Butterscotties -- a fun cookie #recipe from @LeslieBudewitz

 

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  I bought a cute little cookbook, Bar Cookies A to Z by Marie Simmons, ages ago and thought I’d made most of the recipes. Turns out I missed quite a chunk of the alphabet – or maybe I didn’t make notes on the pages, as I usually do! So, since we love a good cookie and bars are particularly easy, I’m out to remedy that. 

We particularly enjoy a moist, chewy brownie style bar cookie, and these were a big hit. The chocolate chips are completely optional, but they do add a layer of flavor we quite enjoyed. (I didn’t have quite half a cup, so I added a few extra butterscotch chips as well.) It’s a simple recipe that I think is just about foolproof. 

Bar cookies make a great contribution to a potluck or a casual gathering as well. And as I uploaded the pictures and saw the contrast between the chocolate and butterscotch chips, it occurred to me that this would also be a fun Halloween treat!

Enjoy! 

Butterscotties

Adapted from  Bar Cookies A to Z by Marie Simmons

2-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1-3/4 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-/12 cups coarsely chopped walnuts

½ cup butterscotch chips

½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13 inch baking pan

Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. With a mixer, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, and mix well. Gradually add in the flour mixture. Add walnuts and butterscotch chips and stir by hand until well blended.

Spread in prepared pan, using a spatula or your fingers if necessary. Sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips, if you’d like. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown and pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool in the pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars.

Makes 24 bars. 

Enjoy!

PEPPERMINT BARKED: A Spice Shop Mystery (coming July 19, 2022 from Seventh St. Books)

From the cover: 

A Dickens of a Christmas turns deadly…

As the holiday season lights up Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece’s beloved Spice Shop is brimming with cinnamon, nutmeg, and shoppers eager to stuff their stockings. Add to the mix a tasty staff competition—a peppermint bark-off—along with Victorian costumes for this year’s Dickensian Christmas theme, and Pepper almost forgets to be nervous about meeting her fisherman boyfriend’s brother for the first time.

But when a young woman working in her friend Vinny’s wine shop is brutally assaulted, costumed revelers and holiday cheer are the last things on Pepper’s mind. Who would want to hurt Beth? Or were they looking for Vinny instead?

The vicious attack upsets everyone at Pike Place, but none more than Pepper’s own employee, Matt Kemp. At first, Pepper is baffled by his reaction, but his clandestine connection to Beth could hold the key to the assailant’s motive. Or perhaps it’s Vinny’s ex-wife who knows more than she’s letting on . . . and what about the mysterious top-hatted man with whom Pepper saw Beth arguing that morning?

As the secrets of the market come to light, long-held grudges, family ties, and hidden plans only further obscure the truth. Is it a ghost of the past rattling its chains, or a contemporary Scrooge with more earthly motives? As Pepper chases down a killer, someone is chasing her, and in the end, the storied market itself may hold the final, deadly clue.

A cozy holiday mystery full of culinary delights and a rich cast of characters, the sixth installment in the Spice Shop Mystery series will keep you turning the page . . . and reaching for another piece of peppermint bark. 

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries, and the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories. Death al Dente, the first Food Lovers' Village Mystery, won Best First Novel in 2013, following her 2011 win in Best Nonfiction. Her first historical short story, "All God's Sparrows," won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story. Peppermint Barked, her 6th Spice Shop mystery, will appear in July 2022, and Blind Faith, her second standalone suspense novel (written as Alicia Beckman), will release in October 2022. 

A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by Leslie's website and join the mailing list for her seasonal newsletter. And join her on Facebook where she shares book news and giveaways from her writer friends, and talks about food, mysteries, and the things that inspire her.

Butter-Pecan Blondies

LESLIE:  Mr. Right loves cookies. I love cookies. See why we’re such a good match?

Seriously, who doesn’t love an easy bar cookie? This one has the classic rich, butter flavor and lots of toasty pecans.

But you know I’m obsessed with spice, both what the spice merchants call “pure spice” and blends. And in early June, I spent an afternoon at World Spice Merchants’ flagship location in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. One of the spice queens, Julie, gave me a sample of a blend popular in Persian and Iranian cooking called Advieh, which World Spice describes as "an exotic combination of multiple varietals of sweet cinnamon, cardamom seed, and roses, grounded by the earthiness of cumin and black pepper, finished with a bright pop of Indian coriander."

It was new to me, and I happily took the sample she ground freshly for me. “Try it anytime you might use cinnamon,” she said.

So when I thought “cinnamon” half-way through my first blondie, I thought “Advieh.” I also though “chai,” remembering the baking blend I created for Chai Another Day. Mr. Right and I sprinkled a bit of each on our already-baked blondies and nodded at each other in agreement. Perfection, made better.

If you’d like to spice up your blondies, I suggest you mix half to one teaspoon cinnamon, cinnamon blend, a chai baking blend, or Advieh, if you’re lucky enough to find some, in with the remaining half of the nuts and 1 tablespoon of sugar before sprinkling. Or top the batter as described, then sprinkle the spice on top of half the pan, so you can enjoy both the classic flavor combo and a tasty update.

Butter-Pecan Blondies

1- 1/2 cups whole pecans

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1- 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
2 cups light-brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon dark rum (optional)
1 tablespoon brown sugar for topping
½ to 1 teaspoon spice blend (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread pecans on a rimmed baking sheet; toast until fragrant, 6 to 7 minutes. Let cool, then chop coarsely.

Butter and flour and a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and 2 cups brown sugar until combined. Add eggs; whisk until combined. Add vanilla and rum. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Fold in half of nuts.

Spoon batter to baking pan. Smooth the top with a spoon or spatula. Mix the remaining nuts with the 1 tablespoon brown sugar and optional spice (see notes) and sprinkle on top of batter. Bake until golden around edges and a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 22 to 24 minutes.

Place pan on a wire rack to allow blondies to cool completely before cutting. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days. Makes 24 bars.

From the cover of CHAI ANOTHER DAY, Spice Shop Mystery #4 (Seventh St. Books, June 2019): 

 Seattle Spice Shop owner Pepper Reece probes murder while juggling a troubled employee, her mother's house hunt, and a fisherman who's set his hook for her.

As owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle's famed Pike Place Market, Pepper Reece is always on the go. Between conjuring up new spice blends and serving iced spice tea to customers looking to beat the summer heat, she finally takes a break for a massage. But the Zen moment is shattered when she overhears an argument in her friend Aimee's vintage home decor shop that ends in murder. 

Wracked by guilt over her failure to intervene, Pepper investigates, only to discover a web of deadly connections that could ensnare a friend - and Pepper herself.

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries, and the winner of Agatha Awards in three categories. Death al Dente, the first Food Lovers' Village Mystery, won Best First Novel in 2013, following her 2011 win in Best Nonfiction. Her first historical short story, "All God's Sparrows," won the 2018 Agatha Award for Best Short Story; read it on her website. A past president of Sisters in Crime and a current board member of Mystery Writers of America, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by my website and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebook where I announce lots of giveaways from my cozy writer friends.

Pecan Pie Bars #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: We were attending a holiday potluck party and my responsibility was some kind of cookies. I decided this was an opportunity to try pecan pie bars, which would be festive but also easier than making dozens of cookies. I looked at a number of recipes and decided to try one from Life Tastes Good. I made a few tweaks, cutting the salt and subbing some brown sugar for white.

The recipe is not very difficult and it makes a lot. But warning, it’s very very sweet! So cut your bars small. 

Ingredients

3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold unsalted butter

For the topping:

Four eggs
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
One and a half cups sugar (I decided to use a half cup brown sugar and a cup of white)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
One and a half teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups pecans, broken into pieces

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in your food processor. Cut the cold butter into small chunks and with the machine running, feed them into the dry ingredients. This should all begin to hold together a little like pie crust.

Cover a 11 by 15 inch sheet pan with parchment paper so the paper hangs out the sides. (The paper will stick better if you grease the pan, then lay the parchment on top.) Dump the shortbread mixture into the pan and spread it evenly. Bake this for 20 minutes at 350.

Crust baked and ready for action!

While the crust bakes, whip the eggs in your food processor and then add the other ingredients up to pecans. Fold in the lightly broken pecans. When the shortbread crust has baked, remove the pan from the oven and pour in the filling. Spread the pecans evenly over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until nothing jiggles.

ready to bake

Let the pan of bars cool completely before lifting the bars out of the pan with the parchment overhang. Place them on a large cutting board and divide them into individual squares. Store in the refrigerator or freeze them for your party!

Finished bars

Merry Christmas and happy all holidays to our readers and friends!

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mysteries--find them wherever books are sold! Find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest--Instagram too...

Patriots' Day Blondies

Because it was pouring buckets and spitting snow on our regular marketing day, we stayed inside. There’s always some sort of meal we can throw together from what’s in the fridge and pantry. But! there was nothing for dessert, a crisis of epic proportions. So I had to bake.

But I was kind of low on butter, and I didn’t feel like messing with anything fancy, so I went looking for a bar cookies. Lo and behold, the model for this recipe was the first page in the cookie section of my bursting binder of recipes—something I found online in 2008, but had never made.

One small problem: it called for dried cranberries, and I had none. But I did have dried blueberries and dried cherries, and then I realized that with the white chocolate chips (that I did have), I was making red, white and blue bars. I figured I could call it an homage to Patriots’ Day here in Massachusetts.

Daniel Chester French's
Minuteman Statue, near
the bridge where the battle
took place

In case you are completely ignorant of Patriots’ Day (no surprise, because few states celebrate it), it commemorates the battle of Lexington and Concord, which took place on April 19, 1775 (you could argue it started on the 18th, which is when Paul Revere’s famous ride took place, but the fighting started on the next day). Nowadays it’s held on the third Monday in April. (Yes, I had an ancestor or three there, and there was that other one, celebrated in family lore, who said “sorry, I need to get this field plowed,” and missed the whole thing.)


Patriots’ Day Bars

3/4 cup butter, cubed

1-1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 eggs (room temperature)
3/4 tsp vanilla
2-1/4 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup dried fruit, coarsely chopped if needed
(blueberries didn’t, cherries did)

Dried blueberries

Dried cherries

One important note: dried fruit works better in a bar cookie or bread (like Irish soda bread, which is where I learned this trick) if you soak it in boiling water for a couple of minutes first. Make sure to drain the fruit well before adding to the batter.

6 oz white chocolate bits (or chunks, chopped)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13x2 inch pan.

Melt the butter in a bowl. Stir in the brown sugar.

Transfer to a larger bowl (if you're using a stand mixer, the bowl for that will do) and let cool. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Sift together the dry ingredients, and add gradually to the butter mixture.

Stir in the fruit and the chocolate bits. (The batter will be stiff.)

Spread in the greased baking pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clear (do not overbake!). Cool in the pan on a rack.

And enjoy!

My next book will be A Late Frost, the 11th book in the Orchard Mystery series, coming from Berkley in November (yes, a long time to wait!). 

It takes place in February--you know, that month where everybody in Massachusetts is ready for spring but they know that won't happen for a couple of months yet. So the town of Granford decides to start a new tradition: the WinterFare. 

Which turns out really well--until one of the organizers dies.

I'll be telling you more about it over the next few months.

And be sure to enjoy my newly polished website!

www.sheilaconnolly.com

#Easter #recipes -- Carrot-Walnut Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

LESLIE: Why did the bunny cross the road? To get one of these!

Seriously, why do we associate bunnies with Easter? Let alone the egg thing. Turns out, it’s a German legend that probably grew out of the medieval association of rabbits with fertility, because they breed like—well, like rabbits. Some ancients apparently believed that rabbits were hermaphrodites and reproduced without sex, making them ripe for association with the Virgin Mary. (This is getting a little weird, isn’t it?)

So where do the eggs come in? Birds were also an early symbol of fertility. In the Orthodox church, believers did not eat eggs during the Lenten fast. To preserve them for later, they boiled or pickled the eggs, then ate them on Easter, when the fast was broken. Decorating them became part of the celebration.

Eventually, the legends merged, and the Osterhase, or Easter Hare, was born. Or hatched. Like all good mythic holiday figures, he brings gifts for the good children—decorated eggs. The legend came to the U.S. with 19th century German immigrants, no doubt including mine. They also brought us St. Nick and the decorated tree, but happily, those legends have stayed separate.

Beatrix Potter made the clothed rabbit a familiar figure, trotting through the carrot patch.

And that path leads to carrot cake. Which I love, but I wanted to try something different. On my way to digging out my mother’s old recipe for carrot cookies with orange frosting, I found these. They’re a cross between a bar cookie and cake, denser than cake but not heavy. And according to Mr. Right, they make an excellent breakfast.

Half a cup of golden raisins would be a lovely addition. The frosting recipe below is half a typical cake recipe, so if you’d like to use it on a two-layer cake, double it.

(Back before my first book came out, I took a watercolor class. Behold, Bunny Two Ears and Bunny with a Gleam in His Eye!)

Carrot-Walnut Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Carrot-Walnut Bars

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking power
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup oil (I used canola)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups grated carrots (2-3 medium carrots)
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or spray a 13X9 inch baking pan.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add eggs, oil, and vanilla, and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the carrots, walnuts, and coconut.

Spread batter into pan and bake 25-28 minutes, until a tester comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack. Frost. Cut in bars and store in refrigerator. Makes 24 bars.

Cream Cheese Frosting

3-4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup (half a stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 2-1/4 cups powdered sugar
milk to thin, if necessary

 With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on medium to high speed until light and fluffy. Add up to a teaspoon of milk to thin, if necessary.

Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating well, until frosting reaches an easy-to-spread consistency.

  Okay, we ate a couple before I took the picture. No eggs for me, I guess!

From the cover of TREBLE AT THE JAM FEST, Food Lovers' Village Mystery #4 (Midnight Ink, June 2017):  

Erin Murphy, manager of Murphy’s Mercantile (aka the Merc), is tuning up for Jewel Bay’s annual Jazz Festival. Between keeping the Merc’s shelves stocked with Montana’s tastiest local fare and hosting the festival’s kick-off concert, Erin has her hands full.

Discord erupts when jazz guitarist Gerry Martin is found dead on the rocks above the Jewel River. The one-time international sensation had fallen out of sync with festival organizers, students, and performers. Was his death an accident?or did someone even the score?

Despite the warning signs to not get involved, Erin investigates. And when the killer attacks, she orchestrates her efforts into one last crescendo, hoping to avoid a deadly finale.

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. The past president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher. 

Swing by my website and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebook where I announce lots of giveaways from my cozy writer friends.