#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AND PROCRASTIBAKING BISCOTTI WITH COZY AUTHOR HH BRADY

H.H. Brady is a cozy mystery author stalked by a loving but needy toy poodle. Known for her Earl Grey addiction and monarch butterfly obsession, each humored by her family thanks in part to her culinary prowess. Learn more about her and her books at her website.  

Procrastibaking: Dunesleaf Apricot-Ginger Biscotti

By Vinnie Vargas & HH Brady

The term procrastibaking (i.e., baking as a means of procrastination) might be new but it’s something I’ve been doing for years! It’s handy whether you’re stuck on a manuscript, putting off cleaning your house, or trying to distract yourself from a murder investigation where you’re the (innocent) prime suspect. It’s the best of both worlds really, you’re doing something (productive!), it’s often for someone else (altruistic!), and it smells great/takes up time (#goals).

This is my favorite recipe for biscotti, it’s one of my best friend Charlene’s favorites. Most people think biscotti is only for coffee, but actually such dry Italian cookies were traditionally served for dipping in your wine. That's the way I like them. I love the smell of butter, sugar, and vanilla as they're creamed together – it's one of the few things that can always cheer me up.

A few slivered almonds on top would toast nicely and add to the flavor. I let them bake until they were firm to the touch and golden brown. Then I cut them into 1/2” slices, turned them on their sides and put them back in the oven at 325 degrees F for another 15 minutes to dry out some more. By this point I was feeling a bit artistic so I finished them with a drizzle of extra-dark chocolate and arranged them on a pretty grapevine plate.

Dad had said he was going to bed early so I took him a bowl of soup and a cookie for dinner. He was already half-asleep in his chair. He would never admit it but it's pretty obvious harvest is getting harder and harder for him.

Charlene was halfway through the plate when I got back. “This is amazing Vin. I mean it, you should sell this in the tasting room, you'd make a million.” A shower of crumbs fell as she spoke, and she brushed them off her cleavage in the offhand way one might scatter food for the pigeons in the park.

“Good idea, I should probably start developing a Plan B at this point, the bank is cutting my credit line. They seem to be under the impression that a murder is bad for business.”

Apricot Ginger Biscotti

Yield: About 40

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 eggs

4 tsp. finely shredded orange peel

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/3 cup slivered crystallized ginger

1 cup chopped cranberries, fresh (or you can use dried cranberries or cherries)

1/2 cup chopped dried apricots

2/3 cup orange juice

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

1 tsp. almond extract

1 tsp. vanilla

Soak the dried fruit in the orange juice for 30 minutes. Discard excess liquid. Preheat the oven to 350. Cream the butter and sugar, then add the eggs. Mix in the dry ingredients and flavorings. Finally, stir in the fruit and nuts.

Shape the dough into logs on two greased cookie sheets. Note, they will spread during baking. I make mine on the shorter side, so I divide the dough into four logs.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned. Cool 20 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 300. Slice the logs diagonally. Turn the slices so the cut sides are exposed and bake another 15 minutes.

When the slices are completely cool, if desired, melt one cup of dark chocolate chips with 2 T. butter. Stir until smooth. Spread the bottom of each slice with chocolate. When the chocolate has hardened store the biscotti in a tin or ziplock bags.

Fun fact - did you know that a single cookie is called a biscotto?  If you enjoyed this post there's plenty more of my recipes (and lots more excitement) in A Case of Full-Bodied Red.

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A Case of Full-Bodied Red

A Lethal Leelanau Wine-Cozy, Book 1

Reformed party girl Vinnie Vargas is struggling with her empty nest, her 40th birthday, and waking up (at dawn) to still-vibrant dreams of Bret Michaels—all while helping her father run Dunesleaf, his dream business. Let's face it, living at a winery on Michigan’s beautiful Leelanau Peninsula does have certain advantages. However, there are dregs as well - namely the pudgy but powerful personage of Bill Murphy, local reporter/wine reviewer. When Bill pans Dunesleaf's latest release in print, he sets the tiny family winery up for ruin and everyone knows it

Two days later Vinnie discovers Bill's body under 1600 gallons of her best pinot noir. She'd be the prime suspect even without the incriminating message she left on his work phone - now the newspaper's calling for her head and cashing in on the scandal. It's going to take everything she's got, and remembering what she had, to find the real killer before she loses her dad's winery - and maybe her life.

A Case of Full-Bodied Red includes a small-town, winter-hardened cast of characters, including Vinnie's best friend Charlene (a ready-for-anything EMS tech/firefighter), her loving yet scatterbrained father, the good-looking loyal cop from her high school class, pushy reporters with a loose grasp on facts, and several prominent community members harboring a secret love of cosplay. It's the perfect blend for one spectacular Halloween party, when Vinnie's taste for the wrong kind of man just might come in handy for once.