Fudge Pie—Riley Adams

Hope everyone is enjoying cookie week here at Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen. I know I’ve got a whole bunch of new recipes for the family! I’m looking forward to finding out the winning recipe, too.

I hope y’all don’t mind a mid-week break from cookies. I’m doing something a little different today—still on the sweet theme, though. It’s a fudge pie. Very rich, very moist, and super easy to make. It’s really like a big brownie in a pie shell. :)

I was lucky to be able to snap a couple of pictures of the finished product before that teenager of mine came down the stairs. When he follows his nose into the kitchen, it’s always bad for my photography efforts!

Fudge Pie

2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1 stick margarine, melted
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa
1/4 c. flour
prepared pie shell, unbaked

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Mix melted margarine with the sugar. Beat eggs and vanilla into the margarine mixture. Add the vanilla. Mix in the cocoa. Mix in the flour. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake at 300 until set (about 45 minutes).

This is great with ice cream or a whipped cream on the top. Hope everyone has a sweet week…and don’t forget the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen cookie week!

To enter, send your favorite recipe to Krista (KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com).
We'll choose 10 finalists, recipes that we'll bake and post here on the blog.
Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner who will win a fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies!

Riley/Elizabeth Hickory Smoked Homicide (now available!)
Finger Lickin’ Dead (Riley Adams)Progressive Dinner Deadly

Chile Today

We're switching things up this December to keep you on your toes.  Today we welcome G.M. Malliet as our guest.  G.M. Malliet's Death of a Cozy Writer, won the Agatha Award in 2009 for Best First Novel. An IPPY silver medalist, it was nominated for Anthony, David, and Macavity awards and a Left Coast Crime award for best police procedural. Kirkus Reviews named it one of the best books in any category of 2008.

The second St. Just book is Death and the Lit Chick, a 2010 Anthony nominee. Her short story "Bookworm" was also nominated for a 2011 Anthony. She is currently writing a new series for Minotaur that begins with WICKED AUTUMN, a Library Journal pick for best mystery of 2011. Visit her at gmmalliet.com . 

And now G.M.~

Santa Fe, New Mexico, in addition to being a magnet for artists and writers, is one of the great foodie destinations of the world. The pilgrimage started many years ago with the 1987 opening of the now-famous Coyote Café and the subsequent publication of owner Mark Miller’s cookbook (which appears to have gone out of print).

On a recent vacation my husband and I taste-tested chili sauce, both green and red—they call this Christmas sauce—for three meals a day at nearly every restaurant in town and never got tired of it. (Someone told me food spiced with chilis is not fattening because it speeds up the metabolism. While that sounds like an old wives’ tale, I choose to believe it and always will.)

This green chili recipe below that I’m calling Chili Today is a variation of the recipe taught at the Santa Fe School of Cooking. I’ve twice been lucky enough to attend classes there, and to be taught by Deena Chafetz and Noe Cano. If you’re visiting, I recommend it highly. Or at least visit their store, which is stocked with many of the ingredients and implements used in the classes. (No, I don’t work for the school or the New Mexico tourism board—I’m simply a fan.)

The beauty of this green sauce is its simplicity. Only a few ingredients are needed, it’s pretty much fool-proof, and you can use green chili as a garnish with almost any dish, not just with Mexican/New Mexican foods:

Ingredients:

¼ cup canola or grape seed oil [olive oil has too strong a taste]
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
4 or 5 New Mexican or Anaheim chiles (about 2/3 cup, peeled and chopped)
1-1/2 cup vegetable stock or water
Freshly ground coriander seed, to taste (optional)
Salt to taste (optional)

(Some recipes call for flour as a thickener but it’s not needed and can give the chili a floury taste. And while Deena’s recipe calls for chicken stock, I’m going for a vegetarian version here. One time I substituted shallot for some of the garlic and onion—not very New Mexican, but it tasted good to me.)

Directions:

Char the chilis until the skin is blackened and easy to remove. I bought a special grill for this that fits over a stove burner, but you can simply broil the chilis on a foil-lined sheet in the oven. Turn the chilis over at least a couple of times as they roast so they’re blackened on all sides.

Place the roasted chilis in a plastic bag and let them steam for a bit. (This step isn’t strictly necessary, but the skin comes off easier this way.) Then scrape the skin off using paper towels. The chilis are hot, of course, so handle with care. Cut off the stems, and cut the chilis in half lengthwise; remove the seeds before chopping the chilis into ¼-inch squares.

