The holidays are upon us, and I’ve already started planning what recipes I’ll be making for family and friends.  I thought I’d share my recipe for sticky caramel & chocolate chunk brownies with you all.

  

 Now, I’m guilty of using a pre-packaged mix as my starting point, but I’ve added my own spin to it.

What you’ll need:

package of brownie mix (or make your own if you have the energy!)

¾ cup – 1 cup Hershey’s mini kisses. (or any largish chocolate pieces)

½ cup of Skor pieces

A bag of soft caramels

A few tablespoons of milk

Prepare the mix as instructed, but then add the Skor and chocolate pieces last and stir in. Bake as usual, but since there is now a bit of caramel in the batter, make sure to grease the pans really well or be prepared to wrestle the brownies out of the pan later.

When the brownies are cooked and cooling in the pan, unwrap and put about a dozen pieces of caramel into a microwave safe dish. Microwave at half to three quarter power until melted. Stir in a bit of milk. Reheat. Repeat until you have a pourable caramel glaze. Pour over the brownies and chill until set. Then enjoy!

  

Story Excerpt – Saved by Sin

Book one in my new paranormal erotic romance series “Paladin Protection Agency” coming to Siren Publishing December 18th

The wind blew hard enough to make the windows shimmy in their frames, and she went to close them, yanking back her hand in surprise when the last window slammed shut before she’d barely laid a finger on it. Her nerves on edge now, she turned to the door, and was stunned to see a man’s shape filling the doorway. For a moment, she was seized with panic, her heart squeezing into her throat and choking her as irrational thoughts filled her head. It’s Robert. He’s here! Part of her mind screamed at her to run, but she couldn’t move, or speak.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” It was not Robert’s voice, and now she realized whoever was standing at her door was taller than her ex-boyfriend, his big body very nearly filling the open space.

“It wasn’t your fault. I just seem to be jumping at shadows today,” Michelle offered her apology without moving, curious as to who would be out in this normally isolated area.

“I know how that can be.” Her visitor stepped just inside the cabin door and stopped to lean back against the frame. The cabin lights were bright enough to reveal his face for the first time. “My name’s Sinjin Heath. I’m in the cabin on the next lot over.”

All the air seems to rush out of Michelle’s lungs as her eyes drank in the vision in front of her. He was tall enough to make her tip her head up to see his face, which was rare considering she was five foot ten in her stocking feet. His brown eyes were so dark they seemed almost black, and he wore his hair long, its dark-brown length falling loose past his shoulders. A thin scar ran from his temple to just by the outer corner of one eye, giving character to a face that might have otherwise been too pretty to be real.

“Hi.” She finally managed to pull herself together and gave him what she hoped was a friendly smile as she offered him her hand. “Michelle Jamieson.”

He took her hand with a smile, but instead of shaking it, he raised it to his mouth and brushed a brief kiss over the knuckles as his brown eyes stared into hers. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Michelle.” His mouth turned her name into a whispered caress, and for a moment, she forgot to breathe. As her mind returned, she realized he was still holding her hand in his, and she tugged it out of his grip. “In all the years my family have been up here, we’ve never seen anyone at that cabin. I thought maybe it had been abandoned.”

“I don’t think it gets used all that much. It belongs to the company I work for. They keep it for using as a retreat for employees in need of a little peace and quiet.” He shrugged slightly, his eyes still watching her intently. “I’ve been here a few weeks. You’re the first person I’ve seen.”

“Sorry if my arrival has disturbed your solitude,” she said, wondering what could make someone leave their life to come out here to hide. Then she realized that was exactly what she was doing. “I uh…needed some time away myself.”

“I think this lake is big enough for the two of us to share.” Sinjin’s lips quirked into a grin that made him look like a mischievous boy. “I’ll take this half, you take the other side?”

“Maybe I should take the top half and you can have the bottom.” She found herself grinning back.

“No thanks, I don’t have any gills.” He turned his head and swept back his hair to show her his neck. “See?”

She caught a glimpse of another scar as she leaned in and pretended to examine his neck for gills. “I see. Well, I suppose we’ll just have to share the top half then.” Without thinking, she reached up and brushed her fingertips to the scar just visible above the collar of his shirt. “What happened?” The words were out before she realized she was speaking, and she felt him stiffen and his hand reached up to cover hers.

“It’s a long story. Let’s just say my line of work comes with danger pay.” He kept her hand in his as he lifted it from his neck, his fingers moving lightly over hers. “I came over to see if you needed help. If this wind gets any worse, we may lose power.” It was hard to think when he was holding her hand like that, and it took a moment for his words to sink in past the warm tingles that rose at that simple caress.

“I haven’t checked on the generator yet. Thanks for reminding me.”

“Just being neighborly.” He smiled again and her heart did a triple beat. “I wouldn’t like to think of you over here sitting in the dark tonight, all alone. Why don’t we go check on it now?”

Saved by Sin will be coming available for pre-order by mid December, and goes on sale at Siren Publishing Dec 18th.

Thanks for reading!

Susan

You can find my other titles here:

 Whispers in the Dark: Siren-Bookstrand Publishing

Daemons and Angels Series: Alistair’s Bed – Amazon & Malyk’s Salvation – Amazon

And you can find me around the web:  Website,  Blog,  and of course, Twitter