At this time of year everyone's thoughts turn to …pumpkins! Some people focus on carving them but I prefer to eat them. J

I recently tried this recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins and they are delicious. I don't have time to spend hours in the kitchen as I'm usually busy writing, so I can assure you they are quick and easy to make. Enjoy!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients

MUFFINS

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

TOPING

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk (The white can be added to the muffin mixture.)

3 tablespoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In bowl one put the pumpkin, oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir thoroughly with a wooden spoon until well mixed.

In bowl two put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix with a fork.

Add the contents of bowl two to bowl one gradually, mixing well with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended.

For the toping, mix together the cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

Grease a standard sized muffin tin.

Evenly distribute the muffin mixture between the twelve cups.

Add a small spoonful of the cream-cheese mix to the top of each muffin and swirl in with a skewer.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees, turning the tin halfway through cooking.

Store in an airtight container. Lasts for two to three days.

First in a Christmas trilogy set in Naples and the Amalfi coast 

Desperate to forget her controlling ex fiancé and have a fresh start, Claire goes to Italy to write about how the Italians celebrate Christmas. Leo has his own troubled past to overcome, but when he rescues Claire from the rain and takes her home to meet his daughter, the magical Italian Christmas offers them both a second chance at happiness.

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www.helenscotttaylor.co.uk

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One of the things I loved best about visiting my grandmother’s farm in Arkansas was her cooking, and anything she made with muscadines was a special treat. If you’ve ever seen these grapelike berries, you know they’re a little tough on the outside. Homesteaders learned how to make the best of every part of the muscadine, letting nothing go to waste.

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You will need:

• pastry for 2-crust 9-inch pie

• 2 quarts ripe muscadines

• lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 1/2 cups sugar

• 1 tablespoon butter, cut in small pieces

Line a pie plate with half of the rolled out pastry. Refrigerate the pie shell and remaining pastry until ready to fill pie.

Mash the muscadines. Separate hulls from pulp and set aside. Strain through a sieve to get juice. (You can use the pulp to make yummy muscadine jelly or discard along with the seed.) Cook the reserved hulls in juice until tender, adding a little water if needed.

Let cool, then add lemon juice, flour, and sugar. Put fruit mixture in the prepared bottom crust. Carefully arrange top crust over fruit, lattice style to allow steam to escape. Flute edge. Bake in a 400° oven for approximately 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375° and bake 30 minutes longer.

She played right into his hands.

Possessing uncanny people-reading skills like her mama, Philadelphia “Dell” Samuels has spent thirteen years in her aunt’s rustic Ozarks home, telling fortunes over playing cards and trying to pass as white. But the treacherous Mississippi River childhood her mama dragged her away from finally catches up to her on a steamboat captained by her old friend Rory Campbell.

Known to his crew as the Devil’s Henchman, Rory is a gambler in need of a miracle. Following the cold trail of his boss’s wife and bastard daughter, Dell, Rory has only one goal in mind: saving his crew from the boss’s cruelty by ruining him. The only one who can defeat the Monster of the Mississippi is the man trained to take his place. Rory’s convinced he can lure his boss into a high-stakes game against a rival, and with Dell’s people-reading skills, the monster will lose everything.

Under Rory’s tutelage and protection, Dell agrees to the tortured captain’s plan. Passion and peril quickly bring them together as lovers. But when Rory’s plan goes awry, the lives of the innocent depend on Dell’s ability to read the situation correctly—and hopefully save them all.

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www.sandrajonesromance.com

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So how about some luscious and creamy tiramisu with an autumnal twist? It’s no bake, and so unbelievably simple, even I can make it. It’s decadently rich and sinfully sweet and will satisfy your wildest desires. Well, maybe not your wildest desires.

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Sinful Pumpkin Tiramisu
Ingredients:
· 8 oz. mascarpone cheese

· 1 cup (1/2 of an 8 oz can) pumpkin puree (make sure you get the can of 100% pumpkin puree and not the pumpkin pie filling – they often look the same)

· 1 cup heavy whipping cream

· ½ cup sugar

· 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

· 1 tsp. cinnamon

· 1/8 tsp. nutmeg

· ¾ cup espresso or coffee (you can try this with the pumpkin spice coffees out now to make everything more pumpkin spicey, but I think they are pretty dreadful and, really, you  do want more of a coffee taste. I mean, don’t you? Set it aside until it cools to room temperature.

· 2 tbsps Tia Maria or Kahlua, dark room or other coffee liqueur. (Optional. If you don’t use it, though, you might want to add a smidge more espresso or coffee.)

· 2 packages soft lady fingers (the packages are 3 or 3.5 oz. each). They will be attached to each other in rows. Separate the rows, but do not separate the top and bottom of each  lady finger.

· 2 tsps unsweetened cocoa. (You might substitute cinnamon here, I think.)

