Christmas in the Duke's Arms Chocolate Cookie Mix

When I picked up Christmas in The Duke's Arms, I went into it with trepidation. I expected...well...Dukes. And while I don't have a problem with Dukes per se, I do have a problem with the sameness of Dukes: powerful guy, lots of wealth and responsibility, inevitably rakish, rarely seen doing any government work or estate business despite that I can only imagine those things took at least some amount of their time? I need not have worried. In fact, only one of the heroes in these novellas is a Duke. And even that Duke bears very little resemblance to the stereotypical romance Duke described above. Rather, the title refers to "The Duke's Arms" a pub that serves as one of the loose ties that hold these four stories together. There are others and we'll get to that below when I explain what candy canes are doing in a Regency romance review.

Each of these stories has something to recommend them. The main thing I appreciated about each is that they didn't try too heart to force the cheer and sentimentality. The first story, A Knight Before Christmas by Grace Burrowes, does have a number of fluffy bunnies, but as breeding rabbits, they hardly fit the stereotypical mold of the puppy-cover Christmas romance. This novella features the unconventional courtship of a widow and her deceased husband's man of business, himself a widower. The heroine, by virtue of an odd stipulation in her deceased husband's will needs to marry rather quickly and while the two have an affinity, there is an evil other woman holding up the show. The EOW trope is not one I'm fond of in general, but the way the conflict was resolved was hilarious; a farce, but one I enjoyed.

The second story, In The Duke's Arms by Carolyn Jewel, who I've heard wonderful things about, but hadn't read, features the only actual Duke of the bunch, a busy, distinguished fellow who tends to scare everyone around him, including his heroine. My favorite aspect of this story would be a bit of a spoiler, but suffice to say that I very much appreciated that the Duke of Oxthorpe is pretty much the opposite of the stereotypical historical romance Duke. He was socially isolated as a child and doesn't engage easily with other people. Heroine Edith Clay is very much the opposite as everyone likes her, except perhaps for her relatives. Seeing her wake up to the truth of Oxthorpe's personality and regard for her is a joy. And all those other Jewel books I've got languishing on my TBR just got bumped up several notches.

Licensed To Wed by Miranda Neville features another man bound by duty and ambition with designs on his now penniless childhood neighbor. In contrast to Jewel, I've read all of Neville's books and for the most part enjoyed them all. I was not at all disappointed by this one in which the poor orphaned girl who may never receive another offer of marriage rejects her dutiful, determined suitor out-of-hand right at the beginning of the story. Wyatt Herbert, Viscount Carbury, is a bit of a stick in the mud and a touch OCD, making to do lists of items, big and small, which get progressively funnier. Robina Weston is delightfully independent, but not excruciatingly so, making this clash of wills most enjoyable.

The final story, Spy Beneath the Misteltoe by Shana Galen, was the odd one out in a number of ways, a send-up of 007 Bond spy lore recast as a romance between two competitive spy colleagues. It didn't work quite as well for me as the other three novellas, but still had its charms, including the resolution to another plot thread running through the other stories, that of a highwayman terrorizing the road through the neighborhood in which the stories are set.

Christmas in The Duke's Arms had a little drop in price over the weekend as well. It's now 99 cents at Amazon so if you were holding off, now is the time to snap it up. If you're an historical romance reader looking for a short and sweet but not saccharine holiday read, I definitely recommend it.

One of the neat things about Christmas in The Duke's Arms is that not only do the characters in each story visit the book's namesake pub, many of them also end up at the same Christmas party at the home of Penelope Carrington. Since I'm not a big historical recipe developer, instead of coming up with a Regency treat that might appeal to a modern palette, I thought I'd just pull together a last-minute hostess gift idea for the holiday parties you might be attending in the upcoming week.

The whole mix-in-a-jar idea isn't new. But sometimes I've gotten gift cookie and cake mixes that 1) suffered from being in a jar because the order ingredients are mixed isn't ideal, and 2) require you to add so many things, you might as well just have baked it from scratch yourself. This recipe is super simple because all the gift recipient has to add are one stick of melted butter and a couple tablespoons of water. No eggs, no shortening or perfectly softened butter and no vanilla or other liquids. And since you just spread all the dough out in a slab, the instructions are pretty easy too!

