Butterscotch Krimpets by Diane Vallere #Guest #Recipe #Giveaway

MAYA: Please welcome today's guest writer, Diane Vallere, who's sharing a scrumptious dessert recipe and offering a giveaway. Her new mystery, Ranch Dressing, is book #15 in her Killer Fashion Mystery Series featuring Samantha Kidd. Take it away, Diane!

DIANE: If you’re on the east coast, chances are you’re familiar with Tasty-Kake Butterscotch Krimpets. In RANCH DRESSING, amateur sleuth Samantha Kidd tries to barter with a box of the yummy goods in chapter one, and somewhere in the second half of the book she encourages the chef at a dude ranch to make a clone recipe of them. Below are the instructions for a close clone, so if you’re adventurous and in the mood for a delicious treat, then bake on!

I should note that I am not a skilled baker, so I called in an expert: my mom. We worked in tandem with me on photo duty and her on measuring/mixing duty. I do think it’s doable on a beginner’s skill level.

The inspiration behind this recipe came from goodfoodstories.com/butterscotch-krimpets.

INGREDIENTS

CAKE:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup cold water
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs, yolks and whites separated
¼ tsp cream of tartar

FROSTING:

6 Tbsp room-temperature unsalted butter
½ cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups confectioner’s sugar

INSTRUCTIONS (cake first!):

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a cake pan with butter. (Note: if you have a canoe pan or a financier pan, this would be preferable to the cake pan, but alas, I have neither. I made this recipe with a 9x13x2 cake pan, which you will see in the pictures). Whisk the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl until no lumps remain.

Whisk the oil, water, vanilla, and egg yolks together in a separate bowl. Stir into the dry ingredients and set aside.

Using an electric mixer or hand mixer, whip the egg whites into stiff peaks on medium-high speed, adding the cream of tartar once the egg whites are frothy.

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, working slowly to incorporate them evenly.

Pour the batter into the greased cake pan.

Bake for 20 minutes. The cake will be golden brown, and a toothpick or fork tines inserted into the center will come out clean. Carefully remove cake from baking pan and cool on a wire rack.

NOW, FROSTING!

Melt 2 T butter over medium-low heat in a high-sided, heavy bottomed pan (at least 1 qt in volume).

Add brown sugar and stir occasionally with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, for about 2-3 minutes. The sugar will become shiny and glossy like toffee.

Carefully stir in the cream. (it may hiss and steam as it hits the hot sugar).

Continue cooking, stirring frequently, for about five minutes. The butterscotch will thicken and bubbles will get full and glossy.

Remove from heat and carefully pour into a large bowl (or into the now-clean bowl of your stand mixer).

Let the butterscotch cool for 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until it is lukewarm to the touch

Stir in the vanilla extract and the salt

With an electric hand mixer or using the paddle attachment on a standing mixer, beat in the remaining 4 T of butter, then the confectioner’s sugar, until light and fluffy.

ASSEMBLY:

Cut the cake into 1 ¾” x 3” servings.

Spread a blob of frosting atop each serving.

Eat immediately (or, if you have willpower, eat one or two and then store the rest in an airtight container. They will keep for 3 days at room temp or up to 1 week in the fridge).

ENJOY!

QUESTION: Have you ever tried to make a clone recipe of a favorite restaurant dish or store-bought pastry?

ABOUT DIANE

National bestselling author Diane Vallere writes funny and fashionable character-based mysteries. After two decades in luxury retailing, she traded fashion accessories for accessories to murder. As past president of the national Sisters in Crime organization, she edited the Agatha-Award-winning essay collection PROMOPHOBIA: Taking the Mystery out of Promoting Crime Fiction. Diane started her own detective agency at age ten and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since. Find out more at her website:  https://dianevallere.com

SOCIAL MEDIA

FACEBOOK: https://facebook.com/dianevallereauthor

INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/dianevallere

YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/dianevallere

ABOUT RANCH DRESSING

When fashionista Samantha Kidd’s father-in-law arranges a week on the dude ranch he’s aiming to buy, Samantha preps for blue skies and clean living. But all too soon she learns life on the ranch is anything but calm. When the owner is found dead inside one of the stables, all signs point to murder.

