MYSTERY AUTHOR ELIZABETH LOGAN (AKA CAMILLE MINICHINO) WHIPS UP BOSTON CREAM PIE AND A NEW ALASKA DINER MYSTERY

Camille Minichino aka Ada Madison aka Margaret Grace aka Jean Flowers aka Elizabeth Logan is the author of twenty-eight mystery novels in five series, plus many short stories and articles. Learn more about her, her various pseudonyms, her books and check out her blogs at her website. 

The Bear Claw Diner sits on a road that’s as busy as it ever gets in Alaska, on the highway between Anchorage and Denali National Park. While its owner, Charlie Cooke is often busy investigating homicides, Victor, her young Chef, takes advantage of the occasions by changing up the menu.

 

In “Murphy’s Slaw,” the third book in the Alaskan Diner Mysteries by Elizabeth Logan (me again), Victor has taken an interest in regional foods outside of Alaska. He’s come up with offerings such as Philadelphia cheese steak, Denver omelet, Maryland crab cakes, and various Florida pies with key limes. Charlie and the rest of the Bear Claw staff were resisting spam, apparently still a hit in Hawaii. Victor defended the dish by noting that he’d found a recipe for a spam and rice combo wrapped in seaweed.

 

Coincidentally, Victor landed on one of my favorites: Boston Cream Pie, the official Massachusetts State Dessert. The not-quite-a-pie but more-than-a-cake treat originated at a famous Boston hotel nearly two hundred years ago. A native of Boston, I like to spout trivia about it now and then. I often put words in Victor’s mouth, like the fact that the world’s largest BCP was displayed at Faneuil Hall Marketplace in 2005: 16 feet in diameter, including 1,300 pounds of cake, 800 pounds of filling, and 500 pounds of chocolate frosting. 

 

That could keep me happy for approximately the rest of my life.

 

“It weighed more than a ton,” Victor tells us, doing the math. 

 

Here’s the recipe for a more normal size BCP. This is a three-part dessert, but well worth the time and effort. 

 

Boston Cream Pie

 

Ingredients:

 

Cake Layers

2 eggs

2 cup cake flour

1 cup sugar

2-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

 

Cream Filling

1-1/2 cup milk

2 tsp cornstarch

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 egg

1 T vanilla extract

 

Chocolate Frosting

1/4cup water

2 T sugar

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

 

Cake Layers Directions

 Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9" round cake pans or line bottoms with waxed paper.

 

For the cake layers: Separate eggs; place whites in a small bowl and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

 

In a small bowl with an electric mixer, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Very gradually beat in the remaining 1/4 cup sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

Add egg yolks, oil and 1/2 cup milk to flour mixture. With electric mixer, beat until smooth, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Add remaining 1/2 cup milk and vanilla. Beat just until combined. Fold beaten egg whites into batter. Divide batter into prepared pans.

 

Bake cake 20 to 25 minutes or until centers spring back when gently pressed. Cool in pans on wire rack for 5 minutes. Loosen cakes around edges and turn out onto racks. Cool completely. 

 

Cream Filling Directions

In a 1-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup milk to boiling. In cup or small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup milk, cornstarch, sugar, pinch of salt, egg and vanilla until blended.

When milk comes to boiling, gradually stir in cornstarch mixture with wire whisk. Return to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute or until thickened to pudding consistency. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

 

Chocolate Frosting Directions

In 1-quart saucepan, heat water and sugar to boiling. 

Add chocolate chips. Stir until glaze is smooth. 

Remove from heat. Cool 5 to 10 minutes or until slightly thickened.

 

Assemble

To assemble, place one cake layer, upside down, on a serving plate. 

Spread with cream filling. 

Top with remaining cake layer, right side up. 

Spoon glaze over top; spread to edges of cake. 

Refrigerate until frosting appears set.

This recipe serves 8, generously. Enjoy!

