DAY ONE: Something Sweet to go with your FREE READ – Gigugiuleni Cookies!

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My FREE days are here!

RETURN TO AUDUBON SPRINGS is being featured for the next FIVE days as FREE exclusively on Amazon Kindle! If you have not purchased this emotionally charged Romantic Comedy, now is your chance to grab it for FREE! As promised here is the first Italian Specialty Cookie Recipe right from Mama Iuliano’s cookbook.  I encourage you to grab the Gigugiuleni Cookie recipe before browsing through the listings of the following sites where Return to Audubon Springs is being featured. I think you will find some fabulous blogs worth following, plus, here you’ll have a chance to enter in the $25 Amazon Gift Card Raffle!

“GIUGIULENI Cookies”
(pronounced JuJulanie)
Grandma Mangione’s Recipe
(Originally started with 5lbs. of flour like all her other cookie recipes)
 
Bake at 400 degrees for 13 min.
 
4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup lard melted (I use vegetable shortening but the lard is the authentic version. Forgive me Grandma)
1/3 cup water
4 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 Tbls Vanilla
1# Toasted sesame seeds
Approximately 1/4 cup water mixed with some sugar (4 parts water to one part sugar)
 
Mix flour, sugar and baking powder. Work in lard until dough is fine. To flour add egg, vanilla and water. Knead until dough is pliable. (Forgive me Grandma but I use the food processor for this) Mix the water/sugar mix with some of the sesame seeds. (Just enough water to dampen the seeds so they will stick to the cookies) Roll pieces of dough into a 1/2 inch rope about 10 inches long then into the sesame seeds. Cut cookies about 1 inch long and then roll each piece between the palms of your hands to make sure the seeds adhere better. (Some in the family don’t do this step but Grandma Mangione was particular about this!)
 
Place on greased cookie sheets. When toasty looking (about 13-18 min) remove to a cooling rack. Enjoy with family and friends!
 
YUM!!!
 
Mom's Sesame Cookies
 
 

Don’t forget to check out these sites and enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway!  

Bunny’s Review
Farm Girl Books
Writing Novels That Sell (Includes a review!)
Full Moon Bites
Queen of the Night Reviews
Christine Elaine Black
The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat
My Devotional Thoughts
Simply Ali

Stephanie’s Book Shelf

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Something Sweet To Go With Your FREE Read!

Cookies made by Mama Iuliano for a recent Audubon Springs Wedding

Cookies made by Mama Iuliano for a recent Audubon Springs Wedding

Starting tomorrow, RETURN TO AUDUBON SPRINGS will enter into a 5 Day FREE period exclusively on Amazon. As if a FREE READ wasn’t sweet enough, Mama Iuliano from the Brother’s of Audubon Springs series has graciously offered to loosen her grip on the family secret recipes and share one Italian Specialty Cookie Recipe for the first four days of the free period.  Most sweets in Audubon Springs come from Anselmo’s Family Bakery, but for special occasions like a wedding, or a FREE read promotion, hand made cookies from the Iuliano kitchen are in order. Stop by each day for the recipe along with a listing as to where RETURN TO AUDUBON SPRINGS will be blasted to the masses. At these sites you’ll also have the opportunity to enter a Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card.  Sweet, right?

Here’s a sneak peek at Mama Iuliano in action

***

“What on earth is going on here?” Marcella Iuliano materialized in the kitchen.

“Mom!” Rafe scrambled to his feet, slipped on a combination of syrup, flour, and orange juice and fell down.

“Mrs. Iuliano, I can explain.” Emma pleaded.

“I think this is relatively self-explanatory! So this is what you do with the beautiful food I prepared?”

“Mom…”

“Rafaello, I do not want to hear one word from you.” She walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up her cell phone. “I am going to the hospital to see your cousin’s baby, who, even at infancy, probably has better sense than the two of you combined. I suggest you clean up your mess, and I don’t just mean this kitchen!”

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Teaser for Tuesday

Next week will bring some fun to my doorstep in the way of an exciting promotion and an opportunity to win a prize. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to share a teaser from RETURN TO AUDUBON SPRINGS.  This is at the peek into what I like to refer to as the “House Wars” between Emma and Rafe. As you can see in the moment, she has really pushed him to his breaking point. Enjoy!

***

Emma would have looked adorable in the simple snug tank top and Bermuda shorts if it weren’t for the look of utter horror on her face.

“Have you lost your mind?” she screamed.

“Yes!” He turned off the saw, threw it on the ground, whipped off his protective goggles and tossed them as well. “Why do you ask?”

“You cut a massive hole in the back door!”

“This here is an example of our differences. You see a hole. I see a home improvement project. This is no ordinary square hole in a door, this is a doggie door.” He pushed on the large piece of cut wood until it fell and landed on the pantry floor inside with a loud clap.

“It’s about three times the size of a doggie door,” she stated flatly.

“Yeah, but I’m the dog. So Princess, what do you think?”

“I think you are insane.”

“I AM insane! You have MADE me insane! You threw all my stuff out front. You used my underwear for rags!”

“I couldn’t find anything else.”

“There is a basket full of rags in there.”

“None of them fit the occasion,” she said with a straight face.

“I must have lost my mind because that almost makes sense.” He gestured to the door. “Ladies first.” When she stared unmoving, he climbed through the cut door and opened it. “Just for the record, a caveman would have made you climb through.”

“Just for the record, I only changed the locks on the front door.”

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