Blueberry Muffins and the Water Displacement Method by Lucy Burdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Seeing a bowl of blueberries in the fridge that were just about to get soft, I had a powerful urge to make blueberry muffins. As far as I’ve experienced, there are none better than the recipe in Once Upon a Chef. As I was gathering the ingredients together, I remembered taking home economics in junior high school. We learned some sewing skills (made an apron!) and also did some cooking. That teacher was strict! We were afraid of her, and afraid to make mistakes. I remembered making muffins—she cut into them at the end and if they had air tunnels inside, our grade was lowered.

For one class, she had us all take part in a baking process exhibition. My assignment was to research and present the water displacement method which I was to explain to the class the next day. I had no idea what this was and there was no Google to look it up. I asked my mother, who was not a big baker except for Christmas cookies and birthday cakes, she didn’t know either. She showed me the way she measured shortening (usually Crisco), and that was to measure a half cup of water and drop Crisco in to bring the liquid up to a one cup line. (That is if you wanted a half cup of shortening.) So I brought that to the class next day. 

“I don’t know what water displacement method is, but this is how my mother measures shortening,” I said.

“That is the water displacement method,” the stern teacher said.

Anyway, that’s neither here nor there, but it got me thinking about home economics and how it’s too bad today’s kids don’t have that class. A little instruction in cooking and sewing could only be a good thing!

And here are Once Upon a Chef's blueberry muffins. 

Ingredients

One stick (8 ounces) butter, softened

One cup sugar

Two large eggs at room temp

One and a half teaspoons vanilla

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup of milk

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups fresh blueberries

Beat the butter with the sugar until light and pale yellow. Beat the eggs in one at a time, spending a couple minutes on each one.

Mix the dry ingredients in a small bowl. Alternate mixing some of the dry ingredients with milk into the rest of the batter. Until everything is gone. Don’t overbeat!

Stir in the blueberries.

Grease a muffin tin, and add paper muffin cups. Distribute the batter between the 12 of them. Bake at 375 for half an hour-ish. Mine were browning at 28 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before removing them from the pan. Here’s one broken open. No air tunnels there!

Did you take home economics as a young person? Do your kids or grandkids study the art of home making? Is this a lost art or are we just as glad to see it gone out of the schools? And what should I do with all those amazing peaches?

A DELICIOUS DECEPTION can be found at a bookstore near you!

A Delicious Deception has a slightly different tone than some of the earlier books, with more emphasis on family, but I loved it just as much as the rest of the series. Ms. Burdette has created characters who have grown in such natural, believable ways. She delivers an excellent mystery while also weaving in a major, emotional turning point in their lives. There is drama, murder, secrets, late-pregnancy feelings and hormones, a sick father-in-law, home renovations, a fun baby shower, and friends and family ready to tackle whatever comes their way. And in the end, a beautiful baby! Escape with Dollycas

This cozy mystery expertly balances personal stakes with a fast-paced plot in a consistent Burdette fashion. It’s a suspenseful, heart-filled addition to the series that proves Hayley is just as effective at solving crimes as she is at critiquing menus. Netgalley reviewer

Book 15 in the Key West series, paperback edition of THE MANGO MURDERS, is in bookstores now!

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.

Chicken Enchiladas in Spicy Red Sauce by Lucy Burdette #giveaway

LUCY BURDETTE: we love Mexican food in our household, though it’s not that easy to get in our small town in Connecticut. Luckily for my food critic character, Hayley Snow, there is a hole in the wall Mexican restaurant in Key West where she gets a delicious meal just the right moment. (I’ve included a little snippet from the upcoming A DELICIOUS DECEPTION at the end of the recipe—to whet your whistle!)

Today’s recipe is based on one for beef enchiladas that I’ve made a number of times from Once Upon a Chef. In the past, I’ve made chicken enchiladas with a green sauce, but I couldn’t see why this amazing red sauce wouldn’t work just as well. And it did! Next time around, I would also add at least a cup of cooked beans – these could be black beans or kidney beans or whatever is available.

Ingredients.

2 cups cooked shredded chicken (I had roasted a chicken a day or two earlier thinking of this dish)

One medium onion, red or white, your choice

Two cloves garlic, finally chopped

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin,

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

8 ounces tomato sauce

2 cups chicken broth

Eight large flour tortillas

2 to 3 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

(Jenn Siegel at once upon a chef also adds a chopped jalapeño, but I found our chili pepper was spicy enough for our taste. Cook’s choice!)

