COOKING WITH CLORIS--CRANBERRY-WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

This is not a cookie you normally associate with spring. I’ve made cranberry-white chocolate chip cookies for years every Christmas, but sometimes you just get a craving for something, right? And I was craving cranberry-white chocolate chip cookies. 

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 4 dozen cookies

 

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks butter), softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries

 

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.

 

Using a mixer, cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in vanilla and eggs.

 

Gradually add flour, mixing by hand with wooden spoon. When flour is incorporated, fold in chips and cranberries.

 

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.

 

Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until edges turn light brown. Cool on pans for five minutes, then transfer cookies to cooling racks.

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE AUTHOR MAGGIE TOUSSAINT ON OLD BUICKS, BLACK CATS, AND MOLASSES COOKIES

Award-winning Southern author Maggie Toussaint writes mystery and suspense. She lives in coastal Georgia, where secrets, heritage, and ancient oaks cast long shadows that often inspire her stories. Learn more about Maggie and her books at her website. 

The Old Buick and the Cat

My catering sleuth in my latest release, Spawning Suspicion, is named River Holloway Merrick. She loves being creative with her cookie baking. She makes them in all shapes and sizes, using cookie cutters to make seasonal shapes or sometimes hand-shaping them. This time of year her specialty is molasses cookies. All the folks on Shell Island, her hometown, are wild about her cookies and her cooking.

 

Cookies always make everything better, but then so do pets. Here’s how River tamed a feral cat.

 

For the longest time, River felt like she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders as she parented her errant brother and failing mother. After her mom passed, her brother went through a rough patch before getting his life on track.

At the same time, River encountered a wildling cat at a catering job and gave it some bites of her delicious grilled sea bass. The cat followed her home. Turned out the cat needed a mission, and River needed a cat. It was a match made in heaven. River named her black cat Major because he likes to patrol the yard.

 

In addition, the cat fell in love with the old Buick that formerly belonged to River’s Mom. When River prepares to run errands, Major is usually waiting atop the Buick and staring at her intently. The message is clear. He expects a car ride—and he gets one!

 

Major is a bit of a sleuth too, and he often sniffs out clues to help River with her investigations. Islanders jokingly call Major River’s hood ornament due to his tendency to perch on the hood and watch the action when River is gathering information.

 

River’s delighted with her new pet, and she hopes you’ll root for Major as well.

 

River’s Yummy Molasses Cookies

 

Cookie Ingredients

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground ginger

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter softened

1 c packed brown sugar

1/3 cup molasses

1 egg

 

Icing ingredients

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2-3 TBSP milk, as needed

1-2 drops food color (optional)

 

Stir flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and cloves in a medium-sized bowl. Set aside. In a larger bowl, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed for about 1 minute or until creamy. Beat in molasses and egg. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Chill covered dough for 1 hour or more.

 

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Roll cookie dough into one-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheet. Flatten balls slightly with your fingers. (Note: keep dough chilled between batches.)

 

Bake 12-14 minutes until edges are set. Do not overbake. Cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

 

Icing

Mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 TBSP milk in a small bowl until combined. Add 1-2 drops food color, if desired. Stir in additional milk, a little at a time, until icing spreads easily.

 

Spoon icing on cooled cookies and spread it around with the back of a spoon. Allow icing to set. Store in an airtight container.

 

***Note: if you double the recipe, make in separate batches***

 

To create River’s pumpkin-shaped cookies: When making the icing, add 1-2 drops each of red and yellow food coloring. Adjust color to the intensity you prefer. Spread orange-tinted icing on cookie. Before icing sets, use a toothpick to draw three vertical lines to simulate the indentations on a pumpkin

 

Spawning Suspicion

A Seafood Caper Mystery, Book 2

 

The death of island playboy Curtis Marlin doesn’t register on busy caterer River Holloway’s radar…that is, until her brother and his girlfriend are arrested for the former athlete’s murder. Certain of the pair’s innocence, the amateur sleuth sets out to investigate. Suspicion on the island spreads like chocolate sauce when River questions the victim’s teammates. The suspects don’t appreciate her stirring up trouble, but she won’t let an election-hungry sheriff make her brother a sacrificial lamb.

 

But there’s more than murder on River’s to-do list. A missing groom, catered banquets, and River’s own wedding plans keep her hopping like a short order cook. And as the cherry on the sundae, she has a wild kitty to tame. Under mossy oaks and rustling palmettoes, fact and fiction blend in a mouthwatering romp of good eatin’ and yummy recipes. Spawning Suspicion is the second in Toussaint’s Seafood Capers Mystery Series.

