This is a more sophisticated version of gingerbread with the cinnamon adding more nuances to the flavour. I always leave the dough in the fridge until just before I need the cookies so that they can be served warm. I also tend to go heavy on the spices.

¾ cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

4 tbs. golden syrup

3 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. ginger

2 cup plain flour

1 ½ tsp. baking soda

Icing sugar for dusting

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg and blend. Add golden syrup and spices. Mix well. Mix flour and baking soda in gradually. Chill dough 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Shape dough into small balls. Roll in icing sugar and place apart on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper. Bake at 160ºC for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks. Makes approximately 2 ½ dozen.

If you love The Great Gatsby, you’ll want to read the Flappers series.

Joy and tragedy collide in DIVA, the riveting conclusion to the Flappers series, set in the dazzling Roaring Twenties. Parties, bad boys, speakeasies—life in Manhattan has become a woozy blur for Clara Knowles. If Marcus Eastman truly loved her, how could he have fallen for another girl so quickly? Their romance mustn’t have been as magical as Clara thought. And if she has to be unhappy, she’s going to drag everyone else down to the depths of despair right along with her.

Being a Barnard girl is the stuff of Lorraine Dyer’s dreams. Finding out that Marcus is marrying a gold digger who may or may not be named Anastasia? A nightmare. The old Lorraine would have sat by and let the chips fall where they may, but she’s grown up a lot these past few months. She can’t bear to see Marcus lose a chance for true love. But will anyone listen to her?

Now that the charges against her have been dropped, Gloria Carmody is spending the last dizzying days of summer on Long Island, yachting on the sound and palling around with socialites at Forrest Hamilton’s swanky villa. Beneath her smile, though, Gloria’s keeping a secret. One that could have deadly consequences . . .

Hardcover, 320 pages  Published July 10th 2012 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

ISBN  0385740417 (ISBN13: 9780385740418)

Clara, Lorraine, Gloria.  We have followed these three girls as they encounter love and loss through their pursuits of happiness. Throughout the series the main focus is on Gloria, a singer who has fallen head over hills for Jerome. Interracial couples in the 1920’s America is frowned upon and their relationship has more downs than ups. Gloria and Jerome share a love for music and it’s music that brings them together. They struggle to overcome the negativity of their friends and families as they strive for happiness together for as long as possible. When trouble knocks on their door, they flee the city. 

Clara and Lorraine are getting mixed up with the wrong guys, alcohol, and the wrong type of business, and they compete with each other over how high up the ladder they can climb. 

Now in the third and final book of the Flappers series we find each of the girls’ in separate living situations, but soon they are all brought together again. There is one last battle to keep Marcus from marrying a girl who is not who she claims to be, although Gloria is involved in more pressing matters with the police and trying to stay out of jail. Clara and Lorraine work closely to learn more about Anastasia and convince Marcus that he’s making the worst decision of his life.

The Flappers series is a hands down entertaining series. It has jaw dropping, shocking moments that you will never see coming. Readers will develop love/hate relationships with the each of the girls, finding them stubborn or selfish to completely relate-able.  You’ll get sucked in and your hearts will ache right along with theirs. I loved the ending, it was so fitting for this series. 

Not all stories can end in Happily Ever After but these girls are willing to fight, to the death to make theirs as close to perfect as they can. 

Throwing a Halloween party and looking for something special to tempt your guests with? Or what about simply freaking out the kids who dare to come Trick or Treating? Well, have I got something for you…

Bubblegum Flavoured, Panna Cotta and Jelly Eyeballs!

Okay, so here’s the admission – it took me three goes to get these right. That’s good news for you because I’ve already made the mistakes, and the resulting recipe is dead easy.

What you need:

500 ml of cream

250 ml of milk

½ cup caster sugar

Bubblegum flavouring

Gelatine Powder

Various food colours

Ice cube trays with rounded bottoms

Spray oil

Wooden skewer

Flat bottomed, plastic container

Small, round cutter – I used the end of a piping nozzle.

Fine paintbrush

How it’s done:

Mix about a cup of boiling water with a tablespoon of gelatine, stirring well to get all the lumps out. Add a couple of drops of your desired iris colour – I found pale blue to be the most (ahem) authentic. Pour into the flat bottomed plastic container and refrigerate. This mix shouldn’t be more than 3mm thick.

While the iris mix is setting, pour the cream and milk into a small saucepan and, while stirring, bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and add caster sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Remove from heat and add the bubblegum flavouring (I used ‘Robert’s Confectionary’ brand, and found I needed about 2 capfuls to get enough flavour). Refrigerate.

Your iris mix will be set by now, so remove it from the fridge and run the wooden skewer around the outside of your jelly mix. It will lift easily out of the plastic container and feel quite rubbery. Place it on a sheet of greaseproof paper, and with the round cutter, stamp out as many ‘irises’ as you need. Lightly grease the ice-cube trays with spray oil, and place one iris piece at the bottom of each rounded cube.

Your bubblegum cream mixture will be chilled by now (very important not to use it hot – it will melt your irises), so remove it from the fridge. Add about half a cup of the mixture back into the saucepan, along with 3 tablespoons of gelatine. Stir over a low heat until the gelatine is dissolved. Now, working very quickly (it will set fast) add the warm mixture back into the chilled cream mix. Stir or whisk to combine. Making sure the entire mixture is cool or at least room temperature, add a teaspoon or so to each ice-cube mould, pouring directly over your jelly iris. Refrigerate again.

Once set, gently remove your eyeballs from the ice cube trays, again using the skewer. Place flat on the tray or plate that you plan to serve them on. Add a couple of drops of black food colouring to a small glass, and with a fine paintbrush, dab a little in the middle of each iris, to form the pupil. Store covered in cling wrap in the fridge.

I found the eyeballs looked most authentic the next day, after some of the colour had leached into the cream mix, and the black food colour had soaked in. If you’re feeling particularly creative, you could always serve these with a drizzle of red food dye, or even mashed up raspberries on the side.

The Burn Bright Book Club reviewed Alice in Zombieland back in May.

I was thrilled to pick up the sequel this past week and it jumped to the top of my TBR pile (only because I was feeling impatient and needed a little jolt).

The stories share similarities with the childhood classic, Alice in Wonderland. White Rabbits anyone? And there’re zombies. Stinking, rotting, crazy zombies.

Ali survives the end of book one, and is chomping at the bit to join the slayers in their quest to rid their town of the rambling dead. The stakes sky-rocket when Ali has an odd reaction to the zombie antidote and suddenly there’s a ticking time bomb in her head. Can the slayers help her overcome this turn of events and what the heck is up with having visions with one of the new slayers?

Gena Showalter has done a brilliant job, yet again, of making teens look rough, tough and romantic in their own twisted way. I again enjoyed the almost caustic banter between Ali and Cole, the constant tumultuous roller coaster of Kat and Frost, and the mysterious person Reed is seeing.

I was so wrapped up in reading that I literally lost a day. Intending to just grab a few chapters and the next thing I knew, I was 400 pages in and the sun was going down. Always a sign of an enthralling book!

As with all series I suggest you start with book 1 and get to know the characters, the plot line and become emotionally attached to the struggles that plague Ali and her team mates.

This is not the make-you-lose-your-lunch type zombie book, which suits me just fine. So if you want gore and stomach curdling horror you may need to look elsewhere. If you’re in it for the lighter side of zombie slaying, you will not be disappointed.

See ya later Ali-gator.

http://members.genashowalter.com/

Paperback, 448 pages

Published October 1st 2013 by Harlequin Teen Australia