Thursday, July 25, 2019

Cooking With Author Jennifer Hallmark!




Today at the Patchwork Quilt Blog, I welcome author Jennifer Hallmark. She has a recipe for us as well as a new novel. It's Southern, and being from North Carolina, I love Southern Fiction.

 Welcome, Jennifer! Tell us about your recipe.


The recipe I’d like to share came from my husband, Danny’s grandmother. We call them Mama Landers tea cakes. In my novel, Jessie’s Hope, Jessie’s Mamaw, Martha cooks a lot of down home southern dishes such as pinto beans, cornbread, fresh apple cake, and fried chicken. Although her husband Homer normally loves anything chocolate, he also enjoys tea cakes hot from the oven. Rolling these delectable cookies in sugar before baking gives them a crispy, sugary texture and loads of goodness in every bite. I hope you find these little bites of heaven as wonderful as Homer and Jessie do . . .


Mama Lander’s Tea Cakes
Yield: 2 ½ dozen
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 cups self-rising flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Melt shortening and let cool for five minutes. Mix all ingredients together in order. Take a teaspoon at a time of the dough and roll into small balls. Roll in sugar. Add to cookie sheet. Press the top of each cookie with a fork. Bake at 325 degrees until lightly brown on bottom.


Alice: Sounds wonderful! Makes me want one of those tea cakes with my cup of morning Earl Grey.

Here's more about Jennifer's new novel.


Jessie’s Hope
Years ago, an accident robbed Jessie Smith’s mobility. It also stole her mom and alienated her from her father. When Jessie's high school sweetheart Matt Jansen proposes, her parents’ absence intensifies her worry that she cannot hold on to those she loves.

With a wedding fast approaching, Jessie's grandfather Homer Smith, has a goal to find the perfect dress for "his Jessie," one that would allow her to forget, even if for a moment, the boundaries of her wheelchair. But financial setbacks and unexpected sabotage hinder his plans.

Determined to heal from her past, Jessie initiates a search for her father. Can a sliver of hope lead to everlasting love when additional obstacles--including a spurned woman and unpredictable weather--hijack Jessie's dream wedding?





Alice: And a bit more about Jennifer.


She writes Southern fiction and her website, Alabama-Inspired Fiction, and the group blog, Inspired Prompt, she co-founded, focus on her books, love of the South, and helping writers. She’s published 200+ internet articles and interviews, short stories in several magazines, and has co-authored three book compilations. 

Jennifer recently sold her first novel to Firefly Southern fiction (an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas). She also signed with Cyle Young of the Hartline Literary Agency. Jennifer sends out a monthly newsletter, which you can subscribe to by going to her website. You can visit her on Facebook, Facebook author page, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Jennifer and her husband, Danny, have spent their married life in Alabama and have a basset hound, Max. When she isn't babysitting her grandchildren or gardening, you can find her at her desk writing fiction or working on one of her two blogs.  She also loves reading detective fiction from the Golden Age and viewing movies like LOTR or Star Wars. Sometimes you can even catch her watching American Ninja Warrior.

You can find Jennifer online here:
Instagram

Be sure to get a copy of Jessie's Hope at Amazon.

Good to have you with us today, Jennifer!  Best of luck with your novel.




2 comments:

Jennifer said...

Thanks for letting me drop by, Alice 🙂

Alice. J. Wisler said...

Thanks for sharing here, Jennifer! Good to have you visit.