Season's Greetings!

Here's a video greeting from all of us in the kitchen...



...Happy Holidays!

EPIC CUPCAKE WAR: PART 2

For those of you coming late to the game, no worries
you can catch up to the first part of our epic cupcake
war by clicking here.
Basically, we're testing out a vegan chocolate-chocolate
cupcake vs. a non-vegan chocolate-chocolate cupcake
represented by Tom and Jerry party favors, of course.
All of this is brought to you because of an experiment
for my son's recent birthday.
Post a comment today and win yourself some
ridiculously fun cupcake swag -- because
you just can't have enough of swag, right? Okay, yeah,
I love the word swag -- for no apparent reason other
than it means free stuff and it's fun to say! See below
for said swag. Okay, I'll stop now.

The Vegan Cupcake: Starring Tom

Ingredients:

1 cup soy milk
1 tspn apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tspn vanilla extract
1/2 tspn almond extract
1 cup all purpose organic flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tspn baking soda
1/s tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together soy milk and vinegar in a large
bowl and set side until it curdles. Add the agave nectar, oil, vanilla
and almond extract to the soy milk mixture and beat until foamy.
In another bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda,
baking powder and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and beat until
no lumps remain.
Pour into cupcake liners until they are 3/4 of the way full. Bake 18-20
minutes until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Vegan Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup vegan margarine, softened
1tsp vanilla
1 cup agave nectar

Directions:

In a small bowl mix together, the cocoa powder,
margarine, agave nectar and vanilla. Beat until
it is smooth. Can't get easier than that!


And now the dramatic conclusion!

Here were my categories for judging:

Taste: Okay, the vegan cupcake
won hands down. It was rich, moist
and although at first I felt like the
soy milk was too strong, after my
third or fourth, it really tasted just
right to me.
Also, although I am a sugaraholic,
buttercream worshipper of the first
order, the vegan frosting was silky
smooth and really had a wonderful
chocolate taste that wasn't buried
underthree cups of powdered sugar.

Winner: Vegan

Cost: There is no question. The organic ingredients for
the vegan cupcake were more expensive. Organic flour is
several dollars more expensive than the non-organic and
agave nectar is more expensive than regular or powdered
sugar and believe me it can be tricky to find organic or
vegan margarine.

Winner: Non-vegan

Appearance: This is totally subjective, but I really
loved the rich, dark colors of the vegan cupcake.
They just yelled "chocolate-chocolate" to me.

Winner: Vegan

Overall Winner: Vegan!!!

So, there you have it! Leave a comment or a
criticism today and get yourself entered in
the contest for swag!!!



Winner to be announced next
Wednesday (29th) while I
pack for my Fatal Four Texas Tour!!!

THE TOUR: Maggie Sefton, Wendy Lyn Watson, Hannah Reed and Jenn McKinlay

September 30 - 7:00 PM Barnes & Noble La Frontera Village Round Rock, TX

October 1 - 6:30 PM Murder by the Book Houston TX

October 2 - 2:00 PM Barnes & Noble The Shops at La Cantera San Antonio, TX

October 3 - 2:00 PM Barnes & Noble University Village Fort Worth, TX

Back to School Biscuits!

Why is it when the calendar read
"summer break" the hooligans were
up before the sun and hard at play,

but now that the calendar reads
"back to school" they refuse to budge
from their beds and I've had to train
our dog Otto to jump on them and lick
their faces until they finally rise?

