Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Welcome Guest Blogger - Wendy Lyn Watson!

Welcome guest blogger, Wendy Lyn Watson, author of I Scream, You Scream, a Mystery a la Mode! (Click the link above to visit her website and check out Cozy the Cat. Love it!) Today Wendy shares a great story, and her recipe for Chocolate Coconut Fondue:


Easter Bunny Fondue

I hit the grocery store the other day and instantly got sucked into the display of Easter candy. All the marshmallow eggs and pastel foil-covered bunnies made me think of my mama, and I decided to dedicate this blog post to her.

My mama’s a wonderful cook. Growing up, I didn’t realize that; I just assumed everyone ate as well as we did. Imagine my surprise when I started going on sleepovers. I still remember going to a friend’s house and her mom making us blueberry muffins from a mix for breakfast. I had no idea how blueberries could be in a box.

My mama made good food, but it wasn’t fancy-pants and it certainly wasn’t always healthy. We didn’t have boxed blueberry muffins for breakfast, but we did occasionally have melted cheese. Yep, that’s right: she’d melt about a pound of cheese in a skillet and then divvy it up. (The crispy edge parts were the best!) Give that woman a snack chip and a can of condensed soup, and she’d give you a casserole (my favorite was the Cheeto-chicken casserole). She taught me that cooking’s about taste, fun, and sharing.

One of my mama’s favorite treats is Easter chocolate. She always said she liked it better than regular chocolate because she preferred the texture. Personally, I figured she liked biting off their little chocolatey ears.

Whatever the reason, she would always stock up on spare bunnies after the holiday, when they were half off, and then stash them in the basement chest freezer. Our own bunny morgue.

One hot August day, when my dad was out cutting the grass, she sent me down to fetch a bunny. She wanted chocolate right then and there, and the frozen chocolate carcass posed a problem. She carefully skinned his foil wrapping off, stuck him in a bowl, and popped him in the microwave.

Alas, he melted. Not to be deterred, mama wrangled a bag of jumbo marshmallows out of the back of a cupboard. While my poor dad worked up a sweat in the blistering summer sun, the girls--my mom, my sister, and myself--stood around the kitchen island, laughing and downing Easter bunny fondue.

Mama, this one’s for you.

Chocolate Coconut Fondue

(adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit)

1 15-oz can sweetened cream of coconut (like you use for pina coladas)

12 ozs. high quality dark chocolate (at least 70% cacao), finely chopped

1/4 c. whipping cream

1/2 tsp. almond extract

pinch of salt.

Combine cream of coconut and chocolate in a heavy large saucepan. Stir over very low heat until the chocolate melts and is smoothe. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into a fondue pot and set over a candle or fondue “canned heat.” (You can make the fondue in advance and refrigerate; just heat over low heat for a few minutes before serving.)

This is yummy with lots of stuff: cubes of pound cake, angelfood cake, biscotti, strawberries, bananas, dried apricots, pretzels, or even jumbo marshmallows. And the leftovers are awesome poured over good ice cream.

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From I Scream, You Scream:

Tallulah Jones, proprietor of Dalliance, Texas’s old-fashioned ice-cream parlor, dishes up luscious ice cream that is simply to die for….

Unfortunately, Remember the A-la-mode’s profits are melting faster than a snow cone in July–and Tally’s stuck scooping sundaes for her two-timing ex-husband and his bodacious new girlfriend, Brittanie, at his company luau. To make matters worse, twenty years after she dumped him in the Tasty-Swirl parking lot, Tally’s high school beau, Finn Harper, comes back to town–looking every bit as delicious as a double-dip raspberry mascarpone waffle cone.

The cherry on top? Brittanie drops dead, and Tally’s suddenly the prime suspect in her murder investigation. To catch a killer, Tally will have to churn up Dalliance’s darkest secrets and dip deep into the past. But can Tally freeze out the real culprit before a murder charge puts her dreams on ice for good?

