no apologies for his behavior. And, like Fraser, Chupack makes no belated attempts to find heroism in an antihero." (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/books/review/Hughes-t.html?_r=1&8bu&emc=bu&oref=slogin)

Additional reviews are at http://www.silverpirate.com

Super Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies by Leslie Dicken

Leslie Dicken's favourite cookies are: Super Easy Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 pkg Devil's Food Cake Mix (or any chocolate cake mix will work)
2 eggs
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
2 cups Choc Chips (or use other chip types for variety)
3/4 cup Nuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs and oil. Mix with wooden spoon or on low speed of mixer. Dough will be stiff. Stir in chips and nuts.

2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake 8-12 minutes or just set. Cool one minute on baking sheet then transfer to rack.




Leslie Dicken's writes romances - from historicals to futuristics and sometimes the eras in between. She lives with her husband, three children and a fiesty cat just a short drive outside Washington, D. C. She can be reached at leslie@lesliedicken.com. Visit Leslie at: http://www.lesliedicken.com

Chocolate-Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries by Chistine Redding

My name is Chris Redding and my favourite cookie recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen. They truly are some of the best I have ever tasted.



Chocolate-Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries

We like these cookies made with pecans and dried sour cherries, but walnuts or skinned hazelnuts can be substituted for the pecans, and dried cranberries for the cherries. Quick oats used in place of the old-fashioned oats will yield a cookie with slightly less chewiness. If your baking sheets are smaller than the ones described in the recipe, bake the cookies in three batches instead of two. These cookies keep for 4 to 5 days stored in an airtight container or zipper-lock plastic bag, but they will lose their crisp exterior and become uniformly chewy after a day or so.

Makes sixteen 4-inch cookies

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (6 1/4 ounces)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 1/4 cups rolled oats , old-fashioned, (3 1/2 ounces)

1 cup toasted pecans (4 ounces), chopped

1 cup dried tart cherries (5 ounces), chopped coarse

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped into chunks about size of
chocolate chips (about 3/4 cup)

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar (10 1/2 ounces), preferably dark

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract


1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, stir together oats, pecans, cherries, and chocolate.

3. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until no sugar lumps remain, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low speed until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl; with mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture; mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running on low, gradually add oat/nut mixture; mix until just incorporated. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

4. Divide dough evenly into 16 portions, each about 1/4 cup, then roll between palms into balls about 2 inches in diameter; stagger 8 balls on each baking sheet, spacing them about 2 1/2 inches apart. Using hands, gently press each dough ball to 1 inch thickness. Bake both baking sheets 12 minutes, rotate them front to back and top to bottom, then continue to bake until cookies are medium brown and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will seem underdone and will appear raw, wet, and shiny in cracks), 8 to 10 minutes longer. Do not overbake.

5. Cool cookies on baking sheets on wire rack 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

STEP BY STEP: Loading Up the Flavor

CHOCOLATE: Irregular, hand-chopped chunks are better than chips. Use bittersweet chocolate to reduce overall sweetness.

NUTS: Pecans are our top choice, followed by walnuts. Toast nuts in 350-degree oven to maximize their flavor.

DRIED FRUIT: Choose something tart, such as cherries or cranberries, and chop coarse.

STEP BY STEP: Getting the Cookie Texture Right

PROPERLY BAKED: When the cookies are set but still look wet between the fissures, take them out of the oven. Once cooled, the cookies will bend, not snap.

BAKED TOO LONG: Cookies that look matte (rather than shiny) have been overbaked. Once cooled, their texture will be crumbly and dry.



Chris Redding wanted to be a writer since she was ten
years old She belongs to Romance Writers of America
and New Jersey Romance Writers. She lives in New
Jersey with her husband, two kids, a hound dog, a
British cat and a black spotted rat. She is the author of The Corpse Whisperer and The Drinking Gamne. Visit Chris' website at:

http://www.chrisreddingauthor.com/

Molly Brown's Molasses Drop Cakes by Joyce Lohse

I adopted this historic recipe (pre-"cookie") and called it "Molly Brown's" to serve at my booksigning at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver. Much like gingerbread, these cookies taste great with a BIG glass of milk while reading my book: The Unsinkable: The Molly Brown Story.

This recipe is from the 1896 Fannie Farmer Cookbook

1 cup molasses
1 egg
1/2 cup melted butter
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons soda
1 cup hot water
4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix molasses, butter, and sugar. Add soda and beat thoroughly, then add water, egg well beaten, and flour mixed and sifted with ginger and salt. Drop by spoonfuls on a buttered sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in a hot oven.