 

Murphy’s Slaw

An Alaska Diner Mystery, Book 3

 

Charlie Cooke loves many things, like the Bear Claw Diner, the heated steering wheel of her car, and her orange tabby cat Eggs Benedict. Something she has never loved is the state fair. So when her best friend Annie Jensen begs her for a fair day, she’s reluctant.  But Annie isn’t the only one who wants her to spend a day among farm animals and deep fried food. A vendor has been murdered, and Trooper Graham needs his favorite part-time sleuth to dig up the truth, and Charlie is happy to oblige. 

 

The case grows personal when Charlie learns the victim is Kelly Carson, whom she and Annie were friends in high school. If Charlie wants to find justice for Kelly, she and Annie will have to work together to weed out the killer.

 

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

audiobook 

#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--FIRE-STARTERS FROM AMATEUR SLEUTH AUTHOR JUDITH COPEK, PLUS A BONUS #RECIPE

Judith "Judy" Copek describes herself as a writer, ex-geek, cook, gardener, traveler, and cat fancier. Today she joins us with a twofer—a craft project and a recipe. Learn more about Judy and her books at her website.

Fire-starters*

These will work for wood-burning fireplaces, fire pits, and wood stoves. 

 

Materials: 

Old muffin tins

Baking cups (not metal) 

Wood shavings (Available at pet supply stores. You can also use sawdust.) 

Paraffin wax (Gulf Wax is good) 

Small cones and pods, dried wildflowers, dried rosebuds (small) milkweed pods, dried statice flowers. (It’s easy to collect these in the fall with a walk in the woods, or down an alley.)

 

Lay out all supplies and have dried items organized by size and color. 

 

Place paper baking cups in muffin tins. Fill muffin tins with wood shavings. 

Melt wax on stove. I put wax in an old coffee can, and put the can in a pot with water. Turn heat on medium. When wax is melted, carefully pour into shavings-filled baking cups. Fill to the brim. 

Working before wax can harden, arrange dried cones and pods, weeds, flowers, and milkweed pods in hot wax. Crowd dried items together. A milkweed pod (small or medium) gives some height, and colorful (red, orange, purple) dried items lend visual interest. 

 

I made twenty in all. It’s fun to do with a friend, older grandchild, or someone who likes crafts, but for 

 

*Safety Warnings: Do not let small children participate. They could be burned by the hot paraffin. 

 

Store away from small children in a metal container. 

 

These fire starters burn like crazy, and they ignite almost instantly. As for anything combustible, keep children away. Once ignited, the wax burns for 20-30 minutes. 

Laura’s Lemon Squares

My heroine from my amateur sleuth mystery Murder in the North Woods took these lemon squares to a party. They quickly disappeared. 

 

(This is really my mother’s recipe Easy and delicious. For best results use butter and under no circumstances use "Real Lemon" or anything other than fresh lemon juice and fresh rind.) 

 

Ingredients for Step 1:

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1/8 tsp. salt

 

Ingredients for Step 2:

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup sugar

2 T. flour

2 T. fresh lemon juice

Grated rind of 1 lemon

 

Additional ingredient:

Powdered shugar

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

 

Cream together butter, sugar, flour and salt from first ingredients list. Press mixture into bottom of an 8” x 8” square pan lined with parchment paper. 

 

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.

 

Combine ingredients from second list. Pour over hot crust. Return to oven and bake 20-25 minutes longer. Do NOT overbake. 

 

Remove from oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool thoroughly before cutting into squares. 

Murder in the North Woods

She’s into high tech. He’s into homicide. The Northwoods rock and roll when a savvy cyber-sleuth teams up with a hunky homicide cop to route corporate miscreants and to solve a murder. 

 

When she arrives in Wisconsin’s North Woods, Laura Goode discovers her only contact is now a corpse. The information officer at Great Northern Shoe Company was a local lothario whose killer could be anyone from an enraged husband to a bitter factory worker whose job is heading overseas.

