Sweet Americana Sweethearts: #JCCF

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Pear Cobbler

by Shanna Hatfield

We live in a valley where an abundance of fruit is grown. Right across the road from us there are acres and acres of apples and beyond that are orchards with cherries, nectarines, peaches, and pears. And grapes. Yep, there a bunch of vineyards in our area, too.

This time of year, when the fruit is being harvested, I love to eat it fresh. There's nothing quite like biting into a crisp, juicy apple with the lingering perfume of sunshine wafting from it's skin.

I also enjoy baking with fresh fruit. Autumn seems like a perfect season for making cobblers, crisps, tarts and pies.

Pie was developed from the Romans who sealed meat inside a flour and oil paste crust then cooked it. From there, the ingredients evolved and some really smart person came up with the idea of substituting fruit for meat.

Early American settlers had a penchant for improvising. Although they brought many of their favorite recipes with them, they lacked the ingredients for things such as English steamed puddings. So they instead came up with buckles, slumps and pandowdies. In fact, the colonists were so fond of these juicy, fruit-laden dishes, they served them for breakfast or even a first course.

It can be confusing trying to keep it all straight. Some of the most common dishes, though, are pie, cobbler, and crisp.

Pie has a crust on the bottom, and generally one on the top with the fruit sealed in the middle.

Cobbler is a deep-dish dessert with a thick crust on top, often made of sweetened biscuit dough.

Crisps are baked with the fruit on the bottom and a crumb topping. The topping might be made with oats, flour, nuts, bread crumbs, cookie crumbs, or even breakfast cereal.

Years ago, I sat, amused, and listened to Captain Cavedweller and my mother discuss (interpret argue) over the difference in cobbler and crisp. Turns out CC was right. The man knows his fruit desserts!

It wasn't until the early 1900s though, that crisps began to appear on American tables.

One of the earliest recorded recipes was in the Freeport Journal-Standard in July, 1916.

"This recipe requires eight apples (or one quart), a teaspoon of cinnamon, a half cup of water, one cup of sugar, a half cup of flour and five tablespoons of butter. Butter a fireproof dish and fill it with the apples, water, and cinnamon, mixed. Work together the other ingredients, mixing them gently with the fingertips until crumbly, then spread over the apple mixture. Bake 30 minutes, uncovered."

Here is a recipe for an easy pear cobbler that is so yummy, especially if you serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Pear Cobbler

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

2/3 cup milk

4 cups pears, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a 9 x 13 baking dish, melt butter in oven.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and milk until just combined. Pour over the top of the melted butter. Do not stir!

Toss pears with cinnamon and nutmeg. Add fruit on top of dough. Do not stir!

Bake for one hour. Remove from oven and let cool. Serve with a generous topping of vanilla ice cream sprinkled with a dash of nutmeg. Makes approximately 10 servings

For more recipes, check out A Cowboy Christmas, my newest release. It features more than 70 recipes with full color images, holiday entertaining tips, decor ideas, interviews with rodeo and ranch families and more!

After spending her formative years on a farm in eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky heroes.

When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly seeking dark, decadent chocolate, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.

Shanna loves to hear from readers. Follow her online at:

Find Shanna’s books at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Smashwords | Apple | Audible

Thursday, November 8, 2018

Party for a Cause

by Shanna Hatfield

Today, I'm hosting a party over on Facebook called Cowboys and Christmas. Of course, you're all invited!

The reason for the party is primarily to kick off a campaign I hold each year called Read a Book, Help a Cowboy. It raises funds and awareness for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. If you've never heard of JCCF, it's a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to rodeo athletes who sustain catastrophic injuries that keep them from competing (and earning wages) for an extended period of time. There are many things to love about JCCF, but one of the best: they contribute 100 percent of all donations to the athletes in need. No funds are extracted for administrative costs, etc.

From November 1 through December 24, I donate a percentage of my book sales to the JCCF. For more detail, hop over to my website: http://shannahatfield.com/jccf

The party is also a time to gather some fun authors like our own Kit Morgan. It's four hours of fun, giveaways, games, prizes and awesome surprises. Seriously, you do not want to miss this!

And because it's party day, I'm offering a freebie! You can get the first book in the Hardman Holidays series for free!

Be sure to download your copy of The Christmas Bargain from Amazon!

One Old West Cinderella discovers

Prince Charming is a. . . Cowboy?

The death of her mother left Philamena Booth grieving and at the mercy of her drunken father. After spending more than a decade held captive on their run-down farm, she’s left speechless when her father strikes a bargain to settle a long overdue debt. In lieu of payment, a handsome cowboy agrees to take Philamena. Mortified yet relieved to leave the farm, she finds herself married to the charismatic, caring man.

Luke Granger might own Hardman’s bank and the fanciest house in the Eastern Oregon town, but he’d much rather be outside riding his horses or wrangling his herd of cattle than keeping his account books straight. In a strange, unsettling turn of events, he finds himself accepting a farmer’s daughter instead of money to cover a loan. If the man hadn’t threatened to sell her to the saloon owner, Luke might have refused. He has no idea what to do with the beautiful Filly or their marriage of convenience, but he’s about to get far more than he bargained for.

Full of Victorian and western charm, The Christmas Bargain is a sweet holiday romance filled with the spirit of the season.

Here’s an exceprt:

Luke grinned at her and wiggled his fingers. “Come on, Filly. It’s a little late to worry about propriety now, don’t you think?”

She took his hand and swung behind him, lacing her hands around his waist and leaning her head against his back. As they rode to the parsonage, Luke kept his hand resting on top of hers.

“I’d like to speak with you about your ride to the Jenkins farm,” he said, using his most official banker’s tone.

She should have known riding through town with her skirts up to her knees and hair flying would embarrass Luke. She was really going to have to work on behaving with more decorum. More like a proper banker’s wife.

He smiled and his icy eyes warmed to a liquid blue as he looked at her over his shoulder. “I’d like to discuss how enticing you looked with your skirts hiked up and your hair rippling behind you. I pictured you as some ancient Irish warrior queen riding into battle. Filly, my girl, you’ve been holding out on me by keeping all that glorious hair confined to buns or braids. I think we need a let-your-hair-down lesson to go along with our kissing lessons.”

USA Today bestselling author Shanna Hatfield is a farm girl who loves to write. Her sweet historical and contemporary romances are filled with sarcasm, humor, hope, and hunky heroes. When Shanna isn’t dreaming up dreamy characters, twisting plots, or covertly hiding decadent chocolate from the other occupants of her home, she hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.