Fictional Cops and Fabulous Cookies by Lynn Blackburn

Elizabeth Goddard here. Suspense Sisters is so excited to host guest blogger Lynn H. Blackburn today!

Lynn will be giving away a copy of her new and exciting release, Beneath the Surface, book 1 in her new Dive Team Investigations series with Revell (a division of Baker Publishing). Please remember to leave a comment with your contact information to be entered in the drawing!



Lynn H. Blackburn believes in the power of stories, especially those that remind us that true love exists, a gift from the Truest Love. She’s passionate about CrossFit, coffee, and chocolate (don’t make her choose) and experimenting with recipes that feed both body and soul. She lives in South Carolina with her true love, Brian, and their three children. Her first book, Covert Justice, won the 2016 Selah Award for Mystery and Suspense and the 2016 Carol Award for Short Novel. Her second book, Hidden Legacy, released in June 2017 and her new Dive Team Investigations series kicks off in March of 2018 with Beneath the Surface. You can follow her real life happily ever after at www.LynnHBlackburn.com and on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.



Thank you for having me today! I’m thrilled to be here!


I grew up as a preacher’s kid. Our house was frequently filled with visiting pastors, Bible college students, teachers, evangelists, and missionaries. My mom could make a delicious meal from next to nothing and it was a good thing because we never knew when Dad might call and say, “So, I’m bringing someone home for dinner!”


I was thinking about that when I wrote the first chapter of Beneath the Surface - Book 1 in my new Dive Team Investigations series. As I got to know the characters in this story, Leigh Weston, the heroine of Beneath the Surface, quickly distinguished herself as the “hostess with the mostest.”


Leigh’s a Carolina girl who learned to cook from her mama. She loves to entertain and feed the people she loves, and one of the first things she does is feed the entire dive team—all from food she had in her pantry and freezer.

Her mama taught her well!


As the story progresses, Leigh whips up everything from omelets to chicken and dumplings, but the thing that has the entire sheriff’s office wrapped around her little finger is her generosity with her famous chocolate chip cookies.


While Leigh makes almost everything from scratch—and usually without a recipe—there actually is a recipe for her cookies. And there’s nothing super-secret about it. It’s a variation of the “Neiman Marcus cookie” recipe that can be found all over the Internet.


In her version, Leigh skips the grated Hershey bar—and the nuts—opting instead to add toffee brickle.


The Carrington County Sheriff’s Office approves . . . I think you will, too!


Leigh graciously shared this and many of the other recipes mentioned in Beneath the Surface so I’ve created a Dive Team Investigations Mini-Cookbook—it’s an exclusive gift for my newsletter subscribers. I’d love for you to join our team!


Grace and peace,

Lynn.
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Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies


The recipe makes 96 cookies, so feel free to use half the ingredients, or better yet, roll the leftover dough into balls and freeze for later.

Ingredients:

• 5 cups oatmeal (ground fine in the blender – don’t skip this step!)

• 2 cups butter

• 2 cups packed brown sugar

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 4 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

• 4 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 2-4 cups chocolate chips (to taste)

• 2 cups toffee brickle

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.

2. Measure oatmeal and grind in a blender to a fine powder.

3. Cream the butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla.

4. Mix the sugar mixture with the flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder and soda.

5. Add chocolate chips and toffee brickle.

6. Roll into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.

7. Bake for 10 minutes at 375° or until golden.


Notes and variations:
The original recipe called for a grated Hershey bar to be added in with the chocolate chips, but Leigh found that to be a time-consuming extra step and almost never does it.

Leigh doesn’t love nuts so she never adds them. But feel free to add up to 3 cups of chopped pecans or walnuts to this recipe (you may want to decrease the amount of chocolate chips/toffee brickle).

Thank you so much, Lynn!! I think I speak for all of us  when I say we're definitely going to try that cookie recipe, sign up for your newsletter and try to get a copy of Beneath the Surface! Remember, readers, leave a comment to be included in the drawing for Beneath the Surface!

About Beneath the Surface:

After a harrowing experience with an obsessed patient, oncology nurse practitioner Leigh Weston needed a change. She thought she'd left her troubles behind when she moved home to Carrington, North Carolina, and took a job in the emergency department of the local hospital. But when someone tampers with her brakes, she fears the past has chased her into the present. She reaches out to her high school friend turned homicide investigator, Ryan Parker, for help.

Ryan finds satisfaction in his career, but his favorite way to use his skills is as a volunteer underwater investigator with the Carrington County Sheriff's Office dive team. When the body of a wealthy businessman is discovered in Lake Porter, the investigation uncovers a possible serial killer--one with a terrifying connection to Leigh Weston and deadly implications for them all.