Caramel Almond Cookies #Christmas Week + book #giveaway from Maya Corrigan

From MAYA:

GIVEAWAY BELOW!

🎄

For Christmas Week I'm sharing a easy recipe that makes yummy holiday cookies. At my house we bake a lot of cookies in December. Every year, in addition to making our traditional holiday cookies, we try one new cookie recipe, and the whole family votes on whether it’s a keeper. Last year the vote in favor of caramel almond cookies was unanimous. They will be part of our holiday baking from now on. With only five ingredients, they are quick to make.

The cookies bake in a standard size muffin pan. The recipe makes enough to fill two 12-cup muffin pans. You can use either a nonstick pan or foil cup liners in a regular muffin pan.

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

8 ounces (2 sticks) of unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup heavy cream

4 ½ cups sliced and skinless (or mostly skinless) almonds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter over medium heat in a saucepan.

Add the sugar and honey. Stir until the mixture is smooth.

Stir in the heavy cream and continue stirring over low-to medium heat until the mixture turns a light caramel color.

Add the almonds and stir until they are evenly coated.

Fill the muffin cups about 1/3 of the way up and flatten the mixture by pressing down on it with a spoon.

Bake the cookies on the middle rack of the oven until the contents of the cups are bubbling and golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool the cookies in the muffin pan for 8-10 minutes. Use a knife around the edge to loosen each cookie from the cup. The bottom may be soft and the cookie a little floppy. No worries. Transfer to wax paper to cool and, once it’s set, it will be flat.

If using foil cup liners, take the cups from the pan. When cool, remove the cookie from the foil.

Note: Using foil cups may result in caramel spikes sticking up from the top of the cookie. I broke them off once the cookie cooled.

If using only one muffin pan and the foil liners, put in new liners for the second batch.

Adapted from a recipe for Florentines by Bettyanne Hershfield (Winnipeg, Manitoba) via Washington Post recipe columnist Bonnie S. Benwick.

Melted butter with sugar and honey

Butter, sugar, and honey cooked until light caramel color appears

Almonds added to mixture

Cookies ready for baking

Cookies after baking

Note the spikes at the top of cookies baked in foil cups.

Cookies with spikes broken off, ready to serve

 MERRY GIVEAWAY

Leave a comment and you could win 

any of my Five-Ingredient Mysteries.  

Are cookies part of your holiday celebration?

Remember to leave your email address 

so I can contact you if you win. 

Giveaway ends Wednesday, December 18 at 6 pm Eastern time.

Have a wonderful holiday with lots of reading and eating!

Butternut Squash Soup #recipe + book #giveaway from author @DarylWoodGerber

 

From Daryl

From Wreath between the Lines - here's an early reveal of delicious recipe. 

I know it's nearing Halloween and Thanksgiving, but to me, it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Fa-la-la! 

SEE GIVEAWAY BELOW!

Yes, there are Christmas decorations in these foodie photos because I made this recipe for the book, but it's a perfect fall recipe, and I felt you absolutely must have it early!

By the way, if I were to become something other than a writer, I would consider become a soup chef.  Or an ice cream maker. One of the two.

I adore soup and I love making it. There’s something about the savory aromas and the variety of textures that call to me. This soup is perfect for a winter’s night. The bacon adds just the right zing.  Enjoy!

BUTTERNUT Squash soup with bacon

(Serves 4)

8 slices bacon, cut into 1/4-inch strips

2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 Vidalia or sweet onion, finely diced

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced

1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme or rosemary

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 green onions, green ends only, diced

In a large stockpot set over medium heat, cook the bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the bacon to a plate lined with paper towels.

Increase the heat to medium high. Add the butternut squash to the pot with the bacon fat and cook until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Don’t stir too often or it won’t brown. You want it to brown. FYI, the bottom of the pot will start turning brown. This is okay.

Stir in the diced onion, apple, thyme (or rosemary), salt, and white pepper and cook for 4 minutes.

Add the broth, scraping up the browned bits in the pot with a spoon. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce the heat to simmer, and cook until the squash, onions, and apples are very soft, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool about 5 minutes.

Add half the bacon to the soup and stir. Then purée the soup using a standing blender or immersion blender. You’ll have to do small batches if you use the standing blender.

Pour the soup into bowls and garnish each serving with remaining bacon and diced green onions.

Giveaway 

To help gear up the excitement for the release of WREATH BETWEEN THE LINES (it comes out Nov. 8 in paper and e-book), I'm giving away a Cookbook Nook Mystery
(winner's choice books 1-6)  plus some fun swag to one commenter.
If you have all the books in the series, you can choose a book from another series. 

Leave your email so I can contact you. 

What is your favorite soup or appetizer? 

Next book: Wreath between the Lines, Nov. 8  BUY LINK
*E-book available for preorder.
* Paperback isn't available until the day of release, November 8th. You will not SEE it online until that date, but it WILL BE AVAILABLE! PROMISE.