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Thanks, Wendy for joining us today. I know readers will enjoy I Scream, You Scream - in bookstores everywhere!

Julie


Contest Results!


The winner of a set of cookie cutters from Wilton is DANICA M. RICE! Woohoo! Danica, please contact Krista and we'll get those cookie cutters off to you!




Congratulations to Peg, Janel and Marie A. who won Hank Phillippi Ryan's THREE BOOK GIVEAWAY. Please just email Hank directly by going to her website HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN, and click on contact in the upper left. (The little animation will resolve, and then it’ll say contact.) Enjoy a good read!!!



Tomorrow Jenn McKinlay will launch her new book Sprinkle with Murder, as well as a new CONTEST. One you won't want to miss! Don't forget to enter Jenn’s Name the Cupcake Contest. Go to her website to enter. You and your cupcake might be the lucky ones to be written into BUTTERCREAM BUMP OFF.


19 comments:

  1. I can't wait to read I Scream....oh, and I love Cozy the Cat!
    Jeanne

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  2. What a fun story! I loved the melted cheese breakfast. Lovely! I have I Scream, You Scream on my Kindle. Thanks for the recipe! And the book!

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  3. This is on my TBR mountain..close to the top! I was thrilled to see you were the guest today, Wendy, and I can't wait to read "I Scream, You Scream".

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  4. Haha! I love the idea of a bunny morgue in the freezer. TOO funny. (And smart of your mom, too.)

    I'm now wanting some chocolate and it's 6 a.m. Hmm...I think I'm going to have to break into the Girl Scout cookies until I can make chocolate fondue. :)

    Thanks for visiting at the Kitchen!

    Riley/Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  5. Bunny morgue? Wendy, you crack me up! I can't wait to meet you at Malice!

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  6. Your blog was as delightful as your book! Both were great stories...your sense of humor and ability to turn a phrase had me wanting more.

    And why do we always go for the bunny ears first?

    Jerrie Alexander

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  7. ROTFL. I LOVE the Easter Bunny Fondue.

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  8. What's not to love when it comes to chocolate bunny ears?! Ah, to have a bunny morgue of my own...

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  9. Wendy, your mom was so right about "Easter" chocolate being better than other chocolate. I've always said the same thing, but I could never explain why. Your book sounds wonderful! I'm adding it to my "buy" list.

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  10. Woohoo! I won one of Hank's books :)

    Easter candy holds a special place in my heart too since Easter falls on my birthday occasionally and I have been obsessed with bunnies since I was a small child. Fondue sounds like the perfect way to use up the leftover candy.

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  11. Bunny morgue! I think I need one of those.
    Wendy, your mama was a woman after my own chocoholic heart! Thanks for the recipe.
    I can't wait to try it with the dudes.

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  12. Thanks, all.

    I'm hoping my mom will stop by, actually ... so everyone wave at Patty!

    (Love you, mama!)

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  13. I love the idea of a bunny morgue! How fun. (Is that sick? But I also write about dead people. LOL)

    Great receipe!
    ~~Angi

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  14. Bunny morgue is so original and I love it.

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  15. Yum, even though I am not someone who enjoys the kitchen. Much rather eat what someone besides me has made. I love this book and found Tally to be a great heroine to root for. Looking forward to her next adventures.

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  16. Hi Patty! What a clever and funny daughter you raised!

    Thanks for joining us today, Wendy. Melted chocolate is just the ultimate indulgence. Now I'm craving chocolate fondue.

    You know, Avery has a recipe for cheese that's something like the cheese breakfast your mom made. I've never been able to get it quite right. Maybe Avery will share. Or maybe Patty will share?

    ~ Krista

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  17. Iwoniwoniwon! Wow... I'm speechless... Or should I make a speech.. *cue Oscar music* No.

    Seriously tho.. thank you. The chocolate wine cake turned out deliciously! I can't wait to cook some cookies with these cookie cutters!

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  18. Shaking my head and chuckling.

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