www.marilynbrant.com

Monday, April 9, 2012

Authors in Bloom Giveaway Hop!!

Follow the AUTHORS IN BLOOM directions and enter to win an eReader (Nook or Kindle, your choice!) + a $25 gift card!! That's the Grand Prize. :) But, also, every one of the 75 participating authors in the hop is offering individual prizes, too...including me! To enter my personal blog giveaway -- open internationally -- for a pair of Murano glass bead earrings made in Venice and two A Summer In Europe luggage tags (see photo), you only need to leave a comment on this post before 11:45pm Central time on Wednesday, April 18th, and to (pick one) follow me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter and/or join my free newsletter list . You can get up to three entires total if you decide to do all three, but only one is required for my giveaway. (And if you're already following me on one or more of these sites, simply say so in the comments and you're entered!!) Please leave an email address along with your comment so I can contact you if you win. I'll announce the winner of the earrings and luggage tags on my blog on April 19th. To enter the grand prize, you need to collect all the phrases for the traveling story (hint: the lines I have are below) by visiting all of the OTHER AUTHORS, and then you submit that completed story with all the lines on the grand prize landing page at A Cozy Reader's Corner by using the form provided there. Only those who collect each phrase to complete the story will be entered into the drawing for the eReader of his/her choice and the $25 gift card. Good luck, everyone! My phrases for the traveling story: Line 9: “Are my petals too plump? Line 10: “Do these leaves make my bottom look wide?” My best gardening tip: The very best advice I can give you in regards to gardening is...PLEASE don't listen to me!! I have two of the blackest thumbs imaginable. My son inherited his green thumb from my father and it, very clearly, skipped a generation. So, for the safety of your plants, I offer NO tips! Recipes, however, I can do ;). In A Summer In Europe , my characters enjoy many decadent foodie delights, particularly in Italy.  Below is one of my favorites! 
 
Recipe for Tiramisu:
Ingredients
5 eggs, separated 
6 oz fine granulated sugar 
11 oz mascarpone cheese
9 fl oz cold coffee 
3 Tbsp brandy or sweet Marsala 
36 small sponge fingers 
3 oz dark chocolate, finely grated 

 Directions: 1. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the mascarpone and beat until smooth. 2. Whisk egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form. Fold into the mascarpone mixture. 3. Pour coffee into a dish and add the brandy or Marsala. Dip enough biscuits into the coffee to cover the base of a 10 inch square dish. The biscuits should be well soaked but not broken up. Arrange them in one packed layer at the base of the dish. 4. Spread half of the mascarpone mixture over the biscuits. Add another layer of soaked biscuits and top with the rest of the mascarpone. Smooth the top layer. 5. Dust with the grated chocolate right before serving. (Serves 4) Enjoy, all! What's one of your favorite desserts?

31 comments:

Nicole Basaraba said...

Very cool contest. My favorite dessert would be a chocolate brownie with nuts. If its served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, that's the best.

Edie Ramer said...

I can't tell you how much I love Tiramisu. Your recipe actually seems doable for me.

I have your lovely luggage tag, so don't enter me, please. Still, I'm always happy to talk about desserts. I'm such a lover of sweets, it's hard to choose one. (I'm the same way about books.) But key lime pie is another favorite.

Unknown said...

Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts! I am now following you on Twitter!

Marilyn Brant said...

Oh, Nicole, warm brownies...swoon!! And, yes, with vanilla ice cream -- I love that and know it would be delicious (right now)!

Edie, another friend of mine loves Key Lime Pie, too, and she got me hooked on it as well. YUM! I think the thing I love so much about making Tiramisu is that all of the ingredients in it are so good. Even if I make a slight mistake in measuring/proportions, it still turns out to be tasty...

Janel, thanks for the Twitter follow, and I'm glad to meet another Tiramisu fan!! :)

Margaret Gabriele said...

Tiramisu is my favorite but I also love lemon squares.

Marilyn Brant said...

Margaret, I'm a fan of lemon squares, too... My friend recently showed me a book of hers that has reduced-calorie recipes and the lemon square one is very tempting to me ;).

Robin Bielman said...

Hi Marilyn! What a fun thing you're doing!

My thumb is way blacker than yours, though, even though I try! ~sigh~ Thanks for the Tiramisu recipe. I'm not too picky when it comes to my desserts. Wait, I take that back. They can't be sugar-free. :D

Maria Geraci said...