 

Working undercover, Laura digs into the Y2K Millennium project, but office politics thwart her mission to determine who is subverting it. Adding more complications to her life, boyfriend Jack, a homicide cop visits unexpectedly, and makes friends with the local cops. Her soon-to-be ex-husband also makes an appearance. Laura welcomes Jack’s help, but he’s also a distraction as she segues from boardroom to bar room, trolls for bass, hunts hackers, and tries to rescue her kidnapped cat, all while getting closer to the identity of the murderer. The exciting but off-beat conclusion involves high water rafting and a naked motorcycle gang. 

 

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook 

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR CAMILLE MINICHINO/ELIZABETH LOGAN COOKS UP CHERRY CHEESECAKE MOUSE AND A NEW MYSTERY SERIES

Camille Minichino (aka Margaret Grace aka Ada Madison aka Jean Flowers aka Elizabeth Logan) is a retired physicist. When her inspections of commercial nuclear plants post-Three Mile Island became boring, and her book on nuclear waste management wasn’t very popular, she turned to writing mysteries. She’s the author of twenty-eight mystery novels, plus many short stories and articles. Her latest series, written as Elizabeth Logan, is the Alaskan Diner Mysteries. Learn more about Camille, her nom de plumes, and all their books at her website. 

Moose and Mousse and Murder

Culinary mysteries abound, and there’s reading pleasure for every taste. What’s your addiction? Chocolate? Soup? TexMex? Tea? Donuts? Did I mention chocolate? Or how about cherry cheesecake mousse, the recipe I offer here.

Let’s face it, cozy mystery sleuths have time to eat and drink. Sure, they typically solve a mystery in about a week, but in general they’re not rushing to abort the assassination of a world leader or keep greater Los Angeles from falling into the Pacific. Can you imagine an action hero in a cave, ready to face an army of villains, pulling a spinach and cheese soufflé out of the oven? Or stopping at an outdoor café to order a double espresso or herbal strawberry tea?

 But cozies, or traditional whodunits, are designed for comfort, with nothing too graphic to deal with. Simply give the sleuths a good puzzle to figure out, snack break, and justice for all in the end.

  

Sophia Loren, nee Scicolone, said, "Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." I doubt it. Not with that body, but let’s humor her.

 Food and drink are the writer's friends, setting-wise. They hit all the senses and immediately establish the ambience. We feel the textures in a mouthful of cracker and avocado dip, see the array of colors in a fruit salad, breathe in the aroma of fresh baked bread, and taste everything. We can hear the bubbles of sparkling water and the sizzle of a burger on the grill. A few food words—coffee and an almond bear claw, French toast with thick multi-berry syrup—and we've got the reader salivating.

Menu choices are also a giveaway device to identify characters. We build expectations about the person who orders the shrimp salad as a main course vs. the one who craves a steak and baked potato. In life, the same person may enjoy both at different times. But in fiction, it works better to nail down a food trope.

I did my first protagonist, Gloria Lamerino, a favor by giving her a love of garlic. I’m allergic to it and fortunately, don’t like the taste. All my life I’ve had to answer the question, "How can you be Italian and not like garlic?"

In my defense, I've come up with Italian G words that I do love: Galileo, Ghirlandaio, Ghirardelli, Gilda in Giuseppe Verdi's Rigoletto, maybe even Garibaldi. (But not Garofalo, though I think she'd be great as Gloria in the movie version I've dreamed up.)

There also seem to be gender roles with regard to food in books and movies. Men make pancakes; women make salad. Men carry six-packs home from grocery shopping; women have a baguette sticking out of the bag. Men take a big bite out of a donut; women pick off a few molecules of a muffin or a mini-sip from a pan of sauce and utter "Mmm." And of course, with some celebrity exceptions: men are chefs; women cook.

The mousse in the photo, however, was made by two women, me and a good friend. Only one of us really knows how to cook. I’ll let you guess which one.

