Quinn’s Cookie Exchange

You know… I think today is the first day of Christmas… I guess it depends how you count, but I debated doing the countdown, but I think life is just too busy to blog twelve days in a row at this stage in the game.

So Angela Felsted SAVED ME! I have a fun event I’ve agreed to do… Though of course I COULD SAY…

On the first Day of Christmas my true love gave to me…

A fabulous cookie recipe!!!


But FIRST, I will do a little WHY. Angela has just released Chaste, about a Mormon teen and the struggles he has between following the teachings of his faith and the yearnings of a normal teenage boy who is in the sights of a very determined girl.  

Here is the Amazon blurb:

When he steps into his physics class on the first day of senior year, Quinn Walker is too exhausted from staying up all night with his three-month-old nephew to deal with moral dilemmas. As a devout Mormon who has vowed to wait until marriage for sex, the last thing he needs is a very hot and very sexy Katarina Jackson as his physics partner. Regrettably, he has no choice.

Kat feels invisible in her mansion of a home six months after losing her older brother in a fatal car crash and will do anything to get her parents’ attention. Since her pastor father has no love for Quinn’s ‘fake’ religion and her ex-boyfriend refuses to leave her alone, she makes an impulsive bet with her friends to seduce her holier-than-thou lab partner by Christmas.

Bio: Angela Felsted is a Northern Virginia native who is overly fond of Olive Garden and Red Lobster. She grew up in a faithful Mormon home with three brothers and one sister where she learned to stand up for herself by tickling her attackers until they broke out into laughing fits. Her work has appeared in issue fifteen of Drown in Your Own Fears, Chanterelle's Notebook and Vine Leaves Literary Journal. Her chapbook, Cleave, was published by finishing line press in 2012.


Angela wanted to do something FUN for her book promo, so she asked several of us to share a cookie recipe in honor of Quinn. I have to say… my cookie choice is terribly appropriate. Temptation being the connecting theme…


Peanut Butter Temptations

Ingredients
• About 40 (13-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures or 12 (0.8 oz. each) REESE'S Peanut Butter Cups, quartered
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine , softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions
1. 1 Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from candies. Line small muffin cups (1-3/4 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups.
2. 2 Beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, peanut butter, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy in large bowl. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; place one in each prepared muffin cup. Do not flatten.
3. 3 Bake 10 to 12 minutes until puffed and lightly browned; remove from oven. Immediately press peanut butter cup or piece onto each cookie. Cool completely in muffin pan. About 3-1/2 dozen cookies.
4. And then my OWN contribution to make them Christmassy, when the peanut butter cups are a little melty, sprinkle Christmas sprinkles (mine are tiny trees) onto the top.

So enjoy the cookies, Get around to others with recipes (listed at the bottom of this post), and go order Angela's book!!!