I love cooking and baking. Growing up, my great aunt lived with my family. Rita was quite the cook, if I do say so myself (and I do!). Every Sunday morning, she would wake up bright and early to begin baking fresh bread and cookies for the week. It’s a memory I will never forget.
Rita’s no longer with us, but she does live on in Zoelle.
Her effortless love of cooking and baking is Zoelle’s… and mine too.
When I wrote Coven I wanted there to be a distinct emphasis on this particular love and passion. I’ve made at least half of the recipes written in Coven, but there is one in particular I never took a stab at and it’s haunted me ever since. I’m talking “Level 5 Clinger” status here, people! This dish ingrained itself into the back of my mind just waiting to crop up again and tempt me into action.
I never stood a chance.
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Coven
Chapter 8
– New Deal –
“What are you making?”
“Apple cinnamon rolls, but a bit differently. I want them to look like one of those blooming apple tarts at the bakery, but I’m not cutting the dough right.”
“Maybe I can help,” he offers, rolling up the sleeves of his button-down and tossing me a smile.
“I’m afraid Adolphus men aren’t allowed to slave away in the kitchen.”
His eyes narrow playfully as he mimics the way I place the cinnamon rolls in their ramekins. “I don’t mind breaking the rules if you don’t,” he tells me in confidence leaning toward me. I send him a disapproving glare, but it lacks its usual sting. That has been happening a lot recently. So have my ill attempts at getting him to call me Zoe. Or even Zoey.
“I can manage on my own,” I insist halfheartedly.
“You don’t have to though,” he murmurs. “I’m here.” Our eyes briefly catch.
“I know.” I duck my head and continue working, letting Xander keep up the conversation until the mood has lightened. He teases and taunts until keeping a smile off my face becomes an odious task.
“Are you always this domineering in the kitchen? Geez.”
I laugh and swat at the hand that reaches for the empty dough bowl. “No more! You’ll get yourself sick if you keep eating that. It has raw egg in it.” He smiles charmingly back at me, dimples peeking through.
His hand darts forward once more, carefree smile still in place, as I smack his hand again with the sticky spatula. With a laugh, he licks the remains of cinnamon sugar and dough from his hand. “Harder, Zoelle.”
I blush and guffaw, hitting him indeed harder with the spatula. A rumble of his pleased laughter fills the kitchen. “Behave,” I scold as I place the ramekins in the oven and begin clearing the island. I rebuff Xander’s attempt to help, asking him over my shoulder instead to fix us some tea.
But Xander stands stock-still. Breath bated at my instruction. Then I realize why. My hand is placed without a thought near the bottom of his spine. The touch is casual yet somehow so intimate. It is something I am careful never to do. I stare at the offender in horror, before drawing it sharply back against my chest and turning to the sink.
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It seems so simple and innocuous, I know. But it was these little devils that stuck themselves in permanently in my mind.
JUST LOOK AT THESE BEAUTIES! Mmm… Did I already say I never stood a chance? I never did. Honest.
Of course then—without thought—this delectable treat wormed its way into Lycan Legacy.
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Lycan Legacy
Chapter 2
By the Moon
It wasn’t until the rehearsal dinner that I got to spend time with Atticus before the ceremony. Even then, I had been kept away from him as much as possible by my pack mates. The experience would have been far lonelier if my soulmark had not taken the less-than-subtle snub in stride and snuck me winks and smiles throughout the night. When I returned to my room last night, I discovered a batch of warm apple cinnamon morsels delivered courtesy of Atticus from Baudelaire Patisserie and Café.
The sweet treat melts in my mouth, accompanied by an appreciative moan. A simple note had been left near the plate. It read:
Life is about to become immeasurably sweeter. Counting the seconds until tomorrow.
-A
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They came back! They evolved! Full disclosure: I didn’t realize I had written them in once more until I began to edit Lycan Legacy.
And can I just say… I smiled so bright when I caught what I had done. It wasn’t just that this dessert—and also ultimate guilty pleasure breakfast item—had snuck its way back into the Soulmark Universe. It was that somehow, however unintentionally, Zoelle’s original creation made it into her very own patisserie and café.
Just wow.
This wasn’t planned. I don’t know how my brain knew to connect the dots and bring this dish, with such history, into Zoelle and Xander’s relationship back into the fold. Nor do I know how it was able to place it so innocuously, yet so perfectly, into Winter and Atticus’s story.
When Zoelle and Xander originally made the cinnamon rolls, their relationship is teetering precariously on the edge of becoming something more. When its more polished version is delivered as a special treat for Winter the night before her wedding… it honestly feels as if the dish has come full circle.
A dish initially made while love was blossoming only to be given later as a gift to celebrate a day of love?
*Pats self on back* Full circle indeed.
So why not finally take a shot at making it? Watch me try HERE!
Make it yourself!
