Still Cooking With Teeny

Welcome!

Have some cookies and let me tell you

about one of my favorite southern authors,

Michael Lee West.

"It started Monday, the first week in June, when I thought I'd gotten the dates wrong for my cake baking class. Numbers don't usually stick in my mind. This one did because it was my twenty-ninth birthday, and my fiancé, Bing Jackson, surprised me with the darlingest gifts --pastry bags, a fifty-three-piece Wilton Supreme Cake Decorating Set, and eight prepaid classes at the Vivenne Beaumont School of Cake Design." GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN

Have I mentioned that I'm a fan?

Yes, Michael Lee West has done it again.

Teeny Templeton is yet another lovable southern

belle who cooks her way through the pages of

GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN.

Teeny arrived at HFTS on April 12,

and that girl has had me baking ever since.

I do believe the "chef" thinks he's lost his kitchen.

"What are you making?"

"Shortbread."

"How clever of you. Lavender,

to calm the stomach and the mind."

"I cut the warm shortbread into wedges . . .

and put it on a tray with the mugs."

"We settled in Uncle Elmer's library. It was a cozy room, with butternut paneling and cherry antiques. Uncle Elmer's porcelain bird collection was lined up on the mantel. Pink-and-green plaid curtains hung on the windows. Through the wavy bubbled glass, I saw the garden. I set the tray on the coffee table. Ava curled on the settee and reached for a shortbread wedge. I lifted a mug and sat down in a chair."

Lavender Shortbread

GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch or rice flour

1 cup all-purpose white flour *

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons fresh lavender flowers,

finely chopped or 2 T dried lavender

Cream butter and sugars. Add flours a few tablespoons at a time and salt. Mix until crumbly. (You can mix by hand or put the ingredients into a food processor.) If dough is too thick, add 1 to 2 teaspoons cream. Add lavender. Chill mixture for an hour. Pat into a shortbread mold, or gently roll and cut dough with a cookie cutter. You can also shape the dough into a circle. If you aren't using a mold, place dough on an ungreased baking sheet. Prick the surface with a fork. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool; cut into bars.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Preheat oven

to 325 degrees.

(* I doubled the amount of flour)

If you enjoy humor, spunky characters,

and pages

laced with culinary delights

pick up a copy of

GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN

Or any of the works of Michael Lee West.

Michael Lee West is the author of six novels.

GONE WITH A HANDSOMER MAN

CRAZY LADIES

MAD GIRLS IN LOVE

AMERICAN PIE

SHE FLEW THE COOP

MERMAIDS IN THE BASEMENT

CONSUMING PASSIONS, A FOOD MEMOIR

Click here to view a previous review of

MERMAIDS IN THE BASEMENT.

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