Cherry Cheesecake Mousse

Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients:

1 lb. fresh pitted sweet cherries, fresh or frozen   

1-1⁄2 tsp unflavored gelatin

8-oz. package cream cheese 

1⁄2 C powdered sugar

4 oz. white chocolate baking squares, melted

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 C heavy whipping cream

Chop cherries in food processor or blender. Pour into saucepan; stir in gelatin. Let stand for 1 minute. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cook and stir for 1 minute or until gelatin is dissolved. 

Pour into bowl. Refrigerate for 45 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken.

In separate bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar, melted chocolate, and vanilla. Fold in cherry mixture. 

Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold whipping cream into the cherry-cream cheese mixture. Pour into large dessert bowl or separate dessert dishes. Cover and refrigerate about 3 hours, or until set.

Mousse and Murder

Alaskan Diner Mystery, Book 1

 A young chef bites off more than she can chew when she returns to her Alaskan hometown to take over her parents’ diner. 

When Chef Charlotte “Charlie” Cooke was offered the chance to leave San Francisco and return home to Elkview, Alaska, and take over her mother’s diner, she didn’t even consider saying no. For the past year, she’s built a comfortable existence, spending her days making sure the restaurant runs smoothly and that her cat, Eggs Benedict, is appropriately pampered. But soon life at the diner starts feeling a little one-note. 

Determined to bring fresh life and flavors to the Bear Claw Diner, Charlie starts planning changes to the menu, which has grown stale over the years. But her plans are fried when her head chef Oliver turns up dead after a bitter and public fight over Charlie’s ideas—leaving Charlie as the prime suspect.

With her career, freedom, and life all on thin ice, Charlie must find out who the real killer is, before it’s too late.

Buy Links

audiobook 

paperback 

ebook 

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST COOKBOOK AUTHOR ELIZA CROSS & PUMPKIN CRUNCH CHEESECAKE

It’s all about pumpkin this time of year, isn’t it? Today award-winning cookbook author Eliza Cross joins us to share a recipe from Pumpkin It Up!, her cookbook featuring all things pumpkin. Eliza has authored eleven additional cookbooks and three nonfiction books and is currently working on her first novel. Learn more about Eliza and her books at her website and blog. 

About the Recipe

This is a fun dessert to bring to a holiday gathering as an alternative (or in addition) to traditional pumpkin pie. It’s a cross between a cheesecake and a pie with five layers of goodness: a crispy shortbread base, a light pumpkin cheesecake filling, a tangy vanilla sour cream layer and a topping of crunchy toffee. The final flourish? A drizzle of caramel sauce, because you only live once. 

I developed this recipe for my cookbook Pumpkin It Up! (Gibbs Smith, Publisher), which has 75 sweet and savory recipes using pumpkin. The preparation is easy, but I suggest you begin the day before you plan to serve it so you have ample time for baking and chilling. 

The Crust

Crumbled shortbread cookies form the base of this dessert. The crumbs are combined with melted butter, and I like to use salted butter for that delightful sweet-salty flavor combination. You can also substitute crumbled graham crackers for a more traditional crust, or crushed gingersnaps if you prefer a spicier flavor.

The Two-part Filling

The first layer of filling is made of cream cheese, pumpkin, brown sugar and spices, blended and whipped until light and creamy. After baking, it’s topped with a sweetened vanilla sour cream layer. 

The Toffee Topping and an Inspired Mistake

Chopped toffee bits form the next crunchy layer. You can use Heath bits that come in the bag, or get Heath or Skor bars and chop them in fine pieces. For pure toffee flavor, you can buy Werther’s Original Caramel Hard Candies and smash them with a hammer or rolling pin into small bits. (Smashing hard candy has the added benefit of helping relieve stress.) 

My original vision for this dessert was that when you cut it, you’d discover the ribbon of toffee inside. When the food stylist prepared the recipe to be photographed, however, she accidentally sprinkled the toffee bits on top. Her photo was so pretty that we decided to change the recipe rather than re-shoot the photo. 

