#COOKING WITH CLORIS--COQ AU VIN AND A NEW CULINARY MYSTERY FROM AUTHOR MADDIE DAY

Award-winning author Maddie Day/Edith Maxwell pens the Country Store Mysteries, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, the new Cece Barton Mysteries, the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, and short crime fiction. When not writing, she gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook. Learn more about her and her books at her website, where you can find links to her other social media, and at the Wicked Authors blog and Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen.

Cooking up a Theme

I’m delighted to be back visiting Anastasia and readers! 

 

Deep Fried Death, my twelfth Country Store Mystery, released last week. Each book includes recipes in the back. As I’m writing, I find ways to mention food, which isn’t that hard considering that protagonist Robbie Jordan owns and runs a breakfast and lunch restaurant in her country store.

 

This book opens on Memorial Day weekend, so it’s spring in southern Indiana. Later in the week, Robbie and her staff brainstorm specials for the next day. Danna mentions that it will be National Coq au Vin Day and that they could prepare a simple version for lunch. Turner chimes in that they could call it Spring in Paris Day and offer savory and sweet crepes as a breakfast special.

 

Here’s the Coq au Vin recipe, one I make a couple of times a year at home. 

Coq au Vin

The following is a simplified version of the famous Julia Child recipe.

 

Ingredients:

2 pounds boneless chicken

Salt

Pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup butter

1 onion, diced

12 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tablespoons flour

1 quart chicken stock

2 cups hearty red wine

1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary

1/4 minced fresh parsley, plus more for garnish.

 

Remove skin and excess fat from chicken, then pat meat dry with paper towels. Season on both sides with salt and pepper.

 

Heat oil in Dutch oven until shimmering. 

 

Working in batches that don’t crowd the chicken, brown on both sides and remove to a plate.

 

Add butter and saute onion in same pan until it softens. Add mushrooms and continue to saute until they wilt. Add garlic and saute for one minute. Do not let garlic brown.

 

Return chicken to pan and sprinkle all with flour. Stir for two minutes.

 

Slowly stir in stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer. Add red wine. 

 

Cover and let simmer for one to two hours or until chicken is tender. 

 

Stir in herbs. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let flavors combine. Garnish with more parsley.

 

Serve hot over or next to buttered wide noodles or buttered boiled potatoes, and enjoy a salad and a glass of red wine with it.

 

Doesn’t that sound yummy? What’s your favorite way to eat chicken?

 

Deep Fried Death

A Country Store Mystery, Book 12

 

Many residents of South Lick, Indiana, claim the Outhouse Race, in which competitors push old-timey outhouse replicas on wheels at the annual Abe Martin Festival on Memorial Day, is the best thing since indoor plumbing. Just because country store and restaurant owner Robbie Jordan has too much to do managing her new deep fryer as well as an old lover reappearing, she’s not going to miss out on the fun. Plus, it’s good for business. But when a dead body and a cast-iron skillet tumble out of the Pans ’N Pancakes outhouse entry on the race route, it seems someone is trying to frame Robbie—in a most unconventional way. Now she’ll need to be privy to the townsfolks’ secrets as she races to flush out a killer . . .

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR MADDIE DAY SHARES A WINE SPRITZER #RECIPE

Maddie Day pens the Country Store Mysteries and Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. As Agatha Award-winning author Edith Maxwell, she writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and short crime fiction. Learn more about Edith and her books at her website, where you can find links to all her social media, and at the Wicked Authors and Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen blogs. Today Maddie/Edith shares with us a refreshing wine spritzer that’s a favorite of one of her sleuths.

In Batter Off Dead, number ten in the Country Store Mysteries, chef and protagonist Robbie Jordan enjoys a blueberry wine spritzer during the July heat. I included the recipe among the others at the back of the book, and I’m delighted to share it with your readers.

 

That said, we are in the depths of a cold New England winter, and I couldn’t find a trace of fresh mint to use, so I stuck a lime on the glass. 