Heat the canola or grape seed oil in a medium saucepan and sauté the onion on high until softened. Add the garlic and sauté, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the green chili, the coriander seed (optional), and stir in the stock or water. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until thickened. Salt to taste (optional).

Two More Cookie Finalists!

Last year I was the only one choosing recipes and baking cookies.  There are five of us participating this year and it has been interesting to watch how recipes are selected.  Just like everyone in the world, we all have our favorites -- favorite textures, and favorite flavors.  Some of us choose cookies based on what our families like.  Some recipes have been selected because of fond memories of a similar cookie.  And some of us (count me in!) have trouble picking only two recipes.  So just a few of us piggies will be posting three recipes instead of two.  Hey!  We have to bake Christmas cookies for our friends and families anyway.  Right?

The second finalist is Lemon Bars Deluxe from Lynn in Texas.  This will come as no surprise to anyone who reads this blog.  I've been sending out not-at-all subtle hints that I wanted a lemon square recipe.  Cleone Hawkinson sent us a very similar lemon square recipe, but -- poor Cleone.  Her daughter-in-law, Wendy, mentioned their relationship.  We decided that it wouldn't be fair to include family members.  So, Cleone, thank you for sending your recipe!  Wendy is lucky to have such a lovely mother-in-law!

On to Lynn's Lemon Bars Deluxe.  Aside from having a craving for lemon bars, there are a couple of things I particularly like about the recipe.  The main thing is that it can be frozen.  It's so handy to be able to cook them ahead of time and thaw them for Christmas festivities.  If you read my mysteries, you know that Sophie always has stashes in the freezer that she can pull out to serve at the last minute.  Apparently, these also survive three days at room temperature!  That would make them very practical for anyone who has to take baked goods with them on a car trip to Grandma's house.

Lynn notes that they're time-consuming.  They are in that the crust has to be refrigerated before it's baked.  But if you happen to have your Christmas card list nearby or you need to walk the dogs, that's a great time to do it.


Here's what Lynn said~

Now I recall the recipe was time-consuming but seemed worth the effort as I made it more than once!  Here it is:

Lemon Bars Deluxe

Yields about 2 dozen bars

Crust:

Extra softened butter for greasing pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Lightly butter a 13- x 9-inch baking dish and line with parchment or wax paper allowing edges to come over the sides.

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup powdered (confectioner's) sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Pulse flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food processor.

Add butter and blend, 8 to 10 seconds, and then pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Sprinkle mixture into prepared baking pan and press firmly into an even layer with slightly raised sides to hold in the filling. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and then bake until golden brown, about 20 to 30 minutes; remove from oven and let cool slightly. After crust is finished baking, reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Lemon Filling:

4 large eggs, beaten lightly
1-1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest (from two large lemons)
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice, strained
1/3 cup whole milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

While crust is baking, make the Lemon Filling:

In a medium bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, and flour; stir in lemon zest, lemon juice, milk, and salt to blend well. Pour mixture onto the pan on top of the warm crust.

NOTE: You may set prepared Lemon Filling aside until crust is finished baking. When ready to pour on warm crust, re-blend Lemon Filling mixture and pour into the warm crust.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the filling feels firm when touched lightly. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes.

Grasp the parchment and carefully lift the bars onto a cutting board. Cut into serving size squares or bars, wiping your knife clean between cuts if necessary.

Extra powdered or confectioners' sugar to decorate finished bars.

Sieve powdered or confectioners' sugar over bars and serve. NOTE: The powdered sugar will start to be absorbed into the Lemon Filling after several hours, but it can be reapplied before serving.

Storage: 3 days at room temperature, 3 weeks refrigerated (individually wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent drying), or 3 months frozen.

The dough is a snap in a food processor.

The filling seems runny, but don't worry!

I'm including this because I thought I'd goofed with those funky brown spots.  The powdered sugar covers them.  Whew!

Lynn is right.  They're well worth the effort!

But I'm not done yet.  We have another finalist today!  Finalist number three is Raspberry Rollups from Kathy Kaminski.  The raspberry jam got my attention immediately.  It wasn't until I took a closer look that I realized this recipe is similar to one my mom makes.  My mom's recipe requires a lot of rolling out and folding of the dough to create a flaky pastry and while they're very good, they're a lot of work.  So I was eager to see how this would work out.

Here's what Kathy said ~
Here are 2 favorite family Christmas cookie recipes-both from my mom's mom.

Raspberry Rollups

1 cup butter or margarine
½ cup (8 oz. package) cream cheese
2 cups sifted flour
1 teaspoon salt
Red raspberry jam

Combine butter and cream cheese and blend until smooth.  Combine flour and salt and blend into butter mixture. Chill about half an hour. Roll about ¼ inch thick. Cut into 2 ½ inch squares. Spread each square with one teaspoon raspberry jam to within ¼ inch of edge. Roll up firmly. Place rolled edge down on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 420 degrees about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

My mom remembers these as pillow cookies. Instead of rolling the squares up, her mom folded them like a ravioli. She also used other jams in addition to the raspberry-apricot was another one.

I spread a little extra jam along the edges to help seal the pillows.

Three shapes out of one recipe: roll-ups; pillows; and the windmills that my mom used to make.

Fresh from the oven.

Served as dessert!  Don't be fooled by the fact that there's no sugar in the dough.  They're delicious!

 

It's Cookie Time!

We're kicking off our Cookie Contest here at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen. Submit a recipe and you could win some adorable cookie cutters. We're closing submissions on December 7th, so hurry if you have a great recipe!

This recipe had me at the first line. Smooth, sweet peanut butter cookie with a kiss of peanut butter and chocolate. These cookies are so good that I barely let them cool before I started eating them. They're easy to make, but not so easy to share!

Congrats to Candance Early for submitting this recipe! Please email me at elleryadams@verizon.net so I can send you some adorable cookie cutters!

*PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIES*

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (any brand)

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup granulated white sugar

½ cup smooth peanut butter

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons whole milk

40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped and frozen

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture and mix well. Shape into 40 same size balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

Bake at 375 degrees for eight minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini frozen peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool before removing from pan. Store cookies for up to a week in an airtight container.

Submitted by Candace Bowen Early

My Little Chickpea

Names matter.  Ceci bean, chana, Bengal gram ... whatever you call it, it's the same basic legume.  But you can make it sound more appetizing by using the proper term.  "Garbanzo bean" sounds too much like "garbage bean" or "gonzo bean" ... not yummy.  But "chickpea"?  Could anything be more adorable?

I love chickpeas.  We toss them into salads and soups, whir them with some lemon juice and olive oil for hummus, and roast them with spices for a tasty snack.  They are one of the few staples of our pantry (along with canned tomatoes, vegetable bullion, dried pasta, and rice).


Needless to say, I was intrigued by the chickpea cutlet recipe I found in Isa Moskowitz and Terry Romero's  Veganomicon.  They promised something akin to a chicken cutlet, full of protein and versatile.  In the end, I tweaked the original recipe quite a bit to get a texture (and a calorie count) that I liked.  The resulting product isn't quite as chewy as seitan (or real chicken), but it's moist and just flavorful enough to be tasty on its own.  It's even better smothered with marinara and cheese, served with pasta or on a hoagie roll.  (It has a "fried" feeling to it, even though it's baked with little oil, and it's firm enough to stand up to serious sauce.)

In this recipe, the lowly chickpea takes two forms:  the more regular canned bean and the flour made from grinding the dried legume.  If you're nervous about investing in a whole bag of chickpea flour (because, seriously, it's not something most people use every day), never fear:  go to your nearest natural food co-op, and you're likely to find it in the bulk food section.  In fact, you'll probably find vital wheat gluten there, too (but that's a more common ingredient - excellent for giving loft to whole grain breads - so go ahead and get a whole box of the stuff).





Chickpea Cutlets a la Watson

Baked Cutlets

1 cup of drained/rinsed canned chickpeas
1/4 c. chickpea flour
1/4 c. vital wheat gluten
1 Tbs. olive oil (plus a little more for misting or brushing)
1/3 c. vegetable broth
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 ts. ground sage
1/2 c. whole wheat (or regular) bread crumbs



Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a cookie sheet with olive oil or non-stick spray or line it with parchment.

Mash chick peas with a potato masher or the back of a large spoon until all are broken (you don't want a paste, but definitely break them up a bit).  Add the remaining ingredients, mixing as much as you can with a spoon before kneading a few minutes with your hands.

Pull the dough apart into 6 - 8 pieces.  Flatten each ball of dough between your hands until it's about the size of the palm of your hand.  Set the cutlets on the cookie sheet and mist (or brush) with olive oil.

Bake 20 minutes, flip, and bake another 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook. She also writes the Pet Boutique Mysteries under the name Annie Knox; you can follow Annie on Facebook, too!

~~~~~

Christmas Cookie Contest!

Have you heard about our fantastic Christmas Cookie Contest? Here's how it works:

To enter, send your favorite recipe to Krista (KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com).

We'll choose 10 finalists, recipes that we'll bake and post here on the blog.

Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner!

What does that winner win? A fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies, that's what!

Pastel Sanding Sugar

Primary Sanding Sugar

Powdered Food Colors

Cute Flower Cookie Stencils

Penzeys Peachy Pork Picante

by Sheila Connolly

Here's one more recipe celebrating Penzeys Week!



When I was young, my family used to get the F.A.O. Schwartz catalog each holiday season (catalogs were few and far between back then), and my younger sister and I would pore over it, marking our choices—lots of them.

That's how I felt when I discovered the Penzeys spice catalog.  So many wonderful choices!  So many new spices to try!  It was hard to restrain myself, and my spice rack overflowed.  I even bought a jar of galangal once, just because the name was so lovely (and, yes, I've used it, in a ham glaze that was delicious).  I've bought bags and bags of their dried chile peppers and never been disappointed. I currently have five kinds of Penzeys cinnamon in my pantry, and I've been having a ball comparing them.

So it was hard to settle on one recipe here.  In the end I went with one of my family's favorites—another one of those dishes that is quick to make and tasty.  It's also one that gets share a lot—I first had it at a friend's house in Ohio several years ago, and I think it sneaked into The New Yorker once (not a typical place to find recipes!).

It's a great showcase for Penzeys Taco Seasoning.  Most often you see taco seasoning in the form of a small packet in the "foreign" food section of your grocery store.  You'll find several brands, at a range of prices—and usually it's barely enough to make one meal.

At Penzeys it comes in a 4-ounce bag, so you can use as much as you like.  What's more, it's the best I've found.  It's flavorful, well-balanced, and not too spicy (you can always add a little chile or cayenne if you prefer it hotter).

For this recipe you can use whatever kind of pork you have on hand—it does not have to be expensive, as long as you trim off any fat and gristle.  Nor does it have to be cut in tidy, precise cubes!  This is supposed to be easy.

Ingredients:

1 pound pork, cubed

3 Tblsp Penzeys Taco Seasoning

1 14-oz. jar of salsa (or more)

6 Tbsp peach preserves

Toss the pork cubes with the taco seasoning to coat them.  Use as much as it takes to lightly coat the pork pieces.  Sauté the seasoned pork pieces in hot oil. 

Add salsa.

A note about salsa:  like the taco seasoning, you can find many brands on the shelf.  For this dish I prefer one that's chunky, because it makes the texture more interesting.  A full jar is about right.  Of course you can use a more liquid salsa, but then it's more like a sauce.

Add the peach preserves.  This may seem unlikely, but the preserves dissolve nicely in the salsa.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes, over very low heat.  You don't want to overcook the pork because then it becomes too tough and chewy. 

Serve over cooked white rice.

DON'T FORGET THE MLK COOKIE CONTEST!!
Mystery Lovers Kitchen is looking for cookie recipes!

Please send your recipes to:

 

KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com

We'll choose 10 finalists, whose recipes we'll bake and post here on the blog.
Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner!

What does that winner win?
A fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies, that's what!

Pastel Sanding Sugar





Primary Sanding Sugar







Powdered Food Colors



Cute Flower Cookie Stencils

Don't delay. Enter today!

Penzey's Savory Swiss Chicken

This is Penzeys week.


We're a group of best-selling and award-winning mystery writers from all over the country who love food and cooking, and write about it in our books. We've been blogging together at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen for nearly two years. And we discovered that we all use Penzeys spices!

If you don't know about Penzeys spices, you should. They carry typical spices as well as gourmet spices from around the world. The spices can be found online and at specialty stores. I love their combination spices like Pariesienne Bonnes Herbes and salt-free chicken and meat rubs like Mural of Flavor and 33rd and Galena. Fabulous cinnamon...the list goes on.

A little history:

[Copied from Gourmet Love to Know]

Penzeys was not always exclusively a spice company. In 1957 Bill Penzey, Sr. and his wife, Ruth, started a small coffee and spice business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their business grew and their son, Bill, began working in the family store when he was just ten years old. Over time the Penzeys dropped coffee and focused on spices and herbs.

In 1986 Bill Penzey, Jr. began a mail order service supplying people all over the country with Penzeys spices. So determined was he to make it work that he put almost all the profits back into the business and published his own catalog on a small home computer.

So when we decided we were doing a tribute to Penzeys spices, I wanted to do something savory. I am always using the herbs that are combos. I love them. So easy, well-balance. I add them to pasta, to rice, to a basic roast that's cooking.

One of my faovrite things is working with chicken. It's such a basic flavor. [I guess a number of us felt this way this week.  LOL] I'm always wondering how I can dress it up and make it taste totally different and very gourmet in a simple way. This time, I decided to slice open the chicken, stuff it with cheese and fresh basil and lots of Pariesienne Bonnes Herbs. I tied (and or skewered) the chicken and barbecued (and/or baked...). Both ways turned out terrific. The chicken is moist. The flavors of the herbs pop with the cheese. Add a dash of paprika for color and you're done. Easy-peasy. Note: The Penzeys catalogue that comes with the spices is packed with recipes!! [This one is my own creation.]

Penzeys Savory Swiss Chicken (Barbecue or Baked)

Ingredients:

(serves 2)

2 chicken breasts (with bones leftin)

4-8 basil leaves

2-4 teaspoons Penzeys ParisienneBonnes Herbes

4 slices Swiss cheese

Kitchen twine (or kite string)

Directions: Rinse chicken breasts. Make a slit in each breast, lengthwise starting from the rib-side. Lay open. Season with Penzeys spices. (This is always about preference. There is no salt in the spice, so the chef needs to decide how much. I used 4 teaspoons.) Layer basil and cheese in the center. (Again with the basil. This is a chef’s preference. I used 2 VERY large leaves in each breast. Do not skimp on the cheese. J) Tie the chicken with twine (or kite string if that’s all you have). *If you’re going to barbecue, make sure you soak the string in water before applying. For barbecue: heat the grill to medium high. Oil the grill. Set the chicken, bone-side down on the grill. Cook on each side for 5 minutes. Reduce the grill to medium-low and grill for another 30-40 minutes. Make sure the skin is crispy (to your liking). For baked: Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Set chicken in a baking pan lined with foil. Close the foil tightly. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven. Open the foil and remove the TWINE from the chicken. Turn the oven to broil. Broil the chicken breasts for 10-12 minutes, until chicken skin is crispy (to your liking). Serve hot. ********** SOMETHING ELSE IS BREWING.  A CONTEST CALLED  THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS STARTS TODAY VIA MY AGENT BOOKENDS' BLOG. THE RULES AND QUESTIONS ARE ON THE BOOKENDS SITE;  CLUES ARE ON NUMEROUS AUTHORS' SITES, INCLUDING  2 OF US (STARTING AT NOON E.S.T.):  AVERY AAMES AND KRISTA.  HAVE FUN AND HOPE YOU WIN. *********** THE MLK COOKIE CONTEST!! Don't forget that Mystery Lovers Kitchen is looking for cookie recipes! Our Christmas Cookie Contest is on and we're ready to bake (and eat -- poor us) the cookies you love best. Please send your recipes to: KristaDavis at KristaDavis dot com We want gluten-free recipes, too! I'm hoping for an easy, tasty bar recipe. Or something with candy! We'll choose 10 finalists, recipes that we'll bake and post here on the blog. Then you, our readers, will choose the overall winner! What does that winner win? A fabulous collection of cookie decorating supplies, that's what! Pastel Sanding Sugar Primary Sanding Sugar Powdered Food Colors Cute Flower Cookie Stencils Don't delay. Enter today!

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And last but hopefully not least, you can learn more about me, Avery, 
by clicking this link.

Chat with me on Facebook and Twitter.

And watch for CLOBBERED BY CAMEMBERT,
coming February 2012.

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BOOKSELLERS LINK