Red Velvet Cupcakes Can't Be BEET!

Hi, Everyone!

It’s so great to be back in the kitchen! Thanks for inviting me, ladies, and thanks for all of the wonderful recipes you share every day. You’re keeping my family safe from dying of culinary boredom and a diet consisting solely of cupcakes.

My next cupcake caper, DEATH BY THE DOZEN, comes out in October, so when Ellery invited me to blog, I knew it had to be one of the recipes from that book. The trouble was – which one? You see, this story finds our intrepid, over-sugared heroines Mel and Angie entered in the challenge to the chefs, pastry division, at the Scottsdale Food Festival. Their bakery rival Olivia Puckett joins the fray and the tensions run high as they have to bake delicious desserts from mystery ingredients such as beets, beer and chili peppers. Mel and Angie are up to the task until Mel’s mentor, Vic Mazzotta, who is judging the competition, is found murdered. Now Mel and Angie have to whip up amazing desserts and solve a murder before the killer makes sure they are out of the competition – for good.

So, you can see, I had several unorthodox recipes to choose from. My personal favorite is the red velvet cupcake made with beets, so that is the one I’m going to share with you today. For you non beet lovers, take heart. My Hub hates beets and he loved these cupcakes. And moms, it’s one more sneaky way to get those veggies in!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (using beets): A red velvet cupcake made with beet puree and topped cream cheese frosting and an edible flower (optional).

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup beet puree
1/3 cup canola oil

1 egg, room temperature

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° F. Put 12 cupcake liners in muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, add in the oil, lemon juice, vanilla and egg to the pureed beets. Pour the beet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix just enough to combine. Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full and bake for 18 – 22 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla in large bowl until smooth. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until frosting is smooth. Put frosting in a pastry bag and pipe onto cupcakes in thick swirls, using an open tip. Decorate with an edible flower, such as a nasturtium.

ENJOY!

Jenn McKinlay

New York Times Bestselling Author of the Cupcake Bakery mysteries and the

Library Lover’s mysteries!

www.jennmckinlay.com

Our Guest Author - Lorraine Bartlett

Welcome, LORRAINE!

Lorraine is a New York Times bestselling author.

She writes the Victoria Square Mysteries, featuring Katie Bonner, manager of Artisan's Alley. The first book, A MATTER OF MURDER, will debut in 2010.

As Lorna Barrett, she writes the Booktown cozy mystery series featuring Tricia Miles and her mystery bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue--which includes her cat, Miss Marple. This series includes her bestseller, Murder is Binding. New out is Bookplate Special.

As L.L. Barrett, she writes the Jeff Resnick psychological suspense series.

To make Lorraine comfy in our cozy little format, I asked her the following questions. Her new Booktown novel, Bookplate Special, includes a restaurant. I had to assume she'd have a recipeto share, right?

What does your protagonist like to eat?
Tricia is very weight conscious. She allows herself to salads and tuna plates, a bagel for breakfast and lots of coffee. However, her sister, Angelica, eats and loves EVERYTHING and is always trying to get Tricia to broaden her food choices. Eventually, Tricia is going to do some serious thinking about her eating habits (book #4 in the Booktown Mystery series, Chapter & Hearse, which will be released on August 3, 2010.)


Is the food served at the restaurant in your book or does she cook it herself?
Most of the food is prepared by Tricia’s sister, Angelica, who opens a small café in Bookplate Special, The café is called Booked for Lunch. They only serve lunch—which is pretty much soup and sandwiches. Angelica loves to bake, too. The recipes included in most of the Booktown Mysteries are Angelica’s.


What/who is her favorite Food Network show/cookbook/celebrity chef?
Angelica would like to be the next Paula Deen, and probably wishes she was as young and skinny as Giada Delaurentus. (Although she secretly thinks Giadia has to be bulimic to be a cook and stay that impossibly thin.). Angelica’s appalled that Sandra Lee starts most of her recipes with box mixes. She thinks everything should be made from scratch.

What’s her favorite cheese?
I really couldn’t say. I’m not much of a cheese hound myself (I cook and/or eat mozzarella, parmesan, Swiss, and cheddar and that’s about it), but I’m sure Angelica would be quite knowledgeable if I did a bit more research.

Would you care to share a recipe with us?
I’d be delighted. I made these mini spinach quiches for Bookplate Special and had to make the recipe several times before I was happy with the amount of cheese. (I wanted more, More, MORE!) My husband was very happy with all those test batches and has encouraged me to make more of them.

Mini Spinach Quiches
½ cup butter or margarine, softened
1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 slices bacon
¼ cup chopped green onion
2 eggs
½ cup half-and-half cream
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 (10 ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed and well drained (use your hands to squeeze out the water)

In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add flour; beat until well blended. Shape into 24 balls. Press balls into the bottom and the sides of greased mini muffin cups.

Preheat oven to 350º degrees. In a skillet, cook the bacon until brown and very crisp; drain. Sautee the onions in the same skillet with the bacon drippings, cook for 5 minutes, or until tender, stirring constantly; drain. Place the onions in a medium bowl. Crumble the bacon into small pieces, and add in with the cooked green onion. Add the eggs to the bacon and onions; beat well. Stir in the cream, salt, nutmeg and the Parmesan cheese. Add in the squeezed spinach; mix well to combine. Divide the mixture into crust-lined cups (do not overfill).

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until puffed and golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack for 5 minutes. Serve warm or cool. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Makes 24

Thank you, Lorraine, for offering such fun insights into your writing and a delicious recipe, to boot!

AND DON'T FORGET:

Win a $25 Gift Card to Williams-Sonoma gourmet food and kitchenware store! In early November, we're going to have an Iron Chef Week. Each of our mystery writing cooks will post a recipe with the same secret ingredient. To enter our drawing for the gift card, all you have to do is send an e-mail, suggesting a future Secret Ingredient to: MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com

NOTE: You must be a follower of our blog for your entries to count. Just click on one of the "follow" buttons in the right column and you're all set. One entry allowed per day per person. The winner will be announced right here on November 9th! (Again, if you're not following our blog, another winner will be selected...so be sure to follow!)