Caramel Sauce

You can use your favorite caramel ice cream topping, or you can be especially decadent and use authentic Dulce de Leche, which you can find right near the sweetened condensed milk in the grocery store. It’s thick, so you’ll probably need to warm it before drizzling. 

Shall we start cooking? Here’s the recipe:

Pumkin Crunch Cheesecake

1 3/4 cups crushed shortbread cookies
1 tablespoon butter, melted
3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 can (15 ounces) or 1 7/8 cups cooked pumpkin puree
1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 container (8 ounces) sour cream, at room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup toffee bits
1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press into bottom and 1 inch up the side of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 7 minutes (do not allow to brown). Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and brown sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add pumpkin, milk, eggs, cornstarch, cinnamon, and ginger; beat well. Pour into crust. Bake until edge is set but center still moves slightly, about 60 minutes. 

In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla; mix well. Spread over warm cheesecake and sprinkle with the toffee bits. Return to the oven and bake for 8 minutes. Cool in pan on wire rack to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or until filling is firm. Remove springform pan side and drizzle with caramel topping just before serving. Makes 10 servings.

Pumpkin It Up!

There’s more to pumpkin than lattes and pies, so Pumpkin It Up! is here to help you discover sweet and savory ways to pumpkin up every meal. With both traditional favorites and unexpected twists, these recipes will please even the pickiest of pumpkin eaters. Stock your spice rack with Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice, keep breakfast classic with Pumpkin Pancakes, liven up dinner with Pumpkin Tortilla Soup, and tempt yourself with Pumpkin Tiramisu for dessert. Whatever your pumpkin craving is, you’re covered!

Recipe excerpt from Pumkin It Up! by Eliza Cross. Photography by Susan Barnson Hayward. Reprinted by permission of Gibbs Smith.

Buy Links

hardcover 

ebook 

#COOKING WITH CLORIS – GUEST #MYSTERY AUTHOR DEBRA H. GOLDSTEIN TALKS ABOUT HER NON-TRADITIONAL COZY PROTAGONIST AND JELL-O IN A CAN

Award-winning author and judge Debra H. Goldstein writes the Sarah Blair Mysteries as well as two previously published mysteries. Her short stories, which have appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies, have garnered several prestigious award nominations. Learn more about Debra and her books at her website.  

Cozy mysteries are usually defined as mysteries that take place in a confined environment, keep blood and sex off the page, and feature amateur sleuth protagonists who demonstrate a talent for sewing, knitting, or some other craft, or are expert cooks or bakers. This formula wasn’t a problem for me as a reader of cozy mysteries, but it became an issue when I decided to write one.

Not only have I never been good at crafts, I don’t enjoy them. You can get an idea of my expertise in the kitchen by the fact that if I offer to cook dinner more than two nights in a row, my husband insists on going out. Faced with the dilemma of not being able to “write what I know,” I debated whether to give up on the idea of writing a cozy mystery. Then, it hit me!

If I find cooking from scratch terrifying, there must be readers out there like me. Women whose good china is floral paper plates and who only make dishes using pre-made ingredients.

Armed with the idea of creating a non-traditional cozy mystery protagonist, I created Sarah Blair and imbued her with my fear of the kitchen.

Because I knew this type of character and the disasters that might befall her from my own kitchen exploits, I thought it would be simple to write against formula, but I quickly realized that just as any protagonist needs to be fleshed out, a protagonist built around one joke can’t sustain a series. I needed to do extra research to make her a full character.

My research took me behind the scenes of several restaurants, and it made me delve into cookbooks like Peg Bracken’s I Hate To Cook Book and the simplistic recipes appearing in numerous women’s magazines. When I came across a 1950’s recipe for Jell-O in a Can, I knew I’d found the perfect recipe for One Taste Too Many, the first book in the Sarah Blair series.

Not only is Jell-O in a Can easy to make, but the title of the recipe created by Dole Pineapple and Jell-O is memorable and funny. Its humorous aspect sends a subliminal message to readers that although she may not be a traditional cozy protagonist, spending time with Sarah is going to be fun.