 

Robbie’s Blueberry Wine Spritzer

Ingredients (for one drink): 

Fresh blueberries

3 mint leaves

1 teaspoon sugar

4 ounces chilled Pinot Grigio

Lime seltzer

 

Muddle a dozen blueberries and mint with the sugar at the bottom of a glass. Stir in wine, add ice, and top off with seltzer and a few more blueberries. Enjoy on the deck with a good book!

 

Readers: What’s your favorite refreshing summer drink? I’d love to send one commenter a signed copy of the new book. Please include your email address so I can contact you if you’re the winner.

 

Batter Off Dead

A Country Store Mystery, Book 10

 

In South Lick, Indiana, fine foods and classic cookware can be found at Robbie Jordan’s Pans ’N Pancakes. Unfortunately, her country store also seems to stock up on murder.

 

In Batter Off Dead, Robbie and her new husband Abe O’Neill are enjoying a summer evening in the park with fellow townsfolk excited for some Friday night fireworks. In attendance are senior residents from Jupiter Springs Assisted Living including Roy Bird, father to South Lick’s very own Police Lieutenant Buck Bird. Despite his blindness, Roy is a member of his group home’s knitting circle, spending quality time with some lovely ladies.

 

But when the lightshow ends, one of the knitters who sat with Roy is found dead, a puncture wound in her neck. The poor woman’s death echoes that of Buck’s mother and Roy’s wife—an unsolved homicide. To help find the killer, Robbie’s going to have to untangle the knotty relationships deep in the victim’s past . . .

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR MADDIE DAY SHARES AN EMPANADAS RECIPE AND A NEW RELEASE

Award-winning mystery author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and multi-published short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she pens the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Learn more about Edith/Maddie and her books at her combined website. 

Creating a Series

Thanks so much for having me over to celebrate my book release, Lois!

When I designed my Country Store Mysteries, I knew I wanted to feature a breakfast and lunch restaurant in southern Indiana. As I am originally a Californian, I made protagonist Robbie Jordan a transplant from the Golden State, too. She grew up in Santa Barbara, but loves living and cooking in Brown County, Indiana. 

I spent five happy years earning a doctorate in the next county some decades ago and visited Brown County often. The southern part of Indiana is hilly and pretty, and the pace of life is slower and more relaxed that I’ve found on the coasts. It was fun to create an iconic fictional Midwestern village and people it with locals. A couple of them are fond of using quirky southern phrases like, “Welp, that went faster than green grass through a goose,” or, “The fella’s a regular cobweb rig,” for a particularly tall man.

After Robbie’s mother dies suddenly of a ruptured brain aneurysm in her fifties, Robbie is heartbroken but inherits some money. She’s already living in Brown County, working as a chef. She and her Aunt Adele, her mother’s sister, find a run-down country store for sale. Robbie’s mom was a cabinetmaker, so Robbie learned carpentry skills from her. She goes to work renovating the store.

Flipped for Murder, the first book in the series, begins at the store’s grand opening. It’s been fun developing Pans ‘N Pancakes into the village watering hole over the course of six books and a novella. It’s where everybody comes for breakfast or lunch, and where they gossip and talk about the latest murder.

I’ve also enjoyed developing the recipes for the restaurant, some of which I include in the books. I love cooking, and I live with a tall skinny man who loves recipe testing! 

For book seven, Nacho Average Murder, which releases tomorrow, Robbie goes back to California to her tenth high school reunion. I created a number of yummy recipes with a Cali-Mex flavor, using avocados and spices like cumin and chili powder. It’s food I love to eat and I’m happy to present one of the dishes here for you.

Flaky Chicken Empanadas

These yummy bits are served at the Chumash High School reunion.

Ingredients:

1 large boneless chicken breast

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 ounces grated pepper jack cheese (or regular Monterey Jack)

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup finely diced red bell pepper

2 puff pastry sheets, thawed

1egg + 1 tablespoon water whisked together in a small bowl

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. 

Slice the chicken lengthwise into inch-wide strips. Rub all surfaces with the spice mix.

Heat oil in a skillet at medium high. Lay in chicken strips not touching each other. Sauté for two to three minutes until brown on bottom, then flip them over. Sauté for one more minute. Lower heat to medium low and cook until chicken is done, about ten minutes in all. Remove from heat and cool for an hour. Dice the chicken, ending up with about two cups.

In a large bowl, combine the chicken, cream cheese, grated cheese, and peppers. Use your hand to mix well.

Lay out one sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough and roll out to an approximate dimension of 11 x 15 inches. Cut 3 1/2” circles in the dough with a biscuit cutter, a glass, or a bowl. Repeat with the other sheet of puff pastry. Gather dough scraps and roll out to dimensions to fit additional circles.

Place 1 tablespoon chicken mixture in the center of each circle. Lightly brush the edge of half of a circle with egg wash and fold over, pinch edges tightly to seal. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining circles but DO NOT dip your brush in the egg wash again until your brush becomes dry because too much egg wash will prevent the edges from sticking.

Check each empanada to make sure there is about a finger's width of dough sealed together before the filling starts. Crimp the edges together with a fork. Pierce each empanada two times with a fork so steam can escape while baking.

Spread empanadas apart so they are not touching each other on the baking sheets. Brush the tops/sides evenly with egg wash. Bake until golden brown, approximately 15 minutes. Serve hot.

To freeze:

While empanadas are lined on the baking sheets before baking, transfer entire baking tray to the freezer. Once frozen, add individual empanadas to a freezer bag or glass container with lid.

When ready to bake, array desired amount of empanadas on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Nacho Average Murder

A Country Store Mystery, Book 7

While looking forward to her high school reunion back in California, Robbie Jordan’s anticipation is complicated by memories of her mother’s untimely death. At first, she has fun hanging out with her old classmates and reuniting with the local flavors—avocados, citrus, fish, and spicy Cali-Mex dishes. When she gets wind of rumors that her mother, an environmental activist, may not have died of natural causes, Robbie enlists old friends to clear the smoke surrounding the mystery. But what she finds could make it hard to get back to Indiana alive . . .

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--WHY AUTHOR MADDIE DAY SET A COZY MYSTERY SERIES IN INDIANA

Maddie Day writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. As Edith Maxwell, she writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. With eighteen novels in print and five more in production, Maxwell has been nominated for an Agatha Award six times. She lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t killing people on the page or wasting time on Facebook. Today she joins us to talk about why she set a series in Indiana. Learn more about Maddie/Edith and her books at her website and the Wicked Authors blog. 

Why Set a Series in Indiana?

Several decades ago, I spent five happy years earning my doctorate at the flagship Indiana University campus in Bloomington.

Maxwell Hall

It’s a school that every generation of Maxwells has attended and of which my great-great-great grandfather was one of the founders (also: my great-grandfather was the first dean of the IU Medical school, my grandfather was captain of the IU basketball team in 1916, and my own father was an undergrad there). Think huge university in a small town. You can walk or ride a bike everywhere. People are friendlier and talk more slowly than in the northeast. And neighboring Brown County is as hilly and pretty as Vermont.

The seed for this series was this: a fellow grad student named Benjamin dropped out of the IU Linguistics PhD program in the late 1970s. With his girlfriend he bought a run-down country store in the town of Story fixed it up into a breakfast restaurant as well as a bed-and-breakfast establishment. They served whole-wheat banana walnut pancakes, which I make to this day, and which figure prominently in my books. The Story Inn still exists, although my friends don’t own it any longer.

Story Inn

When I was imagining how this series might play out, I conjured up a twenty-seven-year-old woman named Robbie Jordan who grew up in Santa Barbara, California. Three years after Robbie moves near her mom’s sister Adele in Brown County to work as a chef, Robbie’s carpenter mom dies suddenly. Robbie uses her savings and a small inheritance to acquire a run-down country store filled with antique cookware. She uses the carpentry skills she learned from her mom to transform the place into a breakfast and lunch restaurant, later adding three B&B rooms upstairs.

