Sunday, April 19, 2020

Herb Crackers from Cheryl Hollon plus #giveaway

Maddie Day here, delighted to welcome my good friend Cheryl Hollon as our guest! She has a new series and a giveaway, too.

This is Cheryl Hollon, waving to all of you who are staying home to flatten the curve. Not a sentence I ever thought I would write.
In these interesting times, I’m doing a lot more baking – more than I have been for the holiday season in December! Anyway, I have found these crackers to touch all the comfort bases. A very short list of ingredients, a simple recipe, and I can do the whole thing in less than thirty minutes. Enjoy!
Homemade Herb Crackers
Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour, or a mixture of all-purpose and whole grain flours
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup water
1 tablespoon herb seasoning
  
Equipment:
Parchment Paper
Baking Sheets
Mixing Bowl
Measuring Cups
Measure Spoons
Spatula
Rolling Pin
Pastry Brush
Pizza Cutter or Sharp Knife
Dinner Fork
Cooling Rack
Airtight Container

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Position the bottom rack to the lower third of the oven. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the baking sheet.

Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

Add the oil and water to the flour mixture. Stir until the flour is incorporated. If flour remains in the bowl, add more water a tablespoon at a time until a sticky dough ball is formed.













Divide the dough in half and shape one portion into a flat square. Sprinkle your work surface as well as your rolling pin with a little flour.

Roll out the dough working from the center out shaping it into a 1/8 inch thick or thinner rectangle. The thinner the dough the crisper the cracker.







Brush the surface of the dough very lightly with water. Shake the herbs onto the surface of the dough in an even coverage. See the Note for topping ideas.




Using the pizza cutter or knife, cut the dough into individually shaped crackers. You can make squares, diamonds, rectangles, or use cookie cutters.





Transfer the crackers to a baking sheet then prick each cracker with the tines of the dinner fork to prevent them from puffing up too much.


Bake the crackers for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are browned. Thinner crackers will bake quicker so you can remove them and continue baking the thicker ones. While the first batch is baking, roll out and cut the remaining dough.



When the crackers are browned to your preference, transfer to a wire rack to cool. They can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days. If they turn a little less-than-crispy, reheat in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes.

Makes about 50

Note: My husband and I love these crackers with chili and also with soup. They look fabulous on a charcuterie board of meats and cheeses. For a variation, I top the crackers with kosher salt, chili powder, or a Greek seasoning. It’s extremely flexible and lends itself to experimentation. Have fun!
















And now, a little bit of information about my brand-new mystery series:
Artist Miranda Trent inherits her uncle’s farm located in eastern Kentucky – right smack dab in the Daniel Boone National Forest. She starts a cultural adventure business which combines an outdoor painting class followed by a southern cooking lesson and paired with a moonshine tasting. She calls it Paint-n-Shine.
The first book in the series, Still Knife Painting, releases on June 30, 2020, and is available for pre-order at the following links:


Isn’t this a gorgeous cover! Here’s the cover copy:

Miranda Trent has set up a sweet life in a scenic corner of Appalachia—until she stumbles across the trail of a killer . . .
 
After inheriting her uncle’s Red River Gorge homestead in Eastern Kentucky—smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest—Miranda comes up with a perfect business plan for summer tourists: pairing outdoor painting classes with sips of local moonshine, followed by a mouthwatering sampler of the best in southern cooking.
 
To Miranda’s delight, Paint & Shine is a total success—until someone kills the cook. As the town’s outsider, suspicion naturally falls on Miranda. Murdering the best biscuit baker of Red River Gorge is a high crime in these parts. Miranda will have to prove her innocence before she’s moved from farmhouse to jail cell faster than she can say “white lightning” . . .

There’s a giveaway! Leave a comment to this blog and your email address in the form of name(AT)server(DOT)com to avoid the SPAM bots. This is a US only giveaway. Do this by midnight on April 20 for the chance to win a signed Advanced Review Copy of Still Knife Painting.

About the author:

Cheryl Hollon writes full time after leaving an engineering career designing and building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and India. Fulfilling a lifetime dream, she combines her love of writing with a passion for art, cooking, and outdoor adventures.
Cheryl is Past President of the Florida Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime, a member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. A mystery conference addict, she regularly attends SleuthFest in Florida, Malice Domestic in DC, ThrillerFest in NYC, and Magna Cum Murder in Indianapolis, IN . You will also find her at Left Coast Crime and Bouchercon, wherever they are being held.
Cheryl and her husband live in St. Petersburg, FL.

87 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks for have me as a guest, Edith. These crackers have been wonderful with wine and cheese. Warning, they don't last us very long.

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  2. Art and moonshine out in the woods? Sounds like fun!
    Lisacobblestone(AT)aol(dot)com

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    1. I've taken to halving the recipe as a desperate measure to control my waistline. LOL.

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  3. This book sounds so good! Crackers do too!
    goozylucy71(AT)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Thanks. The book takes me back to my wonderful barefoot summers in the Kentucky hills. Good Luck!

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  4. The herb crackers sound delicious. A must try. What an ideal business to have in Paint and Shine. There isn't a better setting to be creative in. robeader53(at)yahoo.com

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    1. I am having enormous fun with this series. Art, cooking, moonshine cocktails. Research isn't work at all. Good Luck!

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  5. Thank you Cheryl for the Homemade Herb Crackers recipe! It goes to prove that delicious doesn't have to take all day. Plus nothing beats homemade. I will definitely be trying these and from the sound of it I would wager that it's added to my permanent recipe binder.

    Can't wait for the opportunity to read your new book "Still Knife Painting". It's been on my TBR list since I first read about it. Someone is going to be very fortunate in winning an ARC. Shared and hoping to be that very lucky one. :)

    Love your books!
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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    1. Thanks for the good wishes, Kay. It's a challenging time for authors, I'm buying more from my local book store. She delivers them on a bicycle! Good Luck!

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  6. This sounds like a unique setting. Do you include recipes? suefoster109 at gmail dot com

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    1. Yes, there are recipes in the back of each book. They're from memories of my grandmother's good farm-to-table cooking. Good Luck in the drawing.

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  7. The crackers sound good. The book too.
    Wskwared at yahoo dot com

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  8. Cheryl, congrats on the new series! Woot! Love the title. And the theme. Have a bunch of fun promoting. ~ Daryl

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    1. Thank you so much Daryl. Promoting is going to be a challenge, but all things writerly are usually a challenge.

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  9. Those crackers sound yummy! And the book sounds very intriguing!! Love that it will feature recipes too! ladyofshalott03(at)yahoo.com . Tysm for the chance to win!

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    Replies
    1. These crackers are indeed yummy AND simple. Good Luck in the drawing.

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  10. Red River Gorge, painting, and moonshine! Sounds like a winning combo to me.

    Cheryl, is it absolutely necessary to include the sugar? Because other than that small detail, the crackers sound wonderful.

    k maslowski at fuse dot net

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    Replies
    1. Hi Karen, there's no reason not to try it without the sugar. I would perhaps start with 1/2 of the recipe so you won't waste much if you don't like it. Good Luck.

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  11. Love the setting and premise of this book! Would love to read it! And the crackers look delicious! Trying it and passing it on to my daughter! Thanks!
    moa53(at)windstream(dot)net

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  12. These sounds delicious. Thanks for the chance.
    judytucker1947(at)gmail(dot)com

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    Replies
    1. They are absolutely delicious. In fact, I only make 1/2 the recipe now, because we eat the whole batch no matter how large. Good luck in the drawing.

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  13. Congratulations on your new series, Cheryl!

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  14. Wonder what the paintings would look like if the moonshine came before painting?!
    libbydodd at comcast dot net

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    Replies
    1. That's too funny. The paintings would definitely have a fluid brush handling quality. LOL.

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    2. Well done! Good answer.
      I started the book last night thanks to Netgalley.

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  15. Love your series. Glad there is a new one. Cheers (at) MarjimManor (dot) com

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Margo. There will be a Glass Shop #7 out later this year. Good Luck!

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  16. Fun idea for a tourist attraction, and I love the name Paint & Shine. Life these days isn't too much different than my usual retired life, but I was supposed to be visiting family in Tampe mid-May and that's on hold. Wait and see these days. Thanks for the giveaway.
    sallycootie(at)gmail(dot)com

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    Replies
    1. Sad you can't visit, but safe is better. Good luck in the drawing.

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  17. Sounds great! Thank you for the chance to win a copy of this book.

    wfnren(AT)aol(DOT)com

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  18. Crackers sound yummy. Another author to add to my must read stack. rmmoss2(at)gmail(dot)com

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    Replies
    1. The crackers are WAY yummy. Good luck in the drawing.

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  19. These cracker look like they would be good with some Brie cheese.

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    Replies
    1. You are absolutely right. I love Brie and they are perfect. Good luck in the drawing.

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  20. Looking forward to reading this book and making the crackers. I'm always looking for some thing unique to take my book club meetings (hopefully, the social distancing will end soon and we can resume our meetings) dbahn(at)iw(dot)net

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    1. Hi Dianne. If you take these crackers to a book club, make them extra thin because they don't have preservatives and tend to get soft easily. Good luck in the drawing.