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR JUDY PENZ SHELUK SHARES PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE RECIPE

With the holidays coming up we've allowed Cloris another spot this week to feature one more author who bakes. After all, you can never have too many Christmas cookies, right? 

Judy Penz Sheluk writes the Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries, and her short crime fiction has appeared in several anthologies. Learn more about Judy and her books at her website/blog. 

Judy is offering a giveaway to a lucky reader. Click here to sign up for her newsletter before December 20th for a chance to win an Audible.com audiobook of either The Hanged Man’s Noose or Skeletons in the Attic (winner’s choice). 

While I don’t write the sort of books that contain cats, crafts or cookie recipes (my amateur sleuth mysteries have bit more of an edge), like me, my protagonists have a sweet tooth, at least when it comes to cookies. When I visited last December, I shared a recipe for my mom’s Almond Crescents, a to-die for shortbread that Arabella Carpenter of The Hanged Man’s Noose would surely appreciates. You can find that recipe here. 

In Skeletons in the Attic: A Marketville Mystery, my protagonist, Calamity (Callie) Barnstable, is searching for clues that might help her find out more about her mother—a woman who disappeared thirty years earlier, when Callie was just six-years-old. As Callie digs through a box of her mother’s belongings, she finds a peanut butter cookie recipe that bears a striking resemblance to the recipe my mom used. Maybe it’s the childhood memory of baking with my mother, but I truly believe these are the best peanut butter cookies you’ll ever taste.

Anneliese’s Best Ever Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy; I prefer smooth, but if you like bits of peanut in your cookies, the crunchy peanut butter works well)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla (real vanilla, not the imitation stuff) Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Beat butter, peanut butter and white and brown sugar with mixer until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well after each addition.

Drop a tablespoon of cookie dough 2 inches apart onto baking sheets sprayed with cooking spray. Flatten each cookie in a crisscross pattern with the tines of a fork.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Allow to cool completely.

Skeletons in the Attic, a Marketville Mystery

What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder. 

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--SAN NICOLAS COOKIES WITH GUEST BLOGGER JOSEPHINE IBARRA

Josephine Ibarra is a blogger who loves to experience the uniqueness of different places in the Philippines. She has a passion for writing articles about her travels and sharing the beauty of her country. You can find some of her blogs at  was; she Alviera and learn more about her Please on Facebook.

Kapampangan Eats: A Glimpse Behind the History of San Nicolas Cookies

Food, like a loving touch or a glimpse of divine power, has that ability to comfort. -Normal Kolpas

On the tenth of September every year, parishes in Pampanga, Philippines have a unique bread tradition in honor of San Nicholas de Tolentino--one of the traditions passed by the Spaniards to the Filipinos. Saint Nicholas is described as the Super Saint of the Augustinian order according to locals. Aside from being the traditional patron of forty-six Philippine towns, he was known for the legend of Guadalupe's San Nicholas. Otherwise known as the Pan de San Nicholas, this sacramental bread (or more appropriately a biscuit), this Kapampangan delicacy found its roots upon the miraculous appearance of the shrikes (locally known as tarat) during the patron saint's feast day, hence the eponymous name "Pan de San Nicholas."

The distribution and blessing of bread were distinctive features of the San Nicholas feast, which still continues today. It was said that the bread was as miraculous as the patron saint's charities. It was stated that he had envisioned Virgin Mary while he was sick. The Virgin mother then advised him to eat bread that has been dipped in water--an advice he took that caused his timely recovery. Because of this, the tradition was born, and his followers continued the practice of portioning and blessing bread on his feast day.

But San Nicolas cookies are eaten not only on his feast day but any day of the year. In Pampanga, these perfectly molded cookies are famously crafted by Lilian Borromeo of Mexico, Pampanga. She has preserved and continued the tradition of making the succulent cookies from the recipe she inherited from generations before her. Lilian Borromeo's cookies are manually molded into heirloom wooden templates handed down to her, which make them truly unique.

It is said that eating Pan de San Nicholas has curative and restorative derivatives, but today, that may be attributed to a placebo effect. If you want to try your hand at making this famous Kapampangan biscuit, you can head over to Lilian Borromeo's kitchen, famously known as Kusina ni Atching Lilian. You will be granted a cooking demo by the chef, Atching Lilian herself and be rewarded with a souvenir for your efforts.