This kind of project is helped by having a stash of craft supplies. I sew and do some paper crafting so I had the pinking shears, scrap fabric, hole punch, cardstock and twine on hand. If you had to go out and buy all that stuff, this might end up getting a little more expensive. Oh, and here's a printable gift tag/instruction sheet for the mix.

The ingredient list below is a total shopping list: the amount of each ingredient you'll need for 6 gifts. If you just want to do one gift, you can use the amounts in the first line of the assembly instructions below. Otherwise you're going to have to do some math. Sorry!

Chocolate Cookie Mix
adapted from The Washington Post
Makes: 6 gifts
Time: 1 hour

Supplies
6-32 ounce wide-mouth mason jars with lids
6-6" squares of fabric
6-18"lengths of ribbon or twine
3 sheets cardstock
12 plastic sandwich bags or treat bags

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 teaspoons vanilla powder (also great for flavoring Royal icing because it doesn't turn white icing brown)
2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 cups brown sugar
9 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
3 cups crushed candy canes (approximately 32-36 6-inch candy canes)

To assemble gifts:


1. In each jar, from the bottom up, layer 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla powder, 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar and 3/4 cups chocolate chips. Put 1/2 cup crushed candy canes and 3/4 cups chocolate chips in two separate ziplock bags and put in on top of the mix.

2. Lay the top on the jar. Print and fold the gift tag/instruction sheet. Punch a hole in the upper lefthand corner. Using twine or ribbon, tie the tag to the neck of the jar. Lay one fabric square over the top of the lid and use the rim to screw down both the lid and the fabric.

To use mix:

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Ready an unlined baking sheet.

2. Take out chocolate chip packet and candy cane packet and set aside. In a medium bowl, thoroughly combine the remaining jar contents with ½ cup melted unsalted butter and 2 tablespoons water.

3. Leaving a 3-inch margin on all sides, spread dough into a rectangle that measures about 11-by-8 inches. Pat it into an even layer.

4. Bake 12-14 mins until top looks dull. When done, sprinkle the chocolate chips from the packet over the cookie slab. Let the chocolate chips sit for 5 mins to melt, then use a spatula to spread it. While chocolate is warm, sprinkle candy cane packet on top.

5. Let cool on baking the chocolate topping is firm, about 2 hours. Break each cookie slab into about two dozen 2- to 4-inch-long irregular pieces.

All You Can Eat Curried Chicken Fried Steak

Whining on Twitter is surprisingly fruitful. I highly recommend it. After reading Andi Marquette's post on Queer Romance Month about how there "isn't much interest in f/f" I was like, "But...I'm interested in f/f..." So I poked around on Amazon and GoodReads a little bit and queried Megan Mulry, who had mentioned the post on Twitter and who I hoped might have an inside line on recommendations for excellent f/f romance for me to read. But as one of the commenters on Andi's post said, I needed a map to the lesbians! And as it happened, Andi herself came to my rescue, particularly as regards the anthology I'm reviewing today, which she hesitantly suggested might be up my alley. Lemme just say, oh hell YES it was!

All You Can Eat: A Buffet of Lesbian Erotica and Romance, edited by Andi Marquette and R.G. Emanuelle, is an anthology that combines food-focused short stories with a recipe. It's like it was written just for me! Some recipes are literal, like the curried chicken fried steak I made using Karis Walsh's recipe from the book. Others are metaphorical and just for fun. It makes for a diverse selection of readings that's perfect for anyone just discovering lesbian romance. I'm just going to highlight a couple of my favorite stories, but the whole anthology is really well done.

The first story in the book by Ashley Bartlet is Fresh Fruit, a light-hearted first-person account of a guerrilla fruit collector and the woman she meets under awkward circumstances while casing an orange tree. See, in Southern California, a lot of people have fruit trees in their yards. And if the fruit is on public property or overhanging a public street, it's technically available to anyone. The premise is charming and the light-hearted interlude that follows completely delivers.

