Posts by Beth

My 2017 Works for Award Consideration

Posted by Beth on Nov 27, 2017 in awards, Blog | Comments Off on My 2017 Works for Award Consideration

The end of the year is nigh, which means it’s time for awards buzz to build up within genre fiction. I have three works in three categories that I wish to bring to readers’ attention.

SHORT STORY CATEGORY: “With Cardamom I’ll Bind Their Lips,” Uncanny Magazine issue 15. Available to read online; podcast version can be downloaded here.

Reach out via the Contact Form to request a different format.

COLLECTION CATEGORY: Red Dust and Dancing Horses and Other Stories, Fairwood Press. Available in print and ebook at all major booksellers.

NOVEL CATEGORY: Call of Fire (#2 in Blood of Earth Trilogy, following Breath of Earth), Harper Voyager. Available in trade paperback and ebook everywhere.

Thank you for your consideration!

#SFWAPro

Sunday Quote adores Jim Henson

Posted by Beth on Nov 26, 2017 in Blog, Quote | Comments Off on Sunday Quote adores Jim Henson

“As children, we all live in a world of imagination, of fantasy, and for some of us that world of make-believe continues into adulthood.”
~ Jim Henson

Bready or Not: Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks

Posted by Beth on Nov 22, 2017 in Blog, Bready or Not, chocolate, cookies, mint | Comments Off on Bready or Not: Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks

Imagine chocolate chip-flecked shortbread sticks adorned with a thin sheen of frosting with dazzling gems of peppermint.

If you love peppermint and chocolate, these cookie sticks will bring you bliss. But do heed a rather important warning.

If the peppermint bits sit in the frosting for more than a day or so, they’ll actually melt. Seriously. It’s some kind of chemical reaction. Puddles of red goop everywhere.

But here’s the thing: the sticks still taste fine if that happens! They just look like they stared at the Arc of the Covenant.

So make a big ol’ jelly roll pan of these, and hold off on adding the peppermints adornments until soon before serving. Or put them on, and use it as a kind of science experiment.

A very delicious experiment. Did I mention these were like shortbread sticks loaded with chocolate chips and slathered with frosting? Oh yeah. These are good.

Modified from Crazy for Crust at Challenge Dairy. 

Print Recipe

Bready or Not: Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks

These handy cookie sticks are loaded with holiday deliciousness with a perfect combination of chocolate chip shortbread, thin frosting, and crushed peppermints. Do note that the peppermint chunks will dissolve into the frosting if they sit there over a day or so, so add them just before serving.

Course: Dessert, Snack

Keyword: bars, cookies, mint

Author: Beth Cato

Ingredients

Cookie Sticks

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Frosting:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 - 4 Tablespoons milk or cream or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup candy canes crushed; or peppermints

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a jelly roll pan (10x15-inches) with foil and apply nonstick cooking spray all over the surface.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg and both extracts, followed by the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add flour until just incorporated, then the chocolate chips.
• Use your hands to press the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until it's just starting to turn golden brown at the edges. Cool completely before frosting.
• For the frosting, cream butter until smooth. Slowly mix in powdered sugar until it starts to become crumbly, then add the salt and vanilla extract. Stir in 2 tablespoons of milk, then add more until it is spreadable consistency.
• Use the foil to lift the cookie slab onto a cutting board. Use an uneven spatula to frost the full surface. Let the frosting set for a short while. Slice cookies into sticks.
• DO NOT sprinkle crushed peppermints on until soon before serving--the candies will actually dissolve into the frosting after a day or so, which looks bad though they still taste fine.
• OM NOM NOM!

Print Recipe

Bready or Not: Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookie Sticks

These handy cookie sticks are loaded with holiday deliciousness with a perfect combination of chocolate chip shortbread, thin frosting, and crushed peppermints. Do note that the peppermint chunks will dissolve into the frosting if they sit there over a day or so, so add them just before serving.

