5 Minutes for Books — Sweet Caroline

Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck tells the story of Caroline Sweeney. Caroline has always lived her life to please others. When the owner of the local cafe dies, he leaves his cafe to Caroline, with the stipulation that it be sold if she doesn’t choose to run it. Caroline’s the kind of person who makes choices with others in mind–not necessarily her own needs. She has the opportunity to move to Spain for a fabulous job opportunity, but then what would happen to the oldtimers who have always known the cafe as a part of their hometown? What about the employees who need the job at the Frogmore cafe? What about good-looking J.D., the new guy she’s been dating? What about Mitch, her high school sweetheart who has recently returned to town after starting a career in the music industry? I won’t let you know what happens, but if you read it, you’ll find out.

I always find my mouth watering when reading stories that have food as a subplot. The descriptions of the food at the Frogmore Cafe definitely provoked that response–Frogmore Stew with shrimp and corn, moist cake with buttercream frosting, coffee lightened with half and half, and most importantly, Bubba’s Buttery Biscuits.

Author Rachel Hauck has shared that recipe with us. I can’t wait to try them.

Bubba’s Buttery Biscuits

3 cups self-rising flour
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled, plus 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted for brushing the tops
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place the flour and chilled butter in a medium mixing bowl. Work the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingertips until the butter pieces are a little larger than an English pea, but not larger than a lima bean. If you are using your fingers, work quickly so that the heat of your hands won’t melt the butter.

Pour in all of the buttermilk and, using light pressure, fold the mixture a few times with a plastic spatula until it holds together. Do not over mix. In order to make light biscuits, it is important to work the dough as little as possible.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead it quickly and gently 6 to 10 times or until it begins to be almost homogenized. There will be large pieces of butter throughout. Sprinkle a little flour under the dough so that it won’t stick to the board and lightly dust the top of the dough so that it won’t stick to the board and lightly dust the top of the dough so that it won’t stick to the rolling pin. Roll the dough out to about 1/2-inch thickness.

Cut the dough into 2-inch rounds, place on an ungreased baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. I like the biscuits to be crispy and brown on the top and bottom, but not dry in the middle. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and brush the tops of the biscuits with the melted butter. Serve right away. (recipe from Louis Osteen)

Find out more about the author and her books at rachelhauck.com, read what others are saying about Sweet Caroline at the blog tour post.  Are you an aspiring writer? Check out her Book Therapy blog.

Would you like to win a copy of Sweet Caroline? Leave a comment here, and we’ll announce the winner in next week’s column.

You can still enter last week’s book giveaway, for Trading Places. Because I’m out of town, I’m going to draw and post the winners on Wednesday.

Email Author    |    Website About Jennifer Donovan

Jennifer Donovan has been a part of the 5 Minutes for Mom team since 2007. She writes product reviews, covers events, and manages the 5 Minutes for Books weekly column and website. She lives in Houston and blogs at Snapshot about life with her family.

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