Mocha-Kahlua Valentine's Cookies and #GIVEAWAY

Today the Kitchen welcomes Maddie Day as a regular contributor to the MLK blog!

From Maddie Day:

I'm delighted to be joining this stellar group of author-cooks, and today I share Mocha-Kahlua Valentine's cookies. Please read down for a giveaway!

Since I'm new here, I'll introduce myself. Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha-nominated and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Today is the ritual day of love, and it also marks sixteen years since I met Hugh, my tall, funny beau. I wanted to bake something yummy for him, but also not a tricky recipe, so all you wonderful readers can try it at home.

So far none of my cozy foodie mysteries - the Country Store series and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries - have taken place over Valentine's Day. You can believe I'm keeping this recipe in reserve for the next one that does.

Mocha-Kahlua Valentine's Cookies

Ingredients

½ cup butter (softened to room temperature)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon Kahlua

1 ¾ cups unbleached white flour (plus extra for rolling)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon espresso or dark roast coffee powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Pink and red sprinkles

Instructions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

Beat the butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and Kahlua and mix. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Mix until a dough forms, but don’t overmix.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Press gently into a flat disc shape. Cover the disc in plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

When ready to roll and cut, preheat the oven to 375°F. Take out the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Dust a clean countertop or table with flour. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and place on the prepared surface. Roll out to about 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into heart shapes. 

Transfer the cookies to cookie sheet, being sure to leave about 1/2 inch between each cookie. Decorate with pink and red sprinkles.

Bake for about 8 minutes, depending on the thickness. The edges will be slightly firm, and the center slightly soft and puffed. Remove from the oven. Carefully transfer to a cooling rack or brown paper to cool completely.

My next book is Murder at the Taffy Shop, which comes out March 31 in an exclusive paperback deal from Barnes & Noble and is the second Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery. Twenty-five copies of the book are on a Goodreads giveaway from Kensington until February 22! 

It’s August, full season on Cape Cod, with plentiful sunshine and tourists alike. When Mac Almeida heads out for her early daily walk with her friend, she finds a horrified Gin staring at Beverly Ruchart, an imperious summer person, dead on the sidewalk in front of Gin’s candy shop, Salty Taffy’s.

Lots of people wanted Beverly gone. But when the police find the murder weapon in Gin’s garage, the Cozy Capers book group members put their heads together to clear Gin’s name and to figure out who killed the woman whom almost everyone disliked. Mac’s bike shop is vandalized one night, and when the killer later invades her tiny house to finish her off, Bella, Mac’s African Gray parrot, comes to the rescue.

I hope you'll visit my alter-ego Edith Maxwell and me on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.


I'll give away a copy of book one, Murder on Cape Cod, to one (US) commenter here today!

Readers: What's your favorite Valentine's treat?