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/

Ghostly Shortbread Cookies # Recipe @PegCochran #Halloween

 

Do you believe in ghosts?  I have a friend who has a house in Massachusetts that was built in the early 1700s.  He swears it's haunted.  He said he hears noises at night--doors slamming, furniture moving.  I remember walking into one of the rooms in the house and there was this sudden chill...a ghost perhaps?  The spirit of some long ago resident?  Fortunately he believes his ghosts are friendly ghosts.

I usually make a mess of cookies that need to be cut out--they stick to the counter or to the cookie cutter or other calamities.  But this dough was very easy to work with.  The key was keeping it cold.  I liked that the recipe called for less sugar than other recipes.  Of course there's all that butter but that's what makes them taste so delicious!  In honor of Halloween, I got out my ghost cookie cutter (full disclosure: I ordered it from Amazon on Tuesday) and I brainstormed ways to make "eyes" on my little ghosts.  I had a bag of craisins so I cut them into smaller pieces and used those.  Dark raisins would also work or perhaps currants.  Even if you are afraid of ghosts, I think you'll like these!  Recipe courtesy of the American Pecan Council

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter   

1/2 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Beat butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium until light and fluffy.

 

In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt until combined.

 

On low, slowly add the flour to the butter/sugar mixture.  After all the flour is incorporated, increase mixer speed and mix until the dough forms a ball.

 

 

 

Divide dough into two portions and form into discs.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

 

 

 

Roll out dough on a floured surface (keep other disc in the refrigerator until ready to use) approximately ¼ inch to ½ inch thick.  Cut out cookies and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.   Add craisins if using.

 

 

Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 18 to 20 minutes until golden around the edges.  Baking time will depend on your oven—my cookies took longer than 20 minutes so keep an eye on them.

 

 

 

 

Tip: After rolling dough and cutting out cookies, put the scraps back in the refrigerator while you work on the second disc.  Put the scraps from the second disc in the refrigerator while you roll out the scraps from the first disc.

 

 

COVER REVEAL!

COMING MARCH 1 - PRE-ORDER NOW!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

A murder in her quaint British bookshop drops American Gothic novelist Penelope Parish into her deadliest caper yet.

Penelope Parish is ready to close the book on her amateur sleuthing—from now on, The Open Book’s writer-in-residence will be sticking to villains of the fictional variety while she puts the final touches on her new novel. But when an author is murdered inside the bookshop, all of Upper Chumley-on-Stoke goes on high alert.
 
Now it’s up to Pen and the quirky citizens of Chumley to stop a killer and protect the charming British town she’s begun to call home.

 Book #1

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

    Book #2

 Amazon

Barnes & Noble

 

Witches and Ghostly Wisps -- Oh My!

When I wrote The Diva Haunts the House, I immersed myself in all things spooky and ghostly. To that end, I visited a haunted sanatorium, St. Albans Psychiatric Hospital, in Radford, Virginia. My friend, Amy, who is always game for interesting adventures agreed to go with me.

My father worked in the radiology department at St. Albans when I was a child. I still have a vivid memory going there with him once. The front doors closed behind us and locked before the doors in front of us opened. That's a very eerie feeling. One that I didn't experience again until I visited someone in jail.

The hospital was abandoned some years ago. Originally built as a boys' school in 1892, it's a huge, sprawling building that sits high on a hill. From the other side of the river, it looks, or used to look, like an elegant mansion.

These days, it's downright spooky with broken windows and peeling paint. But remnants of former beauty remain -- the broad main staircase and huge moldings hint at better times for the building.

St. Albans has been the focus of a number of paranormal investigations, some of which you may have seen on television.  It even has its own Facebook page and Twitter page!  

This amazing video was taken at St. Albans by Grave Concerns Paranormal.  

Seven Hills Paranormal Society says St. Albans is the most active site they have investigated.  They specifically mention shadow people and unexplained noises.  Investigators from Seven Hills, as well as many other individuals, have reported that someone touched them when no one else was there.  Hearing voices and footsteps is not uncommon.  Assorted paranormal investigators have recorded eerie electronic voice phenomenon and have seen apparitions.

It's a little bit creepy to visit a haunted site to begin with and St. Albans certainly doesn't need any dressing up to make it scary. There are narrow stairways, and lock down wards, and plenty of stories about water that turns on and off, and people who felt someone touch them. Nurses are said to have spent their shifts sitting on the stairs at night, checking on patients only when necessary. It would be easy for someone unfamiliar with the building to get lost, which would be scary indeed.

The photo above was taken when the lights were turned off in the bowling alley. I thought for sure that if anything weird showed up in my photographs, it would be there. As you can see, there's nothing sinister.

So Amy and I drove home, sad to see the state of the old building. Neither of us heard anything odd, felt a cold entity, or were "touched" by a ghost. End of story, right?

A year later, I pulled out the photos that I took, looking for some to use. It was the first time I had viewed them full screen. Maybe we weren't as alone as we thought!

 

This is radiology. Do you see the wisp in the air at 11 o'clock?

This is the wisp enlarged. You can see that it is partly in front of the open cabinet door, so it's not a stain on the wall.

Fear not, the ghosts haven't made me forget a recipe! This frosting makes enough for witch cupcakes but if you are like my friend who thinks the cake is really only something to hold the frosting, then you might want to double the recipe.

