Showing posts with label The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Cleo Coyle's Maple Pecan Fudge with a Haunted Halloween #Giveaway

The flavors of this fabulous Maple Pecan Fudge are perfect for fall. Readers of our Haunted Bookshop Mysteries may remember this homemade fudge as a specialty of our amateur sleuth, bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure.

Pen brought a pan of it to the housewarming of her good friend Seymour (the quirky mailman) whose odd inheritance was linked to a puzzling murder in our 5th Haunted Bookshop Mystery The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion.

As most of you know, we're now celebrating the publication of the 6th in our series (and the first new entry in nearly ten years) The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller, now a national bestseller. Scroll down to learn more about a chance to win a signed copy, a fun tote bag, and an autographed collection of our recipe cards.

Now for that fudge...

👇

Cleo Coyle has a partner in

crime-writing—her husband.

Learn about their books

by clicking here and here.

A Note from Cleo

Some fudge recipes use artificial maple flavoring, not this one. Real maple syrup makes all the difference in each mouthwatering morsel. To create "Penelope's Haunted Bookshop Fudge," Marc and I started with a basic marshmallow fudge recipe. This approach made sense for Pen, who spends her days running a busy bookshop.

In other words, this recipe works great for cooks without much experience making candy. You won't even need a candy thermometer. The recipe is nearly foolproof, creating creamy, beautifully flavored fudge that's great for eating or gifting, just as Pen did in The Ghost and the Haunted Mansion.

To learn more about our Haunted Bookshop series and the sleuthing adventures of an earnest widow who investigates crimes with the help of a hardboiled ghost, visit our online home at: HauntedBookshopMystery.com and read with *spirited* joy!

FREE RECIPE PDF

To download this recipe in a
free PDF that you can print,
save, or share, click here
or on the image below...

Click for the Free Recipe PDF

Cleo Coyle's

Haunted Bookshop
Maple Pecan Fudge

Makes one 9-inch square pan (16 large or 25 smaller pieces)

Ingredients:

Measure out and have ready:
4 cups mini-marshmallows
3/4 cup pure maple syrup (and not “pancake syrup”)
4 Tablespoons butter
3 cups white chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped pecans

Boil and stir:
1-1/4 cups evaporated milk
1 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon Kosher salt or coarse sea salt (do not sub table salt)

(Optional) Garnish with:
1/3 to 1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans

Directions:

Step 1 – Prep pan and first list of ingredients: Lightly butter a 9 x 9-inch square pan and line it with parchment paper (the butter helps the paper stick). Allow paper to extend over the long sides of the pan to create handles (as shown below). This will allow you to remove the fudge and easily cut it after it sets. Measure out ingredients in the first list and have them ready to add rapidly at the next stage.

Step 2 - Cook fudge: Into a large saucepan, combine evaporated milk, brown and white sugars, 2 T butter, and salt. Place over medium-high heat and stir occasionally (important to prevent burning). Wait for the mixture to come to a full rolling boil.

Simmer vs. Boil

Now begin to stir constantly and time the fully rolling boil for 7 full minutes—do not boil beyond 7 minutes. (If you wish to use a candy thermometer to be precise, the temperature you want to reach is 235 degrees F. This is the soft ball stage.) After 7 minutes of boiling, stir in the 4 cups of mini marshmallows. Continue stirring rapidly until they are completely melted.

When the marshmallows are melted, stir in the maple syrup and butter. When the butter is melted, remove the pan from the heat and add the white chocolate chips, a little at time, stirring well to encourage quick melting. When the chips are melted, stir in the vanilla extract. Finally, stir in the chopped pecans.

Step 3 – Pour and garnish: Pour the fudge batter into your parchment paper-lined 9 x 9-inch pan. Tilt pan gently to even out. (Optional) To increase the pecan flavor and crunch, sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over the top as a garnish.