Thank goodness the puppy is persistent
or they'd never get up! Some days, they do
try to escape the dog and pull the covers
over their heads. Good thing I have

more than one trick up my sleeve.
Nothing says "get out of bed" more
effectively than fresh from the

oven apple cinnamon biscuits.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 wheat bran
2 tbspns sugar
1 tbspn baking powder
1/2 tspn cinnamon
1/4 tspn salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup finely chopped apples,
peeled and cored
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tspns orange juice

Directions:

Combine flour, bran, sugar, baking
powder,cinnamon and salt. Cut in
the butter. Make a well in the center
of dry mixture. Add the
apples and milk and stir until moist.
Turn dough onto a floured surface
and knead 10-12 strokes or until
smooth. Pat or roll dough to 1/2 inch
thickness. Cut dough with floured
biscuit cutter (I used a glass -- just
like Mom taught me). Place biscuits
on an ungreased cookie sheet and
bake in a 400 degree oven
for 10-12 minutes. Remove biscuits
and cool slightly.
Meanwhile, stir together powdered
sugar and orange juice for a simple
glaze. Drizzle over biscuits and serve
warm. Makes 12 (and it will get
those sleepy zombie children out of bed
and ready for school)!!!

www.jennmckinlay.com

Jenn McKinlay ~
Sprinkle With Murder ~ Buttercream Bump Off

also writing as:

Lucy Lawrence ~ Stuck on Murder ~ Cut to the CorpseDon't miss this sweet contest
at BookTrib.com.

This book lovers' site is giving away
10 autographed copies of Cleo's new
Coffeehouse Mystery, Roast Mortem.So click on over and enter. It's free!

If you'd like to know more about her
new culinary mystery, click here to read
Roast Mortem's prologue and first
chapter.

Vacation Potpourri

I know what you're thinking.
Vacation potpourri is the stench
that comes out of your suitcase from
the fifty pounds of dirty laundry
you have just paid twenty-five bucks
to have hauled across the country
in the belly of an airplane so that you can
spend your first three days back home
getting re-familiarized with your washing
machine.


Having done just that, I suggest another way to think of
vacation potpourri and in fact, I'm including a recipe.
I hope that wherever you roam you remember to
bring a piece of your vacation home, even if it's just in your
memories.















Step one: Take a long winding stroll where the butterflies doze.
















Step two: Snitch a petal or two from a fading rose.





Step three: Take several more walks.



















Step four: Gather unusual shells and rocks.

















Step five: Pick up some sticks to add to the mix.

















Step six: Put it all in a baggie and seal it tight.


Step seven: At home, open the
bag and inhale with delight.


I was lucky enough to spend a long
stretch in the wilds of Nova Scotia
this summer. No Internet access and
my cell phone couldn't get a signal.
Once I got over the twitches, it was
the calmest, most peaceful time
I've spent in a very long time and I
highly recommend it.

My bowl of vacation potpourri
is on my table and the mingled
scents of spruce with summer
roses grown by the sea gives
me great joy!



I want to thank Wendy Lyn
Watson for stepping in for me
with her fabulous recipes
and wonderful posts. And I also
want to thank my fellow MLK
gal pals for keeping the kitchen
stocked while I was gone.
Thanks all! Vacation was lovely,
but it's good to be home.



One of the best days of my vacation was listening to the rain
tapping on the roof while I curled up on the chesterfield and
read two great books (Riley's Delicious and Suspicious
and Avery's The Long Quiche Goodbye).
They were fabulous reads! And now that I'm home,
I've got Cleo's Roast Mortem on my nightstand.
Summer in the kitchen has been very productive!
Congratulations to one and all!

Uh oh, is that the phone ringing? Hang on -- I need to go sniff my bowl of
vacation potpourri.

Jenn McKinlay

SPRINKLE WITH MURDER (AVAILABLE NOW)
BUTTERCREAM BUMP OFF (AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER)

www.jennmckinlay.com

Shall we meringue?

Okay, so the dance is merengue and
the yummy food in meringue. Still, I
think we should merengue
while we meringue. Yes?
Cool, try not to sprain anything!

For months, I have had meringues on the brain.
I blame Cleo and Krista. Since they
posted their recipes -- click their names
to be wowed -- I have been thinking
non stop about meringues as my work
in progress will attest.
(I'll meringue a cupcake yet!!!)

So I was chit chatting about my
meringue obsession with my boss Marijo,
and she told me about a pie her mother
makes that I simply had to try. Thankfully,
she was kind enough to share the recipe
(thanks, Marijo and Mom)!