Chop the onion and the garlic and sauté in olive oil until soft but not brown. And the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and flour and cook this all together for another minute or two. Gradually stir in the tomato sauce and chicken broth to make a sauce.

Add the chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Next put a cup or so of sauce in a greased 9 x 11 pan. Assemble the tortillas by spreading a tablespoon or two of the chicken mixture in the bottom of each tortilla, sprinkle with a thick coating of grated cheese and roll them up. Tuck them all into the pan. If any sauce remains, spread it over the top of the tortillas then sprinkle with more cheese.

Bake about 15 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese melted and beginning to brown.

Serve with a green salad or asparagus or something else in the Green family.

GIVEAWAY:  To enter the drawing for TWO Key West mysteries, one to keep and one to share, sign up for my mailing list, and leave a comment including the name of the person you'd most love to share a book with!

A DELICIOUS DECEPTION will be here before we know it—hitting bookstores on July 14! In this installment, Hayley is quite pregnant, which makes everyone around her worry about her urge to find a missing girl…

“Wait,” said Darcy. She held up her hand. “Say it again. You went back up there on your own? Are you out of your mind?”

I sat back in my folding chair, crossing my arms over the bulge of the baby. “No, just a concerned citizen. Very concerned, since you yourself pulled me into this mess in the first place. You seem to be sidelined, so I thought I could do some light investigating on my own, talking with a couple of perfectly friendly women. I did not approach or contaminate the crime scene. A little girl is missing and I for one feel some urgency about finding her.”

Darcy slumped in her chair, silent for once. Rivulets of tears ran down Louise’s cheeks. I began to open the bags of food and extract our dinner.

“Mmm, this smells very good. I’ve never eaten here. This is from the little hole in the wall on Bertha Street?” I quirked my eyebrows. Darcy was not known as a foodie. “How in the world did you find this place?”

“The deputies often stop here mid-shift,” she said, dishing up a plate of chicken fajitas, rice, beans, and guacamole and pushing it towards me. “The salsa has tons of flavor but not too much heat.”

 A DELICIOUS DECEPTION, coming July 14 at a bookstore near you!

USA Today bestselling author Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join her mailing list right here.

Tomato Pie by Lucy Burdette @Onceuponachef

LUCY BURDETTE: this is my favorite time of the year for produce – the big tomatoes, peppers, okra, peaches, cantaloupe, cucumbers! And do not let me forget corn on the cob.

Once again, lots of critters have ravaged John’s garden, but they don’t seem to care much for tomatoes. So we have a bumper crop! What to do? Time to make a tomato pie. In the past, I’ve made this one with a cornmeal crust, which was quite delicious.

But I saw another recipe on Once Upon a Chef that I wanted to try. This one involves roasting tomatoes and onions, and then baking with cheese and a cheese mayonnaise topping. A bit labor-intensive, but she assured future cooks that it was quite OK to purchase a crust from the freezer department in your grocery store. Usually I make my own, but with the end of my book in sight, I thought I’d try it. SPOILER ALERT: It was rich and delicious!

Ingredients

1 nine-inch frozen (or homemade) pie crust (not deep-dish)

2 lbs tomatoes, cored, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch pieces 

1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¾ teaspoon sugar

½ teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, or more to taste

½ cup mayonnaise

1 cup shredded fontina cheese 

⅓ cup grated Pecorino Romano

Preheat the oven to 375

Combine the sliced onions and chopped tomatoes on a parchment covered cookie sheet. Add the olive oil, pepper, thyme, sugar. Mix that all together and spread the vegetables out into one layer. Roast until beginning to brown, about 45 minutes.

Let the pie crust thaw 10 minutes and then prick all over with a fork so it doesn’t puff up. Remove the vegetables from the oven and bake the pie crust until beginning to color, 10-12 minutes.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of fontina to cover the bottom of the crust. Mix the basil into the tomatoes and spread the vegetables over the cheese.

Mix the mayonnaise with the remaining cheeses and dollop this on top. Spread into a thin layer. Bake the pie until bubbly and golden, 25-30 minutes. Serve with a simple green salad. You can eat this hot out of the oven, or at room temperature.

Here’s a bonus recipe for tomato pie via Michael Ruhlman via Ann Hood, who borrows and shines Laurie Colwin’s recipe. (Remember her? Amazing food and fiction writer who died way, way way too young.)

Are you mad for garden-grown tomatoes as I am? What’s your favorite way to eat them?