Bean Blossom Covered Bridge

I’ve been having a ball remembering and researching phrases and pronunciations from that part of the country. “I might could do it for you.” “Faster than green grass through a goose.” “I can’t eat another bite ’cause I’m as full as a tick.” Actual small town names are awesome: French Lick, Bean Blossom, Gnaw Bone, Floyds Knobs, and so on. When I saw South Lick Creek on a map, I knew that was the name of my fictional village. Strangled Eggs and Ham is the sixth book in this popular series, and there will be at least nine, plus a novella coming out in Christmas Cocoa Murder this fall.

(Note: a version of this post first appeared on the Wicked Authors blog in 2014.)

Readers: what are your favorite colorful sayings?

Strangled Eggs and Ham

A Country Store Mystery, Book 6

While Robbie scrambles through breakfast orders South Lick, Indiana, tempers run as high as the sticky August heat. A developer’s plans to build a towering luxury resort at one of the most scenic hilltops in Brown County infuriates opponents, who concoct protests and road blockades. When tensions boil over and a vocal protester is silenced forever at the resort site, Robbie ditches the griddle to catch the killer. But if slashed tires are any indication, she’ll need to crack this case before her own aunt gets served something deadly next . . .  

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AUTHOR EDITH MAXWELL ON THE INSPIRATION FOR HER QUAKER MIDWIFE MYSTERIES

The Biddle and Smart Building

In our continuing series on where authors get their ideas, today we welcome six-time Agatha Award nominee Edith Maxwell, author of The Quaker Midwife Mysteries and The Local Foods Mysteries, as well as award-winning short crime fiction, under her own name and The Country Store Mysteries and The Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries as Maddie Day. When she isn’t killing people on the page or wasting time on Facebook, she enjoys cooking and gardening. Learn more about her and her books at her website and the Wicked Authors blog. 

Quaker Midwife Mysteries Origin Story

Why do I write a mystery series set in a late nineteenth-century New England mill town with an independent Quaker midwife in her twenties as amateur sleuth? Let me tell you.

I’ve lived north of Boston in the northeast corner of Massachusetts for thirty years. For all that time I’ve been a member of Amesbury Friends Meeting (Quaker) but lived in other towns and drove to church on Sunday mornings.

In the summer of 2012 we downsized and bought a house in Amesbury. I already had friends here and loved the historic town full of brick mill buildings and a river that runs right through downtown. And now I could walk to Meeting, but I didn’t know much about Amesbury’s history before moving here.

The next spring I read a newspaper article about the Great Fire of 1888 in Amesbury. The town was world-famous at that time for its graceful well-built carriages, and the fire on the night before Good Friday burned down most of the factories on Carriage Hill. The disaster was only saved from being worse by rain that fell during the night. The Biddle and Smart building was one of the few saved, and the rest of the factory owners resolved to rebuild.

After I read that article, I was strolling to our lovely simple Meetinghouse built in 1851 one First Day (that is, Sunday) morning when a short story popped into my head about the Quaker mill girl who solves the mystery of the arson. Historically the Great Fire wasn’t from arson, but it could have been. I wrote that story, and “Breaking the Silence” was published in Best New England Crime Stories 2014: Stone Cold (Level Best Books, November 2013).

I didn’t want to let the setting and characters go, so I invented the girl’s midwife aunt Rose Carroll, based on my previous experience teaching childbirth education and helping women through labors, both at home and in the hospital. I wrote Delivering the Truth, and sold the series to Midnight Ink. Each of the first three books have been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel, including Turning the Tide this year.

I’m excited Charity's Burden, Quaker Midwife Mystery #4 is out, and I am happy to announce the series is moving over to Beyond the Page Publishing with book five. Look for Judge Thee Not to release this fall! There will be at least two more in the series after that. Note: A revised version of this post appeared on the Short Mystery Fiction Society blog.

