Peg Cochran here, please give a warm welcome to our guest today--Jennie Marts! She's sharing a delicious-sounding recipe and doing a fantastic giveaway of a Cozy Mystery Kindle Prize Pack!
Hi everyone! I’m Jennie Marts, and I’m so excited to be here to share a recipe from my new book, TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN: A Bee Keeping Mystery.
First, a little about me. I live in Colorado with my husband and two adorable dogs, Maggie is a Sheltie/mini-collie, and Cooper is a sweet Golden Retriever who thinks he’s a lap dog and looks just like the dog on the cover of the book. I am the USA TODAY Bestselling and award-winning author of over thirty books that range from cozy mystery to romantic comedies to western romance, but all my books are filled with humor and heart and feature quirky characters and the sense of community that comes from living in a small town.
TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN is the story of Bailey Briggs, a single mom mystery author, who returns home to her small mountain town of Humble Hills, Colorado. She and her twelve-year-old daughter, Daisy, arrive to hear her grandmother, Granny Bee, threatening to kill the town mayor. The next morning, Bailey discovers the mayor’s dead body, and Granny Bee’s Honey I’m Home Hot Spiced Honey turns out to bee the murder weapon. Now Granny’s got herself into a sticky situation, and Bailey has to use her fictional detective skills to solve a real murder and keep her grandmother from ending up bee-hind bars.
Oh, and did I mention that upon arriving in town, she runs into Sawyer Dunn, the love of her life, whom she hasn’t seen in thirteen years, not since he got shipped off to his uncle’s farm in Montana the night they stole a tractor and accidentally drove it into a pond? And did I also mention that Sawyer now happens to be the town sheriff?
Granny Bee is the beekeeper in this book, and her book club, affectionately known as The Hive, consists of her two spinster sisters (who live in an old purple Victorian called Lavender Manor), Rosa Delgado, and town librarian, Dottie Duffield. Bailey and her sidekick bestie, Evie Delgado Espinoza (Rosa’s granddaughter), have been described as a mashup of Lucy & Ethel and Thelma & Louise trying to solve a murder.
I had so much fun writing this book! My husband is a certified beekeeper, and he has always told such fascinating stories about the life and habits of bees, that I knew I had to incorporate them into a story somehow.
Granny Bee loves to bake and is always offering up honey-inspired dishes, so I knew I wanted to put recipes in this book. I recruited the best cook I know—my mom—and we spent a whole day in the kitchen testing out all the recipes and finding the best ones for the book.
What a day we had! Mom came over around ten that morning, and I finally finished cleaning everything up around midnight. Whew! We made different variations of several of the recipes to make sure we picked the best ones, so we baked all day then had the family over for dinner to be our guinea pigs…um…I mean, our taste testers.
I will admit, we had a few duds…nobody liked the honey lemonade, except for the characters in the book, of course. They loved it.
But overall, we made some delicious creations, and I think our favorite was the cream-cheese quesitos drizzled in honey. Sooo good!
Honey-glazed Quesitos (Cream Cheese Pastries)
From the kitchen of: Rosa Delgado
Ingredients:
· 1 sheet Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry, thawed according to package instructions
· 1 (8 ounce) brick cream cheese, softened
· ¼ cup sugar
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 egg white, beaten slightly
· 3 tablespoons honey for drizzling
Instructions:
To start—preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Then on a lightly floured surface, cut puff pastry into 9 equal pieces (should be 4 x 4-inch squares).
In a bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until soft and creamy. Drop a spoonful of mixture into the center of each puff pastry then fold one corner into the center. Dab a little egg white onto the tip of the opposite corner of pastry then fold it toward the center, just barely overlapping the first corner and using the egg white to stick the dough together. It should look like the quesito is hugging itself with the pastry meeting in the center and the filling showing on the sides.
Repeat with remaining pastries then transfer to the parchment lined baking sheet and brush each pastry lightly with egg white.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and golden.
Remove from oven and drizzle pastries with honey.
Enjoy!
I’d love for you to check out all the recipes and find out who used the hot spiced honey to murder the mayor in Take the Honey and Run. Humble Hills and Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch are full of fun and quirky characters, and I hope you love them as much as I do.