Marilyn, your Tiramisu recipe sounds fabulous. I'm going to definitely have to try this one out :)

tamalyn said...

great contest, and have added your recipe to my list of todo's x
@tamalyn1

liked on Fb and followed on twitter

Unknown said...

I follow fb dianna breeden,twitter BreedenDianna

Unknown said...

I love Tiramisu!! Oh so delicious!! I signed up for your newsletter: bournmelissa at hotmail dot com.
I follow via:
FB: Mel Bourn
Twitter: @MelCamino5

Mel
bournmelissa at hotmail dot com

Kimberly said...

Marilyn,
This blog hop sounds so fun! And the tiramisu sounds amazing. That was my choice for my wedding cake. Three tiramisu and two chocolate ganache tiers. Now I can make my own. Thanks!

Marilyn Brant said...

Robin, LOL! I need some sugar in my desserts, too ;).

Maria, thank you! I'm looking forward to checking out your recipe as well. You make some wonderful dishes!!

Tamalyn, I'm glad it looked like a good one for you to try! Hope you'll enjoy it...

CakeLady, thanks so much for the follows :).

Mel, thanks so much for all of that joining and friending, and I'm delighted you're a tiramisu fan, too!

Kimberly, ohhh, what a GREAT idea for a wedding cake! I wish I would have thought to do that (although ours was quite good, too -- a white cake with strawberry filling). Still, I love tiramisu and *anything* with chocolate. YUM!

joye said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I read your book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Reminded me of when I toured Europe.
Thanks for having the contest.

Marilyn Brant said...

Joye, I'm so thrilled that you enjoyed the book!! Thank you, thank you for telling me so ;).

Sam said...

This Blog Hop has been so fun! I'm discovering great authors! And I'm right there with you...no green thumb whatsoever! I'm following you on Twitter now too!

StereoQueenBee said...

Followed you on Facebook. Thanks for the great giveaway!

queenofcrunk at gmail dot com

desitheblonde said...

the gift look great and then i blog on them on my sights all over
desitheblonde@msn.com

Anonymous said...

My favorite deserts varies. My favorite pie is Pecan Pie and Peach Pie. The other is probably cheesecake.

rachel at thejeepdiva dot com

Marilyn Brant said...

I'm loving all the great comments!!

Sam, glad you're enjoying the hop (and I'm also glad I'm not alone in the black thumb department ;).

StereoQueenBee, thank you!!

desitheblonde, I'm so glad you like them - thanks for sharing :).

Rachel, I love more than one dessert, too, and I've enjoyed all three that you mentioned! For me, my favorite cheesecake is the chocolate kind with the Oreo crust...yum!!

Carole in Canada said...

Hi Marilyn, I follow you on Austen Authors and found this 'hop'! So here I am collecting and finding new authors! Thanks!
btw - my favourite dessert is my mother-in-law's pflaumankuchen (German plum cake) with real whipping cream...yummy!
Carole in Canada

Natasha said...

Thanks for the recipe and the chance to win!
natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

Meredith said...

Hi Marilyn, I am following you on FB! and eating chocolate at the same time, how great is that!

Anonymous said...

Hi Marilyn
I follow you on twitter.
This dessert looks great! I love recipes with coffee in them. I love creamy desserts too like chocolate mousse.
Samantha

Yujie said...

I would love to be entered in the giveaway! Thank you :-) the tiramisu looks amazing!!!

Marilyn Brant said...

Carole, ohhh, that sounds delicious! Anything with real whipping cream...yum!!

Natasha, thanks for stopping by!

Meredith, LOL! I *adore* the way you think :).

Samantha, I love chocolate mousse, too!!

Yujie, you're entered. Glad you liked the tiramisu recipe!

sweety said...

Thanks for the international giveaway!!

sweety225(at)rocketmail(dot)com

Shadow said...

What a yummy recipe! Thank you! ;) One of my favorites is chocolate chip cookies. Yum! I love them! Thank you for the fun hop!
facebook: Shadow Kohler
Twitter: @LuvToRead09
Newsletter subscriber
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

Marilyn Brant said...

Sweety, you're very welcome! Thanks for stopping by.

Shadow, I love chocolate chip cookies, too, but my husband loves them even more...so we eat them often!! So glad you mentioned it ;).

bn100 said...

I like Tiramisu. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

Marilyn Brant said...

bn100, I'm so glad you liked the recipe!

Thanks to everyone for visiting and being part of the blog hop! The winner of my drawing (for the luggage tags and Venetian earrings) will be announced sometime tomorrow. Good luck to all!