A Holiday Cookie Roundup -- #recipes from @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  Tomorrow is National Cookie Day. Who decided that, I don't know, but their taste -- and timing -- is impeccable. 

As I said when we gathered around the kitchen table on Sunday, my mother's Christmas cookies loom large in my memory and taste buds. I still make some of her classics -- Russian Teacakes (her recipe) and fudge (although I switched to this recipe years ago, and she admitted it was better than hers!). And I've added a few others to the rotation -- although unlike her, I'm not the neighborhood Cookie Lady! I've written two Christmas mysteries, As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles in my Food Lovers' Village series and Peppermint Barked in my Spice Shop mysteries, giving me plenty of opportunities to try new holiday recipes -- usually in July, to Mr. Right's delight! 

So today I'm sharing links to earlier posts with a few favorites I hope you and yours will enjoy as much as we do, no matter what holiday you celebrate. And remember the advice of that esteemed American philosopher, the Cookie Monster: "Live in the moment. Unless it's unpleasant. Then, eat a cookie." 

I made these Chocolate Crinkle Cookies for the first time a few years ago and gave some to our neighbors, Paul and Kathy. (Okay, I guess I did inherit some Cookie Lady tendencies after all.) His verdict: "Best chocolate cookies ever." Guess what I'll be making this year -- but only because sharing is caring! The dash of espresso powder deepens the taste of the chocolate. And you can never go wrong with a penguin plate. 

When I was testing recipes for As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles, I realized not everyone loves chocolate or can eat nuts, both frequent guests on my cookie tray. So I went searching for another recipe and loved the flavor of these Lemon Cardamom Crescents --  delicate enough to go well with a cup of tea, and sturdy enough for a cup of coffee or a snifter of something stronger. Ultimately, they didn't make it into the book only because I had too many options to choose from. But I think you'll love them as much as the penguins and I did. 

Not every holiday treat is a cookie! In Peppermint Barked, Pepper shares her recipe for Double Chocolate Peppermint Bark. Consider it our gift to you -- but you'll have to make your own, since you don't live in my neighborhood! 

The recipe for these Cranberry Bliss Bars came from a reader and they quickly became a must-have in our house! I've got all the ingredients stashed away for weekend baking. 

Salted Chocolate Caramel Squares. Need I say more? 

And even though it's not a cookie, I'll end with this Spiced Glazed Nuts and Pretzels Mix, from Assault & Pepper, the first Spice Shop mystery, because they make such a wonderful holiday gift. And generosity, sharing our love and good will, is the spirit of the season, no matter what we call it. 

About the books: I LOVE holiday mysteries and am delighted to have written a Christmas mystery in each of my series, plus a Food Lovers' Village short story. 

Jewel Bay, the Food Lover's Village, is based on the town where we live, where the fun starts on Bulb Turning Day in early November when Villagers, aka Elves, gather to check strings of lights, change bulbs, tie bows, and cut saplings for Decorating Day, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, and continues through Undecorating Day in mid January. So many opportunities for murder and mayhem! And cookies! So naturally, I put all that into As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles, which starts with a very public argument on Decorating Day and ends with a wedding on Christmas Eve. In between, there's a cookie exchange, a dead body, embezzlement, and an old crime revealed to have been very different than long thought. Erin solves the crime, in part by picking up on a clue she recognizes because she knows how to bake . . . 

My Spice Shop series is set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, the only place I know that rivals the Village for holiday fun! In Peppermint Barked, Pepper investigates when a young woman is brutally attacked in her friend Vinny's wine shop on the busiest shopping day of the year. The Market's theme that year is "A Dickens of a Christmas," and between the elves, the Santa costumes, and the men in top hats and frock coats, finding a killer is a deadly challenge.

And I'm thrilled with my holiday short mystery, "The Christmas Stranger," now available as an ebook. (If you've got Carried to the Grave, my Village short story collection, you already have it.) When Erin does a favor for a mysterious stranger, he thanks her with a most unusual gift . . .

As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles and Peppermint Barked are available in paperback, ebook, and audio.  "The Christmas Stranger" is available in ebook as a single, or as part of the collection, Carried to the Grave and Other Stories: A Food Lovers' Village Collection. 

Thanks to the Bigfork (MT) Chamber of Commerce for the photo of our historic bridge all decked for the holidays, and for permission to use it on the cover of the ebook single, "The Christmas Stranger." 

Plus -- look at all these holiday books by all of us here at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen!

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS AND OTHER STORIES: A STAGECOACH MARY FIELDS COLLECTION, now available in in paperback and ebook 

Take a step back in time with All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection of historical short mysteries, featuring the Agatha-Award winning "All God's Sparrows" and other stories imagining the life of real-life historical figure Mary Fields, born into slavery in 1832, during the last thirty years of her life, in Montana. Out September 17, 2024 from Beyond the Page Publishing.  

“Finely researched and richly detailed, All God’s Sparrows and Other Stories is a wonderful collection. I loved learning about this fascinating woman . . . and what a character she is! Kudos to Leslie Budewitz for bringing her to life so vividly.” —Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of Crow Mary

Available at Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * and your local booksellers!

TO ERR IS CUMIN:A Spice Shop Mystery (Seventh St. Books, out now in paper, ebook, and audio)

From the cover: One person’s treasure is another’s trash. . .

Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, wants nothing more than to live a quiet life for a change, running her shop and working with customers eager to spice up their cooking. But when she finds an envelope stuffed with cash in a ratty old wingback left on the curb, she sets out to track down the owner.

Pepper soon concludes that the chair and its stash may belong to young Talia Cook, new in town and nowhere to be seen. Boz Bosworth, an unemployed chef Pepper’s tangled with in the past, shows up looking for the young woman, but Pepper refuses to help him search. When Boz is found floating in the Ship Canal, only a few blocks from Talia’s apartment, free furniture no longer seems like such a bargain.

On the hunt for Talia, Pepper discovers a web of connections threatening to ensnare her best customer. The more she probes, the harder it gets to tell who’s part of an unsavory scheme of corruption—and who might be the next victim.

Between her quest for an elusive herb, helping her parents remodel their new house, and setting up the Spice Shop’s first cooking class, Pepper’s got a full plate. Dogged by a sense of obligation to find the rightful owner of the hidden treasure, she keeps on showing up and asking questions.

One mistake, and she could find herself cashing out. . .

Available at Amazon  * Barnes & Noble  * Books-A-Million * Bookshop.org * And your local booksellers!

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle's Pike Place Market, and the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries, set in NW Montana. As Alicia Beckman, she writes moody, standalone suspense, most recently Blind Faith. She is the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories: Best Nonfiction (2011), Best First Novel (2013), and Best Short Story (2018). Her latest books are To Err is Cumin, the 8th Spice Shop Mystery and All God's Sparrows and Other Stories: A Stagecoach Mary Fields Collection, in September 2024. 

A past president of Sisters in Crime and former national board member of Mystery Writers of America, Leslie lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.