Meringue Pie

4 egg whites
1 tsp vinegar
1 cup sugar

Make the meringue crust the day before
you need the pie. Beat egg whites and vinegar,
gradually adding the sugar. When peaks stiffly
form, put into a pie pan that is well greased
and floured. Fill it, making sure it is level.
Bake 45 min at 300 degrees. Take it out and
put it away for one day (I put mine in the
microwave since we weren't using it).

Filling:

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream
3 tbspns sugar
1 tspn vanilla

Whip the cream adding sugar and
vanilla. Fill in the meringue crust,
which should have fallen and
conformed to the pie dish.
Garnish with toasted almonds
(I used cinnamon dusted pecan chips
because that's what I had).





OMG! This was awesome!
A perfectly light and fluffy summer
dessert.


Now, I have some news.
First, the happy news:
SPRINKLE WITH MURDER
has been picked up by a publisher
in Japan. This is very exciting for me.
I can not wait to see what the
translation will look like!
And now the sad (for me) news. I will be taking the
month of July off from Mystery Lover's Kitchen,
so that I can focus on meeting several impending
deadlines. I will miss you all very much, but here's the
great news for you: Wendy Lyn Watson has graciously
agreed to fill in for me while I'm away! I am delighted.
Wendy is a fabulous writer and says she has loads of
recipes to share. Yay! Thanks, Wendy, for stepping
in as the Wednesday gal. I know you'll have a lovely
time in the kitchen!

Happy eating and reading, everyone. I'll see you in a month!!!
Jenn

And finally, do not forget that the much anticipated releases of
LONG QUICHE GOODBYE and DELICIOUS AND SUSPICIOUS
are coming out NEXT WEEK!!! Yippee! And if you haven't picked
up GRACE UNDER PRESSURE, do so now. It's fabulous!

Oh, and the clock is ticking if you want to enter Avery's contest:

Avery Aames is celebrating the upcoming release of The Long Quiche Goodbye.

Avery's "You Be The Sleuth" Contest!

Avery’s first book in A Cheese Shop Mystery series, The Long Quiche Goodbye, debuts July 6. To celebrate its release, Avery is running a contest from June 9 to July 6! You be the sleuth! Track down the recipe on Avery's website that includes eggs, Edam, and white pepper. Enter your answer by clicking on this link: CONTEST ENTRY FORM.

One of you will win a $25 gift certificate at your favorite bookstore. Two of you will win signed copies of The Long Quiche Goodbye. Three of you will win a Long Quiche Goodbye magnet. You can ask friends for help. Spread the word and share the fun. And while you're there, consider pre-ordering a book on Avery's booksellers page.

Here is the link to Avery’s website to help get you started.

There, now I'm done...really!

Chocolate drizzled pineapple-coconut bars

The ever present smell of tropical

sunblock in the summer gives me a

hankering for some treats, specifically

of the pineapple-coconut kind.

This recipe was given to me by a friend

(thanks, Kelly) and she warned me to put

aside a few of the cookies for myself

after they were made because they

wouldn't last. She was not kidding.

32 cookies gone in 24 hours, I swear!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup all-purpose flour

Filling:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup flaked coconut
1/4 cup well-drained crushed pineapple
3/4 cup toasted chopped macadamia nuts
Six squares semi-sweet baker’s chocolate

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.Blend crust ingredients together well; pat into a greased 9-inch square or 10 x 7-inch oblong baking pan. Bake crust for 10 minutes, until just barely browned; set aside.
Sift 1/4 cup flour with baking powder and salt. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with brown sugar; stir in flour mixture then coconut, pineapple, and toasted nuts. Spread topping mixture over the baked crust; bake 25 to 30 minutes, until set. Cut into bars while warm. Makes about 32 bars.
Once the bars have cooled, melt the chocolate squares in a double boiler or microwave. Stir with a fork and use the fork to drizzle the chocolate over the cookies. Chocolate will harden once cooled.

