Thank you, Peg, for
hosting me on Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen, the place I visit for great recipes and
news about the latest mysteries. Today I’m sharing a recipe from my new
release, Crypt Suzette, the sixth
Five-Ingredient Mystery.
My
main character, Val Deniston, is catering a Halloween party and costume contest
at Bayport’s new bookshop. The contestants include the Fictionistas, a creative
writing group started by the secretive Suzette, who rents a room in the house
Val shares with her grandfather. When Suzette is found dead of an apparent
accident, Val and Granddad suspect foul play. So do Suzette’s fellow
Fictionistas, who accuse each other of murder. Did one of them kill her or was
her death rooted in her past, which she’d tried hard to keep hidden? As Val
tries to answer that question, she risks becoming the next “accident” victim.
For the bookshop’s
party, Val makes spooky-sounding treats—Mummy’s Apple Pies (hand pies with
pastry strips making them look like wrapped mummies) and Crypt Suzettes (crệpes
Suzette which, at the bookshop owner’s request, will not feature setting the
sauce aflame). This dish involves making thin pancakes and dipping them in
orange butter sauce. Traditionally, the crệpes are folded in half and then
again in half to make triangles. But Val rolls the crệpes and serves them in
elongated paper containers to make them look like shrouded bodies in a coffin.
Perfect for Halloween.
Crêpes Suzette
Recipe for the Crệpes
2 eggs
1 cup
flour
1 1/2
cups milk
1/4
teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon
oil for the pan plus additional oil as needed
Whisk the
eggs, milk, and salt until well mixed. Slowly whisk in the flour.
Note: You
can cook the crêpes immediately, but refrigerating the batter for 20 minutes
will smooth out any lumps or bubbles. Letting the batter rest makes it less
likely the crêpe will tear in the pan. The batter can keep for a day or two.
Heat a
10-inch skillet or crêpe pan at a medium setting. To keep crêpes from sticking,
do not put the oil or batter in until a few drops of water sizzle in the pan
and disappear in 2 seconds
Add
enough oil to cover the bottom of the heated pan. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into
the pan and tilt it so the batter spreads into a thin circle coating the
bottom. Cook at medium heat until the edges turn light brown and the center of
the crêpe has hardened past a liquid stage. Gently loosen the crêpe with a
spatula and flip it. Cook for another minute and transfer it to a large plate
or platter where the crêpe can lie flat.
Repeat
the preceding step until the batter is gone, stacking the cooked crêpes on the
plate. Add a small amount of additional oil after every other crêpe to prevent
the batter from sticking.
Yield:
10–12 eight-inch crêpes
Recipe for Orange Butter Sauce
10–12
crêpes
4
tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup
sugar
1 orange
for1 tablespoon grated orange zest and 1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup
Grand Marnier, Cointreau, or other orange liqueur [Optional; if skipping, add
more orange juice]
Zest the
orange. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat until it foams.
Stir in the sugar, orange juice, zest, and liqueur. Simmer on low heat until
the sauce thickens a little. Remove the skillet from the heat.
With
tongs, add a crêpe to the pan, coat both sides in the syrup, and serve, either
folded into quarters or rolled. Put it on a warm plate.
Repeat
the previous step for each crêpe.
Serve
crêpes garnished with orange slices or with ice cream for dessert.
Yield: Sauce
for 10–12 eight-inch crêpes
What
is your favorite Halloween sweet? Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of Crypt
Suzette. A U.S. winner will receive a signed Advanced Reader’s Edition
paperback. An international winner will receive an e-book. To
enter, comment below about your favorite
Halloween treat and include your email address for notification if you win. Good luck!
Maya (Mary Ann) Corrigan lives
in Virginia, an easy drive from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the setting for her
Five-Ingredient Mysteries: By Cook or by Crook, Scam Chowder, Final
Fondue, The Tell-Tale Tarte,
and Crypt Suzette. The series
features café manager Val Deniston, who solves murders with her live-wire
grandfather in a historic Chesapeake Bay town. Each book has five suspects,
five clues, and Granddad's five-ingredient recipes. Visit Maya’s website, mayacorrigan.com, for trivia and quizzes
about classic mysteries. She loves hearing from readers.
Visit Maya at her website or on Facebook
Sign up for her newsletter here.
Sign up for her newsletter here.
Thank you for hosting me, Peg. My favorite treat around Halloween is any dish baked with apples--apple crisp, apple pie, apple strudel. Of course, I can have any of those desserts all year long, but there's something special about eating them around apple harvest time.
ReplyDeleteCaramel apples! Candied ones too. Apples are a big part of fall for me.
ReplyDeletebrowninggloria(at)hotmail(dot)com
Hooray for apples! Thanks for commenting, Gloria.
DeleteI love peanut butter cups at Halloween or any time of year! Thanks for the chance! JL_Minter(at)hotmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteHi Jaime, Thanks for your comment. My favorite any time of year treat is a Peppermint Patty.
