Day 6 - 15 Days of Christmas - A Bite From Jeanne C. Stein

Jeanne C. Stein gives us a bite into her holiday traditions today.  Jeanne is one of the nicest ladies you ever want to meet (and if opportunity presents, definitely meet her in person) and the author of the Anna Strong series on which I’m hooked.  Love the author, love the series…what more can I say! 

Jeanne will draw a winner from the comments readers leave today and that lucky individual will receive a signed copy of Crossroads as well as her author swag.  And remember…the winner of today’s goodies also gets into another drawing for something “Brit” that I’ll pick up when I’m over there the last week of this year!   

I find myself in a reflective mood this time of year. I miss friends and family who are no longer with us and wish those who are lived closer so we could be together. Still, there are little things I can do to make the holidays feel the way they used to. Hanging favorite ornaments, making a telephone call to a loved one far away, sharing a recipe passed down from one generation to the next.  

My mom used to make the best fudge ever. I inherited my love of chocolate from her.  She’d send me boxes of fudge not only on holidays and birthdays, but all year long. Her recipe came from a 1934 Hershey’s Cookbook.  I found an “updated” edition of this book, revised in 1971, among my mom’s things when she passed away. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a family treasure! 

Things have changed since the original cookbook was published. Margarine wasn’t around in 1934. Neither were electric mixers and non-stick pans. But the ingredients for this fudge haven’t changed. It’s easy, quick and delicious. Try it. Maybe it will become a holiday tradition for your family, too. My mom would approve. 

Happy Holidays from my family to yours. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge 

2 Cups Granulated Sugar

2/3 Cups Milk

3 Squares Hershey’s Baking Chocolate

1 Cup Marshmallow Whip

¾ Cup Peanut Butter

1 Teaspoon Vanilla 

Combine sugar, milk and baking chocolate, broken into small pieces, in a heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Cook to the soft ball stage (234 degrees F) without stirring. Remove from heat, add marshmallow whip, peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until just blended. Pour into buttered 9 x 9 x 1 3/4 inch pan. Cool and cut into squares.  

Yield: about 3 dozen squares 

Jeanne C. Stein

The Anna Strong Chronicles

www.jeannestein.com

Jeanne Stein is the national bestselling author of the Urban Fantasy series, The Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles. Her character, Anna Strong, received a RT Reviewers Choice Award for Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist in 2008. The sixth in the Anna Strong series, Chosen, was released last August and was nominated best UF for 2010 from RT Book Reviews Magazine. In 2011, Anna is again a nominee for Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist for Crossroads. Jeanne also has numerous short story credits, including the novella, Blood Debt, from the New York Times bestselling anthology, Hexed. Her series has been picked up in three foreign countries and her short stories published in collections here in the US and the UK. The seventh in the Anna Strong series, Crossroads, debuted in August 2011.

Blurb: Anna Strong- 2011 RT Nominee for Best Urban Fantasy Protagonist in Crossroads

Vampire Anna Strong seems to have a knack for finding trouble. Now it seems to be finding her. Some stunning news from an unexpected source sends Anna and her friend Daniel Frey on a journey into his past that changes both of their lives