Delivering the Truth

A Quaker Midwife Mystery, Book 1

After an 1888 Massachusetts town’s carriage industry is torched and a man is stabbed to death with Quaker midwife Rose Carroll's knitting needle, she is drawn into solving the mystery. A factory-owner's mistress is also murdered, leaving her one-week-old baby without a mother. While struggling with being less than the perfect Friend, Rose draws on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver to bring two murderers to justice.

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INTERVIEW WITH AMATEUR SLEUTH ROBBIE JORDAN

Every so often we like to mix things up here at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers by adding a new feature. To mark a new year we’re adding the occasional character interview. Here to start us off is an interview with Robbie Jordan, the amateur sleuth of Maddie Day’s (aka Edith Maxwell) Country Store Mystery series.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

I was working as a chef at an inn in southern Indiana, riding my bike, doing puzzles, hanging out with Aunt Adele, and trying to get over my rotten ex-husband.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I’m a hard worker, and when I start a project, I finish it.

What do you like least about yourself?

I’m still a little freaked out by my last two romances going south, and it’s hard to trust that Abe is truly the good guy he seems to be. But I’m working on it.

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Finding a body in a frozen lake wasn’t much fun!

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

Sometimes she wants to get me into dangerous situations, and I have to keep telling her I am NOT going into that basement alone.

What is your greatest fear?

That I’ll lose my aunt or my father. They are all the family I have.

What makes you happy?

That’s a tossup between solving a really challenging crossword puzzle and taking a long hilly bike ride.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

Of course I wish my mom was still alive. It was money she left me when she died suddenly that enabled me to buy and renovate my country store and open Pans ‘N Pancakes, but I’d ditch the whole project if it would bring her back to life.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

State police detective Oscar Thompson bugs me a bit, but it’s not serious. He’s just such an odd dude, and he doesn’t like me butting into his cases. I think he’s starting to grow on me, though.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Despite murder being awful, it turns out I’m pretty good at figuring out who the bad guy is. Sometimes I wish I could trade place with Lieutenant Buck Bird so I would actually have training in crime fighting.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Maddie, aka Edith Maxwell, lives north of Boston and churns out books from her second-floor office, where she can keep track of who’s going where on her street. All her books and short stories are described on her website. She blogs every weekday with the Wicked Cozy Authors, on the third of the month at Killer Characters, and on the second Thursday at Inkspot.

What's next for you?

Death Over Easy will be out next summer. I’m so excited that my Italian father and his wife come to visit during the Bluegrass Festival. Too bad a musician is killed and then a really nice customer of mine is, too. Life gets pretty complicated!

Biscuits and Slashed Browns, A Country Store Mystery

For country-store owner Robbie Jordan, the National Maple Syrup Festival is a sweet escape from late winter in South Lick, Indiana—until murder saps the life out of the celebration. Robbie drops her winning maple biscuits to search for answers. But can she help police crack the case before another victim is caught in a sticky situation with a killer?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR EDITH MAXWELL/MADDIE DAY

Agatha-nominated and Amazon bestselling author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and as Maddie Day, the Country Store Mysteries. A former farmer and doula, she also writes award-winning short crime fiction. Learn more about Edith and her books at her website. 

Edith/Maddie will be giving away an advanced reading copy of Grilled for Murder. If you'd like a chance to win, post a comment, but be sure to leave your email address so she has a way to contact you.

I’m delighted to be back on the blog. One of my favorite things to cook is muffins. You really can’t go wrong with them. They are quick, easy, and tasty. I always use whole wheat flour and keep the sugar to a minimum, which keeps the recipe fairly healthy. Pretty much any quick bread recipe can double as a muffin recipe, like banana-bread muffins. The ones I make most often, though, are blueberry, throwing in a cup of the blueberries I picked and froze last summer.

But it used to be frustrating scrubbing out the muffin tins. No matter how much I greased them, stuff stuck. And it’s a pain scouring out each cup in the pan. Then I discovered USA Pan bakeware. (No, I don’t work for them, really.) Nothing sticks! Baked-on bits of batter just slide right off. They are of a heavy metal, so the muffins bake evenly. I have cookie sheets and bread pans of the same make, too.