As Samantha wrangles clue after clue, she smells something rotten—and it’s not manure. In her quest for the truth, she encounters quirky cowhands, brazen barrel racers, and suspicious horseplay—not to mention a social paradigm straight from the eighteen hundreds. Can Samantha bring justice to the wild west of eastern New Jersey, or will a renegade ranch dweller get away with murder?

BUY LINKS

Bookshop.org: https://bit.ly/3OkFJ7w

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3uJCuPJ

Apple: https://bit.ly/49fpZL3

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3T4bpBe

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3Ok1kNl

Kobo: https://bit.ly/49uazmj

PREORDER GIVEAWAY

Preorder RANCH DRESSING and enter to win a deluxe Samantha Kidd prize bundle (including a whole box of Tasty-Kake Krimpets!)

1.   Preorder RANCH DRESSING from your preferred bookstore.

2. Fill out the entry form on Diane's website.

Hoshiyama Fried Rice Guest post by Diane Vallere

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm really excited about today's guest, as I loved the first book in her new series. And she's here to share a recipe from the book, and also offer a giveaway! Welcome Diane!

DIANE VALLERE: I am what you might call an experimental cook. I’ll toss things in (or not) at whim, add things (or not) based on the contents of my fridge, and eyeball measurements. The following recipe is one that morphed from a clone recipe for Benihana fried rice and a recipe in an old cookbook. I’ve made many versions over the years and it always delivers.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 egg

1 cup cooked white rice

1 stalk celery

1 carrot

1-2 green onions

1 cup bean sprouts

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp butter

2-3 cloves garlic

(I didn’t realize I had no carrots, so I’m substituting a stalk from greens instead. This could go awry, but I suspect it’ll work!)

1.     Take butter out of fridge

2.     Turn empty pan on low to preheat

3.     dice: green onion, celery, carrot

4.     mince garlic

(Lots of chopping! Make sure your knife is sharp!)

Let's get started!

5.     crack egg into cup and whisk, set aside

6.     add 2 tbsp sesame oil to pan

7.     add onion, garlic, and butter to pan. *if you are making chicken fried rice, add uncooked chicken here.

8.     turn heat to medium and stir until evenly coated

9.     push to sides of pan

10.  add cooked rice

A wooden spoon is a must have for this dish, as is a pan with high sides.

11.  break apart and mix with onion/garlic/oil mixture until evenly coated. push to sides of pan

12.  add diced veggies

We’re getting there!

13.  cook in center of pan for about 1 minute, then mix with rice and other stuff in pan. When mixed, push to sides of pan, leaving space in the middle *if you are making shrimp fried rice, add uncooked shrimp here.

14.  pour whisked egg into center of pan. let it cook. When it starts to set, mix in with rice/veggie mixture until evenly mixed and egg is cooked.

If you ignored step 5, you will be scrambling to crack and whip up your egg right now. Follow directions!

15.  add 1 tbsp soy sauce

16.  sprinkle sesame seeds on top

17.  give it another turn in the pan and then you’re done!

Serve and enjoy!

An extended version of this recipe can be found in A DISGUISE TO DIE FOR. Also, you can read about the time that Tak Hoshiyama makes this very dish for Margo Tamblyn. One lucky commenter will win a copy of the book!

About the book:

No sooner does former magician’s assistant Margo Tamblyn return home to Proper City, Nevada, to run Disguise DeLimit, her family’s costume shop, than she gets her first big order. Wealthy nuisance Blitz Manners needs forty costumes for a detective-themed birthday bash. As for Blitz himself, his Sherlock Holmes is to die for—literally—when, in the middle of the festivities, Margo’s friend and party planner Ebony Welles is caught brandishing a carving knife over a very dead Blitz.