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. Join the mailing list here so you don't miss news about the Key West series and Lucy!

Book 15 in the Key West series, THE MANGO MURDERS, is in bookstores now!

The trade paperback edition of A POISONOUS PALATE is out now! And if you choose ebooks as your poison (LOL), A Poisonous Palate is on sale for $2.99 all through September. 

And the trade paperback edition of A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS is out now!

Apple Cider Donut Cake #Christmas @onceuponachef @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I have a weakness for sugary, puckery apple cider donuts. So when I spotted this recipe for apple cider donut cake on one of my favorite recipe sites, Once Upon a Chef, I thought it might be perfect for a non-cookie Christmas recipe. Yes, of course there will be cookies! But maybe one night you will have company craving a sugary but light cake? This would be a perfect addition to your holiday table. It’s not hard to make, but it takes some planning. Do read through everything ahead of time so you have the ingredients in place and are ready to go!

Ingredients for the cake

One and a half cups apple cider, reduced

2/3 cup sugar

Two large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

1/2 cup unsalted butter 

one and 1/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda.

Ingredients for the cider glaze

Reduced cider, saved from making the cake

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons sugar

Pinch of salt

For the topping

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.

Place the apple cider vinegar in a small pan and simmer until it’s reduced to half a cup. This could take 10 to 15 minutes. Set the cider aside to cool. You will use 1/3 cup of the reduced liquid for the cake, and save the rest for the glaze.

Melt the stick of butter and set this aside to cool as well.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs, then whisk in the sour cream, and finally whisk in the melted butter along with the nutmeg, vanilla, salt, and the 1/3 cup reduced cider.

In another small bowl, combine the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir this into the egg mixture.

Prepare an 8 x 8 pan by buttering it well, and then placing a large piece of parchment paper into the pan so the edges overhang. Butter this for good measure.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes. Check with a skewer to be sure it’s cooked and set this aside to cool. Using the overlapping parchment paper, lift the cake from the pan and move it to the plate on which you plan to serve. Slide out the parchment and discard.

Into the pan containing the reduced cider, add the 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and a bit of salt and bring this to a boil to allow it to thicken. Drizzle this glaze all over the cake and let it set.

Mix the cinnamon and sugar and spread this topping over the cake. To serve, cut into squares and serve with ice cream or whipped cream. Our guests particularly enjoyed coconut ice cream with this cake!

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. You can order that wherever books are sold. If you’re all caught up, try Lucy’s first women’s fiction title, THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS.

Also follow Lucy on Facebook, and sign up for her mailing list right here.  

Egg Roll in a Bowl @LucyBurdette @OnceUponaChef

LUCY BURDETTE: I spotted this recipe on one of my go-to cooking blogs, Once Upon a Chef. Many years ago I made actual egg rolls, stuffing the wrappers with prepared vegetables and meat and frying them. They were delicious, but was quite a production, one that I haven't repeated. I seem to remember we cooked an entire Chinese dinner that night, and the egg rolls were only one small bit of it. 

This recipe is much, much easier than making egg rolls, but it tastes just like an egg roll. You can adjust ingredients according to your taste. I used ground turkey rather than pork and added more color with carrots and peppers.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil

• 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced

• 1½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 pound ground turkey

• 1/2 cabbage, shredded 

• Red pepper, sliced lengthwise

• 1-2 carrots, cut into match sticks

• 2-3 tbsp soy sauce

• 3 tablespoons sweet and sour sauce, plus more for serving 

• ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

• ⅓ cup unsalted cashews, chopped

• Ribboned basil for garnish

• Rice, for serving 

• Snow peas, if available

Prepare the vegetables by slicing scallions, chopping ginger and garlic, shredding cabbage, slicing red pepper, and cutting the carrots into matchsticks. 

Stir fry the scallions, garlic, and ginger in a little oil, then add the turkey and brown that.

Then add the vegetables up until cabbage. 

Stir fry this for a few minutes and when everything is getting soft, add the sweet and sour sauce, the sesame oil, and the soy sauce. Layer the shredded cabbage on top and cover the pan with a lid. Simmer until everything is soft. 

Serve on white rice with basil for garnish and extra soy sauce and sweet and sour sauce on the side. You’ll be pleasantly surprised about how much this tastes like an egg roll!

 Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series. A DISH TO DIE FOR is on bookshelves right now. A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS will be published August 8, 2023. 

Follow Lucy on Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for her mailing list right here.