Iced Cappuccino and Warm Romance--Recipe for a Great Night!

Easy Iced Coffee (iced cappuccino)

2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons warm water
6 fluid ounces cold milk

In sealable jar, combine instant coffee, sugar, and warm water. Cover the jar and shake until it's foamy. Pour into a glass full of ice. Fill the glass with milk. Adjust to taste if necessary.

Unique Authors with Unique Books - Sarah Barnard with Maple Coffee and Butterscotch, Walnut and Coffee Bread Pudding

Sarah started writing because of a dare and the first draft of the resulting book was written in 30 days.











From that "Dare" book: The Portal Between.
The creature’s head turn slowly to look at each of them in turn. Blue lips slowly curled to reveal sharply pointed teeth in a cruel smile above a short curled goatee beard. Broad nostrils flared and seemed to be savouring the smell of their fear. The deep midnight blue skin was lightly scaled around the eyes and mouth. The scales were heavier on the thickly muscled neck that sloped into broad shoulders. His arms and chest were corded with thick muscle that rippled beneath the scales every time he moved. Naked to the waist he was very obviously male. His legs tapered away from his narrow waist and were encased in tight leather trousers that clung to his powerful legs. Legs that ended in a hoof, a cloven hoof. Tight dark curls adorned the lower legs, pouring from beneath the tight leather trousers at mid calf. The same dark curls wove tightly about his head, and cascaded down his back in waves. His ears rose to a sharp point, each just below a small but sharply pointed horn.



Maple Coffee

Ingredients:
•1 cup hot coffee
•1/4 cup maple syrup
•1 cup half & half
•Whipped cream
Preparation:
Heat the milk and syrup together in a saucepan, but do not let it boil. Stir in the coffee. Serve topped with whipped cream.
Serves 2


Butterscotch, Walnut and Coffee Bread Pudding

Ingredients

¾ lb brioche or challah 4 oz walnuts
10 oz butterscotch chips 16 fl oz milk
2 tbspn instant espresso or coffee granules 3 large eggs
5 ½ oz sugar ¼ teaspoon salt
2 tbspn unsalted butter


Discard crust from bread and cut enough bread into ½-inch cubes to measure 6 cups. In a large baking pan, dry bread, uncovered, at room temperature for 12 hours. (Alternatively, dry bread in a 250°F oven for one hour).

Butter a 10-inch pie plate (1½ quarts). Chop walnuts and toast golden. Cool walnuts. In a bowl, toss together bread, half of walnuts, and butterscotch chips and transfer to pie plate. In a saucepan heat one cup of milk until it just begins to boil and remove pan from heat. Add espresso or coffee granules, stirring until dissolved, and stir in remaining cup of milk.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and salt and whisk in espresso mixture until well combined. Pour custard slowly and evenly over bread mixture. Chill pudding, covered, for at least one hour and up to one day. Sprinkle remaining walnuts evenly over pudding. Cut butter into bits and dot pudding with it. Bake pudding in middle of oven until bubbling and golden - about 40 minutes. Serve pudding warm or at room temperature.

Unique Authors with Unique Books - Mary Anna Evans with A Night In Florida and Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

Mary Anna is a licensed chemical engineer who has traveled the country assessing the danger of environmental contamination and recommending ways to clean it up. She's here to tell you that there are some scary things out there. Fortunately, there are smart and dedicated people like her protagonist Larabeth McLeod who are working to clean up our messes.



Babykiller was meticulous in all things. It was his defining quality. Attention to detail was the key to longevity in his chosen profession, and Babykiller had been in business a long, long time. Most of his competitors from the early days were dead or in prison, and he couldn't claim responsibility for all their misfortune. No, they had simply chosen a dangerous line of work. He was well on his way to outliving a second generation and he was considering retirement. At least he had been, before the oncologist's verdict. Retirement planning seemed so futile when death was certain...Babykiller had more money than he could have spent in a normal lifetime. He had more than a fair share of cunning. And he had a long list of scores to settle with the world before he took his leave of it. It was time to retire and focus his considerable attentions on something more interesting. Or someone more interesting...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Night in Florida

Ingredients:
3/4 cup coffee
1 1/2 tsp Kahlua
1 1/2 tsp Frangelico
1 1/2 tsp Grand Marnier
1 1/2 tsp Bailey's Irish Cream

Preparation:

Mix the liqueurs together, then add to hot coffee. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

Serves 1


Key Lime Cheesecake Bars
(From Better Homes and Gardens)

ingredients

6 squares low-fat honey graham crackers, finely crushed (1/2 cup)
2 Tbsp. margarine, melted
1 tsp. sugar
1 4-serving-size pkg. sugar-free low-calorie lime-flavored gelatin
3/4 cup boiling water
1 16-oz. container fat-free cottage cheese (1-3/4 cups)
1 8-oz. pkg. fat-free cream cheese, softened
1 8-oz. container frozen fat-free whipped dessert topping, thawed
Key Limes or limes, cut in wedges (optional)

directions

1.In small bowl combine graham crackers, margarine, and sugar. Press crumb mixture in the bottom of a 2-quart square baking dish. Refrigerate while preparing filling.
2.In large bowl combine gelatin and water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Set aside.
3.In blender or food processor combine cottage cheese and cream cheese. Cover and blend or process until smooth, stopping several times to scrape down sides. Whisk 1/2 cup of the cottage cheese mixture into the gelatin mixture. Whisk in remaining cottage cheese mixture until smooth. Fold in whipped dessert topping. Spoon filling over chilled crumb mixture.
4.Cover and refrigerate 8 to 24 hours or until filling is firm. To serve, cut in squares. Top with lime wedges. Makes 9 servings.

Unique Authors with Unique Books - Spiced Coffee and Cinnamon Raisen Coffee Cake with Larry Enright

I've had the opportunity to get to know Larry Enright on Facebook and Twitter, and he is quite unique, as is his debut novel Four Years From Home. If you haven't read my review of the book you can see it here: Review

In 1968, I had a summer job as a valet at the Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh. The most exciting days were those when a Major League baseball team came to town to play the Pirates because the teams all stayed at the Hilton. I met many famous players that summer and one manager, Grady Hatton. At the time, he was the manager of the Houston Astros. They had a terrible record. He seemed like a nice guy. He tipped well. So I wished him good luck that day. The Pirates trounced them, and Grady Hatton was fired after the game. He was replaced by Harry Walker. Lucky for Harry, we never met.

Four Years From Home is a real bargain for $.99. Have a cup of spiced coffee and slice of Cinnamon Raisen Coffee Cake. Read my review. Read all the reviews. Download a sample, and see if this is the book for you. It is indeed a unique debut novel.




The cold glare of morning pushed rudely through the window and washed away a dream I couldn’t remember. It had been quite a while since I’d remembered my dreams — four or five years easily. When I was growing up, they had always been so vivid and real, usually in Technicolor by Deluxe with Dolby sound, but one day they just stopped. I’d wake up, knowing I had been dreaming but unable to remember anything at all about it. Like now. Hungry, smelly, pasty-mouthed, head still pounding; for an instant I couldn’t decide which of these problems to fix first.

Spiced Coffee

Ingredients

* 4 to 7 whole cloves
* ½ inch cinnamon bark (whole cinnamon)
* 4 to 7 whole green cardamom
* 1 to 3 tsp. Brown sugar (if desired)
* Whipped cream
* Shaved Chocolate and cinnamon sprinkle
* Coffee

Brew a pot of your favorite coffee, a little too strong.

In a small pan, add 1 1/2 cup water, 4-7 cloves, 1/2 inch cinnamon bark broken up, 4-7 whole cardamom -split the tips, and 1-3 teaspoons of sugar. Heat up to boiling point for 3-4 minutes.

Mix the coffee and the spice-mix, pour into cups, top with whipped cream and sprinkle with chocolate and cinnamon.

Add more sugar if desired.



Cinnamon Raisen Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1-tsp. salt
2 eggs
5 tbsps. white (distilled) vinegar plus enough Milk to make 1 cup liquid
1/2-cup raisins
1/4 cup melted shortening
1/4 cup chopped nuts

Combine 1/2-cup sugar, butter and cinnamon until well blended; set aside.

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and remaining 1/2-cup sugar into large bowl.

Beat eggs in medium bowl; add vinegar mixture and mix well. Blend in raisins and shortening. Pour egg mixture all at once into flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Spread half of batter in greased 8-inch square baking pan; sprinkle with half of cinnamon mixture. Top with remaining batter; draw knife through batter several times to distribute filling slightly. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon mixture and nuts.

Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cut into squares and serve warm.