MADDIE DAY here, delighted to welcome Molly MacRae to the blog with a yummy recipe perfect for her Highland Bookshop Mysteries. I plan to make these treats tomorrow!
Oat Shortbread and a Giveaway
Shortbread is one of my favorite cookies any time of year, but it’s especially good around the holidays. This delicious version uses very little flour and lots of oats. It’s super easy to make and good plain or jazzed up with a dip of chocolate and a sprinkle of crystalized ginger.
Oat Shortbread
Preheat oven to 325º F
Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups rolled oats
⅓ cup dark brown sugar
2 T white flour
6 T unsalted butter, softened
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Optional topping:
¼ cup chocolate chips, melted
2 T. crystalized ginger, diced
(But, really, are chocolate and ginger ever
optional?)
Directions:
1.
Put all ingredients (except chocolate and ginger) in a bowl and mix
thoroughly
2.
Press
mixture into greased 8x8 pan.
3.
Bake
30 minutes
4.
Cool
10 minutes
5.
If
using optional topping, melt chocolate chips and dice ginger while shortbread
cools
6.
Cut
shortbread into squares, rectangles, or triangles
7.
Dip
one end of shortbread into melted chocolate (or paint it on with a small rubber
spatula)
8. Sprinkle diced ginger over still melty chocolate
Store in cookie tin. This recipe can easily be doubled and made in a 9x13 pan.
The women who run Yon Bonnie Books and Cakes and Tales tearoom in my Highland Bookshop Mysteries love shortbread, too. To celebrate Thistles and Thieves and Heather and Homicide, which both came out this year, I’m giving away a copy of either book – winner’s choice.
For your chance to win, tell me about your favorite cookie in a comment and remember
to leave your email address. I’ll choose a winner, at random, at noon on New
Year’s Eve. Sorry, U.S. entries only.
About Thistles and Thieves – book 3 in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries
The women of Yon
Bonnie Books are embroiled in the death of a local doctor, which sets off a
chain of other curious – and deadly – events. A story featuring bicycles, a
mysterious box of books, a regimental dagger, and the promise (or threat?) of
haggis. Available in hardback, e-book, and audio from your locally-owned independent
bookstore, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Or ask for it at
your local library.
About Heather and Homicide – book 4 in the Highland Bookshop Mysteries
If true-crime writer Heather Kilbride has
arrived to research a recent murder for her new book, why does she seem more
interested in a shadowy lawyer with no connection to that murder? A story
featuring unconventional research methods, miniature books, tempting dark
chocolate cake, and an ancient circle of standing stones. Available
in hardback, e-book, and audio from your locally-owned independent bookstores, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon. Or ask for it at your local library.
The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the bestselling, award-winning author of the Highland Bookshop Mysteries and the Haunted Yarn Shop. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine since 1990 and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Molly lives in Champaign, Illinois. You can visit her at www.mollymacrae.com.