Two Bites Too Many, the second book in the Sarah Blair series, which was released this month, continues the dual theme of Sarah doing anything to avoid a kitchen and the series being enjoyable. Apparently, Kensington Publishing, agrees. Kensington originally bought three books, but now has contracted for at least two additional books. Each book will include a grouping of recipes Sarah might make, running from side dishes to drinks. All of Sarah’s recipes are guaranteed to be simple. Of course, the books might contain a few recipes that are a tad more complex because I didn’t abandon the cozy formula entirely.

I may have gone with a non-traditional protagonist, but I gave her a twin sister, Emily, who is a gourmet chef. Although she is a secondary character, Emily shudders at the thought of making anything with pre-made ingredients. Consequently, if I can overcome my fear of typing a recipe for food made from scratch, one of the books may have a “true” cook’s recipe. In the meantime, please enjoy Jell-O in a Can and the Sarah Blair cozy mystery series.

Jell-O in a Can:

20 oz. can of sliced pineapple

3 oz pkg of Jell-O gelatin, any flavor

1 cup boiling water

Open the can and pour off the pineapple juice, but leave the pineapple in the can. Dissolve the Jell-O in boiling water and permit it to cool slightly before pouring it into the can, over the pineapple. Chill until set.

To serve, run a knife around the inside of the can and either tip it out or push it through using the bottom of the can.

Slice between the pineapple rings and serve.

Two Bites Too Many

A Sarah Blair Mystery, Book 2

Things are finally looking up for Sarah Blair following her unsavory divorce.  Settled into a cozy carriage house with her Siamese cat, RahRah, she has somehow managed to hang on to her law firm receptionist job and – if befriending flea-bitten strays at the local animal shelter counts – lead a thriving social life. For once, Sarah almost has it together more than her enterprising twin, Emily, a professional chef whose efforts to open a gourmet restaurant have hit a real dead end…

When the president of the town bank is murdered after icing Emily’s business plans, all eyes are on the one person who left the scene with blood on her hands – the twins’ sharp-tongued mother, Maybelle.  Determined to get her mom off the hook ASAP, Sarah must collect the ingredients of a deadly crime to bring the true culprit to justice. But as neighbors turn against her family, can she pare down the suspects before another victim lands on the chopping block?

Buy Links

paperback 

ebook  

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--BAKLAVA RECIPE AND A CHARACTER INTERVIEW WITH LILLY BATES FROM JUDY HOGAN'S PENNY WEAVER MYSTERY SERIES

Today we’re joined by Lilly Bates from the Penny Weaver Mystery Series by Judy Hogan.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings? Difficult, sad–I’d lost my husband–and boring.

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

I may not seem tough, but I am.

What do you like least about yourself? 

That other people think I’m a pushover. I’m not.

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

She set it up so I’d have my baby during a hurricane.

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

I argued that my babies always came on the due date, but she fixed it so it came early, and I couldn’t get to the hospital.

What is your greatest fear? 

Being asked to take care of houseplants.

What makes you happy? 

A quiet day, when everything goes along normally.

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

She decided I was going to marry the sheriff, just because he was in love with me. Unfair, I thought. I could have had a nice, quiet life with my two boys.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why? My boss at the Sheriff’s Dept., Derek Hargrave. He promoted me to lead detective, and then he won’t let me lead. He takes over my cases like anything.

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

I’d rather be Sammie Hargrave. She can cope with anything. Nothing fazes her, seems like. Me, I get upset, even if I don’t show it.

What’s your favorite food? 

Oh, Angelika’s Baklava. Those honey treats go down well.

Baklava from Angelina’s Kitchen 

Ingredients:

Syrup: 

2 cups sugar

1-1/2 cups water 

1 cup good quality honey

2 cinnamon sticks

2 T lemon juice

10 whole cloves

Rind from one lemon – stud with the whole cloves.

