christmas ebook | Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes

Christmas is just eleven days away, and if you’re looking for a cozy Christmas book to curl up with, check out The Ghost Who Came for Christmas.

While I advise reading the books in the Haunting Danielle series in order (this is Book 6), it isn’t critical for enjoying the story.

With a house full over the Christmas holiday, Danielle has been spending a great deal of her time baking—recreating culinary memories and holiday traditions from her childhood. One of those is a chocolate drop cookie borrowed from my own childhood.

If you are in the mood for baking, here’s the recipe.

Chocolate Drop Cookies

This cookie was a Christmas tradition when I was a child. During the holidays my paternal grandmother, Madeline, would fill a roasting pan with chocolate chip cookies and the chocolate drop cookie. My father (the original Walt) loved both, yet I believe the chocolate drop was his favorite. These are moist cake-like cookies, a delight to any chocolate lover! But don’t over-bake!

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg (beaten)
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (dissolved in 1/2 teaspoon of warm water)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 squares (2 ounces) unsweetened chocolate (melted)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375º. Cream together sugar and shortening. Stir in egg, milk, then remaining ingredients, one by one. Blend well. Drop by teaspoonful on cookie sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes (Do not overcook!) Frost while warm. About 3 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Drop Cookie Frosting

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 to 4 tablespoons cream or milk
2 squares unsweetened chocolate (melted)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Blend together sugar and cream. Add melted chocolate, stir well. Add vanilla, mix thoroughly. Frost warm cookies.

There are probably some shoppers over on Smashwords, Sony and other sites Smashwords distributes to, looking for Christmas books, that think the author Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes (me) is daft. Or just plain nuts. Or perhaps some sort of lame con artist. After all she’s trying to sell a Christmas eBook for $100, when the same book goes for 99 cents at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I mean really, what is up with her?

I wish I knew! Actually, I sort of know.

A while back (I honestly can’t remember when) I was uploading a new file for The Story of the Christmas Village over at Smashwords. Sometimes when I’m not sure about a file, I’ll price it high while I am working on it, so no one will stop by Smashwords and pick up a copy before I’m done. I often sell an eBook or two on Smashwords right after publishing.

I figured, who would pay $100 for a little Christmas eBook? Apparently no one – which is a good thing. But here’s the problem. Somewhere along the way I got distracted – not sure what happened – or maybe I simply forgot to change the price – but today, when I looked over on Smashwords, I noticed the book was priced at $100! I checked Sony, and they also had the $100 eBook, but Kobo didn’t. I haven’t checked the other vendors, I simply unpublished the book at Smashwords.

I need to take the time and check the file that’s currently posted at Smashwords, and make sure it’s what I want. It might take a week before it comes off the other vendor sites. So for now, unless you want to bay a hundred bucks for it – you can just get the eBook at Barnes & Noble and Amazon – for 99 cents!

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I must think my books are REALLY good!!