Vegan Strawberry-Rose Truffles #recipe and #giveaway Kim Davis

 

KIM DAVIS:  Even though this is posting the day after Mothers' Day, I wanted to wish everyone a happy Mothers' Day, no matter if your children are human or of the fur-or-feather variety! 

I set out to make an edible gift for a dear friend of mine who recently turned 88, and landed on Strawberry-Rose Truffles. The color is such a pretty shade, plus the delicate flavor and fragrance of the rose water complements the tart-sweet flavor of the strawberries. I knew it would be something she would enjoy. However, a few years ago, her doctor put her on a dairy-free and gluten-free diet, and having never needed to eat differently, she struggled to accept the changes. She misses the tempting sweets and desserts, so I wanted to give her something to satisfy her sweet tooth. It took me a few tries to figure out how to make a vegan truffle (the crushed strawberries add a bit of crispy bite to the candy) and I finally landed on the recipe below. My husband, who must also eat dairy-free, was more than happy to sample and give feedback on the truffles and by the third round, pronounced these really good and he'd be happy for me to make more for him... I suppose I'll be making a batch for Father's Day 😀

Be sure to scroll all the way down to find out how you can win a copy of 
Essentials of Murder!

 

Vegan Strawberry-Rose Truffles

 
Ingredients
 
9 ounces vegan white chocolate chips
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
4 teaspoons rose water
1.5 ounces freeze-dried strawberries
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

 

Instructions

Crush the strawberries using a food processor, blender, or mortar and pestle into a fine powder. There will be some small pieces which is fine. It adds texture to the finished candy. Set aside.

Whisk the coconut oil and rose water together until emulsified. Don’t skip this step, otherwise the white chocolate may seize and become grainy and overly stiff. 

Add the white chocolate to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave on 60% power in 20-second intervals. Stir in between each cycle and heat just until barely melted. Do not overheat!

Gently stir in the ground strawberries and coconut oil mixture. Once completely combined, cover with plastic wrap, making sure the entire surface of the white chocolate is covered.

Allow to come to room temperature, then place in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, then stir. Refrigerate for an additional 5 minutes if the mixture is too soft to roll into balls.

The mixture firms up quickly. If too firm, break into pieces and heat in the microwave at 60% power in 10-second increments until it can easily be scooped.

Using a small tablespoon-sized scoop, form the truffle mixture into balls. Refrigerate for 5 minutes, then roll each ball in confectioners’ sugar until coated.

Serve truffles at room temperature.

Note

If you don’t have to eat vegan, you can make this using regular white chocolate (chips or bars chopped into small pieces).

💕 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* Essentials of Death

 

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. 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: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Bluesky, Bookbub, Goodreads, TikTok, and website

 

G I V E A W A Y   T I M E !!!

I'm giving away a print copy of Essentials of Murder!

Comment below and include your email (yourname at yourserver dot com) for a chance to win a copy of Essentials of Murder. (Contest ends 11:59pm on Wednesday, May 13, 2026 and is limited to US residents only.)

Readers, do you make edible gifts for friends or family? If so, what is your favorite edible gift to give?

🎁

Instant Pot Risotto with Gruyère, Ham, and Peas #recipe and #giveaway from #KimDavis

KIM DAVIS:  Needing to eat gluten-free while dining out at a restaurant, if available, I always gravitate toward ordering risotto. There's something so comforting about the dish, and even though it's basically rice, cheese, and some add-ins, the final product seems elevated somehow. I've made risotto a few times the "old-fashioned" way, laboriously stirring the arborio rice in a pot on the stovetop, slowly adding ladles of hot broth until the creamy starch is released from the rice and it's cooked through. Time-consuming and labor-intensive, I rarely made the dish. Then I heard about using an Instant Pot for risotto, and while skeptical, decided to give it a try. The results were just as good as trying to cook it stovetop, and instead of waiting an hour for dinner to get on the table, this takes maybe 20 minutes to make. Now when I'm in a hurry to fix a quick dinner, I often make Instant Pot risotto. Plus, it's versatile when it comes to the add-ins: any precooked protein and veggies can be used. I've made mushroom risotto, shrimp and asparagus risotto, and chicken and broccoli risotto, and they've all been equally delicious! 

Be sure to scroll all the way down to find out how you can win one of my audiobooks! 

Instant Pot Risotto with Gruyère, Ham, and Peas

 
Ingredients
 
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1-1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
4 cups (1 quart) low sodium chicken broth, plus more if needed
2 cups cooked ham, diced
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup Gruyère, shredded
Salt and pepper to taste

 
Instructions
 
In the base pot of the Instant Pot, add the olive oil, diced onion, and sea salt. Turn the sauté function on and cook until the onions are translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir frequently and don’t allow the onions to brown.

Stir in the arborio rice, making sure the onion and oil mixture thoroughly coats the rice.

Carefully stir in the white wine, and cook until the wine is mostly absorbed by the rice, about 1 minute.

Stir in the chicken broth, scraping the bottom of the pot to keep rice from sticking. 

Switch the sauté function to the pressure cook mode. Lock the Instant Pot lid into place and set the cook time for 5 minutes.

Once the risotto has cooked for 5 minutes, turn off the heat and quick-release the pressure. Use caution as the steam can cause severe burns. 

My granddaughter bought this dragon to fit over the release button on my Instant Pot so that the steam shoots out of its mouth! 

Once the pressure has released, carefully remove the lid, titling it away from you to allow any residual steam to escape. The mixture should look soupy.