Burn by Rebekah Weatherspoon, on the other hand, has a completely different vibe. An established couple has hit a rocky patch as a result of unemployment, shame over a lack of financial equality and resentment. There's also the context of a sister who helps the well-intentioned, but kind of clueless protagonist navigate what has become an awkward, sad situation. It has a bittersweet beginning and happy ending and a recipe for spinach and chicken lasagna that looks really yummy.

Finally, Crème Brûlée by Sacchi Green, was the story of Rory and Raf, a pair of women who had met the summer before in the context of the restaurant where Rory works when Raf was still with a younger woman. Rory and Raf are more of an age and both of a more dominant temperament, but they shared a moment before and it becomes clear over the course of the story that Raf is now perhaps in the market for more a more balanced relationship than the one she had with her previous sub Juliana. The setting, the language, the description of Raf ("the biggest, baddest gray-fox butch around" who "gives all the baby-femmes wet dreams") and the descriptions of delectable restaurant food all really worked for me.

These three stories (and East Meets West by Karis Walsh, which I'll discuss further below) were among those that stood out to me personally, but the whole anthology was delicious. So if you're new to the world of f/f romance like I was, All You Can Eat as a great starting place. Or if you're not, it's still a nicely diverse collection of well-written stories with a common theme, but very much each with their own voice.

Okay, so I know what you're probably thinking. Chicken fried steak? Are you serious, Elisabeth? That's no Nutella Crème Brûlée or Roast Duck with Citrus Cherry Port Sauce. Except it totally is. The curried gravy with the crispy steak coating is so flavorful and fun and different.

Karis Walsh's story in this anthology, East Meets West, is based on a chance meeting between a Texas cowgirl and woman who has moved from India to the United States. She has found friends and a job she loves, but she's not connecting with the cuisine, which all seems heavy and bland. So when she's invited over for dinner and her date feeds her this dish, she is incredibly flattered. The interplay between Rena and Liz is lovely; a meeting of two people and two cultures that turns into something very sweet indeed.

As for the recipe, I've included just a few extra steps below for less experienced cooks since I promised certain people never to print "salt and pepper to taste" again. Y'all know who you are! I'd recommend measuring out ingredients beforehand on this one. It's not complicated, but it does come together rather quickly at the end.

I served it with rice and a simple sauteed spinach with olive oil and garlic. There's also a salad in the story that would be terrific, but you'll have to buy the book for that!

I can tell you this is the only way you could convince me to eat chicken fried steak.

Curried Chicken Fried Steak
lightly adapted from East Meets West by Karis Walsh in All You Can Eat
Time: 30 minutes
Makes: 4 servings

Steaks
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chickpea (or garbanzo bean) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons curry powder
salt and pepper to taste (I recommend starting with 1 teaspoon salt & 1/2 teaspoon pepper)
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
4 cube steaks, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
1/2 cup grapeseed oil (or other high heat oil, not olive oil)

Gravy
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cups cilantro, minced
juice of one fresh lime

1. Heat grapeseed oil in a large pan over medium-high heat until it reaches 325 degrees F in a heavy pan. Set the oven to "low" or "warm".
2. Stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, curry powder, salt and pepper.
3. In another bowl, beat eggs and buttermilk.
4. Dip the steaks in the flour mixture, then the egg mixture, then in the flour mixture again. Be sure to coat thoroughly.
5. Fry the steaks until brown, about five minutes per side. Remove them from the pan, drain on paper towels, and keep warm in a low oven while you prepare the gravy.
6. Combine the flour, garam masala, turmeric and ground coriander in a small bowl.
7. Pour off all but 5 tablespoons of oil from the pan (keep the browned bits on the bottom!) and add cumin seeds. Cook over medium heat until fragrant, and then sprinkle the flour and spice mixture over the oil. Whisk until pale brown. Add the broth and deglaze the pan by scraping the yummy browned bits off the bottom. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened, stirring often.
8. Add the yogurt and cilantro and whisk to combine.
9. Remove from heat and finish with fresh lime juice.
10. Serve steaks and gravy over basmati or jasmine rice.

Disclosure: I received All You Can Eat from the editor for review consideration.