Enjoy! WWW.JENNMCKINLAY.COM

Jenn

SPRINKLE WITH MURDER***CUT TO THE CORPSE***STUCK ON MURDER

And now to celebrate the upcoming release of THE LONG QUICHE GOODBYE,
Avery is hosting our next exciting contest!

Avery's "You Be The Sleuth" Contest!

Avery’s first book in A Cheese Shop Mystery series, The Long Quiche Goodbye, debuts July 6. To celebrate its release, Avery is running a contest from June 9 to July 6! You be the sleuth! Track down the recipe on Avery's website that includes eggs, Edam, and white pepper. Enter your answer by clicking on this link: CONTEST ENTRY FORM.

One of you will win a $25 gift certificate at your favorite bookstore. Two of you will win signed copies of The Long Quiche Goodbye. Three of you will win a Long Quiche Goodbye magnet. You can ask friends for help. Spread the word and share the fun. And while you're there, consider pre-ordering a book on Avery's booksellers page.

Here is the link to Avery’s website to help get you started.

Welcome Isabel Sharpe!

Greetings Mystery Kitchen ladies and readers! I’m very pleased to be here. This is such a fun site, and since reading, writing and food are my three greatest non-human loves, I feel right at home.

I was invited to contribute because I have a book out this month from Avon/HarperCollins. No, it’s not a mystery, but it has mysterious elements in a story from the main character’s childhood, told by her mother, of a beautiful woman named Gillian who appears briefly in a small village in 1920s Shetland, causes a ruckus and disappears soon after. Did she really exist? Maybe, maybe not, but her influence is very real for a group of modern-day women in a knitting group in Comfort, North Carolina, called Purls Before Wine, who learn to knit lace the way it was done on the Shetland Islands back when Gillian supposedly lived.

Maybe you’ve heard of the traditional Shetland wedding shawl, so lacy and delicate it could be drawn through a wedding ring? The talent of these turn-of-the-century (you know, the real century, not this silly baby new one) women was astounding, especially given the difficult lives they led, two hundred miles from Norway and two hundred miles from the Scottish mainland, on treeless islands at the mercy of storms and the sea.

Now I love knitting, so I tried to knit a fairly simple lace scarf. I got about an inch into it before I realized I was not a patient enough person. And I don’t have a husband or son at sea every day risking his life fishing from a tiny sailboat, nor sheep and chickens and a vegetable garden to tend to, a peat fire to keep going, meat and fish to dry and store, baking and laundry and oh my goodness. Nor do I spin my own yarn from wool plucked by hand. Such tough lives and they created such astounding beauty out of their own traditions and imaginations.

Most of the book takes place in modern-day North Carolina, but the Shetland research really fascinated me. So when it came to sharing a recipe with you all, I thought why not a traditional Shetland recipe? Like krappin: fish heads stuffed with a mixture of fish liver and oatmeal!

Your mouth is watering, isn’t it. I know! Mine too! Fish liverilicious!

I hope you won’t be too disappointed, but in the end I decided on a scone recipe I tried recently which is easy and really good. It’s from Epicurious, so I need to honor their copyright policy and give a link rather than recopy the recipe, but I hope you will understand. The scones are really worth trying. Cranberry Tangerine Scones

Enjoy and thanks so much for having me!

I encourage you to return the visit at: www.isabelsharpe.com

Cheers,

Isabel

Thanks so much for joining us, Isabel.

This is such a treat for me because not only

am I a huge fan of your work, but I'm a

knitter, too.

I just got my copy of Knit in Comfort and

was captivated by the very first page.

EMERGENCY! (Or no chocolate in the house)!

It doesn't happen often that
I am caught unaware that my
stash of chocolate has hit critical and
I am abruptly rendered...gulp...
chocolateless.

But it did happen the other day
and it was a pitiful state, truly.
Luckily, a little creative panic
saved the day.