Course: Dessert, Snack

Keyword: bars, cookies, mint

Author: Beth Cato

Ingredients

Cookie Sticks

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg room temperature
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Frosting:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar sifted
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 - 4 Tablespoons milk or cream or half & half
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup candy canes crushed; or peppermints

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a jelly roll pan (10x15-inches) with foil and apply nonstick cooking spray all over the surface.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg and both extracts, followed by the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Add flour until just incorporated, then the chocolate chips.
• Use your hands to press the dough evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until it's just starting to turn golden brown at the edges. Cool completely before frosting.
• For the frosting, cream butter until smooth. Slowly mix in powdered sugar until it starts to become crumbly, then add the salt and vanilla extract. Stir in 2 tablespoons of milk, then add more until it is spreadable consistency.
• Use the foil to lift the cookie slab onto a cutting board. Use an uneven spatula to frost the full surface. Let the frosting set for a short while. Slice cookies into sticks.
• DO NOT sprinkle crushed peppermints on until soon before serving--the candies will actually dissolve into the frosting after a day or so, which looks bad though they still taste fine.
• OM NOM NOM!

The Beth Cato Kitchen Gift Guide

Posted by Beth on Nov 20, 2017 in Blog, Bready or Not | 2 comments

‘Tis the season to buy stuff. Permit me to help. Since you’re here, you probably know I have a lot of books out, including my brand new collection Red Dust and Dancing Horses and the 2nd book in my Blood of Earth trilogy, Call of Fire.

I also have a new cookbook, an Amazon exclusive for just $1.99: Sweet Maple!

I mention a lot of cooking ingredients and implements on Bready or Not. Today, I’m recommending my favorite stuff. Note that all of the links in the photographs are Amazon-affiliated, but this is all stuff I’ve bought with my own money. No corporate freebies involved (but if any corporation wants to reach out *coughs and points to Contact Me link above*).

My food blog is called Bready or Not, so let’s start with a necessary accessory for bready things: a breadbox. I bake my own loaf bread every week, and it doesn’t fit in standard gallon Ziploc bags. No, I rely on this expandable breadbox. It stretches out to accommodate a full loaf, and as the bread is cut down, you slide the box inward. It’s easy to clean with soap and water. It even has built-in vents to open if you have a still-warm loaf. (As an aside to certain friends: yes, this is a firm breadbox.)

I’ve been using Coombs Maple Sugar for a few years now. I LOVE this stuff. The sugar is a range of sizes, from fine to coarse, which adds wonderful texture to recipes; sprinkle this on top of a milk-brushed pie crust about to go in the oven! The container is large, but it’s narrow and stores easily. Which is good, because even if you bake a lot of maple goodies, this thing will probably last awhile.

On the subject of maple, I buy my maple flavor from Amazon as well. (I live in Arizona, people. I can’t find this on the shelf here.) I like this Frontier Co-op brand. The flavor is strong and the liquid provides a nice brown tint to baked goods.

Cookie scoops are important. I advise having at least teaspoon and tablespoon size around, and an even larger one is great to use if you’re doling our muffin batter. I’ve been using a tablespoon-sized Oxo scoop for over five years now, and it puts up with a lot of use and abuse.

I used to buy bulk quinoa and rice and try to drain it using cheese cloth. It was horrible, especially with the quinoa. I have no issues washing rice and grains now that I have this nifty rice washer. The holes are really tiny; quinoa can’t even escape through the bottom. Plus, it ends up being a handy extra colander for washing things like vegetables.

The $200+ price tag on this bread machine might make you blanch, but this is THE bread machine. I use this to make most of my bread dough in exactly 1 hour 50 minutes. I’ve now had this machine over 10 years, use it several times a week, and it continues to work like a champ. You can bake full loaves in it, too–and the shape is a nice horizontal loaf, unlike other bread machines–but I much prefer to use this for making dough and then bake the bread in my oven.

I loved my bread machine so much, I bought the Zojirushi rice cooker as well. Again, it’s pricey, but it is reliable and wow, the quality of rice it makes will spoil you quite quickly. Plus, the rice cooker SINGS. It does little songs when it begins and ends. When it’s done, the machine will keep the rice piping hot for a long time, too.  You can also make quinoa in this in 30 minutes.

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Sunday Quote cheers on NaNoWriMoers!

Posted by Beth on Nov 19, 2017 in Blog, Quote | Comments Off on Sunday Quote cheers on NaNoWriMoers!

“If you have a story that seems worth telling, and you think you can tell it worthily, then the thing for you to do is to tell it, regardless of whether it has to do with sex, sailors or mounted policemen.”
~ Dashiell Hammett