Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: 09/01/2022

Friday, September 30, 2022

War-time Cake from Betty Crocker by @MysteryMacRae

One day, about ten years ago, while rummaging in a used bookstore, I found a nearly pristine first edition of Your Share, a Betty Crocker cook booklet published in 1943. How could I leave it there? I could so easily picture my mother using it as she cooked for her young daughters (my older sisters) while our father was fighting on the other side of the world. Little did I know, when I bought that delightful cooking pamphlet, that ten years later I’d give it to the characters in a book. That book, Till Then, is book 4 in the multi-author Whistle Stop Café Mysteries coming out in 2023.

War-time Cake is a spicy raisin cake with no eggs, milk, or butter (if you make it with another shortening). It smells wonderful while it’s baking, and the taste lives up to that lovely aroma! In true World War II fashion, though, I made a substitution. The recipe calls for lard, something we don’t have in our vegetarian kitchen. In Your Share, Betty Crocker encourages cooks to use the ingredients on hand. So, although it would have been a luxury during rationing, I used butter. I hope Betty approves.

War-time Cake . . . Eggless, Milkless, Butterless (adapted from Your Share by Betty Crocker)

Preheat oven to 325 ℉

Ingredients

I cup brown sugar

1 ¼ cups water

⅓ cup lard or other shortening

2 cups seeded raisins

½ teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 2 teaspoons water

2 all-purpose cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

1. Mix first 7 ingredients in saucepan, bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes

2. Cool mixture (I checked it at 30 minutes and let it cool another 30 minutes)

3. Add salt and the baking soda dissolved in water

4. Mix flour and baking powder, and blend into cooled mixture

5. Pour into greased, floured 8-inch square pan

6. Bake about 45 minutes - until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean

Delicious un-iced!

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter or Instagram.

Thursday, September 29, 2022

Chocolate Loaf Cake with Vanilla Glaze @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: This is a great cake if you don’t have the motivation to make a layer cake (I didn’t!) but want to serve a nice dessert. You could frost it with chocolate icing, and the chocoholics in your company would applaud you. I like chocolate, but I also like vanilla and this checked both boxes.

I read recipes from Pastry and Beyond and King Arthur Flour and came up with this combination. It’s quite sweet enough for dessert (my hub thought ice cream was a good addition,) but it also could be a tea cake or even something eaten for breakfast. (That could be a stretch.) As suggested by the Pastry and Beyond blog, it is not necessary to use a mixer. A whisk does the job perfectly well.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp espresso powder, optional
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
⅛ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ cup milk, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup boiling water

Ingredients for the vanilla glaze:

3/4 cup sifted confectioner sugar

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350.

In one bowl, place the flour, the espresso powder, the cocoa powder, baking powder, and the salt. (I sifted them together, as some of my ingredients came out of the freezer and were a little lumpy.)

In a small pan, melt the stick of butter and set this aside to cool.

In a second bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Whisk in the cooled butter, the milk, and the vanilla extract.

Whisk the two sets of ingredients together, and then add the hot water and stir that in.

Prepare an 8 x 4 loaf pan by greasing, and then fitting a piece of parchment paper inside so a couple inches stick up above the longer edges. This sling will make it easy to remove the cake.

Add the chocolate batter to the pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, checking with a toothpick or wooden skewer to be sure it’s done but not dry. Let the cake cool on a rack for half an hour, and then remove it to a pretty plate.

In a small bowl, mix the sifted confectioners sugar with a tablespoon or two of milk and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. Once the cake is completely cooled, paint on the glaze. Serve exactly as it is, or with ice cream.

Since this is not a messy cake, it's perfectly fine to eat while reading...

A DISH TO DIE FOR, #12 in the Key West food critic mystery series, will be out on August 9, but is now available wherever books are sold

About A Dish to Die For:

Peace and quiet are hard to find in bustling Key West, so Hayley Snow, food critic for Key Zest magazine, is taking the afternoon off for a tranquil lunch with a friend outside of town. As they are enjoying the wild beach and the lunch, she realizes that her husband Nathan’s dog, Ziggy, has disappeared. She follows his barking, to find him furiously digging at a shallow grave with a man’s body in it. Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher, identifies him as GG Garcia, a rabble-rousing Key West local and developer. Garcia was famous for over-development on the fragile Keys, womanizing, and refusing to follow city rules—so it’s no wonder he had a few enemies.