Scouring the pantry, I found some unsweetenend
cocoa powder and I remembered a cookie that my
mother used to make when I was a kid that I loved.
It's a chocolate cookie rolled in confectioner's sugar
that flattens and cracks when it's baked into crunchy
on the outside, chewy on the inside chocolatey
goodness! And just like that -- ka-ching we were on
our way to chocolate cookies!

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetenend cocoa powder
1 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
1/8 tspn black pepper
1/2 cup powdered sugar


Directions:

Beat brown sugar and oil in medium bowl with
electric mixer. Mix in sour cream, egg and vanilla
and set aside. Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt
and pepper in another bowl. Add flour mixture to
brown sugar mixture, mix well.
Refrigerate dough until firm (3-4 hrs). It was a
chocolate emergency, so I froze it for half an hour
and it worked out just fine. Preheat oven to 350. Pour
powdered sugar into a bowl. Roll dough into one inch
balls, roll balls in powdered sugar. Bake on ungreased
cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes. Try to wait until they're
cool enough to eat! I barely made it.

ENJOY!
Jenn

http://www.jennmckinlay.com/

SPRINKLE WITH MURDER
Available now!

CUT TO THE CORPSE
Lucy Lawrence
Available Now!



Julie's GRACE UNDER PRESSURE just came out yesterday!
Woo hoo, Julie! Be sure to pick up a copy! It got a starred review
from Publisher's Weekly and it's sure to be a hit!

Waffle you waiting for?

My favorite meal of the day is without a doubt:
BREAKFAST.
I am pretty much nonfunctional if I don't have
something besides coffee (which is also critical to my
good mental health) within a half hour of assuming a
vertical position.

And what is not to love about breakfast food?
Scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes, biscuits, fruit cups, yogurt,
oatmeal, croissants, coffee, tea, juice of any type, sausages...need
I continue? I love breakfast! So much so that we frequently have it
for dinner!

Now one of my absolute favorite foods for breakfast is waffles!
Big fluffy, lemon zested waffles sprinkled with powdered sugar
that melt in your mouth as soon as they touch you tongue.
I could eat a half dozen -- easily. Fortunately, the dudes love
them, too, so it is highly unlikely that I will ever get the opportunity
to eat a half dozen all by myself.

Here is my waffle recipe inspired by the beignets (ben-YAY) at the
Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, a place that should be on
everyone's bucket list in my opinion. If you have not had one of
their beignets (it's essentially a fritter) covered in powered sugar,
you must definitely go -- right now -- and make sure you have a
steaming cup of their coffee to go with it.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 flour
1 tblspn baking powder
1/2 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn salt
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups milk
1/2 cup cooking oil
1 tspn lemon zest
1/2 tspn vanilla
2 egg whites




Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, soda
and salt. Make a well in the center. In another bowl, mix together
egg yolks, milk, oil, lemon zest, and vanilla. Pour into dry ingredients
and mix until moist but still lumpy. In a small bowl beat the egg whites
until stiff peaks form. Fold into the waffle batter, do not over mix.
Pour onto a preheated and greased waffle iron. Cook according to
the manufacturer's directions. I have a VillaWare Belgian waffle iron
with a handy light that goes on and off to tell me when they're done.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve! Delicious! Now I am not the
only waffle lover at the kitchen, so be sure to check out Krista's prior
post on the scrumptious Waffles Banana Foster!

Enjoy!
Jenn

www.jennmckinlay.com

SPRINKLE WITH MURDER
Jenn McKinlay

aka Lucy Lawrence
CUT TO THE CORPSE

Have you entered Julie's May Contest?

Julie’s first book in the Manor of Murder Mystery series, Grace Under Pressure (starred review in Publishers Weekly!), debuts June 1st! To help launch the book and to celebrate its release, she's running a very special contest: Pre-order Grace Under Pressure any time before May 31, 2010, and you're eligible to win a $25 gift certificate from Mystery Lovers Bookshop! (and if you've already pre-ordered, you just need to let Julie know!) No receipts required. Just email Julie at JulieHyzy@gmail.com with the date that you pre-ordered and the name of the bookstore you ordered it from, and your name goes in! (Please put "CONTEST" in the subject header. Thanks!)