Nut Mixture: 

5 cups nuts (e.g., pecans and walnuts) roughly chopped

1/4 tsp ground cloves

2 T good ground cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

Zest of 2 oranges and or lemons

The Rest: 

1 package #4 filo dough, defrosted overnight in fridge 

1-1/2 lbs. clarified butter, warmed to liquid

Rose water (optional)

An 11 x 18 pan – or any size, then cut the filo to fit the pan

Combine all syrup ingredients except honey. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until sugar melts. Add honey and cook a few minutes until honey dissolves into syrup.

Refrigerate syrup. Syrup must be cold when you pour it over the hot baklava. 

Coarsely grind nuts. Mix with cloves, cinnamon, orange zest, sugar.

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Open filo and cut to fit 11” x 18” pan.  

Once you open filo, work until it’s done. Brush bottom of pan liberally with butter. Lay first sheet of filo in pan. Brush with a little butter. Repeat till you have 7 – 8 sheets of filo layered.

Cover filo with 1 cup of the nut mixture. Sprinkle nuts with a dash of rose water (optional.) Place another sheet of filo over the nut mixture. Brush with butter. Add another layer of nuts and rose water. Repeat for 4 – 5 layers until nuts are used up. 

Keep layering remainder of filo / butter till all filo. Place last layer of filo on top and gently pat to “settle” the nuts.

Cut the baklava before you bake it. Use a sharp serrated knife to make squares, diamonds or triangles. Do not cut all the way through – only through the top filo and into the nuts, then brush the rest of the butter on top of baklava.  Cover the baklava well – melt more butter if needed.

Bake at 350 degrees 40-50 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and pour the the cold syrup over baklava. Allow syrup to absorb. 

Fatality at Angelika’s Eatery 

A Penny Weaver Mystery, Book 11

Angelika’s Eatery is a favorite lunch place for activists and small farmers. Fred Ainsworth, who owns 500 acres, started a commune which ten farmers joined, paying cash. When Fred is found dead in the restaurant, Penny and her friends Sammie, and Lilly, lead detective in the Sheriff’s Department, work on solving the death. They learn from Fred’s banker that he was broke. In the legislature their representative Rick Clegg leads the fight against fracking while the banker tries to legalize it. The farmers learn Fred had sold his fracking rights to a fracking company. Penny and her husband Kenneth now live in the black community in the village of New Springs in a green home designed and built for them by their neighbor Arnold, who lost the most money when Fred died penniless and is top murder suspect. The three women, calling themselves the Cahoots, work to find the killer.

Buy Links

paperback

ebook 

#COOKING WITH CLORIS--CLOBBERED PEACH COBBLER FROM MYSTERY AUTHOR DIANE A.S. STUCKART

Diane A. S. Stuckart is the NYT bestselling author of the Black Cat Bookshop Mysteries (writing as Ali Brandon). Her upcoming Georgia B&B Mystery series, written as Anna Gerard, will debut this July with Peach Clobbered. Learn more about Diane and her books at her website. 

Peaches and Penguins and Cobbler, Oh My!

My name is Anna Gerard, and I am a cozy mystery writer who doesn’t cook. Don’t get me wrong. I can rustle up a tasty enough meal to feed my husband and me on a regular basis. And the rare times that I entertain, I do pride myself on fancy place settings and neatly plated food. But I don’t cook or bake for the fun of it. With everything else I’ve got on my figurative plate, spending time in the kitchen is a necessary evil, nothing more.

But the whole not-cooking thing has proved a bit problematic in the cozy mystery world, where recipes are king…er, queen. Particularly with my new Georgia B&B Mystery series. Not that I had originally anticipated a problem, since the working title for Book 1 was Death in a Penguin Suit (yes, the story has penguins, of a sort). But then my publisher—who apparently decided to emphasize the breakfast portion of B&B—decreed that we needed a title more evocative of Georgia and bed and breakfast inns. And since the series logo features a peach, the marketing department decided to call my debut book Peach Clobbered.