SAVOR THE MYSTERY!
 

Friend Daryl and Avery on Facebook
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Plus check out my website

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A SOUFFLÉ OF SUSPICION, the 2nd French Bistro Mystery.
Can Mimi prove her chef innocent before the chef gets dusted?
Click here to order.

A DEADLY ÉCLAIR, the 1st French Bistro Mysteries, in all formats.

Can Mimi clear her name before the killer turns up the heat?

Click here to order.

WREATH BETWEEN THE LINES, the 7th Cookbook Nook Mystery.
Jenna Hart is busy decking the halls and ducking a killer
Click here to order.

PRESSING THE ISSUE, the 6th Cookbook Nook Mystery.
The annual Renaissance Fair serves up a helping of crafty courtiers,
damsels in distress, and medieval murder . . .
Click here to order. 

FOR CHEDDAR OR WORSE, the 7th Cheese Shop Mystery.

Finally there's going to be a cheese festival in Providence!

Click to order.

GIRL ON THE RUN, a stand-alone suspense.
When a fairytale fantasy night becomes a nightmare, Chessa Paxton must run for her life...but will the truth set her free?

Click to order

DAY OF SECRETS, a stand-alone suspense

A mother he thought was dead. A father he never knew. An enemy that wants them dead.

Click here to order

Decadent Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon Chip, Flourless Brownies from Nancy Parra

Mystery Lovers Kitchen is delighted to welcome Nancy Parra back again (although our waistlines might wish she'd stop turning out these delicious chocolate recipes!).

Hi, it’s a pleasure to come to the Mystery Lover’s Kitchen again. This time I want to introduce a new book, Forever Fudge. It’s the sixth full novel in the Candy Coated Mystery Series and if you include the Christmas shorts it’s the eighth. The book is out September 25^th and will offer more recipes just like this one.

When I first started the series I was asked for only fudge recipes but as readers started asking for more I expanded. Since I have Celiac and can’t eat wheat, I developed this decadent dark chocolate, cinnamon chip, flourless brownie. I think my amateur sleuth, Allie McMurphy would approve. She is after all a fudge maker and these are pretty close to fudge.

This is the perfect Fall dessert for football games, potlucks or anytime you are craving fudgy goodness. The cinnamon chips are usually only out in the fall, so I scoop them up and store them for use year round.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. From Allie and me to you- enjoy!

Decadent Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon Chip, Flourless Brownies

12 tablespoon butter

1 1/3 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder

1 ¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 large eggs

3/4 cup of cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350 F and prepare 8-inch pan by lining it with parchment paper. I like to use a round pan for thicker brownies.

Melt butter gently. Add cocoa to melted butter and whisk. Then add sugar and salt and whisk until well combined. Add vanilla and stir until smooth.

Add eggs and stir in gently until well combined--do not over mix eggs. I switch from whisk to spatula for this part. Add cinnamon chips and gently fold.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs and no wet batter. Unlike cake a clean toothpick means they are overdone.

Your house will smell awesome!

Cool 15 minutes and remove with liner from the pan. Set them on a rack to cool completely (if you can wait). Cut and enjoy!

I'm happy to offer a copy of Forever Fudge to one person who leaves a comment, answering the question, "What is your favorite season?" Be sure to include your email.

About the book:

When a film crew comes to Mackinac Island, the last thing fudge shop owner Allie McMurphy expects to find is a murder victim . . . 
 
SHOT ON LOCATION
 
It's Labor Day weekend, the official end of tourist season, and the beginning of a whole batch of trouble. First, the island is invaded by a TV crew filming a murder mystery pilot, and handsome Hollywood heartthrob Dirk Benjamin needs Allie’s help to prep for his role as local cop Rex Manning. Then, Allie’s bichonpoo Mal sniffs out a real murder in the alley behind the Historic McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop, a man shot in the head—with a note challenging amateur sleuth Allie to catch the culprit. Like it or not, the fudge maker has to square off against a crazy killer—but this time she may have bitten off more than she can chew . . .

 About Nancy:

Nancy J Parra AKA Nancy Coco AKA Nell Hampton is the author of over 25 published novels which include five mystery series: The Candy Coated Mysteries (Kensington), The Kensington Palace Mystery Series (Crooked Lane), The Wine Country Tours Mystery Series (Crooked Lane) The Oregon Coast Mystery series (Kensington),The Gluten-free Baker’s Treat Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime), and The Perfect Proposal Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime).  Her writing has been called witty and her protagonists plucky by reviewers around the world.  Nancy is a member of Sisters in Crime and writes for the Killer Character Blog on the 8th of every month.  Nancy loves to hear from readers. 

Find out more at:

www.nancyjjparra.com

Follow her:

T: @nancyjparra

FB: nancyjparraauthor and nancyjcoco

Insta: @nancyjparra