In Grilled for Murder, the second Country Store Mystery, chef-carpenter Robbie Jordan serves up apple-spice muffins to breakfast customers in her country store restaurant, Pans ‘N Pancakes. They’re easy and tasty – and nobody dies from eating them!

Apple Spice Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 cups chopped apples (about three small)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 T baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a muffin pan.

Combine eggs, sugar, milk, apples, and vanilla and mix well.

Separately combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices, and walnuts.

Stir dry ingredients into wet with a fork until just mixed. Spoon into a greased muffin tin.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until brown on top. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Serve warm with butter, peanut butter, or cream cheese.

Grilled for Murder

In the charming small town of South Lick, Indiana, transplanted Californian Robbie Jordan has transformed a rundown country store into the popular restaurant Pans 'N Pancakes. When the star of a homecoming party turns up dead in Robbie’s store the next morning, apparently clobbered with cookware, the police suspect Robbie's friend Phil, who closed up after the party. To clear Phil and calm her customers, Robbie needs to step out from behind the counter and find the real killer in short order…

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR EDITH MAXWELL AND 1888 #GINGERBREAD

Agatha-nominated and Amazon best-selling author Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries and the Local Foods Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries (as Maddie Day), and the Lauren Rousseau Mysteries (as Tace Baker), as well as award-winning short crime fiction. Her story, “A Questionable Death,” which features the same 1888 setting and characters as Delivering the Truth, is nominated for a 2016 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. Learn more about Edith and her books at her website.

1888 Gingerbread

I’m delighted to be here today with a killer recipe! My 1888 Quaker midwife from Delivering the Truth, Rose Carroll, baked in a wood stove, which makes baking a little tricky. You have to remember to turn the pan regularly so it doesn’t burn on one side. Luckily our modern ovens are more forgiving.

One of the reference books I like to use is Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book and Marketing Guide from 1880. It includes all kinds of tips for kitchen hygiene and equipment. For example, in the section on Cooking Utensils, Miss Parloa tells us this: “The essential qualities in a utensil are that it shall be substantially made; be smoothly finished and without grooves or joinings; and that it shall be free from deleterious substances.” I agree!

But when you get to the recipes, they are all really large. “Pluck two chickens,” starts one. A cake might have a pound of butter in it. Her recipe for Soft Gingerbread reads, “Six cupfuls of flour, three of molasses, one of cream, one of lard or butter, two eggs, one teaspoonful of saleratus, and two of ginger. This is excellent.” I suppose it would be – but I don’t have any saleratus around the house, and if the end product turns out not to be excellent, I’ve just wasted a heck of a lot of flour, molasses, and butter.

So I turned to the Fannie Farmer 1896 Cook Book (reissued in 2011). Her recipe for gingerbread is somewhat more restrained in the amounts. And who doesn’t love a nice moist piece of gingerbread – with whipped cream on top, of course!

Here’s the recipe, adapted slightly.

Hot Water Gingerbread

Ingredients:

1 cup molasses

½ cup boiling water

2 ¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons ginger

½ teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Butter a square pan and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Add the water to the molasses. Mix the dry ingredients. Combine the mixtures, add the butter, and beat vigorously.

Pour into the pan and bake thirty-five minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

(The original recipe includes this tip: “Chicken fat tried out and clarified furnishes an excellent shortening, and may be used in place of butter.” Not in my kitchen!)

Readers, what old-fashioned recipe do you like to use? Do you have one that’s been handed down in your family?

Delivering the Truth

Quaker midwife Rose Carroll becomes a suspect when a difficult carriage factory manager is killed after the factory itself is hit by an arsonist. Struggling with being less than a perfect Friend, Rose delivers the baby of the factory owner’s mistress even while the owner’s wife is also seven months pregnant. After another murder, Rose calls on her strengths as a counselor and problem solver to help bring the killers to justice before they destroy the town’s carriage industry and the people who run it.

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~~~~~~~~~

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