Problem was, for the first few months of rewrites, I was reading the title as Peach Cobblered, as in the dessert. Even after my editor corrected me, I warned her that the word was close enough that people were sure to expect recipes as part of the story. She assured me they wouldn’t…but, just in case, I decided to go with the peach theme throughout the book so that the title made sense.

And so my amateur sleuth and innkeeper, Nina Fleet, has her B&B breakfasts catered by Peaches and Java, the local coffee shop/bakery. And, of course, P&J’s specialty (care of bakery co-owner, Daniel Tanaka) happens to be a fancy peach cobbler with a yummy amaretto whipped cream topping, which is served and enjoyed throughout the book.

As for the great expectation of recipes, turns out I was right. More than one reviewer wanted to know if recipes were included. In fact, that’s kind of how I ended up writing this blog post. But that also meant I had to come up with a recipe. Fortunately, peach cobbler is a pretty basic dish, so I did manage to “cobble” together an easy-peasy version. Prep time is minimal, and in my humble opinion the finished product is as good as anything from Daniel’s bakery. Enjoy!

Peach Clobbered Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

6 to 8 large ripe peaches, pitted and peeled and sliced (or substitute a 29-ounce can of sliced peaches in heavy syrup, drained)

2-1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Uncooked piecrust (top only…homemade with your recipe, or store-bought)

Optional Topping: Amaretto Whipped Cream (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients except the piecrust in a bowl and mix well, then transfer to a greased pie pan or comparable baking dish. Top with the uncooked piecrust (Crust options: you can completely cover the filling with the crust, adding 2-3 slits to vent the steam. Or slice the crust into strips and weave into a lattice pattern. Or like, Daniel you can get creative and slice designs into the uncooked crust before laying it over the filling.)

Bake approximately 45 minutes (30 minutes for a convection oven), or until the fruit is bubbling around edges and crust is golden brown. Let cool a few minutes and then scoop into individual serving bowls. If desired, top with Amaretto Whipped Cream.

Amaretto Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy whipping cream (keep chilled until ready to use)

1/4 cup powdered (Confectioner’s) sugar

2-3 tablespoons Amaretto liquor (or substitute non-alcoholic almond flavoring)

Combine whipping cream and powdered sugar in mixing bowl. With hand or stand mixer, beat on low until sugar is thoroughly dissolved into the cream (approx. 1 minute). Add amaretto and beat on high for another 2-3 minutes or until the cream forms stiff peaks. Make in advance and keep refrigerated until ready to serve atop the cobbler.

Peach Clobbered

A Georgia B&B Mystery, Book 1

What’s black and white and dead all over? Georgia bed and breakfast proprietor Nina Fleet finds out when she comes across a corpse in a penguin costume.

Nina Fleet’s life ought to be as sweet as a Georgia peach. Awarded a tidy sum in her divorce, Nina retired at 41 to a historic Queen Anne house in quaint Cymbeline, GA. But Nina’s barely settled into her new B&B-to-be when a penguin shows up on her porch. Or, at least, a man wearing a penguin suit.

Harry Westcott is making ends meet as an ice cream shop’s mascot and has a letter from his great-aunt, pledging to leave him the house. Too bad that’s not what her will says. Meanwhile, the Sisters of Perpetual Poverty have lost their lease. Real estate developer Gregory Bainbridge intends to turn the convent into a golfing community, so Cymbeline’s mayor persuades Nina to take in the elderly nuns. And then Nina finds the “penguin” again, this time lying in an alley with a kitchen knife in his chest.

A peek under the beak tells Nina it’s not Harry inside the costume, but Bainbridge. What was he doing in Harry’s penguin suit? Was the developer really the intended victim, or did the culprit mean to kill Harry? Whoever is out to stop Harry from contesting the sale of his great-aunt’s house may also be after Nina, so she teams up with him to cage the killer before someone clips her wings.

Buy Links

hardcover 

ebook

audiobook