Here are a few helpful links to get you started:

Independent Bookstore List: here

- Mystery Lovers Bookshop (free shipping on book orders over $10!) - Centuries & Sleuths (Julie's local mystery bookstore)

-Barnes & Noble

- Amazon.com

And while we're here...

Avery is offering FREE BOOKMARKS on her website. Click this FREE BOOKMARK link to send her your information.

Her "fan club" contest just ended on May 15 (winner to be announced on the website and in the newsletter soon). Learn about upcoming contests on the Avery Aames website and check out the "fun stuff."

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Felicidades!

First a little history: The holiday of
Cinco De Mayo, The 5th Of May,
commemorates the victory of the
Mexican militia over the French army
at The Battle Of Puebla in 1862. It is
primarily a regional holiday celebrated
in the Mexican city of Puebla
and throughout the state of Puebla, with
some limited recognition in other parts of
Mexico, and especially in U.S. cities with
a significant Mexican population.
It is not Mexico's Independence Day,
which is actually September 16.
This year is especially important as Mexico will be celebrating its bicentennial!

And now onto the food! First off, we have the Hub's wonderful
tequila-lime salsa. If you missed it last time, it's worth checking
out. I am a salsa snob, and I have to say the Hub's is the best
I've ever tasted! Also, we have my very own enchilada casserole.
This is a fabulous dish to whip together using chicken, turkey or
beef. It's easy and delicious!

Another recipe I like to use because of its versatility is one for
a quick oven baked quesadilla. It can be made with chicken or
beef, I tend to use beef, and my favorite part of making it is
shopping for the ingredients. My sons and I like to shop at the
Ranch Market in Phoenix. It's a wonderful market that always
makes me feel as if I'm in Mexico (but the drive is much shorter).
The dudes and I spend a lot of time in the tortilleria,
watching the tortillas being made and then it's on to the
meat counter for our carne asada. I enjoy so much about the
Hispanic culture in the Southwest. The art and history of our
neighbors to the south is truly fascinating. And the food, well,
I am pretty sure I can never leave the Valley of the Sun, because I
simply can not give up Mexican food. I am addicted.

Oven Baked Quesadillas

Ingredients:

2 lbs carne asada, broiled and diced
4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
8 whole wheat tortillas
pico de gallo
guacamole
sour cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put a tortilla flat on a baking sheet.
Layer on cheddar cheese and
carne asada, fold tortilla over.
Repeat three more times until
you have four folded tortillas.
Bake for 6-8 minutes until the
quesadillas are heated through
and crunchy on the outside.
Garnish with pico de gallo, sour
cream and guacamole
as desired. Makes 8.

FELICIDADES!
Jenn


And now our contest news...

Congratulations to Stacy from Louisville!
You've won Riley's Williams-Sonoma’s Ultimate
Grilling Rub Collection!!!

Here's your chance to enter Julie's May Contest!

Julie’s first book in the Manor of Murder Mystery series, Grace Under Pressure, debuts June 1st! To help launch the book and to celebrate its release, she's running a very special contest: Pre-order Grace Under Pressure any time before May 31, 2010, and you're eligible to win a $25 gift certificate from Mystery Lovers Bookshop! (and if you've already pre-ordered, you just need to let Julie know!) No receipts required. Just email Julie at JulieHyzy@gmail.com with the date that you pre-ordered and the name of the bookstore you ordered it from, and your name goes in! (Please put "CONTEST" in the subject header. Thanks!)

Here are a few helpful links to get you started: Mystery Lovers Bookshop (free shipping on book orders over $10!) - The Poisoned Pen (my local mystery bookstore) - Barnes & Noble - Amazon.com

Guest Blogger: Maddy Hunter!

