Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Mardi Gras Giveaway + How to Make Beignets (Step-by-Step) by Cleo Coyle #MardiGras

Today is MARDI GRAS, and nobody knows how to celebrate "Fat Tuesday" better than the city of New Orleans.

Cleo Coyle has a partner in

crime-writing—her husband.

Learn about their books

by clicking here and here.

Marc and I loved the time we spent there. Years ago, while I was doing research for a novel, we had the honor of meeting Chef Emeril Lagasse (at his flagship restaurant Emeril's). We learned about aspects of Voodoo from a practicing priestess, heard ghost stories from a local guide, and researched the French Quarter's architecture via a city historian.

If you've visited the Big Easy, then you know the jazz and the food are well worth the trip. And you cannot leave without sinking your teeth into a warm, fresh beignet from Cafe du Monde, one of our country's oldest, still-operating coffee stands (1862).

Today we're sharing our love of those New Orleans beignets with you, along with the recipe we use at home to make them, and a fun giveaway of our Coffeehouse Mysteries plus an edible treat--handmade pralines, sent to you straight from Aunt Sally's kitchen in New Orleans!

Happy Mardi Gras, everyone, may you feast with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle

Click here
to learn more.

Once in your life...

You have got to give yourself the treat of making beignets from scratch. True, many people, have FOY (fear of yeast), but fear not, my friends! This recipe will take you through the process, step-by-step, with tips to help you make beignets like a pro.

This recipe, which Marc and I perfected in our kitchen, makes light, tender, slightly chewy, and amazingly delicious beignets. It's the very recipe we published in last year's Coffeehouse Mystery, DEAD TO THE LAST DROP.

Our series is usually set in the picturesque neighborhood of New York's Greenwich Village. For this 15th entry, however, we took our amateur sleuth (single mom and coffeehouse manager Clare) to Washington, DC. She moves there to open a new branch of her Village Blend shop. But she soon finds herself on the run, teaming up with a streetwise Federal Agent to prove that she is being framed, not only for murder but conspiracy to kidnap the President's daughter.

Click here for the
Free Recipe Guide.

Before Clare hits the road to prove her innocence--and find that missing First Daughter--these beautiful beignets become a hit with her customers.

Clare's New Orleans-trained chef serves them fresh and hot. And her customers devour plates of them with "dipping size cups" of cafe au lait (see photo below)!

Many more recipes are also featured in DEAD TO THE LAST DROP, and you can see them now in this Free Recipe Guide by clicking here.

As for today's recipe, let's get our beignets on!

☕ ☕ ☕

For a free, downloadable PDF

of this recipe that you can

print, save, or share,
click here.

Click for the Free
Beignet Recipe PDF.

Cleo Coyle's Coffeehouse Beignets

Makes about 30 beignets, depending on size

Ingredients:

3/4 cup lukewarm water

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons RapidRise active dry yeast (a little more than half of a 1/4 -ounce envelope)

1 extra-large egg, slightly beaten

1 small (5‑ounce) can of evaporated milk (a little more than 1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons canola, vegetable, or another neutral-tasting oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)

3-1/2 cups bread flour

A little extra bread flour for dusting and rolling

Vegetable oil for deep-frying

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar (approximately) for coating beignets

Directions:

Step 1—Make the yeast mixture: Combine the water, sugar, and yeast in a container. Allow to sit for 15 minutes. The mixture should appear active and produce foam. If not, the yeast is dead. Trash the mixture and begin again with fresher yeast.

Step 2—Create the dough: In a large mixing bowl, fork-whisk the egg. Whisk in the evaporated milk, oil, and salt. Pour in the yeast mixture that you made in Step 1.

Whisk in 1 cup of the bread flour until dissolved. Continue to add the rest of the flour (2-1/2 more cups for a total of 3-1/2 cups), stirring as you add.

Cleo Tip: No mixer needed if you use a simple grilling fork. As you add flour to yeast dough, it becomes thick and sticky. Instead of pulling out a mixer, I pull out my large grilling fork and use it like a dough hook. While adding flour, I continue to work the dough with the fork, until it becomes stiff enough to knead by hand...

Step 3—Knead by hand: Flour your hands and knead the dough within the bowl until smooth. If you need to add more flour in this process, sprinkle on more...

Step 4—Rise the dough: Remove the dough from the bowl. Clean the bowl, lightly grease it with oil or coat with nonstick spray. Place the dough back into the bowl and....

Place the bowl inside a plastic shopping bag and tie the handles. (This is a very effective method for coaxing dough to rise—and it's my favorite.) Or you can cover the top with a towel. Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for at least 2 hours or until double in size.

After 2 hours, the dough
has doubled in size.

Step 5—Roll and cut the dough: Divide the dough in half and work with one half at a time. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch.

Cleo Tip: When rolling dough, be sure to turn it for even rolling in all directions (as you see in my video above). If more flour is needed to prevent sticking, sprinkle it on your board, your hands, and on your rolling pin.

Cleo Tip: If your dough is very elastic, you may have trouble rolling it. If that's the case, carefully pick it up as you see in my video above and gently stretch it as shown (a little like pizza dough). It will become more pliable and you can return to rolling it on the board.

Cut into squares 2‑by‑2‑inch in size, but you can make them smaller or larger, your choice.

Step 6—Fry the beignets: If not using a fryer, pour oil (about an inch in depth) into a skillet or cast-iron pan. Preheat the oil to 350°F—the oil must be very hot and remain hot. Don’t crowd the pan. When you crowd the pan, the oil temperature drops, giving you greasy beignets. So keep the oil hot, but not so hot that the beignets burn. Use your judgement during the cooking and adjust the heat as you fry.

As you see the beignets rise and puff up, flip them over. Look for a golden brown color on both sides.

Remove the fried beignets with a slotted spoon and allow them to drain well on paper towels. While still warm, dust generously on both sides with powdered sugar and...

Eat with Mardi Gras Joy!

Click for the Free
Beignet Recipe PDF.

☕

Alice and Marc in Central Park.

Together we write as...

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author of

The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Friend us on facebook here.

Visit our online coffeehouse here.

Our NEW Coffeehouse Mystery!

Mystery Pick of the Month! --Library Journal

Amazon * B&N

IndieBound * BAM

"A gripping and entertaining mystery"

--Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Penetrating insights" --Kirkus Reviews

"Sure to delight" --Publishers Weekly

🍴

This culinary mystery includes
25 delicious recipes! To get the
Free Recipe Guide, click here.

Click for Free Recipe Guide
to Shot in the Dark.

CLEO'S

MARDI GRAS

GIVEAWAY!

Congrats to our
winner...

Jo Ann Young!

The writing is done.

Now let's have fun!

For MORE fun contests,
giveaways, and recipes...

Monday, February 27, 2017

Apple Spice Bundt Cake

Sheila Connolly and I have an unofficial cake baking challenge going on. It's unofficial because we didn't plan it. We just seem to be on the same wavelength. Okay, I admit that I coveted her Bundt cake last Friday. My little loaf cake disappeared in a snap. I needed to bake something that would last longer.

And I needed something for a mini-roadtrip. Someone (not naming any names) has to eat every few hours, so we need something on hand to nibble on.

Sticking with the Bundt cake concept, I baked an apple cake. There's a lot of sugar in it, but (maybe because it's big?) it's not overly sweet. It's just about right. The chopped apples keep it nicely moist.

I used both oil, which makes cake moister, and melted butter because butter adds a special flavor and crumb that oil just can't quite duplicate.

You can change around the spices to suit yourself, of course.

I dusted it with powdered sugar just before serving, but you could make a white lemon drizzle if you like that better.

Part of this is really sort of a dump cake. A lot of ingredients go into the mixer together. The time-consuming part is really just peeling and chopping the apples and other prep work.

Apple Spice Bundt Cake

2-3 tablepoons sugar
butter for greasing pan
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon cloves
3 cups chopped apples (about 2 1/4 average size apples)
2-3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup mild flavored cooking oil
1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Grease a Bundt pan with the butter and use 2-3 tablespoons of sugar (instead of flour) to dust it.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a bowl. Stir with a fork or a whisk to combine. Set aside.

Peel and core the apples. Chop them into chunks and place them in a bowl. Sprinkle with 2-3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar and toss to combine. Add the lemon juice and toss again. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, 1 cup dark brown sugar, three eggs, oil, and melted butter. Beat for 3 minutes on medium speed.

On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture until it is just combined. It will seem a little too thick. Pour in the apples and mix on lowest speed (stir).

Bake 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes before loosening the edges and flipping.

Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

Chop apples and mix with brown sugar and lemon.

Mix flour and spices.

Spoon into pan and smooth.

Fresh from the oven!

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Ooh, Muffins! Guest Lynn Cahoon and a #bookgiveaway

LESLIE: I met today's guest, Lynn Cahoon, last fall at Bouchercon in New Orleans, where we shared a panel talking about food in mysteries. She writes the Tourist Trap mysteries, featuring Jill Gardner and the crew from South Cove, CA, and the brand new Cat Latimer mysteries, set in small town Aspen Hills, Colorado, where Cat runs a B&B and writers' retreats The second Cat Latimer mystery, FATALITY BY FIRELIGHT, comes out on Tuesday!

Leave a comment below for a chance to win the first in the series, A STORY TO KILL!

LYNN: Muffins. They were the first thing we made in Intro to Home Economics my freshman year. We learned not to stir this batter too much as it loses the air that keeps muffins light and fluffy. Yet, you have to stir them just enough or you’ll get a mouth full of baking powder.

It took a lot of practice but I played with muffin recipes after school until I could mix up most anything into a batter. This one I call the kitchen sink recipe.

When I started writing my versions of a bed and breakfast mixed with a writer’s retreat in the Cat Latimer mysteries, my enjoyment of different breakfast breads came in handy. I’d love to be Shauna and be able to try out new recipes to wow the guests.

Shauna’s Special Chocolate Chip Muffins

Pre-heat oven to 400. Grease 12 muffin tins (or use spray oil).

Mix into a large bowl
· 2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1⁄3 cup light-brown sugar, packed
· 1⁄3 cup sugar
· 2 teaspoons baking powder
· 1⁄2 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, mix
· 2⁄3 cup milk
· 1⁄2 cup butter, melted and cooled
· 2 eggs, lightly beaten
· 1 teaspoon vanilla

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Mix together, but don’t over mix.

Add
· 2 cups (one 12-ounce package) semi-sweet chocolate chips
· 1⁄2 cup walnuts, chopped
· 1/2 cup dried cranberries

Pour into prepared muffin tin and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool. Enjoy!

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win the first book in the series, A STORY TO KILL, by midnight Monday, Feb 27. (US addresses only, please.)

From the cover of FATALITY BY FIRELIGHT:

Cat Latimer’s Colorado bed-and-breakfast plays host to writers from all over. But murder is distinctly unwelcome . . .
To kick off a winter writing retreat, Cat and her handyman boyfriend, Seth, escort the aspiring authors to a nearby ski resort, hoping some fresh cold air will wake up their creative muses. But instead of hitting the slopes, they hit the bar—and before long, a tipsy romance novelist named Christina is keeping herself warm with a local ski bum who might have neglected to tell her about his upcoming wedding.

Next thing Cat knows, her uncle, the town sheriff, informs her that the young man’s been found dead in a hot tub—and Christina shows up crying and covered in blood. Now, between a murder mystery, the theft of a rare Hemingway edition, and the arrival of a black-clad stranger in snowy Aspen Hills, Cat’s afraid everything’s going downhill . . .

Lynn Cahoon is the author of the NYT and USA Today best-selling Tourist Trap cozy mystery series. GUIDEBOOK TO MURDER, book 1 of the series, won the Reader's Crown for Mystery Fiction in 2015. She's also pens the Cat Latimer series. A STORY TO KILL, and FATALITY IN FIRELIGHT are available in mass market paperback. She lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about with her husband and two fur babies. Sign up for her newsletter at www.lynncahoon.com and find her on Facebook and Goodreads.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Sweet Potato Fries #giveaway #veggies #recipe @VictoriaAbbott

Sweet potatoes are our favorite veggie. We simmer them in soup, whip them like mashed potatoes, turn them into casseroles, you name it. We love them every way. In restaurants we often order sweet potato fries with spicy mayo or aioli. Now we’ve discovered how easy it is to make these at home, without a deep fryer. Just sweet potatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh thyme. All natural and so delicious. After a bit of experimentation and fiddling with cooking times and temps, this is our result.

Sweet Potato “Fries”

4 small or three medium sweet potatoes

1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil

Sea salt

4 -5 springs of fresh thyme (or 2 teaspoons dried thyme)

½ cup good quality mayonnaise

1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Cut sweet potatoes into fry shapes, long and fairly thin.

Place on a cookie sheet or baking dish, but don't crowd them. Coat lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and fresh thyme.

Bake for about 20 minutes, turn and bake for about 15 minutes more.

Stir cayenne into mayo in a small dish.

Serve sweet potato fries hot as a snack or as a side. We have done both!

For this meal we paired them with small tenderloin steaks and sautéed mushroom. We felt like we had our own private bistro in Paris!

We hope you are continuing to join us for our ‘eat your rainbow challenge’. Every time you leave a comment, your name goes into the hat for the draw to win this lovely vegetable dish. The draw will be made after the March 11th post.

WIN ME!!!!

And in case you have forgotten who we are: Victoria Abbott is a collaboration between me: the artist and photographer Victoria Maffini, and other me: Victoria’s mother, Mary Jane Maffini.

Together, we write the award-winning Book Collector Mysteries. We love writing together and oddly enough, we have fun.