When Davis is attacked in the parking lot of a local restaurant after talking to Hayley and her dear friend, the octogenarian Miss Gloria, Hayley is slowly but surely drawn into the case. Hayley’s mother, Janet, has been hired to cater GG’s memorial service reception at the local Woman’s Club, using recipes from their vintage Key West cookbook—and Hayley and Miss Gloria sign on to work with her, hoping to cook up some clues by observing the mourners.

But the real clues appear when Hayley begins to study the old cookbook, as whispers of old secrets come to life, dragging the past into the present—with murderous results.

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Guest Peggy Ehrhart's Piña Colada Bars #Giveaway #Recipe

Leslie Karst here, pleased as piña colada punch to welcome the fab Peggy Ehrhart to the Kitchen! Not only is she providing a recipe for mouth-watering piña colada bars, but she's also giving away a copy of Christmas Scarf Murder to one lucky commenter! (See giveaway at end of post.) Take it away, Peggy!

In Death by Christmas Scarf, Knit and Nibble member Roland DeCamp serves no-fuss snowman cookies that he has cleverly created using ready-made sugar-cookie dough, ready-made vanilla icing, and shredded coconut. For a picture of them and illustrated directions for making them, visit the Christmas Scarf Murder page on my website.

I made the cookies myself, of course, to test out the process and to get the photos, and I ended up with a great deal of leftover shredded coconut, which I’ve been storing in my freezer, casting about for other things to do with it.

The novellas in Christmas Scarf Murder are all set at Christmas, but the weather is too warm in September to think about holiday-themed recipes. Instead, I came up with Piña Colada Bars, evoking the tropical drink and perfect for the summery days we’re still having in New Jersey. They’re based on those yummy lemon bars with a lemony layer atop a shortbread crust.

One can scarcely think of a recipe idea that someone else hasn’t thought of too, and sure enough there are recipes for Piña Colada Bars out on the internet. This recipe, however, is my own version.

Piña Colada Bars

Ingredients

For the shortbread crust:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
10 tbsp. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla

For the topping:

1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp. butter, melted
2 cups crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 cup shredded coconut, divided

NOTE: A 20 oz. can of crushed pineapple will yield exactly the amount of pineapple you need when drained. You will also end up with a nice amount of juice to drink.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the shortbread crust:

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and stir to mix. Add the 10 tbsp. melted butter together with the vanilla and stir to blend. The dough will be stiff.

Turn the dough into a buttered 8” x 8” baking pan and use your hands to press it down smoothly. It should cover the bottom of the pan.

Bake it in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. It will not be brown when ready to come out.

While it bakes, make the topping:

Using an electric mixer, beat together the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, the egg, and the 2 tbsp. melted butter.

With a spoon, gently stir in the pineapple and 1/2 cup of the shredded coconut.

Spread the topping evenly over the baked shortbread crust. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup shredded coconut on top.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. The edges will be slightly brown when it’s done and the topping should be firm, not jiggly.

Wait until it’s thoroughly cool and then cut it into 8 bars—or more for smaller servings. (See photo at top.) And here’s a close-up:

Readers: For a chance to win Christmas Scarf Murder, the new Kensington release featuring Christmas-themed novellas by me, Maddie Day, and Carlene O'Connor, answer this question: Do you have a favorite holiday recipe? (Please include your email address so I can contact you if you win.)

About Peggy and Her Books:

Peggy Ehrhart is a former English professor who currently writes the Knit & Nibble mystery series for Kensington. The eighth book in the series, Death of a Knit Wit, appeared in March and her Christmas novella, Death by Christmas Scarf, is included in Kensington’s just-released Christmas Scarf Murder. Her amateur sleuth, Pamela Paterson, is the founder of the Knit & Nibble knitting club, and Peggy herself is a devoted crafter. Visit her at www.PeggyEhrhart.com

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

HONEY APPLE CAKE #DairyFree from Author @CleoCoyle #RoshHashanah

Our readers may remember this delectable Honey Apple Cake from our latest culinary mystery Honey Roasted. Our amateur sleuth, Clare Cosi, serves it up in her landmark Greenwich Village coffeehouse while investigating an especially sticky crime in her neighborhood.

BTW, we are now writing the 20th entry in our Coffeehouse Mystery series to be released next fall. In the meantime, don't miss The Ghost and the Stolen Tears, the brand-new entry in our Haunted Bookshop series, releasing next week!

TO PRE-ORDER NOW:

Amazon

Bookshop.org

Barnes & Noble

+ Many More Pre-Order Links

🍎 As for today's recipe...

Cleo Coyle writes two
bestselling mystery

series with her husband.
To learn more, click here.

☕ A Note from Cleo

Apples and honey are a traditional treat for Rosh Hashanah, symbolizing hope for a sweet new year, and this dairy-free sheet cake is a superb showcase for that happy pairing.

The cake batter is spread across the pan and topped with spiced, shredded apple, then drizzled with honey before baking. Out of the oven, the golden canvas of tender baked cake carries the crowning caramelized sweetness of honey-kissed fruit.

Enjoy this cake as an after-dinner dessert, on your coffee break, or (as our amateur sleuth Clare did in Honey Roasted) a way-past midnight snack! As far as honey, use a good-quality raw honey for amazing flavor. And the best apple for this recipe is Golden Delicious, not to be confused with Red Delicious. Golden Delicious apples are slightly sweet and buttery and an excellent apple for baking.

Happy New Year to all those celebrating this week. And may everyone...

Eat with joy!

~ Cleo

To download this recipe in a

PDF document that you can print,

save, or share, click here or

on the image below...

Click for free recipe PDF.

🍏 Cleo Coyle's

Honey Apple Cake

Dairy-Free (no milk, no butter)

Ingredients:

3 medium apples, peeled (See my note below on type of apple)
1/4 cup honey (For outstanding flavor, I use raw honey)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (do not use fresh)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
4 large eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt (or 1/4 teaspoon table salt)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

🍎 Note on Apple Type: I like Golden Delicious for this cake—not to be confused with Red Delicious. Golden Delicious apples are slightly sweet and buttery and a very nice apple for baking. To see more reviews of apples for baking, click here to read a helpful post from Huffpost.

Directions:

Step 1 - Prep pan: Fit a 9 x 13-inch pan with a parchment paper sling (see my photo below). The excess paper that hangs over the sides will act as handles and allow you to lift the cooled cake onto a serving platter. (Tip: I like to spray the pan lightly with non-stick spray first to help the paper to stick better to the pan’s bottom and sides.) The sides without paper should be sprayed with non-stick spray also.

Step 2 – Make the honey-apple topping: Shred the peeled apples with a boxed grater or food processor.

Put the shredded apples in a saucepan and toss well with honey, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Cook and gently stir over medium-high heat for 10 to 15 minutes. This pre-cooking will evaporate the excess moisture from the apples and soften and caramelize them for great flavor. When finished cooking, most (but not all) of the visible liquid should be gone from the pan; remove from heat and set aside, allowing the apple mixture to cool while you create the cake batter.

Step 3 – Mix batter with one-bowl mixing method: Whisk eggs in your mixing bowl until slightly frothy. Add brown and white sugars, oil, salt, and baking powder, and whisk until well blended. Sift the flour into the bowl. Stir only enough until a smooth batter forms; do not over-mix or you will develop the gluten in the flour and your cake will be tough instead of tender. Batter will be loose.

Step 4 – Pour batter and top with apples and honey: Pour the loose batter into your prepared sheet pan and gently tilt the pan back and forth until the batter coats the bottom of the pan in an even layer.

Using a fork, gently pick up the shredded, cooked apple topping, leaving behind any visible liquid, and drop the apples in small mounds across the batter in the pan.

Use the fork’s prongs to separate these mounds and continue to spread the topping into an even layer across the batter.

Drizzle the final 1 to 2 tablespoons of honey over the cake top. (If using raw honey, warm it a bit for drizzling consistency.)

Step 5 – Bake: Bake in a well-pre-heated oven at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes. The time will depend on your oven. Cake is done when the batter has turned golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out free of batter. (Tip: The cake center will take a bit longer to cook than the outside edges, but take care that your cake’s edges do not over-cook.)

Serve: Cool the cake in the pan. Gently run a knife between the cake and the pan sides that are not covered with parchment paper (to loosen the cake and prevent sticking); and then use the parchment paper “handles” to gently lift the cake onto a cutting board or serving platter and slice into squares.

This cake is delicious on its own or with dairy-free whipped cream (made from coconut milk). If you’d like that easy recipe for making whipped cream (without milk or cream), click here to download a free PDF (give a few moments to load).