Directions:
· Combine mascarpone, pumpkin, cream, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl, beating on low until the ingredients are mixed together, then beating on high until little peaks form. Don’t overbeat.

· Combine espresso and liqueur in a cup or small bowl and set aside until room temperature.

· Arrange half of the ladyfingers in an 8-inch square baking or serving dish. Evenly slosh half of the coffee mixture over them. Slather half of the pumpkin cream mixture on top. Add another layer of lady fingers. Drizzle the rest of the coffee over them. Then add the remaining pumpkin cream on top.

· Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.

· Dust with the cocoa before serving.

Makes enough for 12 and can sit in the fridge, covered, for up to 3 days.

Derek Dunne is a Cordon Bleu-trained food critic for the prestigious New York Monitor, whose scathing review of a popular Italian bistro has driven away all but the most loyal neighborhood patrons.

Lucrezia Serafina DiCicco is a clumsy business school drop-out, working as a chef and scrambling to keep her family's restaurant afloat, after her father develops diabetes and is banned from his kitchen for his own good.

Now, with The Monitor folding, Derek is searching for his next career path and longing to get back to his first love—cooking—while Lu is desperate for an influx of cash to save the struggling restaurant…even as her father puts his foot down about non-family employees.

Derek and Lu embark on a marriage of inconvenience to save the restaurant. But can Lu ever really trust the man who nearly destroyed her family, once noted her initials spelled “LSD,” and her food was like a “bad trip?”

Or will it be their hearts on the chopping block?

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In LIAR, LIAR, by J.A. Coffey, Matteo knows there's so much you can do with a beautiful woman and chocolate. Here's the decadent soufflé that went untouched at the Horseshoe Lodge in Montana. Don't be afraid to try this super easy, yet so impressive dessert!

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Chocolate Soufflé

Ingredients (serves 2)
• 3 tablespoons white granulated sugar, divided
• 2 1/2 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 large egg, separated, plus 2 large egg whites
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Preparation
1. Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 375°F. Lightly coat two 10-ounce ramekins with cooking spray; coat the insides of each with 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar.

2. Using a microwave melt chopped chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl on medium, stirring every 20 seconds, until melted, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes. Note: You may also use a double boiler, if you prefer.

3. Whisk egg yolk and cream in a medium bowl until combined. Temper by adding a small amount of melted chocolate and whisking, to bring to temperature. Then whisk in the remaining chocolate until smooth. Be careful not to dump it all, or you will have chocolate scrambled eggs!

4. Whisk flour and cinnamon in a separate bowl. Add flour mixture to cream/egg/chocolate mixture until incorporated.

5. Using an electric mixer or hand held mixer (separate bowl), beat egg whites and salt in a on high speed until soft peaks form. Beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in four additions, until stiff, glossy peaks form. Egg whites should stand up when touched and not meld back into the bowl.

6. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold (a “bottom to top” motion—don’t stir!) half the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture until fairly smooth; then gently fold this combined mixture back into the remaining egg whites until no white streaks remain. Divide between the prepared ramekins and place on a baking sheet. Bake until puffed and firm to the touch, 18 to 22 minutes. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired. Serve immediately to your favorite sweetie!

-Based on the recipe at Eating Well, 2008

Certified fraud examiner Jessica Barlow catches liars for a living. After a sexless first year of divorce, she decides to branch out of the traditional dating scene to find romance at LoveLines, an upscale online dating service with a guaranteed success rate. Just when things get interesting, she’s assigned to snoop on the very company that might show her a good time.

Texan horse rancher Matteo Brandt is secretly the corporate owner and mastermind of LoveLines’ thirty-one point matching system. He suspects Jess might be a plant for a pending court case. She just can’t be as good as she looks. He’s determined to save both his company and his reputation-- even if it means seducing Jess himself.

Will it be all work and no play? It’s all clothes barred in this battle for truth and love.

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www.JACoffey.com

I admit it. I found this recipe when I had a pound of ground beef and was too lazy to go to the market for hamburger buns. When it turned out to be delicious, I was doubly happy, because Becca Chen, the heroine of my book, Across the Line, has a café that specializes in soups and a daily offering of lettuce cups. I hope you like this one as much as I do.

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Asian Beef Lettuce Cups

16ish Boston Bibb, butter, or iceberg lettuce leaves

1 pound ground beef

1 tablespoon oil

1 large onion, chopped

¼ cup hoisin sauce (found in Asian section of the market)

4 cloves fresh garlic, minced

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon ground ginger (or you can use a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger)

a couple dashes of Sriracha or other hot sauce

1 (8 oz) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped

1 bunch green onions, chopped

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Rinse and pat dry the lettuce leaves.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef and cooking oil in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and discard grease; transfer beef to a bowl. Cook and stir onion in the same skillet used for beef until slightly tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir hoisin sauce, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and hot sauce into onions. Add water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil, and cooked beef; cook and stir until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.

