Trisha Ashley - The Magic of Christmas

‘No I don’t, I just like to wind you up. You should know that by now.’

‘You think your cooking is more important than I am!’ I accused him.

He grinned. ‘No, I think it’s a pretty even match, actually. I don’t see why I can’t have my cake and eat it.’

‘I do. And anyway, we’re just too different — it’d never work,’ I said firmly, then ruined the effect by smiling back at him.

‘If mayonnaise works, I don’t see why mixing the two of us together shouldn’t — if we do it slowly and very carefully.’ His lips moved over my face and then lingered on my mouth before I could point out that curdled mayonnaise was a lot easier to rescue than a curdled marriage.

Oh, hot chilli chocolate sauce! I thought, but more in resignation than revolt. He was the one who broke that clinch: I couldn’t have, even if you’d waved a giant Mars bar in front of me.

‘And I’ve had a great idea! Once you’ve finished Just Desserts , we’ll collaborate on a joint recipe book of all the postcards. We’ll call it A Feast of Romance ,’ he added soulfully.

I laughed. Senga was going to absolutely love it — and him. ‘That is a totally corny idea! And what’s more, I’m not cooking anything with you, because I always end up doing all the donkey wo—’

I stopped dead as I spotted Caz silently slinking out of the dark shadows at the end of the gallery. Downstairs someone had turned up the music so that the heavenly sound of a choir singing Silent Night drifted down the long, dark gallery, while over our heads a mistletoe ball rotated in the slight draught from the open door. Caz jerked his head back in the direction of the stairs. ‘Mr Roly says t’champagne’s open. You two done, yet?’

‘Rising nicely,’ Nick said, glancing up at the mistletoe ball thoughtfully, then reaching for me again.

‘Half-baked!’ I amended, giving him a quelling look. ‘Caz, tell him we’ll be down in a minute — and perhaps you ought to cork up the champagne again, because there are just a few rules of engagement I need to thrash out first, before I even consider this insane idea.’

‘Like what?’ Nick asked suspiciously.

‘Separate kitchens,’ I said, smiling sweetly. ‘And that’s just for starters!’

These are very easy to make!

Ingredients:

4 oz butter

2 tablespoons of golden syrup

2 oz Demerara sugar (or a soft, dark brown sugar, if you want a slightly ‘treacly’ taste)

5 heaped tablespoons of mincemeat, either bought or home-made

5 oz rolled oats

Method:

Preheat oven to gas mark 3, 160 °C, 325°F and grease a seven-inch baking tin. If using a cake tin instead, then I would line the base with baking paper, too.

Melt together the sugar and syrup in a pan over a low heat, then stir in the mincemeat and, once warmed through, the oats.

Remove from heat and mix well, then spoon into the baking tin and spread it out, flattening the top.

Put into the oven for about half an hour: it should be slightly golden brown. Remove and leave to cool for fifteen minutes before marking into squares or slices.

When cool, store in an airtight container.

(Mashed potato fudge)

Ingredients:

5 oz of mashed potato

1 oz butter

1 lb icing sugar (and some extra, in case it is needed)

4 tablespoons mincemeat, either bought or home-made

A few drops of almond essence

Method:

Grease a small baking tray or pie dish.

Mash the potato with the butter and, while still warm, stir in the icing sugar. When smooth, mix in the mincemeat and the almond essence to taste.

Depending on the runniness of the mincemeat used, you may need to add extra icing sugar — you are aiming for a very stiff consistency that has to be spread into the tray. (The first time I tried this variation I didn’t put quite enough sugar in, so it didn’t set hard, but it made a lovely fudge topping for vanilla ice cream!)

When cold it will be firm and can be cut into pieces and stored in an airtight box in the fridge.

Variations:

You can make plain Spudge by omitting the mincemeat. Instead try adding vanilla essence and/or two tablespoons of de siccated coconut. When cold, cover with a layer of melted chocolate.

When eccentric Tansy Poole suddenly finds herself the newest proprietor of Bright’s Shoes, a run-down shoe shop tucked away in the idyllic Lancashire village of Sticklepond, she is inspired to take the business in a new direction. And soon, Cinderella’s Slippers opens to the public-promising to provide the footwear to make any fairytale wedding come true.

Stocking everything a bride would want to walk down the aisle in, from exquisite satin pumps to quirky vertiginous heels, Tansy’s shop soon expands to carry shoe-shaped wedding favours, bridesmaid gifts and even sumptuous artisan chocolate shoes. It’s the dream destination for anyone who loves shoes!

If only everything in her personal life could be as fulfilling — but with a fiancé unwilling to name the day until she fits into a size 8 wedding dress, not to mention disturbing family revelations having recently come to light, Tansy takes refuge in making Cinderella’s Slippers a success. Her hard work pays off when word of mouth attracts customers from far and wide.

But one man isn’t thrilled by the stream of eager shoe lovers thronging to Cinderella’s Slippers … Shakespearian actor Ivo Hawksley, resident of the cottage next to the shop, is troubled by a dark secret in his past and has come to Sticklepond to nurse his own broken heart, not have his peace shattered by the trill of ‘Here comes the bride’ every time the shop door opens!

However, Ivo is shaken by the realisation that he and Tansy have a link in their past and soon, they both find out how secrets shared can make a very strong bond indeed …

Don’t miss the brand new book from The Queen of Yummy Lit, guaranteed to put a spring in your step.

Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues — due to be published by Avon spring 2012

ISBN —978-1-84756-277-7

Trisha lives in beautiful North Wales, together with the neurotic Border Collie recently foisted onto her by her student son and an equally neurotic but also vain, bad-tempered and chancy Muse. Her previous book, Twelve Days of Christmas , was a Sunday Times bestseller in 2010.

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Sowing Secrets

A Winter’s Tale

Wedding Tiers

Chocolate Wishes

Twelve Days of Christmas

This novel is entirely a work of fiction.

The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

AVON

A division of HarperCollins Publishers