Mrs. Earhart's Biscuits @MaddieDayAuthor #birthday #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, celebrating another sleuth's birthday! 

Two weeks ago I brought you homemade strawberry ice cream, which my grandmother Dorothy enjoyed as part of her eighteenth birthday celebration dinner on July 4, 1918. In my latest historical mystery, an alternate version of Dot is a lady PI in 1926 Boston, working with Amelia Earhart to solve a string of attacks on young immigrant women.

I loved discovering that Amelia's birthday was also in July. Her fictionalized sleuthing adventures in A Case for the Ladies came out of my imagination, but she really did live in Boston in 1926. She was a social worker and teacher at a settlement house, and she also coached the Chinese girls' basketball team, flying only on weekends.

I'm celebrating both sleuth's birthdays this month, here and elsewhere, so I went looking for Amelia's favorite food. I lucked out by finding a recipe in the March 1937 issue of Women's Home Companion Magazine and an interview with Amelia's mother. 

(I took a photo of the page, so the quality isn't stellar.) I suppose it was an ad for Royal Baking Powder, but who doesn't love a traditional fluffy biscuit? I thought I'd leave the fried chicken for another time (or another chef), since I'm not a fan of deep frying - especially not in July.

In honor of the famous aviator's birthday - the year of which she never wanted to get specific about, even when she was under thirty - I bring you her mother's biscuits.

Mrs. Earhart's Biscuits 

Note: Being me, I substituted whole wheat flour for half of the flour amount, because I like that nutty flavor. And since I don't believe in shortening, I used butter, real butter, and I added an egg. Also being me, I adapted the directions to make them more clear.

Ingredients

(My photo of the ingredients vanished - to where is a mystery!)

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder (Royal was the brand back then)

½ teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons butter

1 egg

¾ cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt; add butter and cut in thoroughly with fork or pastry cutter.  

Stir in the egg with a fork, then add milk and mix minimally to make a soft dough.  Turn out on floured board and knead lightly until outside looks smooth.  

Roll out ½ inch thick. 

Fold in thirds and roll again three more times to increase flakiness. 

Cut with biscuit cutter and place on baking sheet.  

Bake about 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Remove to a rack to cool.

Enjoy a biscuit with your fried chicken or with butter and jam!

Readers: How do you like your biscuits? I'll send one of you an ebook of A Case for the Ladies!

🎂🛬🐔

Murder at the Rusty Anchor is out and available wherever books are sold!

My most recent releases are A Case for the Ladies.

And Deep Fried Death, #12 in the Country Store Mysteries.

And Murder Uncorked, Cece Barton Mystery #1, which released in late October.

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We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning 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 and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.