[Bake 350º - you can use parchment paper instead of buttered cookie sheet.]
Cook until golden brown - yum!



Unsinkable: The Molly Brown Story
by Joyce B. Lohse, Filter Press, $8.95, ISBN: 0-86541-081-X
For more information, visit my web site:

Creative Cookie Recipe by Velda Brotherton

I have a cookie recipe handed down to me by my mother. She simply called it Basic Cookie Recipe, and I call it creative because it can be used in such a variety of ways to create yummy cookies that are oh, so easy to make.

CREATIVE COOKIE RECIPE
2/3 c. oil
1/2 t vanilla
1-1/2 c sugar
3 c flour
1 egg
1/4 t salt
1/3 c milk
3 t baking powder

Cream oil and sugar, add milk, egg, and vanilla, mix. Add dry ingredients and mix, drop from tsp. on greased cookie sheet, bake 325 degrees 10-12 minutes.

Change sugar to 3/4 c white, 3/4 c brown and add chocolate chips;
Or use 2 c flour and 2 c oatmeal, raisins and nuts; add 3 T cocoa.
Be creative.
For soft, chewy cookies, bake less time, for crispy cookies, bake till brown.

CREATIVE COOKIE RECIPE
2/3 c. oil
1/2 t vanilla
1-1/2 c sugar
3 c flour
1 egg
1/4 t salt
1/3 c milk
3 t baking powder

Cream oil and sugar, add milk, egg, and vanilla, mix. Add dry ingredients and mix, drop from tsp. on greased cookie sheet, bake
325 degrees 10-12 minutes.
Change sugar to 3/4 c white, 3/4 c brown and add chocolate chips; Or use 2 c flour and 2 c oatmeal, raisins and nuts; add 3 T cocoa. Be creative. For soft, chewy cookies, bake less time, for crispy cookies, bake till brown.





Velda Brotherton is the author of Fly With The Mourning Dove, a creative non-fiction story about a young girl who accompanies her family to a homestead in New Mexico after World War I. Her most recent book, is a back-in-print western historical romance, Images In Scarlet that follows a young woman photographer west on the Santa Fe Trail after the Civil War.

Visit Velda Brotherton at her web sites at:
http://www.veldabrotherton.com
http://vbrotherton.blogspot.com
http://velda-brotherton.blogspot.com
http://vimeo.com/354804

Millionaire's Shortbread by Rosemary Morris

Millionaire's Shortbread.

Makes 12/14 slices.

With the buttery combination of Shortbread, Caramel and chocolate, this recipe is a family favourite.

For the base.

125g (4oz) butter, softened.
60g (2oz) caster sugar
175g (6oz) plain flour

For the filling.

250g. (8oz) butter
125g (4oz) caster sugar
4 level tablespoons golden syrup
397-450g can condensed milk

For the topping

250g (8oz) plain chocolate
15 g (1/2 oz) butter

28 x 18 cm (11 x 7 in) oblong tin lined with baking parchment.

Set the oven to moderate, Gas Mark 4 or 180C/350F

To make base. Measure all the ingredients itno a bowl and work to a firm dough, or whiz together in a food processor, until ingredients just bind together. Press into the base of the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin.

To make the filling. Melt butter in a bowl in the microwave on Full power for 1 - 2 minutes. Add remaining ingreients and mix well. Cook for 1 minute at a time, stirring well after each minute, until mixture turns a goldn caramel colour - this will take about 8 - 12 minutes, depending ont he power of the mincrowave.

If you don't have a microwave, melt butter in a saucepan and add remaining ingreidnets for the filling an heat gently until dissoloved. Bring to the goil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring regularly, for 8 - 10 minutes. Then pour over base. Leave to cool and set.

To make the topping. Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and melt either in a microwave or over a pan of hot water. Stir and pour over caramel. Leave until starting to set, then mark into slices. Leave until fully set before removing from tin and cutting into slices.

Not suitable for freezing.





I was born in Sidcup Kent, England and lived there until my parents moved to Sutton, Surrey when I was six years old. By that age, I always 'had my head in a book' when I wasn't making up stories, even when I should have been concentrating on other things. Today, apart from writing, I enjoy my studies of Indian classical literature, reading for pleasure and research, visiting places of interest, cooking, gardening and creative crafts. Unfortunately, I have a sweet tooth which I try to control. Time spent with my family, most of whom live near me in Hertfordshire, England is precious.

Visit me at my website at: www.rosemarymorris.co.uk


Rosemary

rosemarymorris.blogspot.com
http://wwwpenwoman.gather.com

Tangled Hearts set in the reign of Queen Anne the last Stuart monarch
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