In my Triple X series about identical triplets reuniting, Lexie, Maxie, and Roxie have a tradition of drinking bourbon whenever something good happens. Fortunately at Roxie’s bar, The Ruckus, there’s plenty available. You could share a drink with your friends, too, but the following recipe is more family friendly. They’re so addictive, soon you might be saying, “This calls for a celebration! We need bourbon.”

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Bourbon Balls

1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

½ c. white sugar

3 T. corn syrup

½ c. bourbon

2 ½ cups crushed vanilla wafers

1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

1/3 c. confectioners’ sugar

Heat chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for one minute. Stir and continue to heat for 20 second intervals until chocolate is melted and smooth. (If melting chocolate on stove, stir constantly and remove from heat as soon as all lumps are gone.)

Stir in sugar, corn syrup, and bourbon. Add crushed vanilla wafers and nuts. Mix thoroughly, cover, and refrigerate until firm.

Roll chilled mixture into bite-size balls. Roll bourbon balls in confectioner’s sugar (or crushed walnuts or candy sprinkles). Store in a covered container to allow flavors to blend.

It’s time for this identical triplet to meet her match.

Can a wild child ever really be tamed? Growing up in foster care has made Roxie Cannon tough and self-reliant, but being alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She’s finally found her sisters. Is it time she met her match?

Roxie should be on top of the world. She’s formed bonds with identical sisters she never knew she had, and she’s buying the biker bar she’s managed for years. The feisty brunette has everything she’s ever wanted. Almost. Two things still elude her: answers to why her family was split apart and a man of her own to love. Seeing her sisters with their soulmates has made her aware she’s still the odd one out. Yet that all starts to change when a rough-and-tumble hottie from her past walks in The Ruckus’ door, wanting a second chance.

Billy knows trouble when he sees it, and Roxie is commotion in motion. They’ve always set sparks off one another. This time, he’s promised himself he won’t get burned. Yet things get serious when he learns of Roxie’s quest to find her parents. Can he save his hot-blooded lover from being hurt? Or will the wounded little girl inside her never trust him again?

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http://kimberlydean.com

Thanks so much for having me back at Romance Cooks. Catch Your Breath, the 5th book in the O'Leary series, has released. This is Moira's story and Moira is a girl who loves her chocolate. "Chocolate might not be able to take the place of a great orgasm, but in a pinch it was an adequate substitute." Here's her recipe for brownies.

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Moira’s Super-Fudgy Brownies

1½ sticks of butter

1¼ cup sugar

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup hot water

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of 9-by-13-inch pan.

Melt butter in microwave and let cool slightly. In a bowl, mix sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Stir in melted butter and mix well. Stir in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Batter will be shiny. Stir in flour and mix well. Mix in hot water. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spread evenly into pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a rack. Cut and enjoy with ice cream or a glass of milk.

As kids they steered clear of one another--but now a beautiful, well-connected reporter and a sexy, driven detective are all grown-up and on the job. . .

Moira O'Leary's work as a reporter gives her access to some of Chicago's swankiest soirées. She knows how to navigate the jet-set crowd, and her style and confidence help her blend right in. But when her childhood crush starts popping up at posh events, her poise begins to falter--until she realizes she has the upper hand in a high-stakes game of secrets and seduction. . .

Jimmy O'Malley has always tried to avoid his friend Liam's little sister. Something about Moira spelled trouble. But he's out of his element working undercover in Chicago's high society, and Moira is his ticket to the inner circle. As sparks begin to fly--and their chemistry heats up--Moira gets dangerously close to his investigation. Will Jimmy be forced to push her away to keep her safe--or will they surrender to a desire that could leave them breathless?

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Web site: http://www.ShannynSchroeder.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shannyn-Schroeder/536050196443173?ref=hl&ref_type=bookmark

In Problems in Paradise, the third book in my Texas Nights series, the heroine—Eden Durant—owns Paradise Garden Café. People around the small town of Shelbyville are a little suspicious of her healthy fare, but they’re slowly trying her “clean food” menu. But when three men in town get hit with food poisoning after eating at her restaurant, Eden’s future and her lover’s election chances are jeopardized.

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Serves 8

Eden’s Killer Quiche

(adapted from Rachel Ray’s Basic Quiche Recipe)

Ingredients:

· Store bought or homemade pie crust (I favor the refrigerated ones from Trader Joe’s)

· Chanterelle powder (only if you want to recreate Eden’s quiche. If not, you can omit.)

· 6 eggs

· 1 cup milk

· 2/3 cup cream

· 1/2 cup of chevré (goat cheese)

· 1 cup prosciutto, chopped

· Pinch of nutmeg (optional)

· Pinch of salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 425ºF. If your oven is anything like mine, that’ll take half an hour J.

Whisk the eggs in a decent sized bowl. Then dump in the milk and cream and whisk again. Stir in chevré, prociutto, and spices (except for the chanterelle powder, which really isn’t a spice).

Sprinkle the chanterelle powder over the crust (It’s a mushroom powder. And yeah, I have no idea if you’ll ever be able to find this so don’t get all hyped up about it because it’s the ahem…killer…ingredient in the book – LOL).

Pour your eggish mixture into the piecrust and bake for 30ish minutes. If it’s still jiggly in the middle, pop it back in for another 10 minutes or so. If you don’t like your crust too brown, consider wrapping the edges in aluminum foil after about the first 15 minutes the quiche is in the oven.

Okay, now it’s time for me to admit I’ve yet to cook this exact quiche, but if you try it, let Eden and me know what you think! Happy quiche-ing, y’all!

Eden Durant hasn't always been Eden Durant. She's made a fresh start in Shelbyville, Texas, far from her mother's notoriety. Running the Paradise Garden Café is as much excitement as Eden wants—or it was, until she meets Beck Childress. Although he's the one man who could expose her past, she's willing to open up enough to see if he might be her future.

Chief Deputy Childress is determined to get to know the real Eden, when he isn't busy cleaning up after the sheriff and running in the election to replace him. When several men fall sick after eating in Eden's café, he investigates even as her mysterious past raises both his suspicions and his protective instincts.

As their relationship heats up, so do the pressures of Beck's campaign. When Eden's secrets are revealed, jeopardizing his dream of becoming sheriff, he'll need to choose: serve and protect the town he loves or the woman who makes it home.

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Cobbler is an easy and delicious dessert made with fresh or frozen fruit, an old favorite Faint Heart’s Cara Carson includes on her menu. Once you’ve prepared your fruit, it’s a simple matter of “cobbling” together the crust and filling. Give it a few minutes to cool before dipping a big slab then add a scoop of your favorite ice cream on top. Yum!

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Fruit Cobbler

Crust:

1 ½ cups flour

1 stick (½ cup) very cold salted butter

Note: The key to flaky crust is to prevent the butter from softening before baking.

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 ½ tablespoons ice water

~In food processor, blend flour and salt. (If you don’t have a food processor, use a pastry cutter or two butter knives to blend butter into flour.)

~Cut cold butter into ½ inch chunks and add to processor. Pulse a few times until butter is incorporated but there are still pea-sized chunks.

~Add water and pulse until mixture comes together in rough ball. Add a bit more water if needed.

~Working quickly so the dough doesn’t warm, place dough on piece of plastic wrap and form into disc. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least a half hour.

Note: Dough may be frozen at this point for later use. Double wrap. Thaw in fridge overnight.

Butter bottom and sides of 9x9" or 8x8" baking dish. Heat oven to 425 degrees.

On cool surface, roll out pie crust larger than pan. For top crust, cut dough to the size of pan plus 1" per side. Cut rest of dough into ½" - ¾" strips.

Assembly:

~Place half of fruit in buttered pan, then sprinkle with one half of sugar/flour mixture, then place a layer of dough strips, not overlapping but close together.

~Add rest of fruit then rest of sugar-flour mixture over the top. Dot with butter.

~Place top crust over the top. Fold edges under inside dish rim and crimp in decorative pattern against the sides of the pan.

~With a fork or knife tip, poke a few steam vent holes in top crust.

~Bake about 35 minutes, until crust is golden and juices are bubbling through crust.

Filling Options:

Note: If fruit is frozen, increase amount of flour by 2 tablespoons

Peach

5 cups peeled sliced peaches

1 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

⅓ cup flour

2 tablespoons butter

Blueberry

5 cups berries, fresh or frozen

1 ¼ cups sugar

⅔ cup flour

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons butter

Blackberry

5 cups berries, fresh or frozen

1 ¾ cups sugar

½ cup flour

2 tablespoons butter

Rhubarb

5 cups washed, trimmed rhubarb cut into 1 inch sections

1 ¾ cups sugar

½ cup flour

2 tablespoons butter

Cara Carson leaves the past and intimate relationships behind with her plan to open Cara’s Kitchen. Featuring delicious carry-out food based on her grandmother’s recipes, this business will be her safe, emotion-free, forever-after marriage. The vintage house she’s bought for her enterprise requires remodeling before she can open. She’s hired Woods Construction for the job, charmed by friendly old Mr. Woods. But when the first day of work arrives, he’s not on the job site. Instead, a guy on a bulldozer is busy tearing up the side yard where her parking lot will be. Worse, the bulldozer is mired in mud and about to wreck the big weeping willow tree she wanted saved. The bulldozer guy can’t hear her yell over the noise of his machinery so she charges across the mud. A few steps in, she captures his attention. But she’s stuck! Humiliated that this stranger has to pluck her up and carry her out, Cara becomes horrified that for a few glorious moments in this gorgeous man’s arms, she experiences comfort, security, and a visceral hunger she thought she’d never feel again.