Do you have any favorite recipes that you use honey in? I’d love to hear about them! I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration for the next book in the series, Kill Or Bee Killed, coming out next spring. Tell me about your favorite use for honey in the comments.
Thanks for hosting me today! I so enjoy the blog and was thrilled to be part of it today!
You can find TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN here:
https://books2read.com/TaketheHoneyandRun
Do you have any favorite recipes that you use honey in? Leave a comment to be entered to win a Cozy Mystery Kindle Prize Pack including an e-book copy of Take the Honey and Run, and an e-book of Another Saturday Night the first in my Pager Turner Mystery Series, I Ain't Got No Body! Sorry, US Only.
Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”
She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet who loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.
Her books range from western romance to cozy mysteries, but they all have the charm and appeal of quirky small-town life. She loves genre-mashups like adding romance to her Page Turners cozy mysteries and creating the hockey-playing cowboys in the Cowboys of Creedence. The same small-town community comes to life with more animal antics in her latest Creedence Horse Rescue series. And her sassy heroines and hunky heroes carry over in her heartwarming, feel good romances from Hallmark Publishing. Her newest cozy mystery, Take the Honey and Run: A Bee Keeping Mystery, debuts this July.
Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, Twitter at @JennieMarts, and at jenniemartswriter on Instagram. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.
That recipe sounds delicious. I just add honey to my morning oatmeal, but this is tempting me to do more with it.
ReplyDeleteNope my kitchen is the size of a bread box. cheetahthecat1982ATgmailDOTcom
ReplyDeleteThese sound so yummy, Jennie! My sister was a beekeeper in Quebec for many years. I'll tell her about your series.
ReplyDeleteTAKE THE HONEY AND RUN sounds like an absolutely amazing book and one I can’t wait for the opportunity to read. It’s already on my TBR list. The characters like Granny Bee sound like a hoot and the adventures and sleuthing that Bailey her BFF get into sounds page turning even before you factor in having to deal with a boyfriend from years ago. Can’t wait to read and review it!
ReplyDeleteAn old tried and true family recipe with honey has to be hands down my Mom’s Ozark Honey Oatmeal Cookies. I’m 70 and this was a cookie my Mom made for as far back as I can remember. The great thing about these cookies is that they get better with time. No drying out on these cookies. Which means, they ship well too for holiday gift giving or to that student that can’t come home. The only variation to the original recipe is the addition of the nuts. Growing up, Mom used a lot of nuts. If a recipe called for 1 cup then 2 was better. So naturally, if there weren’t nuts in the recipe, I had to go with at least 1 cup.
OZARK HONEY OATMEAL COOKIES
Ingredients
½ cup shortening
1 ¼ cup of sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cup flour
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup finely ground pecans
Directions
Heat oven to 375 (in my oven I use 350) degrees.
Mix shortening, sugar, eggs, honey, soda and salt thoroughly.
Stir in remaining ingredients. Refrigerate dough for a short while makes it easier to use a cookie scoop for me.
Either shape in rounded teaspoons or scoop of a small cookie scoop (I use level with the top of mine). Place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Flatten cookies with sugar coated flat bottom glass.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes (bit longer in 350 degree oven and I rotate pan after 7-8 minutes) or until lightly brown. Immediately remove from baking sheet.
Cookie variations: (I’ve never made these but came with the recipe.)
Honey-Raisin Cookies:
Omit coconut and stir in 1 cup raisins
Molasses-Spice Cookie:
Omit coconut and substitute 1/3 molasses for the honey, stir in 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
Thank you for the chance to win a fabulous Cozy Mystery Kindle Prize Pack! Which I will have to admit that I will most likely be using it for a gift myself since I can’t read kindle books. Medical issues prevent me from just sitting at the computer long enough to do the book justice or to satisfy my reading desire. However, I know the perfect person that I would gift it to both because she’s so special and because she could use some good news right now.
2clowns at arkansas dot net
Kay- thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe! I can't wait to try it and I hope you love the book! Thanks again for sharing a piece of your heritage with me! These sound delicious! :)
DeleteI don’t have any honey recipes but I like this one.