However, if you are unable to travel to The Philippines, you can try your hand at making the cookies at home:

Pan de San Nicholas Cookies

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups rice flour ( Mochiko brand, from Asian markets)

1/2 cup cornstarch 

2 cups cake flour 

1 T. baking powder 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 cup + 2 T. granulated sugar 

6 egg yolks 

1/2 cup canned coconut milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature

1 tsp. fresh lemon zest 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

In a large bowl, combine the cornstarch, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg yolks, coconut milk, softened butter, lemon zest, and oil.  Blend the mixture well with a wooden spoon.  Slowly introduce the cake flour and rice flour into the mixture until well blended.

Knead the dough until it’s thick and smooth.

Place the dough into an airtight container and freeze for two to four hours, or even overnight.

Remove dough and thaw at room temperature for eight to ten minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Meanwhile, grease the carved surface of the mold with baking spray, making sure you have covered the crevices and corners.

Place a piece of the dough over the carved portion of the mold until completely covered.  Place a piece of parchment over the dough and, using a rolling pin, flatten the dough so it gets embedded into the mold’s design.

Place a round or oval cookie cutter over the mold and use it to cut the dough into the appropriate shape.  Transfer the molded dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly-brown.

Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 30 to 40 minutes.  Once cooled, wrap in white cellophane wrappers and store in an airtight glass or plastic jar.

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--VALENTINE'S DAY COOKIES WITH GUEST AUTHOR JOSIE RIVIERA

USA Today bestselling author Josie Riviera writes contemporary, inspirational, and historical sweet romances that read like Hallmark movies. She lives in the Charlotte, NC, area with her wonderfully supportive husband. Learn more about her and her books at her website.


Today is Valentine’s Day, and although we normally think of it as a holiday for sweethearts, there are many other forms of love that warrant celebration. In my latest release I touch on international adoption, a subject close to my heart as my husband and I adopted our daughter from S. Korea. (Note the Asian child on the cover.)

Twenty-two years ago, my husband and I met our beautiful daughter for the first time at Boston International airport. She was six months old. Our international adoption process took over two years. She's now studying in Europe for her Master's Degree.

Thousands of families around the world have opened their homes and hearts through international adoption. In I Love You More, Soo-Min is the embodiment of many, many fortunate adoptive children and parents who’ve together created forever families.

Today in celebration of Valentine’s Day I’m sharing a family recipe for butter cookies. The recipe uses a small number of simple ingredients, resulting in a flavorful, delicious cookie.

Butter Cookies

Yields 3-4 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter, softened (Do not use margarine or light butter.)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup powdered confectioner’s sugar

2-1/2 cups flour

1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add vanilla, flour and nuts. Mix thoroughly.

Shape into small balls. Dough will be very crumbly, but the warmth of your hands will make them easier to shape. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in pre-heated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Watch closely as they will burn if left in oven for too long.

While still warm, roll in a small amount of additional confectioner’s sugar.

I Love You More

A billionaire and a single mother have more in common than they know.

He’s a billionaire businessman …

Luciano Donati, entrepreneur and eligible bachelor, lost his first wife to cancer. So though he lives in romantic Charleston, SC, he has every intention of ignoring the upcoming holiday for lovers … at least until he sets eyes again on his younger sister’s best friend.

He remembers Anastasia as a teenager who idolized him, not this lovely, fragile woman with heartbreak in her eyes. Heartbreak that he finds himself wanting to cure. Her smile warms his soul, her touch ignites his desire, and her little girl Soo-Min melts his frozen heart. Adopted internationally himself at a young age, Luciano understands all too well the strong need to belong somewhere.

She’s a single mom …

Anastasia Markow, cancer survivor and divorced mother, didn’t come to Charleston, SC, for romance. She's here to make sure she has custody of her adopted daughter, Soo-Min. But when she encounters the first man she ever loved, here in the city of horse-drawn carriages and candlelight, her battered heart can’t help but bloom again. And when Luciano and Soo-Min take to each other, resisting his charm becomes even harder.

Handsome, self-assured, every inch the successful billionaire, Luciano is out of Anastasia's reach. But when a hurricane strands them together and they must trust each other to survive … things heat up despite the driving rain and gale winds.

Can Valentine’s Day bring this unlikely pair together … this time for good?

