Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, so excited that Murder at the Toy Soldier releases in a week and a half. 

Here's the blurb:

Cape Cod bike shop owner Mac Almeida is extra busy during a cold, wet February as she and Tim do their best as working parents of a preschooler and a baby. With Ella’s fourth birthday approaching, Mac uses her lunch break to shop for a gift at the Toy Soldier. Behind the counter is Zia Carven, a young woman Mac recognizes. Mac finds a gift Ella will love and Zia offers to gift wrap it. Mac plans to pick it up after work, but when she returns, she finds Zia slumped over the counter, dead, dried blood on a toy rifle nearby.

Mac’s mother, Astra, confides that she’d been trying to help Zia, and now the police want to speak with her, which worries Mac. Then Mac discovers that Zia had been in town searching for her birth mother, which only multiplies the questions—and the suspects. One thing is certain: Mac and the Cozy Capers book group will have to double down to find a killer who isn’t playing around . . .

To celebrate, I'm bringing you one of the recipes included at the back of the book. 

In this book, Mac Almeida and her husband Tim have legally adopted his almost four year old niece, Ella, and his nephew Luca, age ten months. One Sunday Mac's niece Cokey, age six is visiting, and the girls make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with Tim to bring to family dinner at Mac's parents' home.

It's an easy, yummy recipe. I made it even easier by turning the individual cookies into bars.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour 120g

1/2 tsp baking soda 3g

1/2 tsp salt 5g

1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature, 113g

1/3 cup granulated sugar 65g

2/3 cup light-brown sugar 140g, packed

2 tsp pure vanilla extract 10mL

1 large egg

1 1/2 cups rolled oats 135g

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 150g

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a two-cup measuring cup, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside.

Combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute.

Add flour mixture; mix until almost combined.

Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. 

Press the dough into a rimmed baking sheet. It might help to wet the back of your hand or use a damp rubbermaid spatula to spread the dough and even out the surface.

Bake until the the giant bar is light brown around the edges, but still soft in the center, 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven to a wire rack, and let cool 1 to 2 minutes. Cut into 2" x 1" bars or whatever size you like and continue to cool in the pan. 

Enjoy with the beverage of your choice.

Readers: What kind of cookie bars do you like? I'll send one commenter a code for the audiobook of Murder at Cape Costumers, the just prior book to Murder at the Toy Soldier!

🍪🍪🍪

A Poisonous Pour is out and available wherever books are sold!

Next up is Murder at the Toy Soldier, Cozy Capers Book Group #8, which releases in late August.

My most recent releases are Murder at Cape Costumers,

Scone Cold Dead, #13 in the Country Store Mysteries,

and A Case for the Ladies.

Check out all my writing.

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.