Peanut Butter Surprise Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes 12 cupcakes)

1 cup flour
1/2 cup high quality unsweetened powdered chocolate like Pensey’s
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract




Reese's Peanut Butter Cups minis

Combine flour, powdered chocolate, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and blend well with a small whisk or a fork.

Cream butter with sugar. Add each egg and beat well. Add the flour mixture in small amounts, alternating with the milk. Beat in the vanilla.

Divide between cupcake papers, filling each about 3/4 full. Insert a Mini Reese's Peanut Butter Cup in the center of each cupcake and push down into the cupcake batter just a bit. Bake 15 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.



Peanut Butter Frosting

1 stick unsalted butter (8 tablespoons)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar



Allow butter to come to room temperature. Cream it with the peanut butter. Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and beat until desired consistency is reached.

Witch Cupcakes

These can be made with any cupcake. I added a little bit of turmeric to the frosting to give the witches a yellowish tint, but green would be very cute, too.

I have to say that these were fun to make and very easy. If you baked the cupcakes and made the frosting ahead of time, this would be a fun project for kids. I would just set bowls of the candies on the table and let them create. I bet they would come up with spectacular witches!

Tootsie Rolls
Oreos
Green Mini M&Ms
Red Jolly Ranchers
Peel and Strip Twizzlers
Mini chocolate chips

Twist an Oreo cookie apart. Scrape off the white middle and save. Cut each cookie in half.

Roll out a Tootsie Roll. If it sticks to your cutting board, just slide a knife underneath it to loosen. Cut a triangle for the top of the hat.

Place one half of an oreo cookie about 1/3 of the way down as the brim of the hat. Place the hat above it. I bent them a little bit to add character.

Add two green mini M&Ms as eyes.

 Mold two small pieces of leftover Tootsie Roll as eyebrows. If you place them close together and slant them a little, they look menacing.

 Cut off a tiny bit of the Oreo middle and mold it into a cone for the nose.

 Cut a thin piece off a red Jolly Rancher and mold it into a frown. Add strands of Twizzler for hair, and of course, a mini chocolate chip wart.

 When I was all through, I was disappointed by my grouchy group of witches.

So I turned their frowns upside down and lifted their eyebrows. Much better! These are exactly the same cupcakes.

Witches not right for your little goblins? The instructions for my Vampire Cupcakes are over at Cozy Mystery Book Reviews.

Ghost Cheese Cupcakes for Halloween

    Halloween...

It's creepy and it's kooky,

mysterious and spooky...

But isn't it fun?!

Colorful, decorative, with memories that make you shiver, laugh, and howl.

Did you run down the street when you went trick or treating?


 Did you play pranks or were you the polite person who said please and thank you after "Trick or treat"?

Did you love wearing masks? Did you shun them because you couldn't breathe?

Did you have the one friend who loved to jump from around corners and scare the spit out of you?

What was your favorite candy? What candy did you absolutely hate?

Did you ever perform in a Halloween play? Do you like books about ghouls, ghosts, witches, the paranormal? Do you like a regular book that has a slightly paranormal element?  Did you love the TV show Bewitched?

Have these questions made you wade through memories? If so, mission accomplished. I did, too. And I've been smiling throughout.

One of the other things I remember is having Halloween parties. Pizza, candy, orange-colored everything.  Cupcakes should always be part of a party, don't you think? And if you can make them "spooky" for Halloween, all the better.

I got these cute cupcake liners (up, to the left) at, of all places, Barnes and Noble bookstore. Aren't they adorable? There were enough for 2 dozen cupcakes. I made one dozen cupcakes and a 9 x 9 sheet cake, so I still have a dozen cupcake decorations for next year. Yay!

Note: This recipe will make 2 dozen cupcakes or 1 dozen cupcakes and one 9 x 9 cake. Perfect for kids and adults.

GHOST CHEESE CUPCAKES

GLUTEN-FREE

INGREDIENTS:

         1 1/2 cups sweet white rice flour

         3/4 cup tapioca flour

         1 teaspoon Kosher salt

         1 teaspoon baking soda

         3 teaspoons baking powder

         1 teaspoon xanthan gum

         4 eggs

         1 1/4 cups white sugar

         2/3 cup Best Foods mayonnaise (GF)

         1 cup milk

         2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Mix the sweet rice flour, tapioca flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and xanthan gum together and set aside.

Mix the eggs, sugar, and mayonnaise until fluffy. 

Add milk and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture. Mix well again.

Using soup ladle, pour batter into the cupcakes liners. 

Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 15-17 minutes. 

Cakes are done when they spring back when lightly touched 

or when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Put on wire rack to cool so they don’t get “moist” on the bottom.

Let cool completely then frost, if desired.

FROSTING:

4 oz. goat cheese  - room temperature

3 oz. cream cheese – room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar (more if necessary)

½ cup pure maple syrup

Mix all in a blender. 

May be saved in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.


NOTE: this recipe can be made "normally". Just replace the flour with regular flour and don't use the xanthan gum. And you can use real vanilla. 

 Boo!

We're having mini-CONTESTS some days this week. 

Leave a comment TODAY answering one of the questions above, 

and you'll be entered for today's contest. 
I'm giving away these perfect-for-fall coasters! 
Absorbent, made by "Counter Art."
Not scary at all.

The winner will be announced in a post right before midnight tonight, EDT.

* * * * * * * *

 

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