Watch the video.


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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR JUDY PENZ SHELUK AND ALMOND CRESCENT #COOKIES

Judy Penz Sheluk’s debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, is the first book in her Marketville Mystery Series. Her short crime fiction appears in several anthologies. Learn more about Judy and her books at her website/blog. 

I love cookies. There I’ve admitted it. I can pass up a piece of cake (okay, maybe not carrot cake with cream cheese icing, but surely that could be counted as a vegetable?), and I’ve been known to exhibit moderate willpower when it comes to pie. Potato chips? Yes, I can actually stop at one. But cookies…love them. I’ve even been known to eat an entire box of Girl Guide cookies over the course of a weekend.

My passion for cookies probably stems back to my childhood. My mom wasn’t much of a cook (a trait I have sadly inherited), but she did make the best peanut butter cookies I’ve ever tasted.

In my recent release, Skeletons in the Attic: A Marketville Mystery, my protagonist, Calamity (Callie) Barnstable, is searching for clues that might help her find out more about her mother—a woman who disappeared thirty years earlier, when Callie was just six-years-old. As Callie digs through a box of her mother’s belongings, she finds a peanut butter cookie recipe that bears a striking resemblance to the recipe my mom used.

But this is Christmas time, and it seemed only fitting to share a Christmas-y cookie recipe. For that, I went to The Hanged Man’s Noose: A Glass Dolphin Mystery, where Glass Dolphin antiques shop owner Arabella Carpenter is known for her love of Scottish shortbread. I also love shortbread, though my particular passion is for Almond Crescents. My mom used to make these every Christmas. She would let me twist the dough into crescent shapes, and if I was really, really good, she’d let me sprinkle powered sugar over them after they were freshly baked.

PS: if you really want the Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, email me at judy@judypenzsheluk.com and I’ll send you the PDF!

Anneliese’s Almond Crescents

Makes 45 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (the real deal, not the artificial kind)

2 teaspoons almond extract

2-1⁄3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup ground almonds (bulk food stores are a good place to find these)

1 cup powdered sugar (put in a sifter for best results)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets (enough for 45 cookies.)

Mix together butter with sugar and beat with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and almond extract. Continue beating until incorporated. Stir in the flour and almonds. Work flour mixture into a firm dough.

Working with 1 tablespoon of dough at a time, shape into logs. The log should be slightly thicker in the middle than at both ends. Bend into a crescent shape. Place on greased cookie sheets.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until light brown. While the cookies are still warm sift crescents with powdered sugar. Cool on racks.

Skeletons in the Attic

What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--#CHRISTMAS #COOKIE TIME WITH DEBRA SENNEFELDER

Aspiring author Debra Sennefelder has two constant writing companions, her Shih-Tzus, Susie and Billy. She's been an avid reader since childhood and found writing came naturally for her. When she's not writing, she loves to cook, exercise (yes, really) and read. Learn more about Debra at her website.

There are a few things I share in common with Hope Early, the amateur sleuth in my mystery series. One of those things is the love of baking, and Christmas is my Super Bowl. The other thing Hope and I share is that we are extremely busy, so we look to streamline as many things as possible. Since I love to bake cookies at Christmas and I work a full-time job and I am writing and I have a home to maintain and I ... you get the picture...I've come up with a method to bake batches and batches of cookies without having to spend countless hours in the kitchen.

I've been baking Christmas cookies for over 20 years and I've learned a thing or two about the process. This baking obsession started innocently enough with a cake when I was about twelve years old. My mom wasn't a baker so she used boxed mixes and I made a simple one-layer cake and covered it with white frosting and added some Christmas decorations to bring to our family's holiday dinner.

I was greeted by oohs and ahhs and I admit, I liked it. Watching everyone enjoy my cake made me feel happy, accomplished and proud. Over the years I traded in the Christmas cake for cookies because everybody loves a cookie and they're easy to make. But since I usually bake 10-12 different types of cookies for the holiday season, I needed to find a way to streamline the process. I've experimented with a few ideas - fewer cookies (not a good option), freezing baked cookies (not every cookie freezes well) or adding mini-cakes to my cookie trays (the people in my life want Christmas cookies, end of story). And over the past few years it's become more important to me that I not spend hours every night after work baking because I need to use that time writing. And weekends? Well, errands need to be run and the house needs to be cleaned and I need to write.

So how do I manage to deliver dozens of cookies to friends, family and co-workers?

#1 - Plan

#2 - Prep ahead

#3- Freeze the dough

#4 – Bake

Here's how I pull it all together.

In October I pull out my planner, and I list all the cookies I want to bake. There are some that I bake every year--Ginger Crackles, Double Chocolate Crescents, Rugelach, Sugar cookies, Chocolate Chip (the only cookie my husband eats), and Cranberry Drop cookies.

Then I decide on 4-6 other cookies I'd like to bake. With my list completed I create my shopping list. I review each recipe for the ingredients, and over the next few weeks I spread those purchases out during my regular shopping trips so it’s a little easier on the budget and I can take advantage on any sales. I also make sure to include gallon sized zip lock bags.

I then schedule my baking days. Since I gift these cookies, I usually bake ahead of Christmas Eve so I have time to make deliveries. I base the baking days on when I plan on delivering the cookies. I identify which cookies can be held the longest (it's usually no more than three-four days) and work down to the cookies that need to be delivered within 24 hours of baking (my Double Chocolate Crescents are those type of cookies, best served right after they’re baked).

Then I set the dates for my prep work.

The prep period is usually Thanksgiving weekend. I settled on this period a few years ago. I used to do the prep work in the evening after work but between working all day and writing at night, I couldn't continue to do that. Thanksgiving weekend gives me 3 full days to dedicate to prepping all of my baking bags.

On prep days I prepare all the dry ingredients for each cookie. It's that simple. Scoop, measure and dump into a re-sealable gallon sized bag and label. Then I move on to the next recipe. By the end I have all of the dry ingredients ready to go for baking. At this point, you can make the cookie dough and freeze it for baking at a later date. Depending how many cookies I have to bake, I will do this.

On my baking days all I have to do is grab a bag and then pull together all of the wet ingredients and mix, scoop and bake. Or, if you’ve frozen the dough, defrost in the refrigerator and bake.

I use more re-sealable bags and containers to store the baked cookies.

Just before I deliver the cookies, I bring out my trays (everyone on my cookie delivery list returns my trays and cookie tins so they can be reused) and cookie tins and begin assembly. I typically post on Facebook my baking progress so friends and family eagerly await their gift. It's so awesome to see their faces light up when I hand over my cookies. It never gets old. And the added bonus is that I am still able to balance everything that I need to do, which includes writing the second book in my series this holiday season.

At this time of the year we’re all in a time crunch and this is one way I found to help ease the stress of the season. Do you have a tip or two that helps lessen the stress of the holidays? If so, please share.

Before I go I’d like to share the recipe for my Double Chocolate Crescent Cookies. They are my favorite cookies and it’s very, very hard to resist devouring them just after they’ve come out of the oven. As I mentioned earlier, these cookies do not do well stored and should be baked within 2 days of sharing.

Double Chocolate Crescent Cookies

Yield: approximately 2 dozen

Ingredients

1 ¾ cup flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ pound butter, at room temperature

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (in a pinch you can use regular chocolate chips)

Confectioners’ sugar for dredging

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Combine flour, cocoa and salt.

With an electric mixer set at medium-low speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy and light in color. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Reduce speed and beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Dough will be crumbly and dry. That’s okay.

Scoop dough into approximately 1-1/4” balls (you can use a tablespoon measure spoon for this part or an ice cream scoop). Roll each ball into a log about 3” long and taper ends. Bend each log into a crescent shape. (I use a donut cutter for uniform crescents, gently shape the log inside the cutter). Place about 2” apart on a silicone sheet lined baking sheet pan and bake until the edges are set and the bottoms are dry but corners are slightly soft, 10-15 minutes.

Remove from the cookie sheet carefully as to not break the cookies and immediately dredge in confectioners’ sugar. Continue to handle the cookies gently. Let them cool completely and dredge a second time in confectioners’ sugar.

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR BRIDGES DELPONTE

Biscoitos

Bridges DelPonte has published three non-fiction books and numerous articles in the legal, travel and business fields as well as two novels and short stories in the science fiction, fantasy and mystery genres. When she is not writing, she teaches law courses, creates educational game apps, and lives happily in sunny Central Florida. Learn more about Bridges and her writing at her website. 