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  21. Looks like a great recipe. Hope you bring it to something I'm at … I should try it? I'll hold off being in the giveaway since I buy all of your books....and I want others to try them (every series by Cheryl is worth picking up)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, Debra. I just hope we get to attend ANYTHING in the near future. LOL

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  22. Those crackers sound great. I love your Webb's Glass Shop series and look forward to this new one. Thanks for the chance.
    lhxp73 at Yahoo dot com

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    Replies
    1. These ARE great crackers. Good luck in the drawing.

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  23. Herb crackers are the best. It's even better with cheese, hummus, or soup. bluedawn95864 at gmail dot com

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    Replies
    1. Hummus is our next trial for the crackers. Good luck in the drawing.

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  24. There’s a giveaway! Leave a comment to this blog and your email address in the form of name(AT)server(DOT)com to avoid the SPAM bots. This is a US only giveaway. Do this by midnight on April 20 for the chance to win a signed Advanced Review Copy of Still Knife Painting.

    Sounds Yummy‼️ L L M (at) A O L (dot) c o m

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  25. I have never made crackers before. I seldom go through an entire box of them.This might be a good choice for me.
    lkish77123 at gmail dot com

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    1. I like the control over the salt and flavorings. Good luck in the drawing.

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  26. Sounds like a great new series. Crackers sound like something even I could make. Thanks for the chance.
    diannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com

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    1. Hi Dianne, these crackers are REALLY easy to make. Good luck in the drawing.

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  27. Looking forward to reading the first book in your new series. Love the Webb's Glass Shop mysteries.

    jtcgc at yahoo dot com

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    1. Thank you! Thank you! Good luck in the drawing.

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  28. The crackers look really good, so does the book. I look forward to reading it.
    kozo8989(at)hotmail(dot)com

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    1. Thank you, Alicia. Good luck in the drawing.

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  29. Love the recipe and can't wait to read your new series. doward1952(at)yahoo(dot)com

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    1. Thank you, Doward. I hope you enjoy the new series. Good luck in the drawing.

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  31. Sounds like a fun new series, would love to read it! Thanks for the chance! jeaniedannheim (at)ymail (dot)com

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  32. Thanks for the recipe and this opportunity! I enjoy your glass shop series and look forward to reading this one.
    Dm_richards (at) yahoo (dot) com

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    1. So glad you like Webb's Glass Shop. There will be one out before the end of the year. Good luck in the drawing.

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  33. I am always glad to discover a new mystery series and new to me mystery authors! Still Knife Painting sounds like a book I'd love to read!

    Nancy
    allibrary (at) aol (dot) com

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  34. Love the recipe and I’d absolutely love to win this arc. I’ve read 2 other books in the series and loved them. Legallyblonde1961 at yahoo dot com

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    1. Fun recipe because its so quick. Good luck in the drawing.

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  35. Sounds like a fun sries. I would love to read it

    kaye.killgore(at)comcast(dot)net

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  36. mcfitz44(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
    Always enjoy the recipes. Staying at home doing a lot more cooking from scratch. Always up for a good mystery read.

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  37. Will have to try and make them. cheetahthecat1986ATgmailDOTcom

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  38. congratulations. this is a wonderful cover.
    thank you for the cracker recipe. looks yummy.
    I would love to read your book. thanks for the chance.
    quilting lady 2 (at) comcast (dot) net

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  39. Looks like it will be a great series. Love the title, the theme. And congrats on the upcoming release. bessdeepotter84 at gmail dot com

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  40. I am a fan of your books! Thanks for the chance to win this one! lindaherold999(at)gmail(dot)com

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  41. I've never made crackers before. The book and the crackers look very good. Thanks for the chance! burnum@hotmail.com

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  42. The cracker recipe sounds great. I love your books and Thanks for your great generosity. lindamay4852@yahoo.com

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  43. I'm going to try making these (gluten free) tonight, wish me luck! Thank you for sharing this recipe, we're looking for new things to try. konecny7(at)gmail(dot)com

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  44. Thank you for the recipe and the contest. Your new book sounds fun! madamhawk at gmail dot com

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  45. Very excited to read this! I've already copied the cracker recipe. We'll have to try them. kkcochran (at) hotmail (dot) com

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  46. Thanks for the recipe, sounds good! Would love to be able to get an ARC! tWarner419@aol.com

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  47. I never made crackers this recipe is interesting and sounds delicious. Thank you for the recipe and the chance to win. I can't wait to read your book.donakutska7@gmail.com

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  48. Sounds delish. Thanks you for the chance. Positive DOT ideas DOT 4you AT gmail DOT com

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  49. These look GOOD! And something even I can handle! My kids will love them. Congratulations on your book and thank you so much for the chance! tami.norman@gmail.com

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