Crispy Prosciutto and Parm Puffs @MaddieDayAuthor #Appetizer #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, still recovering from Thanksgiving dinner. That said, the holiday was late this year, which means Hannukah and Christmas celebrations will begin shortly. And if you need a light and yummy appetizer to bring to a holiday party, I have you covered.

Crispy Prosciutto and Parmesan Puffs

Adapted from Ali Slagle's recipe in NYT Cooking

Ingredients

1 8- to 10-ounce sheet puff pastry, thawed but still cold

1 egg, beaten with a pinch of salt

A few fresh rosemary sprigs

Black pepper

6 thin slices prosciutto

Wedge of Parmesan, for shaving

Directions

Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Cut two pieces of parchment paper each the size of a sheet pan, then transfer one to a work surface and one to a sheet pan. 

On the parchment-lined sheet pan, arrange the slices of prosciutto in a single layer, ripping as needed to fit. 

Unroll the puff pastry on top of the parchment on the work surface. Roll out to a 12-inch square. Cut the puff pastry into 3-inch squares.

Cut each square diagonally to create two triangles. Transfer the parchment with the pastry to a sheet pan. Spread the pastries out on the parchment. Brush with the beaten egg. 

Pluck some of the leaves from the rosemary and place three or four leaves on each triangle. Brush with more egg to adhere, then sprinkle generously with black pepper.

Bake the puff pastry on the upper rack and the prosciutto on the bottom rack until the puff pastry tops and bottoms are golden and the prosciutto is wrinkled and crisp, 10 to 13 minutes. Let pastries cool on a wire rack. 

Lay a sheet of paper towels on another wire rack and transfer the crispy prosciutto to cool.

In a shallow bowl, arrange a layer of pastries. Top with a few pieces of prosciutto. Use a vegetable peeler to shave long curls of the Parmesan over top. 

Repeat with layers of puffs, prosciutto, and Parmesan. 

Note for vegetarians: the pastries are fairly mild. If you don't use prosciutto, you could sprinkle chopped Kalamata olives over the dish to add flavor and salt.

Enjoy with the drink and guests of your choice!

Readers: What's your favorite appetizer? I'll send one commenter a signed copy of Deadly Crush, which released this week in paperback!

📚🍷📖

Murder at Cape Costumers is out and available wherever book are sold!

My most recent releases are Scone Cold Dead, #13 in the Country Store Mysteries,

 Deadly Crush, 

and A Case for the Ladies.

Check out all my writing.

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.

Chocolate Hazelnut Puff Pastry #Christmas Tree @ LucyBurdette

 

LUCY BURDETTE: My grandson loves to help bake things, so before we visited in early December, I looked for something we could make together. Last year, we baked this chocolate loaf cake to great acclaim. For this year, I spotted this recipe for a puff pastry Christmas tree on TikTok, and it looked like something we’d enjoy. Ours didn’t come out to be as beautiful as the model, but it was easy and fun!

Ingredients

One cute helper

One box puff pastry, thawed

One jar Bonne Maman chocolate hazelnut spread, or Nutella

Flour 

One egg for wash

Unroll the puff pastry and roll out one of the sheets on a floured surface. Transfer to a cookie sheet. (We didn’t have parchment paper, but that would be a great addition.)

Smooth the chocolate hazelnut spread on top of the pastry sheet.

Roll out the second sheet and lay it carefully on top of the first.

Now comes the artistic part (LOL.) Cut away triangles from the top half to make a Christmas tree shape. At the bottom, cut away more to leave a stem. (You can cut the excess into stars or other shapes as we did, and bake those extra pieces for sampling.)

Cut slits horizontally on each side of the tree and twist the pieces so they resemble (loosely) branches. Beat the egg and paint the pastry for an extra gloss.

Bake at 375 for about 15 minutes until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Ps my handsome helper is already talking about what to bake next summer.

Pls, three of the Lucy Burdette ebooks are on sale for $1.99 through December:

A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS

A DISH TO DIE FOR

LUCY BURDETTE’S KITCHEN

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series including USA Today bestselling A POISONOUS PALATE and A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS. 

You can order that wherever books are sold. If you’re all caught up, try Lucy’s first women’s fiction title, THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS.

If you are in need of a special Christmas gift, Lucy Burdette's Kitchen is now out in large print hardcover!

Also follow Lucy on Facebook, and sign up for her mailing list right here.  

Easiest Tomato Tart @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Yay! It's tomato season here in Connecticut and we are having ripe tomato everything! For a little background on today's recipe, we were having guests over for cocktail hour after a grinding few weeks of finishing a book. (Key West food critic mystery #11!) I wanted the recipe to be easy, delicious, and hopefully fine for our dinner hour too. This checked every box...



Ingredients

1 cup ricotta

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 small red onion or shallot

3 medium or 2 large ripe tomatoes

8-10 basil leaves

1 teaspoon sharp French mustard

I box good quality puff pastry

I like Dufour's classic puff pastry, which is in the freezer section of our local Bishop's market. You do have to remember to move it to the refrigerator a few hours or even a day ahead so it thaws.

Slice the tomatoes and set them on paper towels to drain.

Mix the ricotta with the mustard. Sliver the basil, grate the Parmesan and add those too. Grind in black pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, unfold your puff pastry onto a large sheet of parchment paper. Pinch the edges around the rectangle to make a border and prick the pastry all over with a fork.

Spread the ricotta mustard mixture onto the bottom of the tart, leaving the outside edges bare. 

Arrange the sliced onion over the ricotta, followed by tomato slices and more basil if you like. Sprinkle a bit more Parmesan cheese over the top. 

Bake at 385 until brown and bubbly, 30-35 minutes. Use a pizza cutter to slice into squares--this is quite delicious at room temperature so great to make ahead! 

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series, featuring fiesty food critic Hayley Snow. THE KEY LIME CRIME is available now!

You can order it at an independent bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and anywhere books are sold!

"Hayley and Nathan make an appealing pair, and the food descriptions and Key West atmosphere are equally enticing—a sure bet to draw readers of foodie mysteries."

—Booklist

And super-psyched to see the new book chosen for one of the best new books in Woman's World!

Please follow Lucy on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, or Twitter!

Easy Spanakopita #recipe @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: I love Greek spinach pie, aka spanakopita, but it's kind of a project to make it. Recently I was going through my scary freezer to figure out what I could use up or throw out and I came across a package of Dufour puff pastry. Eureka! This recipe definitely took less than half an hour to put together...and it was delicious! Even my hub said "why make the other version?"

Ingredients

1 package frozen puff pastry (I like Dufour)
1 box frozen spinach
3/4 cup crumbled feta
2 eggs
White pepper to taste
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed

Fresh dill, snipped, a good 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Defrost the pastry and the spinach. I did this by leaving both boxes in the fridge for 2 days. Spread the pastry sheet out on a baking sheet covered in parchment. Saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil. Squeeze the water out of the spinach, add to a bowl with the onion and garlic, eggs, pepper, dill, feta. Beat this all together.

Spread the spinach mixture on one half of the pastry. Dampen the edges on that side with water. Carefully fold the remaining pastry over the filling, and crimp the edges closed with a fork. Poke some air holes on top.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes until the pastry is brown and puffy.

That's it! Serve with a salad and bon appetit...Here's the link to my original version, a lot more time-consuming.

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series, featuring fiesty food critic Hayley Snow. Number 9, A DEADLY FEAST, is in stores and online everywhere. THE KEY LIME CRIME will be published next summer. 


"Hayley and Nathan make an appealing pair, and the food descriptions and Key West atmosphere are equally enticing—a sure bet to draw readers of foodie mysteries."

—Booklist

Please follow Lucy on Facebook, Instagram, Bookbub, or Twitter!

I'm super-grateful to have my next book, THE KEY LIME CRIME (July 2020), available for pre-order!

You can order it at an independent bookstore, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and anywhere books are sold!

Fresh Herb and Tomato Tart #recipe @LeslieBudewitz

LESLIE: So just yesterday here in the Kitchen, we were talking about beating the heat with summer cooking. And just last week, when Krista posted a puff pastry gallette, we confirmed that using frozen puff pastry is not cheating. Well, okay, I decreed that, but I’m right, so it’s now settled law. :)

This tart recipe does require turning on the oven, but not for long, and it won’t heat up your kitchen too much. Everything else is fresh—no cooking required!

We were proud that the tomatoes and herbs all came from our garden. I didn’t plant onions this year, and ricotta just doesn’t grow well in my garden, darn it. You could use basil, or almost any herb, if you don’t have mint. (If you have mint, you’re desperately trying to find ways to use it.)

Last week, we attended the grand opening of the World Spice Merchants Outpost---their new shipping and blending facility—about 25 miles away. (The flagship remains firmly entrenched in Seattle’s Pike Place Market.) Our friend the owner gave us a tour and surprised Mr. Right by saying pepper is the world’s most popular spice. (You and I knew that, of course.) I’m guessing she doesn’t include salt, since it’s a mineral, not a spice. Now every time we cook, when he picks up the pepper, he says “the world’s most popular spice.”

This tart is fun and easy, and can easily be made with other ingredients—maybe halved Kalamata olives or chopped marinated artichokes (skip the oil drizzle for that one). For dinner or a Sunday lunch, serve with a green salad and a crisp white wine or a light red. It could also be cut into smaller pieces as an appetizer.

Fresh Herb and Tomato Tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (see note below)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup ricotta
Kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 green onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 pound small tomatoes (various colors and sizes), sliced or halved
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup small fresh mint leaves
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Place frozen puff pastry on a sheet of parchment paper, unfolding it gently as it thaws. When thoroughly thawed (20-30 minutes), heat the oven to 425 degrees. Roll the pastry to smooth the fold lines, so it’s about 1/2 inch bigger on all sides. Slide pastry and parchment onto a baking sheet. With a paring knife, score a 1/2-inch border all the way around the pastry. Lightly brush the border with the egg. With a fork, poke holes all over the middle of pastry. Bake until lightly browned, 18-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ricotta and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Add the lemon zest, 2 teaspoons of juice, onions, and parsley. Combine. When pastry is baked, spread the ricotta mixture onto the mid section with a knife or small spatula.

Lay the tomatoes on the mid section, placing some cut-side up and some cut-side down, arranging the colors, halves, and slices in a way that makes you smile. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with mint, flake sea salt, and freshly ground pepper.

Cut in sixths and serve. Enjoy!

"Budewitz's finely drawn characters, sharp ear for dialogue, and well-paced puzzle make Jewel Bay a destination for every cozy fan." --- Kirkus Reviews

From the cover of AS THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE CRUMBLES, Food Lovers' Village Mystery #5 (Midnight Ink, June 2018, available in trade paper, e-book, and audio):  

In Jewel Bay---Montana's Christmas Village---all is merry and bright. At Murphy’s Mercantile, AKA the Merc, manager Erin Murphy is ringing in the holiday season with food, drink, and a new friend: Merrily Thornton. A local girl gone wrong, Merrily’s turned her life around. But her parents have publicly shunned her, and they nurse a bitterness that chills Erin.

When Merrily goes missing and her boss discovers he’s been robbed, fingers point to Merrily—until she’s found dead, a string of lights around her neck. The clues and danger snowball from there. Can Erin nab the killer—and keep herself in one piece—in time for a special Christmas Eve?

Leslie Budewitz is the author of the Food Lovers’ Village Mysteries and the Spice Shop Mysteries—and the first author to win Agatha Awards for both fiction and nonfiction. A past president of Sisters in Crime, she lives in northwest Montana with her husband, a musician and doctor of natural medicine, and their cat, an avid bird-watcher.

Swing by my website and join the mailing list for my seasonal newsletter. And join me on Facebook where I announce lots of giveaways from my cozy writer friends.