The Sweet Aroma of Memories

Aromas or scents hold undeniable powers to trigger deep emotions and to stir up long-held memories. We can all recall times when a momentary whiff of a scent instantly transported us back to specific places and times in our lives. The sweet fragrance of a fresh gardenia in spring. The earthy smell of a campfire. The salty tang of an ocean breeze. The sense of smell often trumps our other senses in its ability to tap into our long-term memories and emotional responses because it is so closely connected to those pathways in our brains. Hence, in our writing, scents or smells play a vital role in setting a scene or establishing a mood.

For me, the aroma of baking bread often spins me back to childhood visits to my grandparents in East Cambridge, a closely-knit Portuguese neighborhood across the river from Boston. My paternal grandmother Angelina and her sister Maria would sometimes roll out snakes of dough onto a vinyl red-and-white checkered tablecloth in their kitchen. They would twist each doughy coil into smooth round circles, like small ring tosses, and press them together at the ends. As they baked, an egg wash gave a glossy sheen to these crunchy biscoitos or cookies.

At other times, they would show us how to form fat dough balls for airy malasadas. These dough balls were lightly fried in oil for a crunchy outer shell and a soft, fluffy center, then tossed in powdered sugar. To this day, I cannot resist funnel cakes when I catch a hint of their aroma at a fair or carnival because they remind me so much of malasadas.

My favorite Portuguese baked good is massa or sweet bread with its delicious skin-like crust and yellow soft bread center. Toasted or untoasted, I love it with a dollop of butter or peanut butter. Most home cooks leave it up to the professionals with their red-hot commercial ovens to bake massa. Any trip to East Cambridge ended with a visit to the bakery to stock up on massa. We used to send massa to my sister when she moved to Chicago and could not find it there. Later massa made its way to me when I moved to Florida. When I opened a package, the aroma of sweet bread brought back a rush of family memories.

When putting together my new Marguerite “Monty” Montez mystery series, I knew that a family-run Portuguese bakery would be an important feature of her story. The family bakery becomes the setting for personal and generational conflicts between Monty and her widowed mother who operates the business. Mrs. Montez is unhappy that Monty chose the law over the bakery in a clash between “old country” and modern values. Despite her secret pride in her daughter’s accomplishments, she wants Monty to give up crime-fighting and settle down with Manny, the bakery’s delivery man from the neighborhood.

The bakery also provides a nice opportunity for readers to learn about some delicious Portuguese goodies from a heroine with a “curvaceous body, shaped by a lifetime of bakery treats.” Monty wisely brings along a box of fresh baked goods to pry open lots of doors around the courthouse and police station, and even persuades some witnesses to tell their story while munching on baked goods. So the aromas of Portuguese baked goods are intertwined throughout Monty’s story in Deadly Sacrifices.  

Be sure to try out the biscoitos recipe below that my sister Christine translated into English from a hand-written family recipe. These buttery cookies are great when dunked into your favorite cup of coffee or tea while curling up to read my new mystery, Deadly Sacrifices.

Biscoitos

(Pronounced - BIZ – KOYTS)

Portuguese Cookies/Biscuits

2-1/2 cups flour

7 or 8 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup corn oil

1 stick butter

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar (set aside a tablespoon of sugar), and baking powder and mix well.

Add three eggs and mix until thoroughly combined (set aside a few tablespoons of the egg mixture).

Add the butter slowly and blend until the mixture forms into a smooth dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Lightly grease 2 large cookie sheets.

Working with 2 tablespoon portions of dough at a time, roll the dough with your hands against the counter to form snake-like lengths about 5 inches long and ¾ inch thick.

Bring the edges together and press to seal so that you have a small donut (or ring toss) shape.

Place the dough circles on to the prepared cookie sheets spaced about 1 inch apart.

Mix remaining egg with remaining tablespoon of sugar to form a glaze. Brush the top of each cookie with some of the glaze.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until the cookies are light golden brown on top.

Cool completely then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Serve with tea or coffee.

Deadly Sacrifices, A Marguerite Montez Mystery

You always remember your first time. Monty's first happened in St. Stephen’s church, directly beneath a statue of the Virgin Mary, right after morning mass. A local soccer mom is bludgeoned to death in her suburban parish chapel outside of Boston. In her first homicide case, prosecutor Marguerite “Monty” Montez endangers her life digging up evidence that shows the police nabbed the wrong man. Monty’s investigation uncovers disturbing memories and fresh leads in an unsolved murder of a childhood friend in her close-knit Portuguese community. Her dauntless search for the true killer is a wild thrill ride into a dangerous world of lethal secrets.

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