DeleteThank you for sharing the recipe! I love anything with caramel, so Rolos are always a good choice.
ReplyDeleteI'm a caramel fan too. Thanks for commenting, Renee!
DeleteThese look Wonderful! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThank you for commenting, Florence!
DeletePretty much anything chocolate. Thanks for the recipe and the contest. ckmbeg (at) gmail (dot) com
ReplyDeleteI agree, Riley, that it's hard to beat chocolate. Thank you for commenting.
DeleteMy favorite is a Snickers bar, the original. lindalou64@live.com
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Linda. I was always a Snickers fan too.
DeleteDon't enter me, but my favorite Halloween treat is candy corn
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Dru. There's no way to have Halloween without candy corn.
DeleteHi Maya, your book sounds fantastic, I love a great mystery. Your book cover is very spooktacular!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite homemade Halloween treat,would be pumpkin cookies, I make ones that have dried cranberries or cherries, pecans and white chocolate chips. Store bought Halloween treat would be Mr.Goodbar,Chunky &
sour patch kids. We're did you buy your whisk? I'm looking to buy some new ones.
BakingCookies32(at)Gmail(dot)com
Hi Mindy, Thank you for commenting. The pumpkin cookies sound terrific. As for the whisk,I've had it for so long that I don't remember where I bought it.
Deletei love to make my grandmothers recipe for soft pumpkin cookies with frosting and candy corn faces
ReplyDeleteooops beeghly1993 (at) gmail (dot) com
DeleteMy favorite Halloween/autumn treats are a tie between pumpkin bars and candy corn. Although, I now have to find a recipe for gluten free pumpkin bars since I was diagnosed with non-celiac gluten sensitivity last year.
ReplyDeletea4h(dot)cloverbud(at)gmail(dot)com
Thank you for commenting, and good luck in the raffle!
DeleteMy favorite childhood bought treat was Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses. I think I loved them so because back then you couldn't get them other than at Halloween and we so looked forward to them. My favorite homemade treat was and has always been popcorn balls - the homemade kind. Mom use to make not only the standard caramel ones but also molasses ones - that unfortunately I never learned how to make. I still have so many recipes to go through of Mom's that I'm hoping to some day find it.
ReplyDeleteLove crepes! I'm going to have to try this recipe for sure. The first time I ate them was when I was a child spending the night at a friends. They had them for breakfast spreading peanut butter on them and dusting with powdered sugar. Mom never made crepes, but we did learn from my experience with them to eat peanut butter on pancakes.
Thank you for the wonderful opportunity to win a copy of "Crypt Suzette"!
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Hi Kay, Thanks for your comment. Going through my mom's recipes always brings back memories. Good luck in the raffle.
DeleteI like Reese's Pieces. I'm not much of a chocolate eater so these work for me. lkish77123 at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteHi Linda, Thank you for commenting. I'm your opposite--a chocolate eater and not a peanut butter eater.
DeleteCarmel apples! I know fall and Halloween are fast approaching! I would love to win a copy so thank you for the chance! craig-kelley70@att(dot)com
ReplyDeleteHi Kelley, Thank you for commenting, and good luck in the raffle.
DeleteMy favorite Halloween treat Reese's peanut butter cups.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
My favorite Halloween Treat is Reese peanut butter pumpklns. sclickner at juno dot com
ReplyDeleteReese Cups or Twix bars. Yum.
ReplyDeleteWendy
clarksrfun@gmail.com
Three Reese's peanut butters in a row! Thanks for commenting, Dianne, Clickner, and MamaHen.
DeleteApple crisp or apple pue -yum!!
ReplyDeletejwhaley4@aol.com
Hi Sharon, Thanks for commenting. We have similar tastes in treats.
DeleteAlmost anything with dark chocolate
ReplyDeletelibbydodd at comcast dot net
Hi Libby, You and I are on the same chocolate page. I can pass up milk chocolate, but not dark chocolate.
DeleteI love molasses cookies rmmoss2 (at) gmail (dot)com
ReplyDeleteHi Rose, Thank you for commenting, and good luck in the raffle!
DeleteMy favorite treat is Rice Krispy Treats homemade. My Mom used to make them for me. I made them for my kids and now my grandkids. Email: usersns8800@aol.com
ReplyDeleteHi Donna, Thanks for commenting. Mom's treats are always the best!
DeleteI always make Pumpkin Bread! Looove the smell!
ReplyDeleteHi Mary Alice, Thank you for commenting, and good luck in the raffle.
DeleteI always hoped for a Tom’s Peanut Butter Log in my trickortreat bag!
ReplyDeletepatdupuy@yahoo.com
Hi Maya, my favorite Halloween treat is taffy apples. I love crepes but have never made them. The book looks like a perfect Halloween read. Thanks for the chance. gayleboyce@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI love sweet popcorn balls for Halloween! The crepes are delish! Your book is on my TBR list. Thanks and have a great rest of the weekend! nani_geplcs(at)yahoo(dot)com
ReplyDelete