Greetings, everyone!

I’m Maddy Hunter, and to my great delight,
I’ve just had the dust blown off my
Passport to Peril travel mysteries.
The series was cancelled in 2007 after book
six (NORWAY TO HIDE) was published,
but last January, Midnight Ink Books offered
me a two book contract (yeah!!!) to continue
the adventures of tour escort Emily and her
zany band of globetrotting seniors from Iowa,
so look for DEAD DUTCH in the winter of 2012.




My characters have already packed their bags and are presently in
Amsterdam, where they’re about to wander into the red light district
after feasting on some strange tasting brownies in a local coffee house.
Unfortunately, they’ve forgotten Emily’s warning that a Dutch brownie
is not the same as your garden variety Duncan Hines brownie.
But hey, they were hungry!


As a child, I never seemed to get hungry, but when I was,
I liked to eat cream cheese and olive sandwiches, wagon wheel
macaroni with tomatoes, and fish sticks drenched with lemon juice.
Since I was small and scrawny, my mom was always trying to fatten
me up with sweets, but much to her dismay, I preferred my
grandfather’s Italian salad to chocolate cake and hated ice cream
because it felt too cold in my mouth.


When I began traveling to other countries in search of unusual places
to whack fictional characters, I vowed to expand my palate. So while
Emily’s seniors sightsee, fall over dead bodies, and run each other down
in their quest to be first into the dining room, *I* have been discovering
new taste sensations. Though the seniors’ idea of the perfect meal is an
Iowa chop, they have sampled more exotic fare vicariously through me:
kangaroo in Australia (tasted like beef), reindeer in Lapland (tasted like
beef), black pudding in Ireland (tasted like… I don’t want to talk about it),
cornflakes in Switzerland (tasted like cornflakes), boar in Italy (tasted like
kangaroo), Hawaiian pizza in Norway (?????), and cinnamon ice cream in
Holland (ice cream is still too cold for my mouth), but the cinnamon part
allows me segue into my recipe.


My husband is the real cook in our family. I prepare meals; he actually
cooks. On Easter morning this year he surprised me with warm cinnamon
rolls that were to die for. The only thing that could have made them better
is if he’d been able to suck out all the calories.



So I give you Ring Pan Sweet Rolls. Enjoy!
Warning: These rolls are extremely dangerous. If they’re in your
house, you will eat them. So if you want to avoid a killer carbohydrate
high, give half of them to your next door neighbor. Your waistline will
love you for it, and your neighbor might offer to cut your grass while
you’re traipsing around Scotland this summer, searching for the
Loch Ness monster, and sampling haggis.


Yup, haggis. The pudding that’s boiled in the stomach of a sheep.
I suspect I may soon be altering my opinion of ice cream.


Please check out my “in desperate need of updating” website at http://www.maddyhunter.com/, and come join me on Facebook for
the latest scoop on the new book.

RING PAN SWEET ROLLS


Rhodes Frozen Dinner Rolls (36/pkg)
Thaw 18 rolls on a cookie sheet and cut into
thirds or quarters before they start to rise.
Make *Syrup* (See Below). Place small
amount in bottom of well-greased bundt pan.
Layer rolls and drizzle with syrup.
Sit covered overnight for rolls to rise.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes
on lower rack.
Stand for 10 minutes.
Invert on cookie sheet and remove from
bundt pan.

*SYRUP*
½ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 Tablespoon milk
Heat syrup and blend together




"A debut with more than a few chuckles... Sit back in your
comfy chair and enjoy the madcap adventures of Emily Andrew
who joins her grandmother and other senior citizens on a
tour of Switzerland replete with cuckoo clocks, lost luggage,
and a few stiffs... One to cheer the gloomy winter days."
Mystery Lovers Bookshop (Alpine For You)




Thanks for joining us today, Maddy! I can't wait to read DEAD DUTCH.
It sounds hilarious!!! And I love this roll recipe -- I'm going to try it today!

New April Contest!!!!