For Margo, clearing Ebony’s name is anything but elementary, especially after Ebony flees town. Now Margo is left to play real-life detective in a town full of masked motives, cloaked secrets, and veiled vendettas. But as she soon learns, even a killer disguise can’t hide a murderer in plain sight for long.

INCLUDES RECIPES AND COSTUME IDEAS!

About Diane:

After a career in retail, Diane Vallere traded fashion accessories for accessories to murder. A DISGUISE TO DIE FOR is the first in her new Costume Shop Mystery Series. Diane also writes the Madison Night, Style & Error, and Lefty-Nominated Material Witness Mysteries. She is also the Vice President of Sisters in Crime.  She started her own detective agency at age ten and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since.

Welcome Guest Diane Vallere!!

Diane Vallere lives in a world where popcorn is a breakfast food and Doris Day movies are revered for their cultural significance. WITH VICS YOU GET EGGROLL is #3 in the Mad for Mod series. She also writes the Style and Error and Material Witness mysteries. She launched her own detective agency at ten years old and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since.

By the way, Diane is giving away a copy of With Vics You Get Eggroll, either print or e-copy. See details below to enter!!

Take it away, Diane!

Diane Vallere’s Easy(ish) Eggrolls

To celebrate the release of WITH VICS YOU GET EGGROLL, #3 in my Mad for Mod Series, I decided to make—you guessed it—eggrolls! And while it should be noted that I am not a cook, it should also be noted that I think we can all accomplish whatever we set our minds to, so even if you don’t decide to try this recipe, please try something that you think is beyond your abilities. You might be surprised!

Ingredients

Not shown: sugar, sesame oil, and water.

20 egg roll wrappers

1 pound ground pork

2 teaspoons minced ginger

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

3 cups green cabbage, finely chopped

1 medium carrot, finely chopped

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Cooking oil for frying

chop everything before cooking the meat!

Directions

1   1.     Heat a wok or stir-fry pan over high heat until hot. Add oil, swirling to coat sides. Add pork, ginger and garlic; stir-fry until meat is cooked through, about 7 minutes. Drain excess oil.

There’s the sesame oil!

2    2.  In a separate, large bowl, combine pork, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil.

And there’s the sugar. Photobomb!

3     3. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Why not relax and watch a favorite TV show?

4    4. Add cabbage, carrot and green onions. Toss well.

5    5.    Fill rolls as follows:

a.    Place wrapper on a clean flat surface in front of you so that it looks like a diamond.

b.    Place 2-3 tablespoons pork filling in center of wrapper.

c.     Fold bottom point up over filling and roll once.

d.    Fold in right and left points.

e.    Brush beaten egg on top point.

f.     Continue rolling until you have a tight cylinder.

6     6.    Place filled rolls aside and cover with a damp cloth while filling remaining rolls.

keep under a damp paper towel so the skins don’t dry

7     7.    In a large pot or wok, heat 1-2 inches of cooking oil over medium-high heat to 350ºF.

a tip to ensure the oil is at the right temperature:
place the end of a wooden skewer into the oil.
If tiny bubbles appear around the wood and spiral out,
the oil is hot enough. If not, wait!

8     8.   Add egg rolls, a few at a time, and fry until golden brown, 2-3 minutes per side.

9     9.    Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Serve with hot mustard. Enjoy!

Makes about 20 egg rolls.

GIVEAWAY:

Leave a comment today about your favorite Chinese or fried food, and you'll be entered to win a copy of WITH VICS YOU GET EGGROLL, either print or e-book, winner's choice. Remember to leave your email so Diane can contact you if you're the lucky winner! Winner will be picked Monday.

You can find Diane on the Internet here:

Facebook
Twitter: @DianeVallere
Or on her website: DianeVallere