#COOKING WITH CLORIS--MYSTERY AUTHOR JENNIFER HAWKINS BAKES UP SHORTBREAD AND A TALKING CORGI

Jennifer Hawkins is the author of the Chatty Corgi mystery series.  She lives, writes, and bakes in the great state of Michigan. She can be found at @allmycozies on both Twitter and Instagram.

Jennifer Bakes and Writes

When people ask me “where do you get your ideas from?” usually I tell them everywhere. Inspiration can come from anyplace.  As a writer, you learn to keep your eyes and your mind open.

 

Occasionally, inspiration comes from an editor calling on the phone, saying “We’d like to do a story about…” and “Would you be interested?”

 

That’s how I ended up writing a cozy mystery about Emma who left her life in London’s financial industry to open a cake shop in Cornwall. Oh, and did I mention her best friend is her talking corgi, Oliver? 

 

It might not have been my own idea, but I have an absolute ball writing the Chatty Corgi books. First, who doesn’t love a corgi?  Secondly, I have always loved to cook and bake. I’ve baked my own cakes and breads since I was little. For me, making a new recipe — whether it’s simple or complex — is a process of discovery. I always learn something new, even if I’ve made it a hundred times.

 

It’s kind of like writing, in that way. No matter what it is, I’m always exploring something new — whether it’s a dead body in a prize-winning rose garden, or how to get the character of the talking dog just right.

 

That’s probably why I like this shortbread recipe so much. It’s a really basic cookie and delicious as it is. But there’s also a dozen things you can add — citrus zest, ginger, candy chips, nuts — the list goes on. You really can make it different every time.  Just make sure whatever you add doesn’t add moisture to the mix.  

 

Shortbread Cookie

 

Ingredients:

2 cups/250 grams all-purpose flour

2/3 cup/150 grams granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt (I use kosher)

2 sticks/1 cup/226 grams cold unsalted butter

 

Optional: 1 tsp. lemon or orange zest, chopped toasted almonds or pecans, candied ginger, dried cranberries, etc.

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Cut up the butter into small cubes and put it back in the fridge while you get the rest of your ingredients together. As with biscuits and pie crust, shortbread works best when the butter’s really cold.

 

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor, pulse a few times to mix.

 

Add cubed butter to food processor, pulse in 10 second bursts until the mixture is sandy and holds together when you squeeze a lump in your hand. It’s going to look dryer than the usual cookie dough, but that’s okay.It’s supposed to.

 

Turn mixture into baking pan and press down with your fingers into a smooth, solid layer of dough.

 

Use a fork to prick the surface of the dough all over. This is called “docking” and it will release the steam from the inside and keep the dough from puffing up.

 

Bake at 325 F for 45 - 50 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before turning the shortbread out of the pan. While the shortbread is still warm, cut into preferred shape.  

 

To Fetch a Felon

A Chatty Corgi Mystery, Book 1

 

Emma Reed and her beloved Corgi move from London to Cornwall with the dream of opening a tea shop—but first they’ll have to collar a criminal in the first book in a charming new series.

 

Emma leaves London and her life in high finance behind her and moves to an idyllic village in Cornwall, with its cobblestone streets and twisting byways. She plans to open a village tea shop and bake the recipes handed down to her from her beloved grandmother, and of course there’ll be plenty of space for her talking corgi, Oliver, to explore. Yes...talking. Emma has always been able to understand Oliver, even though no one else can.

 

As soon as Emma arrives in the village she discovers that the curmudgeonly owner of the building she wants to rent for her shop hates dogs and gets off on the wrong foot with Oliver. Although some might turn tail and run, Emma is determined to win her over. But when she delivers some of her homemade scones as a peace offering, she finds the woman dead. Together, Emma and Oliver will need to unleash their detective skills to catch a killer.

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--COZY MYSTERY AUTHOR JENNIFER HAWKINS ON THE SIMILARITIES BETWEEN BAKING AND WRITING, PLUS A SHORTBREAD #RECIPE

Jennifer Hawkins is the author of the Chatty Corgi mysteries, as well as an avid amateur baker who probably spends way too much time watching The Great British Baking Show. She lives, works and bakes in southeast Michigan with her husband and son. Jennifer doesn’t have a website, but you can connect with her and learn more about her and her books on Facebook and find links to her other social media. 

Bake, Write, Repeat

For me, baking and writing have always been linked. Both were something I discovered as a young person.Both were a way for me to stretch and discover, even when I felt marooned in the suburbs. Both have been something I’ve returned to repeatedly when I need solace, or quality time with, well, me. 

 

And, if you think about it, there’s a certain similarity between the two.

 

Both are creative, both are unpredictable, both require patience and an understanding that occasionally it just won’t turn out. 

 

For instance, with both, the initial idea is the easy part. Saying “I’m going to bake a batch of shortbread,” is as simple as “I’m going to write about Emma Reed, who moves to Cornwall with her talking corgi to open a tea shop, but there’s a murder.”

 

Okay, maybe it’s not that simple. After all, baking shortbread generally takes an hour or two. Writing a novel takes a little longer. But you get what I mean. The idea is simple, the actual execution? That’s harder. 

 

Although, when it comes to the perfect shortbread, it’s not actually that much harder.

 

Like a novel, shortbread requires just a few quality ingredients — good butter, flour, sugar, salt and maybe a dash of zest. Zest is required for the novel too, along with character, plot, and setting. Both require patience, and with both, you need to know how not to overwork the dough. 

 

For a delicious and perfectly simple shortbread, this is what you need:

 

Ingredients:

2 cups/250 grams all-purpose flour

2/3 cup/150 grams granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt (I use kosher)

2 sticks/1 cup/226 grams cold unsalted butter

1 tsp. lemon or orange zest (optional)

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Cut up the butter into small cubes, and put it back in the fridge while you get the rest of your ingredients together. As with biscuits and pie crust, shortbread works best when the butter’s really cold.

 

Combine flour, sugar, salt in a food processor, pulse a few times to mix. Add cubed butter and pulse in 10 second bursts until the mixture is sandy and it holds together when you squeeze a lump in your hand. It’s going to look dryer than the usual cookie dough, but that’s okay. It’s supposed to.

 

Turn mixture into an 8” x 8” baking pan or shortbread pan and press down with your fingers into a smooth, solid layer of dough. Use a fork to prick the surface of the dough all over. This is called “docking” and it will release the steam from the inside and keep the dough from puffing up.

 

Bake at 325 F for 45 - 50 minutes. Now is a good time to read the next few chapters.

 

Let cool for 10 minutes before turning the shortbread out of the pan. While the shortbread is still warm, cut into preferred shape. 

 

A Cold Nose for Murder

A Chatty Corgi Mystery, Book 3

 

When Emma Reed moved to the Cornish village of Trevena, she was looking forward to making new friends, opening up a small tea shop, and taking plenty of brisk walks with her talking dog, Oliver. But when a valuable motorcycle and an old skeleton are found together under the local pub, Emma's antique dealing friends David and Charles become prime suspects in a forty-year-old mystery. The local gossip is soon flowing faster than tea in Emma's shop, and old secrets are being unearthed right along with the old bones.

 

Although David and Charles insist they have nothing to do with the skeleton, they quickly come under police suspicion. To save their friends, Emma and Oliver will need to dig deep....

 

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AN INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR NANCY GARDNER'S PARANORMAL COZY SLEUTH LILY SCOTT AND CHAMOMILE LAVENDER SHORTBREAD

Today we sit down to chat with Lily Scott from Nancy Gardner’s paranormal cozy, Dream Stalker.  

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

I had a daughter, a husband, an herbal medicine business, and a quiet life as a practicing Salem witch. Now my husband is dead, and my daughter is in jail for murder. Nancy Gardner ruined my life!

 

What is your greatest fear? 

That I’ll have to use my power to walk into other people’s dreams, a power that long-ago ended in disaster.

 

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

My ability to heal people’s aches and pains with herbs. Clients come from miles around for a consultation to address what ails them. And many of them return to tell me that my tinctures and teas have changed their lives. 

 

What’s your least favorite trait? 

Indecisiveness often leads me down the wrong path, like not stopping my daughter Sarah from running off with that abusive boyfriend. I was too worried that I’d interfere and make matters worse, as I did when I was twelve, made a bad decision, and broke my Nana’s heart.

 

What’s the strangest thing your author had you do? 

Break into a stranger’s home. At least I had a friend with burglary experience as back-up.

 

If you could rewrite part of your story, what would it be and why? 

There is one character in the story who dies. I wish he’d lived because I think he was a decent person despite a few bad choices.

 

Which character in your story bugs you the most? 

My sister, the saintly nun who runs a homeless shelter. She and I have been at odds all our lives. I think she’s jealous because I was born with the firefly-shaped birthmark of a dream-walker, and she wasn’t.

 

What’s next for you? 

My author is busily cooking up more trouble for me that involves a niece I never knew I had, and a threat to the larger Salem community that must be headed off before it’s too late. She’s a mean one, that author of mine.

 

Tell us something about your author. 

She has been working on Dream Stalker for over ten years. Sometimes I wish she had quit instead of ruining my quiet life. Other times I find my new life exciting. 

 

Where can readers find her website and blog? 

Learn more about Nancy and her books at her website and her blog.

 

Is there anything else you’d like to add? 

I’d like to share a recipe for Chamomile and Lavender Shortbread. Together these two herbs are natural sedatives and anti-inflammatories. If you try your hand at baking them, I think you’ll love the delectable odor that fills the kitchen. I topped the pictured cookies with dried, blue butterfly sweet-pea flowers that come with health benefits of their own. Enjoy! 

Dream Stalker

Can you uncover evil in another’s dreams? You can if you were born with the birthmark of a dream-walker. Lily Scott, a modern Salem witch, was born with this mark like the line of maternal ancestors that came before her. But Lily’s first adolescent attempt at dream-walking ended in disaster.

 

Now, decades later, her world explodes. Her husband is dead. Her daughter faces prison for the murder of a local witch. Her estranged sister, a Roman Catholic nun, struggles to protect the band of aging homeless women in her care. Lily must decide: tap into her power to search for a killer or let her fear of the Dream Stalker hold her back? 

 

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COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR SKYE TAYLOR AND ALMOND SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Former Peace Corpse volunteer Skye Taylor lives by the sea where she walks the beach every day with her furry companion MacDuff. She currently writing the fourth book in The Camerons of Tide’s Way series. Learn more about Skye and her books at her website.   

Sandy Cameron’s Kitchen

The Camerons are a big, close-knit, often noisy, sometimes pesky, but always loving family. Descendants of hard-working folk who came from Scotland with little more than the clothes on their backs and a steadfast faith in God, the Camerons are a patriotic, enterprising clan more apt to spend their spare time volunteering in the service of others than playing golf or checking their investment accounts. They’ve settled in Tide’s Way, a little town that grew up around the old Jolee Plantation in coastal North Carolina, where they planted their roots deep.

An orphan and alone at eighteen, Sandy Marshall Cameron dreamed of getting married and having a large, happy family. Then she fell in love with Nathan “Cam” Cameron, and her dream came true. (Believing In Love) Sandy’s children are grown and mostly on their own now, but they all still live in Tide’s Way where she can keep watch over them and dote on her growing brood of smart, adorable grandbabies. Philip (Healing A Hero), her firstborn, has been a Marine all his adult life, and he’s the one she worries about the most. Kate (Keeping A Promise), her only daughter, has become her friend and confidant. Then there are the twins, Ben with his busy, successful kennel (Loving Meg – August 2014) and Will, a North Carolina State Trooper (Trusting Will - April 2015), and last is Jake (Falling for Zoe - April 2014), her baby, who made a few mistakes along the way but grew into a man worthy of a mother’s admiration. She’s proud of all her children and grandbabies and loves nothing more than having them all under her roof as often as possible for a rollicking good family dinner. She has dozens of cookbooks and loves to try new things but always has time to bake everyone’s favorites.

In each of the Tide’s Way books you’ll find a recipe – one of her childrens’ favorites. But here is Sandy’s husband Cam’s favorite recipe: Almond Shortbread Cookies.

Sandy Cameron’s Almond Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter

3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

2 tsp almond extract

2-1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour

Leave butter at room temperature until soft, then adding sugar and whip until smooth and creamy. Add almond extract and whip briefly. Add flour and mix thoroughly. Cover and chill in fridge until firm.

Heat oven to 350°

Roll dough out until 1/4” thick. Cut with diagonal lines to create diamond shaped cookies, or if you prefer, cut into shapes with floured cookie cutters.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. They are great just as they are, but you can sprinkle with sugar while still warm. (Or other holiday themed sprinkles.)

Loving Meg

When Meg Cameron joined the Marines to get an education, she never counted on being deployed to a war zone. Now that she’s home, both she and her husband Ben are struggling with the toll war, separation and regrets have taken on their marriage. Meg is tormented by guilt over the death of a military dog and the kiss she shared with her commanding officer as he comforted her. Her husband, Ben, is the love of her life; how could he possibly forgive her if he knew the truth?

Ben Cameron is just happy that his brave, beautiful wife is safely home with him and their young sons. Everything seems fine--at first. In bed, he and Meg are perfect together, until the nightmares come and she calls out a name that's not his. She's hurting and he doesn't understand, but he's trying. If only she would talk to him about what's bothering her.

Then there's Kip, a police K-9 who lost his handler and his spirit to a perp with a gun. Ben has been asked to help rehabilitate the grieving K-9.  Can Ben help these two wounded warriors find peace? Can he convince Meg to trust him with her nightmares? As Meg debates returning to active duty, a move that would surely end in another deployment, Ben's frustrations and fears climb. What if her pain and confusion take her back into harm's way again, and he lost her forever?

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#COOKING WITH CLORIS--GUEST AUTHOR TACE BAKER AND SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Edith Maxwell writes the Lauren Rousseau mysteries under the pseudonym Tace Baker; the Local Foods Mysteries, and the Country Store Mysteries, written as Maddie Day; and the historical Carriagetown Mysteries, as well as award-winning short stories. Learn more about her and her books at her website and blog.  

A New Quaker Mystery

Thanks so much for having me back on this fabulous blog. And who can go wrong with a regular Cooking column?

Wearing my Tace Baker hat, I write a traditional mystery series featuring Lauren Rousseau, a contemporary Quaker linguistics professor who lives in a small town on the coast north of Boston. She teaches at a fictional New England college, but in the second book in the series, Bluffing is Murder, she’s on summer vacation. Any thoughts of a relaxing stress-free time blow away on an ocean breeze when she finds her insurance agent, also one of the secretive Trustees of the Bluffs, dead on a bluff overlooking Holt Beach.

I’ve been a member of the Society of Friends for a long time, and I love the way being a Quaker informs Lauren’s behavior. She takes moments of silence to hold situations and people, including herself, in the Light, but doesn’t always find the answers she seeks, even in silent Sunday worship.

Lauren is a runner, but she’s not a cook, so these aren’t foodie mysteries and don’t include recipes. Her boyfriend Zac is a great home chef, but he’s off to visit family in Haiti for the summer, so she’s been eating at the pub and at a local restaurant and getting takeout more than usual. Lauren’s BFF Irene, though, runs a bakery in town and is always serving up delectable pastries.

I’m happy to share these melt-in-your mouth shortbread cookies, a recipe passed down from my grandmother.

Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cup unbleached flour

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup pecans or walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Mix all dry ingredients. Cut butter into dry ingredients until fine. Add vanilla and milk and stir with a fork until mixed. Form dough into a flat ball with your hands and chill for twenty minutes to a day.

Press or roll onto a rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for about fifteen minutes, watching closely for browning. While warm, sift powdered sugar over the top and cut into inch squares.

Bluffing is Murder

Summer promises to be anything but easy for Quaker linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau in Bluffing is Murder. Still reeling from an attack by her student’s murderer, Lauren decides to brush up on her karate and finds herself drawn to handsome sensei Dan Talbot. During a run near the sea bluffs, she discovers the corpse of her insurance agent, Charles Heard, who is also a Trustee for one of the oldest land trusts in the country. Earlier that day, Lauren had a public argument with Heard over her policy―and is now a suspect in the case.

Determined to clear her name, Lauren sets out to discover the real story behind the mismanaged land trust, the dead man’s volatile sister―and a possible link to her own father’s mysterious death more than a decade ago. But a near miss with a car, snippets of strange conversations in French and Farsi, slashed tires, and finding yet another attack victim on the beach make it clear that Lauren is also a target―and the killer is closing in. Can Lauren discover the killer before she becomes the next victim?

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