The first book in the Memphis Barbeque series, Delicious and Suspicious, will be released July 6. To celebrate its upcoming release, I’m throwing a giveaway! :)Are you interested in winning Williams-Sonoma’s Ultimate Grilling Rub Collection? It’s easy to enter! Just send an email to MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com with
“Contest” in the subject line.
Really, really want to up your chances?You’ll get one extra entry if you follow us on Twitter, one extra if you subscribe to our posts (in the right hand sidebar under “Subscribe”), and one extra for becoming a follower (by clicking the “follow” button in the right hand column under our book covers and blog roll.) Just send us an extra email at MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com and let us know what you’ve signed up for. If you’re already a follower or subscriber, let us know that, too!

Blooming Tea! (Mother's Day Idea)

First, CONGRATS to Julie!!! Grace Under Pressure received a
*starred* review from Publishers Weekly! Check it out!!!

And now...
After eight months of weekly
blogging, I think it's safe to say
that I like the unexpected (tomato
soup cake, anyone?) the unusual
(pumpkin bread baked in a
coffee can) and the odd (frying up
the Hub's pet fish for dinner --
okay, I didn't do it, but I can dream,
can't I?)




So, it should come as no surprise that my latest discovery is again
of the variety of the unexpected and unusual (at least it was
for me). My neighbors and I pet sit for one another when we
travel. And lucky for me we do, because they always bring
back the coolest stuff (thanks, neighbors). Their last trip
was to China and this time they brought back flowering tea.
It is fabulous!

From a dried up ball of tea leaves, beautiful flowers unfold as
the tea steeps. It's the sort of thing that forces you to sit down,
relax, watch the flower open and be still for a minute or two or
ten.

Now Mother's Day is Sunday, May 9th. And if you're like me,
this holiday is a real head scratcher because both my mother
and my mother-in-law have pretty much everything that they
need or want. But I still want to give them something nice that
will make them feel special and let them know how much
I appreciate them -- especially as I'm a mother now myself and
have a WHOLE new appreciation for this motherhood thing --
but I don't want to clutter up their life. Enter the flowering tea!




Isn't that something?
And the tea is delicious,
too. It's a mild green tea
(healthy) and is flavored
with the flower it becomes
-- amaranth, chrysanthemum,
lily or jasmine -- to name a
few. The flowers are
sewn into the tea leaves
with cotton thread and as
the tea ball is immersed in
the hot water it slowly blooms.

In my research, I read that
these come from the Yunnan
province in China, but no one
is clear as to whether this is
a new art form in tea or
whether it is centuries old.

To see more on these teas, I found several excellent sources,
but this video is the best I've found. Enjoy! Oh, and if you want to
give your mom a copy of one of our books for Mother's Day,
well, that would be nice, too!

Have a lovely day!
And make sure you take a moment or two to just be...

Jenn

www.jennmckinlay.com

Jenn McKinlay
SPRINKLE WITH MURDER
Available Now

aka Lucy Lawrence
CUT TO THE CORPSE
Available Now

Riley's April Contest

The first book in the Memphis Barbeque series, Delicious and Suspicious, will be released July 6. To celebrate its upcoming release, Riley is throwing a giveaway! :) Are you interested in winning Williams-Sonoma’s Ultimate Grilling Rub Collection? It’s easy enter! Just send an email to MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com with “Contest” in the subject line.
Really, really want to up your chances? You’ll get one extra entry if you follow us on Twitter, one extra if you subscribe to our posts (in the right hand sidebar under “Subscribe”), and one extra for becoming a follower (by clicking the “follow” button in the right hand column under our book covers and blog roll.) Just send us an extra email at MysteryLoversKitchen@gmail.com and let us know what you’ve signed up for. If you’re already a follower or subscriber, let us know that, too!

DON'T FORGET! Avery's starting a fan club. Sign up to receive all the latest announcements and see how you can enter her contest to win a $25 Williams Sonoma gift certificate by clicking HERE.