Switch the Instant Pot back to the sauté function. Vigorously stirring every 30 seconds or so, cook the rice for 2 minutes uncovered. Add in the 2 cups of diced ham and stir to combine. Continue cooking and stirring for another 2 to 3 minutes, until the risotto is tender but still chewy. It’s okay if the mixture still seems slightly runny. It will thicken with the addition of the remaining ingredients and as it cools. If the mixture becomes overly dry before the rice is cooked through, add in an additional 2 to 4 tablespoons of chicken broth.

Turn Instant Pot off and stir in the Parmesan and Gruyère. 

Once the cheese has melted into the risotto, fold in the peas. Season to taste with freshly ground pepper and salt and serve immediately.

Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. The risotto can easily be reheated in the microwave. If it appears too thick after reheating, add in a bit of chicken broth to thin to desired consistency.

Note

This recipe is quite versatile. You can substitute any pre-cooked protein for the ham, and swap the peas out for any pre-cooked vegetable...just use your imagination and let your taste buds guide you.

💕 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. 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: Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Bluesky, Bookbub, Goodreads, TikTok, and website

 

G I V E A W A Y   T I M E !!!

I'm giving away one audiobook, winner's choice, from my Cupcake Catering Mysteries!

Comment below and include your email (yourname at yourserver dot com) for a chance to win your choice of one of the Cupcake Catering Mystery audiobooks. (Contest ends 11:59pm on Wednesday, April 15, 2026 and is open worldwide.)

Readers, do you have a particular quick and easy dish that you frequently make?

 

 

New Year's Eve Banana Creme Pie Puffs - Libby's Final Post @LibbyKlein

 

Happy New Year's Eve!

2025 is over! Can you believe it? Time just goes faster and faster with every passing year. It seems like I've been on the Mystery Lovers' Kitchen blog forever, but it's only been a couple of years. I've loved my time in the kitchen with these amazing authors and it pains me to have to go. But life has gotten very busy and there just isn't as much time to write my Layla Virtue Mysteries as I need to create the depth of story that Layla deserves. I will miss you all commenting on my recipes. I hope you try to make some of them and let me know how they turn out for you.

I'll be finishing up the last few chapters in book 3 here in the next few weeks. The working title is currently When the Levee Breaks. Meanwhile, Gimme Shelter releases in April when the trade paperback of Vice and Virtue comes out. 

 

And you may or may not be aware that Poppy is getting a refresh with new covers! 

These are the ones I've seen so far.

   

  

I’ll no longer be on the blog every other Wednesday, but you have an amazing new cook coming to the kitchen soon! In the meantime, feel free to sign up here for my hardly-ever-sent newsletter to be able to get all my news and nonsense right after I get it. It's the best way to stay in touch because I don't control Facebook or Instagram and we can't keep up with their algorithm changes. As a farewell, here is one of my all time best gluten free recipes that will be sure to amaze family and friends who won't believe there is no gluten.

Libby's Banana Cream Pie Puffs

Yield: 12 large or 24 small cream puffs

 Choux Paste (sounds like Shoe paste) – a most intimidating sounding recipe - is actually very easy. I recommend using a stand mixer for incorporating the eggs.

 

INGREDIENTS:

1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter

1 cup water

Hefty pinch salt

1 cup gluten-free flour blend that has xanthan gum already added

*if your gluten-free flour blend does NOT have Xanthan gum already added (like Bob’s Red Mill does not) add ½ teaspoon xanthan gum to the recipe

4 eggs

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

 INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup cornstarch

Heavy pinch salt

1 ½ cups whole milk – Not skim milk. 

    If you’re making pastry with skim milk you don’t deserve cream puffs.

6 egg yolks

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract - or scrape one vanilla bean

Later:

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

2 Ripe Bananas

 

DIRECTIONS:

 Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a heavy saucepan, add 1 stick of butter and 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. 

When the butter is melted, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour all at once, mixing quickly (the mixture will form a ball). Let it stand for a couple of minutes to cool a few degrees.

Transfer to the bowl of your stand mixer (or keep beating it to death with a wooden spoon like I show here) and add the eggs to the flour mixture, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

Transfer a large scoop of dough into your fitted pastry bag. Pipe rounds of dough for 12 large or 24 small puffs. Dip your fingertips into cold water and smooth the mounds of dough into pretty balls. They will puff us as they bake but they won’t smooth out like dinner rolls.

Bake the domes for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Poke a hole in the side of each one with a knife and put them back in the oven for 2 minutes. Take them out and let them cool.

Make the pastry cream filling.

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring the sugar, milk, cornstarch, and salt to a simmer. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks.

Bring the mixture in the saucepan to a boil while stirring continuously. Continue to simmer until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and gradually whisk hot milk into the egg-yolk mixture a little at a time to bring up the temperature of the yolks. Add everything back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat while whisking continuously until the custard is so thick it coats a spoon, like soft pudding. 

Now cook it until it boils for one minute. It will be very thick even while hot. Remove from heat and stir in 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract or the vanilla beans. Transfer the custard to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap down to the surface of the custard. Chill until the custard is completely cold. The plastic wrap won't even cling to the custard it's so thick.

In a separate bowl, beat the 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.

With a rubber spatula, fold a little of the whipped cream into the custard to loosen it up. 

Then fold all the custard into the whipped cream. Chill again until thick and stiff.

Slice your puffs in half like hamburger buns. and dollop pastry cream in the middle and top with ripe banana slices. Cover with a little more pastry cream and the top half of the cream puff bun. Finish with a dusting of powdered sugar.