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Website: www.lizzieashworth.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLizzieAshworth

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7171772.Lizzie_Ashworth?from_search=true

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lizzie-Ashworth/e/B00DJWDJHC/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4?qid=1397236426&sr=8-4

In my family, we're all about the food. There's nothing like a Sunday, a holiday, or a birthday without some homemade goodies. As we're celebrating all three of those this weekend, this is a family-ish recipe that we sourced from the Joy of Cooking and tweaked ingredients and amounts to meet our own tastes.

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Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Bundt Cake

Cake dry ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cake wet ingredients:

1 1/4 cups sour cream*
1 teaspoon vanilla*
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs

Other cake ingredients:

1 pint of washed blueberries
1 tablespoon or so of lemon zest

Streusel ingredients:

1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans (I prefer pecans for this recipe)
1/3 cup sugar or packed light brown sugar or a combination thereof (I prefer the brown sugar)
5 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Materials:

Bundt pan
Pan or dish in which to melt the butter either on the stovetop or in a microwave--use your judgment
Spatula
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Stand mixer or a large bowl in which you can use a hand mixer
Medium bowl
Whisk
Smaller bowl that's easy to pour things out of
Pat of butter to grease the Bundt pan with

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare the streusel by mixing all of the ingredients together in one bowl until it resembles wet sand.

In the small bowl, mix together the sour cream and the vanilla (hence the star by them in the ingredients list). Let this sit for a moment.

In the medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the cake and then whisk together so they are fully incorporated with each other.

In the stand mixer--or in the large bowl and using the hand mixer--cream together the softened butter and sugar. When the sugar is fully mixed into the butter, creating a sandy look once again, add in the eggs one at a time. After you have mixed in the eggs, pour in 1/3 of the dry ingredients mix. Mix this together until mostly incorporated. Add in 1/2 of the sour cream mixture. Mix together. Add in another 1/3 of the dry ingredients. Mix. Add in last 1/2 of wet ingredients. Mix. Add in last 1/3 of dry ingredients. Mix. Use the spatula to make sure all of the ingredients are incorporated. At this stage, you are done with the mechanized mixer. Fold in the blueberries and the lemon zest with the spatula.

Grease the Bundt pan with the butter if you haven't already. Pour 1/3 to 1/2 of the cake mixture into the Bundt pan and even it out with the spatula. Pour the streusel mix on top of this layer and evenly spread it. Pour the remainder of the cake batter on top of the streusel and even it out. Bake for 30-40 minutes in the oven, or until the top is nicely browned and a tester stick comes out clean. Enjoy warm, cold, slathered in fresh strawberries or however you like!

Best Erotic Romance 2014 contains sixteen stories of sizzling sex and romance. From the beaches of St. Thomas in Kelly Maher's "Closing the Deal" to a Texas ranch in Crystal Jordan's "Stay With Me", these authors will have you reaching for an icy drink to cool yourself down. Edited by Kristina Wright, and foreword by Lauren Dane.

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http://www.kellymaher.com

What’s better on a lovely summer’s evening than a decadent dessert that includes chocolate-covered strawberries and takes a couple of minutes to make?! In A Perfect Trade, Jenny makes her signature dessert -- her special version of an English dessert called Eton Mess (which she picked up from reading her beloved, imported celebrity magazines!). If you don’t have chocolate-covered strawberries, you can use fresh strawberries and add broken up pieces of chocolate or chocolate sauce to the mix.

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Jenny’s Eton Mess

1lb of fresh, chocolate-covered or chocolate-dipped strawberries, hulled and cut into quarters

1 pint of double cream

2 large of 4 small meringues, broken

1 tbsp grated chocolate.

To Make:

Get a large glass bowl or serving dish. Drop in the cut chocolate-covered strawberries and broken meringue and mix.

Pour over double cream and mix again.

Sprinkle grated chocolate over the top.

Serve and enjoy!

A win-win negotiation?

Truman "Tru" Jelinek's life is pretty much off the rails. With his professional hockey career on thin ice, and his personal life falling apart, he's ready to implement some serious changes. Helping Jenny Martin—the only girl he's ever loved—make her dreams a reality is a good place to start.

There's just one problem: Jenny doesn't want his help. She barely wants to speak to him. But Tru is prepared to negotiate a deal that even Jenny can't refuse. As trading favors turns into sharing passion, he has to face the truth that when it comes to Jenny, the game is far from over.

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www.annasugden.com

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