Spoon some of the filling into the lettuce cups and enjoy! This would probably make a wonderful salad, too. I found myself wanting a higher lettuce to meat ratio. This would also be yummy with white rice and some steamed veggies.

Calder Griffin needs to get back in shape. Sidelined last season by a knee injury, he's determined to return to the San Diego Barracudas and play the best hockey of his career. This might even be the year he gets out of his talented older brother's shadow.

For months, Becca Chen has poured her energy into Cups, the restaurant she owns, desperate to prove to her parents that she can succeed in the career of her choice, not theirs. But after she spends a five-hour plane ride flirting with charming, magic-on-the-ice Calder, she tells herself she needs a fling.

Becca and Calder can't keep their hands off each other, but they know the relationship can't last. They live on opposite coasts, and they're both too devoted to their careers. All they have to do is prevent their feelings from crossing the line from lust to love...

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The bread pudding which is posted here and the pecan pie (posted on my webpage today) figure in the first seduction scene of The Caretaker’s Lady, my spicy new release from Liquid Silver Books. Read the blurb that follows the recipe to meet John and Cathy, then check out the excerpt at ritabay.com to see how the meal and seduction progresses.

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Rita Bay’s Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

3 Cups bread cut in one-inch cubes

2 Cups milk

3 eggs

1 Tbl vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

4 Tbl margarine, melted

1/2 C raisins (soaked in water with a little bourbon added)

1/2 C pecans (I soak the pecans with the raisins)

Directions: Heat oven to 350°. Combine milk, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter. Beat until well-mixed. Stir in raisins and pecans. Fold in bread cubes and set aside for ten minutes to allow cubes to soak up the liquid. Pour into buttered baking dish and bake for 45 minutes.

Sauce: Boil one stick margarine and one cup white sugar in saucepan until dissolved. Remove from stove and stir in a half-cup of whipping cream (can substitute a half-cup of vanilla ice cream) and a half-cup of bourbon. Serve over warm bread pudding.

Pass the grits and call me y’all. Jasmine Bloom, queen of the bodice rippers for three decades, never thought she would become a victim of writer’s block. When family stress causes Cathy Morrow, who writes as Jasmine Bloom, to miss a deadline, Blaylock Publishing accepts a mysterious invitation for Cathy to visit The Mountain Ridge Resort to revive her muse.

Divorced for two decades with three grown children and two grandsons living in her home, Cathy can’t find the inspiration she needs to write the sizzling-hot romances that gained her fame and fortune. At the resort, Cathy meets a hot maintenance worker who warms the cool nights. Will she be content to role-play his favorite scorching-hot love scenes from her novels then return home to her dull routine?

The caretaker’s job at the resort allows billionaire John Murdock to live the life he loves in the Blue Ridge Mountains and keep a centuries-old family vow. When Cathy Morrow arrives at the resort, she lights a fire he’d banked years ago. Will she look beyond his white hair and menial job to appreciate what he offers—passion with the prospect for love?

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Much of the inspiration for the food in the Mistress of Fortune series comes from a 17^th century book by Hannah Wolley called The Queen-Like Closet or Rich Cabinet. It’s a collection of recipes, menus and household hints that 17^th century women used to run their households.

As you’ll see, baking in the 17^th century was somewhat less precise--and does that seem like a lot of sugar and flour to you? Still, I can almost smell the warm scent of freshly baked biscuits when I read this recipe!

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The Best Biscuit Cakes (as made by a 17^th century housewife)

Ingredients:

4 new laid eggs
2 spoonfuls rose-water
1 pound sugar

1 pound fine flour

Put 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks into large bowl and beat them very well. Add the rose-water and sugar and beat for one hour. Add the flour and beat them together for a good while, then put them upon plates rubbed over with butter and set them into the oven as fast as you can. Have a care not to bake them too much.

London, 1679

Isabel, Lady Wilde, mistress of King Charles II, has made a good living disguised as fortune teller Mistress Ruby, counseling London’s elite. But after the murder of one of her customers, business has taken a downturn and Isabel is on the verge of accepting the king’s offer to move into the palace.

Isabel’s plans are interrupted when a beggar girl named Susanna shows up at her home, claiming to be her niece. Isabel always believed that her older brother, Adam, died alone during the plague. When Susanna reveals that Adam was actually murdered, Isabel is compelled to take up an impossible task: discover the truth about her brother’s death, twelve years after it happened.

Isabel’s investigation leads her through the gamut of London society, from bear-bating matches and brothels to the realm of wealthy bankers. But as she uncovers her brother’s dark secrets, Isabel begins to wonder whether the past is better left buried—especially when uncovering the truth could lead to her own funeral.

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http://hollywest.com