Mexican Chocolate Mini-Cakes from @MaddieDayAuthor plus #GIVEAWAY

Maddie Day here with a recipe from Nacho Average Murder - and a celebration! I was thrilled this week to learn that the book made the cut for Most Anticipated Crime Books for summer 2020 from Crime Reads - and is only one of two cozies on the list of eighty. So let's party like it's...right now! I'll send one commenter a copy of Strangled Eggs and Ham, the just prior book in the Country Store Mysteries, so you're all caught up.

Robbie goes back to her home town of Santa Barbara in this book for her tenth high school reunion. She makes friends with the owner of the Nacho Average Cafe, where she eats and stays in the B&B upstairs. Carmen's son, a high school friend of Robbie's, makes a version of these easy mini-cakes as a dessert at his food truck in Nacho Average Murder. They're like eating Mexican hot chocolate in a cake.

Mexican Chocolate Mini-Cakes

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup unbleached flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup dark cocoa

¼ teaspoon chipotle chili powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 stick butter, room temperature

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon dark rum or bourbon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 24-cell mini-muffin pan (or two 12-cell pans) with oil or wipe with butter.

Mix all dry ingredients in a small bowl.

Beat butter until creamy. Add eggs and sugar and beat until mixed.

Add dry ingredients and beat on medium for two minutes.

Spoon evenly into mini-muffin cups.

Bake until toothpick inserted into the cakes at the center comes out clean, about twelve minutes. Cool on a wire rack for five minutes in the pan before removing, then cool completely before serving.

Because quarantine, I didn't have dark cocoa powder, so I used regular. And, oops! The cinnamon and butter didn't make it into the photo.

Get the butter, sugar, and eggs nice and creamy.

Add the dry ingredients.

Can't wait to eat them!

Enjoy with a glass of milk, a cup of tea, or a shot of bourbon - maybe in the tea!

Readers: When you can eat breakfast out again, do you prefer your meal to be all-American or with a southwestern flavor? What's your favorate thing to order? Remember, I'll send one commenter a copy of Strangled Eggs and Ham.

My next book is Nacho Average Murder, which comes out June 30 and is the seventh Country Store Mystery.

Robbie Jordan is temporarily leaving Pans ’N Pancakes, her country store in South Lick, Indiana, to visit Santa Barbara, California—where wildfire smoke tinges the air, but a more immediate danger may lie in wait . . .

The next book after that is Taken Too Soon, the sixth Quaker Midwife (written by Edith Maxwell), up for preorder now!

I hope you'll visit my alter-ego Edith Maxwell and me 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 north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Retreat!

From the pantry, the stuff of magic

By the time you all read this, I'll be on the road ...

I've been lucky enough over the years to find a wonderful group of critique partners.  We call ourselves the "Lit Girls," and there's a whole lot of talent in the group.  This weekend, we're getting away, staging an informal writing retreat--retreating from day jobs, kids (for some), spouses, laundry, telephones, TV, and all the distractions of daily life--so we can spend some quality time with our laptops.

Frankly, I can't wait.  I've got a lot to do!

I recently signed a contract for a new series, and I have another story that's been trying to find its way out of my brain and onto paper.  This weekend is going to be pure heaven.  I'm so excited to dig into these characters and spend 48 hours of uninterrupted time in their heads.  Seriously, heaven.

Heaven with FOOD.  In addition to case upon case of Diet Coke and the makings for margaritas, we've got pumpkin bread, tostadas, salads, fruit, chips and dip, chips and salsa ... and brownies!  My contribution to the weekend's grub includes my deeply delicious enchilada bake and these easy-peasy Mexican chocolate brownies.

I apologize for the lack of a picture of the finished product.  I'm taking the fixin's for the brownies on the road so they'll be hot and gooey when we dig into them.  But I've made these little devils in the past, and I promise they're killer:  a jolt of sugar, chocolate, and caffeine, perfect for a marathon writing session.

Have fun in the kitchen, friends, and I'll report back (with pictures!) from the writing retreat when I post again (in two weeks).

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

1 box brownie mix (I prefer Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate, but whatever floats you duck)
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (again, I love a good double vanilla, to really amp up the flavor)
1 Tbs. instant coffee
1/3 c. water*
2 eggs*
1/3 c. oil*

* These are the ingredients in the instructions on the box.  If your mix says to use something different, then do so!

Mix the instant coffee powder in the water until dissolved.  Mix the cinnamon into the brownie mix and then add the wet ingredients.  Bake according to package instructions.

Additional add-ins:  you can also add about 1/2 a tsp. of ancho chili powder and/or a half cup of toasted pecan pieces.  Extra yum!

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook.