Quinn's Cookie Exchange

To celebrate the soon to be released Chaste by my friend, author and poet Angela Felsted, I’m participating in Quinn’s Cookie Exchange, named after the main character in the book, a teenage boy who knows how to cook.

Even though Hanukkah is over for this year, I think you’ll find this recipe delicious any time. All the grease spots on my original recipe card attest to that.

Hanukkah Cookie Pinwheels

(Draidle or spinning top cookies)

Bake at 350 deg for 15 minutes

Makes about 5 dozen

Pastry:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 8-oz pack cream cheese

¼ cup dairy sour cream

2-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teas salt

Filling:

2 cups finely ground walnuts

½ cup sugar

1 teas ground cinnamon

1 egg

1 teas grated orange rind

1. Prepare pastry: Beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl with electric mixer until creamy. Beat in sour cream. Stir in flour and salt until a firm dough forms, adding more flour if necessary. Form into a ball, wrap. Chill overnight.
2. Prepare filling: Combine nuts, sugar, cinnamon, egg and orange rind in a small bowl.
3. Divide pastry in half. Roll out half on floured surface to make an 8-inch square about ¼ inch thick. Spread half of the filling evenly on pastry. Roll up, jelly-roll style. Wrap in foil, chill for a least 1 hour. Repeat with other half of pastry and filling.
4. Light grease two cookie sheets. Cut the rolls into ¼-inch thick slices. Place ½ inch apart on cookie sheets. Reshape into rounds, if necessary.
5. Bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes or until firm and golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Brief Synopsis of Chaste

When he steps into his physics class on the first day of senior year, Quinn Walker is too exhausted from staying up all night with his three-month-old nephew to deal with moral dilemmas. As a devout Mormon who has vowed to wait until marriage for sex, the last thing he needs is a very hot and very sexy Katarina Jackson as his physics partner. Regrettably, he has no choice.

Kat feels invisible in her mansion of a home six months after losing her older brother in a fatal car crash and will do anything to get her parents’ attention. Since her pastor father has no love for Quinn’s “fake” religion and her ex-boyfriend refuses to leave her alone, she makes an impulsive bet with her friends to seduce her holier-than-thou lab partner by Christmas.

Take a look at the great trailer and go Amazon or Barnes&Noble to buy this book.

And don't forget to try the cookie recipe.