Step 4 – WARNING! Cool first and then chill: Do not agitate or move the pan as it cools, allow it to set. And do not cover the top of the pan with plastic wrap until the fudge has completely cooled; otherwise, steam will condense and your fudge will become soggy. Once the pan of fudge is cool, you can then loosely cover the top of the pan with plastic wrap or foil and place the pan in the refrigerator, chilling until firm. Remove the pan of firm fudge from the fridge, lift the fudge block out of the pan using the parchment paper handles, and cut the block into squares. Store fudge squares in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Click for the Free Recipe PDF

☕

Eat (and read) with joy!

~ Cleo Coyle

New York Times bestselling author
of The Coffeehouse Mysteries

Alice and Marc in Central Park.

Together we write as Cleo Coyle.

Learn more about us here.
Friend us on facebook here.
Follow us on twitter here.
Visit our online coffeehouse here.

🔍

Now a National Bestseller!

The prim bookseller and
hardboiled ghost team up again
to catch a cunning killer in...

The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller

BUY NOW:

Amazon click here

B&N click here

Indie bookseller here

BAM click here

"He is hardboiled in the tradition
of Philip Marlowe, and she is a genteel
Miss Marple; yet the two opposites
make an explosive combination..."

—Midwest Book Review

☕

Our NEW Coffeehouse Mystery!

Mystery Pick of the Month! --Library Journal
*

Amazon * B&N

IndieBound * BAM

"A gripping and entertaining mystery"

--Library Journal (Starred Review)

"Penetrating insights" --Kirkus Reviews

"Sure to delight" --Publishers Weekly

☕

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are bestselling

works of amateur sleuth fiction set in a landmark

Greenwich Village coffeehouse, and each of the

17 titles includes the added bonus of recipes.

Click for Cleo Coyle's
Checklist of Books in Order.

Cleo is now working
on her next book!

Don't miss her news...

To sign up for Cleo Coyle's
Coffeehouse Mystery Newsletter
and get the latest news on
Cleo's books, bonus recipe,
and fun giveaways!

👇

DON'T MISS THE

GIVEAWAY AT

"KINGS RIVER LIFE"

MAGAZINE!

CLICK HERE

Or on the image below and visit Kings River Life magazine, where you can enter to win a signed copy of our new Haunted Bookshop Mystery:
The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller, along with a "Jack is back" tote bag (perfect for all your trick-or-treating needs), and an autographed set of our favorite glossy recipe cards.

LEAVE A COMMENT TO ENTER AT:

CLICK IMAGE ABOVE
TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY.

Have a *spirited* time, everyone,

and Happy Halloween!

~ Cleo

Tuesday, September 25, 2018

RELEASE DAY NEWS: The Ghost and the Bogus Bestseller by Cleo Coyle

Congratulations to our own...

CLEO COYLE

on today's release of her brand new
"Haunted Bookshop Mystery"

THE GHOST AND THE BOGUS BESTSELLER

New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle has written her first new Haunted Bookshop Mystery in nearly ten years, and it's a delight! Join earnest bookseller Penelope and her hard-boiled PI ghost as they team up again to catch a cunning killer...

👻

A big bestseller leads to small town trouble.

Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure didn't believe in ghosts, until she was haunted by the hard-boiled spirit of 1940s private investigator Jack Shepard. Now Jack is back on the job, and Pen is eternally grateful...

After an elegant new customer has a breakdown in her shop, Penelope suspects there is something bogus behind the biggest bestseller of the year. This popular potboiler is so hot that folks in her tiny Rhode Island town are dying to read it--literally. First one customer turns up dead, followed by another mysterious fatality connected to the book, which Pen discovers is more than just fiction. Now, with the help of her gumshoe ghost, Pen must solve the real-life cold case behind the bogus bestseller before the killer closes the book on her.

👇

To learn more or buy,

📖

Click to see more of our
upcoming releases.

👓

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

5 Minute Peach Sopapillas with a HAUNTED BOOKSHOP MYSTERY #GIVEAWAY from Cleo Coyle

THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!

Coming September 25th

Marc and I are counting down the days to the release of our first new Haunted Bookshop Mystery in nearly ten years.

👇

THE GHOST AND THE BOGUS BESTSELLER

Haunted Bookshop Mystery #6

Learn more here.

We're kicking off the countdown this week with a giveaway of a signed print copy of our upcoming new book and a "Jack is Back" Tote Bag...

To enter to win, leave a comment on
this blog post with an email address...

Leave a way to reach you via
Facebook (you must friend
or follow Cleo or Jack).

WHO IS JACK?

FIND OUT HERE.

And, don't miss the limited-time
E-book price drop on our very first
Haunted Bookshop Mystery

#1 The Ghost and Mrs. McClure

BUY HAUNTED BOOKSHOP MYSTERY

#1 The Ghost and Mrs. McClure
for $1.99 (Limited Time!)

AT AMAZON

BARNES & NOBLE.COM

BOOKS-A-MILLION

Or your favorite online bookseller

Okay, now I'm hungry!

👇

Behold my insanely easy summer dessert...

5 Minute Honey-Cinnamon Peach Sopapillas!

Cleo Coyle has a partner in

crime-writing—her husband.

Learn about their books

by clicking here and here.

A Note from Cleo

Traditionally sopapillas are little pillows of fried dough. They can be served with savory ingredients but also as a dessert with honey and cinnamon.

You can certainly make them from scratch, but I'm happy to show you a quick, easy, lighter way to make them using flour tortillas. While I didn't invent this idea, I'm happy to share the way I put together the basic ingredients and method, including tips I've learned along the way...

🍑

To download a free PDF
of this recipe that you can
print, save, or share,
click here.

Click for free recipe PDF.

Cleo Coyle's

5 Minute Honey-Cinnamon
Peach Sopapillas

Makes 1 serving (or you can share)

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 six-inch flour tortilla

- 2-3 teaspoons shortening (you can also use olive oil, or your favorite oil,
butter, lard, vegetable shortening, or cold-pressed coconut oil - see my note below)

- Raw honey for drizzling (Raw honey is far, far better tasting than heat-processed honeys. It's truly worth the price and makes a huge difference in flavor. If you can find local raw honey, that's an even better benefit for your immune system. Read more here.)

- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon mixed with - 2 teaspoons sugar

- 1 ripe, fresh peach

DIRECTIONS: Place a skillet on medium-high heat and add your choice of shortening (oil, butter, lard, etc). You must use some kind of shortening and enough of it or the tortilla will not properly bubble up.

When the oil is hot (or the butter melted), place the tortilla in the pan. Allow it to heat up (15 to 20 seconds), then flip it and wait patiently for the tortilla to bubble up. (See my photos below.) If it does not bubble up, you need to increase the heat and keep waiting. Then flip it one more time to finish cooking and remove it from the pan. Slip it on the plate, drizzle it with raw honey, and sprinkle it generously with cinnamon sugar. Use a pizza cutter to slice it into sections.

To serve, slice up a fresh peach and arrange the slices on the center of a plate as shown in my photos. Drizzle with raw honey and cinnamon sugar. Place the sopapilla slices around the plate, top the center of the peach slices with whipped cream or ice cream and eat with joy!

Chocolate Ricotta Muffins,
recipe here.

My shortening note: My favorite shortening for this recipe is cold-pressed extra virgin coconut oil. This is a delicious oil, and of all the shortenings I tested with this recipe, coconut oil gave the absolute best results. It doesn't brown the way butter does at a high temperature; it brings a lovely, slightly nutty flavor to the tortilla; and it creates a nice, crisp texture in the tortilla as it cools.

To learn more about it and tips on which kind to buy, click here for my past recipe post on Chocolate Ricotta Muffins that includes the subject of coconut oil.

F o o d i e

P h o t o s