ReplyDeleteJess
Maceoindo(at)yahoo(dot)Com
I make a honey lemon cheesecake which is Passover-friendly. The crust includes crushed pistachios and the honey is in the batter of the cheesecake. It's delicious.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the new series! I love Goldens, too. I don't have any honey recipes at all, but your recipe looks yummy. ckmbeg (at) gmail (dot) com
ReplyDeleteWelcome and Congratulations, Jennie! After being introduced to you via this wonderful blog, I'm in! I only read cozies, and your description of your book has grabbed my attention big time.... mystery author, small town, cooking...murder...what could be better! I have to confess to using honey very seldom, but I will make your recipe for Honey-glazed Quesitos. I have a big jar of honey that I brought from my hometown in Chile ions ago...I know it will be fine, since we know that honey has lasted for centuries in Egypt... These quesitos look beautiful, and will taste scrumptious, I am sure...All I need are puff pastry shells, so I added that to my list. Thank you so much for bringing delight to my morning, and you will continue to provide joy to me and my wife as we read your fun books and then review them. Luis at ole dot travel
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Jennie. So glad to have you on Mystery Lovers' Kitchen today. I'm looking forward to trying the honey-glazed quesitos, too. YUM!
ReplyDeleteSo happy to have you hear, Jennie! This recipe has me drooling!
ReplyDeleteOops! Here not hear!
DeleteOne of my favorites is a Bee's Knees which is essentially a gin sour sweetened with honey. The honey adds a wonderful flavor.
ReplyDeletelibbydodd at comcast dot net
I do not have any recipes with honey, but you make me want to try these Quesitos, Jennie!
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Jennie! It was a delight to meet you at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference and I'm thrilled you could join us today. Mr. Right puts honey in his coffee, and while I prefer mine black, I've given the trait to a character or two just because I think it's sweet!
ReplyDeleteThese sound delicious! Most of my cooking with honey is to either add it to soy sauce and brush it on chicken as a grilling sauce or I occasionally make my own BBQ sauce and I sometimes add honey to it. Great on pork or chicken. Looking forward to giving your books a read. makennedyinaz at hotmail dot com.
ReplyDeleteNice to have you in the kitchen, Jennie! Your quesitos look delicious.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite honey recipe is Sopaipilla. Even through the honey isn’t inside the dough drizzling it over is so much fun and good.
ReplyDeleteKitten143 (at) Verizon (dot) net
Those quesitos look yummy! I'm going to echo two people here. Bee's Knees cocktail is out of this world. And fresh hot sopaipillas with honey. Oh, let's throw in hot biscuits with butter and honey too!
ReplyDeletepatdupuy@yahoo.com
Sounds like a great book. Adding to my TBR list. I don't have any recipes using honey. Your recipe looks delicious and maybe I'll give it a try.
ReplyDeletediannekc8(at)gmail(dot)com
Both the recipe and the book sound wonderful! As a former bee-keeper (former because we lost all our hives after a freak early spring cold snap that killed all the bees after they had been out foraging) I will add the book to my TBR pile. I use honey to sweeten my tea, especially nice in Earl Grey or Lavender tea. Thank you for the chance to win! madamhawk at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteno favorite honey recipes as i am a vegan
ReplyDeletefruitcrmble AT comcast DOT net
My mom made a chicken dish that used honey, ketchup and soy sauce as the sauce. I also eat but have never ventured to make baklava.
ReplyDeleteWskwared(at)yahoo(dot)com
Thanks for sharing your recipe, Jennie. My favorite dish with honey is baklava. ~Maya
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your recipe for quesitos. My favorite way to use honey is in tea, especially when I am feeling under the weather. Hot tea with honey is so soothing. cherierj(at)yahoo(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI don't have any recipes to share. I mainly use it for hot honey and lemon when I am sick. lkish77123 at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteThe questions look yummy. I love your descriptions of the book and your time putting together recipes. I don’t have any special honey recipes but I do like to use honey on my toast. awanstrom(at)yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteQuesitos- auto correct is rude sometimes
DeleteCongratulations on the new book…I’m adding it to my TBR list. The recipe sounds delicious! I am not very creationist ve when it comes to cooking with honey. I love flavored honeys, though, and use them in my morning yogurt or oatmeal and toast. cking78503(at)aol(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI make baklava with honey so good deborahortega229@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteI make baklava with honey so delicious deborahortega229@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete