Cinnamon Chip Biscotti #giveaway & #recipe Kim Davis

 

KIM DAVIS: It's the first of December and in my kitchen that means COOKIES! Ever since my granddaughters started preschool (oh so many years ago) my favorite holiday tradition of baking cookies for their teachers started. By the time my special needs granddaughter reached 7th grade, she alone had about 50 people (teachers, aides, therapists, volunteers, etc.) who deserved to be recognized for their dedication to helping those who need it most... often a difficult and thankless task. By the time she aged out of the school system, I was baking over 3,000 cookies each holiday season, so I guess you could say I know a thing or two about cookies 😋While I don't bake as many any longer, I still give out a lot of cookies (over 1,000) to friends, family, and neighbors. Given how hectic the holidays are, one of my go-to cookie recipes for giving is Cinnamon Chip Biscotti! Not only are they delicious (my youngest college-aged granddaughter requests these for any special occasion), but they can be made at least three weeks ahead of time (I've been told by recipients that they last longer), plus are sturdy enough to ship without crumbling into a million little pieces. 

Since it's the start of the holiday season, I'm giving away a copy of FROSTED YULETIDE MURDER, the fourth book in my Cupcake Catering Mysteries. Not only is there a holiday mystery, but there are several cookie recipes included in the book. Contest is open worldwide but print is limited to US residents only and ends December 3, 2025 at midnight. Scroll down to see how to enter. 

Have a delicious holiday month! 

Cinnamon Chip Biscotti

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cinnamon chips / cinnamon sweet bits*

Instructions

In the bowl of a standing mixer beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. 

Add eggs and beat until thoroughly blended. Add vanilla and blend.

In a separate bowl, whisk flour, salt, cinnamon and baking powder together. 

Slowly add to butter mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly incorporated.

Stir in the cinnamon chips / cinnamon sweet bits.

Leaving the dough in the mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F).

Divide dough into six equal pieces and shape into logs about 8 – 10 inches long. Long & skinny logs are better than short & wide logs since the dough spreads while baking. If needed, spritz your hands with non-stick cooking spray while handling the dough.

Place on parchment lined baking sheets, 2 logs per sheet approx. 8 inches apart. Slightly flatten the logs then bake 25 – 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Be aware if you prick a cinnamon chip it won’t give you an accurate read. Try to get the dough only.

Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet at least 30 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut logs crosswise into 1/2 inch wide slices. A serrated bread knife works best.

Place slices, cut side down, on a parchment lined baking sheet. Return to oven and bake 6 minutes at 325 degrees (F). Turn each slice over and bake an addition 7 to 9 minutes, until slightly golden brown.

 Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes on baking sheet then remove and let completely cool on wire rack. Biscotti will harden as they cool. 

Notes

*Hershey’s makes cinnamon chips but I typically only find them during the holidays at my local grocery store. King Arthur Flour carries Cinnamon Sweet Bits and can be mail ordered year-round. 

Cinnamon Chip Biscotti can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 weeks (or more). 

These sturdy cookies are excellent for shipping to family and friends! 

💕 Click here for a free printable PDF of the recipe!💕

Books available at most online retailers

 

Amazon * Barnes & Noble * Kobo * Apple

 

 

Cupcake Catering Mysteries * Essentials of Murder

 

About the Author:

Kim Davis writes the Aromatherapy Apothecary cozy mystery series, and the award-winning Cupcake Catering cozy mystery series. She has also written several children’s nature articles published in a variety of magazines. For ten years she’s written the Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder culinary cozy mystery blog, in which she features reviews of cozy mysteries along with a recipe from the book, and photos of the prepared dish. And now she’s a member of Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen!
Kim Davis is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

She lives in Southern California with her husband and rambunctious mini Goldendoodle, Missy, who has become an inspiration for several plotlines. When she’s not spending time with her granddaughters or chasing Missy around, she can be found either writing on her next book, working on blogs, or in the kitchen baking up yummy treats to share.

Click here to sign up here for Kim’s newsletter: Newsletter
Connect with Kim on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Bluesky, Bookbub, Goodreads, and website
 

CALLING ALL COOKIE LOVERS!

If you love cookies as much as I do, I have a cookie collection over at my blog, 

Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder! 

Take a look for Christmas cookie ideas and get recipes to try out.
Click on the graphic or here to visit:

COOKIE COLLECTION 

And now for the giveaway:

To celebrate the Christmas holidays, I'm giving away a copy of Frosted Yuletide Murder. Print is limited to US residents only, and all others will receive an ebook. 

Readers, do you have a recipe that is an absolute must to make during the holiday season?

Comment below and include your email (yourname at yourserver dot com) for a chance to win Frosted Yuletide Murder. (Contest ends 11:59pm on Wednesday, December 3, 2025.

🎄🎄🎄

If you're looking to purchase Frosted Yuletide Murder for yourself or for someone else as a gift, the book is on sale for the entire month of December! Click below for purchase links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Other book retailers

White Chocolate Candied Orange Biscotti #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #Gluten-free

 Libby Klein Happy New Year! I hope you all had wonderful holidays. You know I love my biscotti with coffee. I'm not beyond cookies for breakfast. Especially if I can dip them in my morning Yirgacheffe. I'm also a big fan of melty white chocolate. It makes the coffee so nice and creamy. These biscotti are nice and crisp without being too tough. Even biscotti skeptics will be hard-pressed to find a complaint with these. The candied orange and white chocolate pair lovely together and remind me of the white mocha valencia I used to get back in the Starbucks early days. I used an extract called Fiori di Sicilia which is like an orange vanilla. I bought mine from a pastry supply store, but King Arthur flour sells it now. If you don't have it, don't worry. A combination or vanilla and orange extracts work just fine.

Let me know in the comments, what is your favorite pairing with your morning coffee or tea?

Gluten-Free White Chocolate Candied Orange Biscotti

Yield 28 biscotti

Ingredients

12 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon Fiori di Sicilia or orange extract

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

4 large eggs

4 cups gluten-free flour

1 cup candied orange, finely diced

2 cups white chocolate chips - divided

 

 Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, salt, and extracts until well combined and creamy.

Add the eggs and beat them into the batter until well mixed.

Add the gluten-free flour and the baking powder and beat in until just combined.

Fold in the candied oranges and white chocolate chips.

Turn the dough out onto a prepared baking sheet and form into a flat log. (Dust your hands with flour or use another piece of parchment paper on top - the dough is a bit sticky!)

Form log into a rectangle shape that is roughly the size you want the biscotti to be. The dough will spread a little.

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. In the meantime, reduce the heat to 325°F.

Using a serrated edge knife, slice into 3/4" slices across the width of the log.

Place slices back onto baking sheet cut side down. Bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven. Carefully turn the cookies over and bake for another 15 minutes or until the biscotti feel lightly toasted.

Remove from oven and allow biscotti to cool completely.

For the white chocolate drizzle: Place the remaining 1 cup white chocolate morsels in microwave safe bowl or cup. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat once or twice more, as needed, to almost fully melt the white chocolate. The heat of it will continue melting. Stir until smooth.

Once cooled slightly, place melted white chocolate in a zip-top bag. Cut off the lower tip – small-  and "pipe" the chocolate over each cookie. Allow to completely cool and harden before storing.

Poppy McAllister discovers that gluten-free Halloweens can scare up another case of murder in the latest installment of this delightful culinary B&B mystery series! - 

Poppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be . . .
 
While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can’t stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu. And now she has bigger worries than getting her house TP’d . . . 
Includes Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!
 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

 

 

Gluten Free Pumpkin Biscotti Ghosts #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #Halloween #Giveaway

Libby Klein, I have been a long-time lover of biscotti. Sweet Italian cookies that are meant to be dipped in coffee, tea, or cocoa. Or if you're an Italian purist, they're traditionally dipped in sweet wine - but that biscotti isn't covered with chocolate. I had a friend who just didn't get it. She thought I was crazy and called biscotti "Dried bread." Heathen. I forgave her. Mostly. These are pumpkin pie flavored little ghosties in time for Halloween. The white chocolate gets lovely and melty when you dip these in a hot drink. 

My Halloween book launched back in July, and it's pretty bare on Halloween-themed recipes which I admit is weird. But Poppy was busy making Italian dishes for a certain Italian Momma's restaurant, so you have some delicious recipes for Manicotti and tiramisu. Had Libby seen these biscotti ghosts while writing Mischief Nights Are Murder, you can believe Poppy would have made them in the book. Let's just call this a bonus recipe. 

Do you make any themed holiday foods? 

And since it's Halloween, I'll give away one copy of Mischief Nights Are Murder to a lucky commenter below. I have an Audiobook link if you are in Canada so just let me know in the comments. 

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Biscotti Ghosts

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice  

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

½ cup canned pumpkin

2 cups gluten-free flour

½ cup slivered blanched almonds

 

For Decorating

12 oz bag white chocolate chips

Either mini chocolate chips or candy eyes.

 

 

Directions

  Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a medium-sized bowl, beat the softened butter, sugar, spices, and salt until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

Beat in the egg and pumpkin. At low speed, add the flour and baking powder, mixing until smooth. Add the slivered almonds and mix again.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared parchment paper. Shape it into a flat log. Pat the log into a long, flat rectangle, and smooth the tops and sides. Make sure it is not too high or the biscotti will be too fat. I like to roll the log in the parchment paper to prevent it from spreading too far.

 

Bake the dough for 25 minutes. Remove it from the oven. Let cool for 5 minutes then remove the parchment paper, placing the cookie log on a cutting board. Replace a sheet of clean parchment for your cookie sheet.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Using a serrated knife, cut the log crosswise into 1/2"  slices. Try to keep them all the same thickness. Set the biscotti on the prepared baking sheet. 

Return the biscotti to the oven, and bake them for 40 to 45 minutes, until they're starting to turn golden brown around the edges. They'll still feel a little soft in the middle. Turn off the oven, crack the door open a couple of inches, and let the biscotti cool right in the oven.

Remove the biscotti from the oven when they're completely cool. Melt the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Dip each biscotti in melted white chocolate. Add mini chocolate chips or candy eyes and set aside on wax paper or parchment for the white chocolate to harden.

*inspiration for decorating from https://www.ifyougiveablondeakitchen.com/pumpkin-biscotti/

Poppy McAllister discovers that gluten-free Halloweens can scare up another case of murder in the latest installment of this delightful culinary B&B mystery series! - Kirkus Reviews

Poppy is none too pleased when her B&B is coerced into participating in the Cape May Haunted Dinners Tour during Halloween season. Though her knack for finding dead bodies has given the place a spooky reputation, the Murder House is a completely undeserved nickname. At least it used to be . . .
 
While Poppy wrangles with some guests who can’t stop squabbling with each other—including a paranormal researcher, a very quirky pet psychic who freaks out her portly Persian, and an undercover tabloid reporter eager to catch her staff in a lie—one of them winds up facedown in a plate of tiramisu. And now she has bigger worries than getting her house TP’d . . .
 
Includes Recipes from Poppy’s Kitchen!
 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Lemon Basil Maple Syrup dressing recipe

 From Daryl aka Avery

From a fan online, I discovered a cookbook dedicated to maple syrup: the MapleSyrup Cookbook.  I love maple syrup. There’s something so satisfying about the flavor. It reminds me of special mornings as a kid, usually on weekends, having pancakes or French toast. Now, I’ve never tapped a tree. I don’t have any maples around to do so. However, thanks to an MLK follower, Libby Dodd, I learned “how to tap a tree” after I googled “how to tap a tree.” A duh moment for me, right? Thanks, Libby! I found this site called TapMyTrees. The site is dedicated to helping people learn environmentally sustainable ways to make syrup. Enjoy exploring the site.

Though there are no pictures in this cookbook (boo-hoo; I’m one of those cookbook purchasers who

really, really likes photographs), the recipes are fabulous. The lemon-basil salad dressing caught my eye right away. It’s simple, easy and as Haedrich, the author of the cookbook, wrote: “Somebody could bottle this and make a fortune, that’s how good it is.” 

So true!!!  Hmmm. New career in store for me? Probably not.

In addition to maple syrup, I love spinach. Spinach is so fortified. It’s got a thicker-than-lettuce texture that really appeals to me. However, often I find dressings for spinach salads are too thin or too salty.

But I tossed the maple syrup-enriched dressing on a spinach salad for my stepson and his wife this weekend. Over dinner, she was delighted that I had found a dressing that stuck to spinach. That’s because of the syrup. The combination of flavors really work!

Enjoy!

LEMON-BASIL SALAD DRESSING

From the Maple Syrup Cookbook by Ken Haedrich

Ingredients:

1/3 cup canola oil

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

¼ cup pure maple syrup

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

satl and freshly ground black pepper

1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh basil

1/8 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (I added a lot more, like ½ teaspoon)

Directions:

Whisk together all the ingredients in a small bowl or in a measuring cup.

Taste and adjust the flavor with more maple syrup, if needed. Bottle and refrigerate.

This made enough for an 8-portion salad.  Yield: about 1 cup.

Note: I grated the lemon right over the bowl so I caught all the zest.

SPINACH SALAD

(for four)

Ingredients:

2-3 cups raw spinach

½ red onion sliced thinly

½ avocado, sliced thinly

Directions:

Wash spinach. Remove the stems. Put in a salad bowl. Slice the onions and avocado. Add to the spinach. Toss with ½ cup lemon-basil salad dressing and serve.

 * * *

The first book in A Cookbook Nook Mystery series is out!!

FINAL SENTENCE

You can order the book HERE.

It's set in the fictional coastal town of Crystal Cove, California and features Jenna Hart, a former advertising exec who returns home to help her aunt open a culinary bookshop and café.

The 4th in A Cheese Shop Mystery series is out, too! 

TO BRIE OR NOT TO BRIE
You can order the book HERE. 

Next up: DAYS OF WINE AND ROQUEFORT preorder here
INHERIT THE WORD, available soon!

You can learn more about Daryl by clicking this LINK. "Like" my page on Facebook and "follow" me on Twitter. And if you haven't done so, sign up for the mailing list so you can learn about upcoming events, releases, and contests! You can also follow and "like" Avery Aames the same way:  Facebook and Twitter.