Gluten-Free Jelly Donuts #Recipe by @LibbyKlein #Christmas #Hanukkah #Holiday #Gluten-Free

Libby Klein Today I am thrilled to offer a Hanukkah recipe! I have been gluten-free for a long time, and I've been able to replicate everything I love in a gluten-free copycat version with two exceptions. Today I have conquered one of them. Jelly Donuts. 

Full disclosure: I am not Jewish. I know some of you think I am because of my last name - but it's German. I have friends who are Jewish which is how I know sufganiyot - or - Jelly donuts are a Hanukkah tradition. So I figured with all the Christmas hoopla going on, what better time to offer up a recipe that includes my Jewish friends?

My love for donuts goes back to Sunday School where a kaleidoscope of colorful pastries were set out before every service in what I'm sure was meant as a sugary bribe for attendance. A bribe I was all there for. Being one of my favorite foods in the world, the lack of a good yeast-raised jelly donut is a celiac tragedy. 

Until now. These were not hard to make, but I'm not someone who deep fries things very ofte, so that learning curve was the hardest part for me. I had trouble getting the oil not to overheat. Too hot and the donuts get too brown on the outside and stay raw on the inside. My stove and cookware tend to be overachievers too. Once I got my oil to the right temperature I turned off the heat and kept my eye on the thermometer for cooling off. Then I'd give the burner a quick burst of flames to keep it steady.

The finished donuts are near perfect. It has been so long since I've had a proper jelly donut that I totally forgot to roll some of them in powdered sugar.

Gluten-Free Jelly Donuts

Makes 1 dozen donuts

*This recipe has a long chill time before they rise

 

Ingredients

Oil for deep frying (canola, vegetable, or melted shortening)

Deep Fryer or heavy pan like a Dutch oven (You will need enough shortening or oil to fill the pan enough so the donuts can sink down half-way.)

Candy/Frying Thermometer or a digital thermometer that goes up to 400º

 

Sweet Dough
1 ¾ cups (490g) gluten-free bread flour blend
½ cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tbsp plus ¾ teaspoon (24g) instant yeast
1 tbsp whole psyllium husks (or 1½ tbsp psyllium husk powder), optional 
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cups (360ml) whole milk (or dairy-free alternative)
1/3 cup (169g) butter, very soft or melted (or dairy-free butter)
1 large egg, at room temperature

Fluffy Filling

½ cup shortening, softened

½ cup (125 g) powdered sugar

¾ cups marshmallow fluff – the thick kind – not sundae topping

¼ teaspoon fine salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Toppings

Powdered Sugar

Granulated Sugar

Vanilla Glaze (recipe follows)

 

Vanilla Glaze

1 cups (250 g) powdered sugar

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp (60 ml) whole milk

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

 

Instructions

 

For the Dough

Heat the milk to just barely warm.

 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the dry ingredients. Whisk around to combine. Using a dough hook or metal beater, add the warm milk, followed by the soft butter and then the egg. Beat until a soft dough forms. It will be very sticky. Scrape dough into center of bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

 

Remove dough from the refrigerator and knead it on a well-floured surface until smooth. Roll out to about ½-inch thick.  Cut the dough with donut cutter dipped in flour, or roll into balls and gently flatten down to make fillable donuts. Reroll scraps. Place donuts and holes on parchment squares on a baking sheet.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free area until a little less than doubled in size. I like to put them in a cold oven with a cake pan of just boiled water on the rack below them.

 

Frying in Oil

When donuts are almost completely risen, heat the oil or shortening in a deep fryer or heavy duty Dutch oven to 320º-330° F. Carefully lower donuts, only a few at a time, into the oil, parchment and all (especially if they're sticking to the parchment). Use tongs to remove the parchment from the oil. Fry for 1-2 minutes on each side (longer for donuts without a hole in the center). I didn’t need to put the parchment in the oil but I thought this was a genius idea.

 

Remove the donuts from the oil and place them onto a wire rack set over a baking sheet.   Glaze or garnish and fill as desired. Donuts are best eaten fresh, but will keep for a day, well covered, and can be heated very briefly in the microwave (15 seconds or so).

 

To Make the Fluffy Filling

Whip all the ingredients for the filling in the bowl of a stand mixer using the whisk attachment until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes on high. Fill a pastry bag or ziptop bag with the filling and pipe into the cooled donuts.

To Fill

Using a pastry bag fitted with a round tip, puncture a hole on the side of the donut. Fill with jelly, fluffy filling, or anything else you'd like. If you don’t have pastry bags, cut the donuts in half and spoon the filling in the middle.

 

Topping

Roll filled donuts in powdered sugar, granulated sugar, or dip in a glaze. If the granulated sugar won’t stick, brush the donut with a little melted butter first.

 

For Vanilla Glaze:

In the microwave, melt butter with milk in a one-quart measuring cup or bowl.  Add powdered sugar and vanilla, whisking constantly until a pourable consistency.  Dunk donuts in the glaze as desired. Make sure your glaze is not too thick or you’ll end up with frosted donuts instead of glazed donuts.

Recipe from Let Them Eat Gluten Free Cake

 

 

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/

 

 

Welcome Guest Author Hallie Ephron aka Her Foodiness

 LUCY BURDETTE: Hallie Ephron, one of my favorite authors, (also a fabulous foodie friend,) has a new book out in 3 weeks. Today she's visiting MLK to talk food--and she'll give away a copy of THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN to a lucky commenter. Welcome Hallie!

HALLIE EPHRON: Savoring my favorite foods is one of the guilty pleasures of writing. So in THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN, Evie Ferrante has my passion for Chinese soup dumplings. When we go to the aptly named Gourmet Chinese Dumpling House in Boston's Chinatown, I order rack of those succulent babies just for me. Anyone who encroaches on my share gets stabbed with a chopstick.

Evie's boyfriend (aka Mr. Wrong) is all about steak. Which, by the way, I also love, but given a choice between soup dumplings and steak? No contest.

Often I find myself writing about fondly remembered foods -- the ones I can no longer get. In THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN, it's jelly donuts. When Evie returns to the little the grocery store near the house in the Bronx where she grew up, she discovers that the kind she remembers are still there...along with a man who could easily learn to love soup dumplings.

Sadly, my favorite jelly donuts have gone the way of the dodo. They came from Van de Kamps -- back when Van de Kamps was just a bakery. In my memory, those jelly donuts were light, puffy, powdered sugar-coated cakes. Literally jam-packed, front to back, every bite risked spurting some of the filling out the other end. The filling was in a league of its own, thick and tangy and intensely raspberry -- not that pallid, sugary-sweet, gelatinous stuff that finds its way into jelly donuts these days. And there was none of that palate-coating greasy finish that today's donuts deliver.

Though I love to cook, I'd never attempt to make my own jelly donuts. I'm not good with yeast or deep fat. And forget soup dumplings.

Fortunately, I've discovered a great recipe for another gone-but-not-forgotten treat -- chewy, caramel-colored hazelnut biscotti that were once, but sadly no longer, available at my local Italian bakery. This recipe is a close approximation.

 

Hazelnut Biscotti

3 c. whole hazelnuts (or almonds) (skin on)
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 c. flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp cinnamon
3 T soft unsalted butter
2 beaten eggs
2 T vanilla
1 beaten egg mixed with 1T water for egg wash
Preheat oven 350
1. Roast nuts
-In a single layer on a cookie tray in the oven - check after about 8 minutes but keep roasting until lightly browned and (if you are using hazelnuts) the skins are coming loose.
- Dump them onto a dish towel and roll them around to rub off most of the skins (if using almonds, leave the skins on).
2. Prepare dough
- Cream the butter with the white sugar in large mixing bowl.
- Add brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and blend.
- Add beaten eggs and vanilla and BEAT with mixer on low speed until dough holds together.
- This makes a VERY STICKY DOUGH.  Fold in the nuts.
3. Make 2 logs of the dough
- Put dough on floured surface. Cut in half. Roll each piece into a log.
- Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet and flatten slightly.
- Brush each log lightly with egg wash.
4. Bake 30 minutes OR until ***firm*** to the touch. (Go by touch, not time)
5. Remove from oven. Cut diagonally into biscotti. Turn each piece sideways (cut side up) and return to 300 degree oven to dry out and crisp--about five minutes.
 
My question: What are your "lost" food favorites, and have you been able to recreate them?

THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN is the story of a young woman, Evie Ferrante, who reluctantly returns the house where she grew up on the waterfront in the Bronx in order to deal with the chaos left behind by her gravely ill, alcoholic mother. She renews a friendship with Mina Yetner, the 91-year-old woman who lives next door. Mina helps Evie figure out the meaning of her mother's last message: Don't let him in until I'm gone. And Evie helps Mina figure out whether she's losing her mind.

Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in the drawing! And follow Hallie on Facebook for all the latest news...

Raspberry Shortcake Donuts and a Giveaway!

A wonderfully warm welcome to my dear friend, Ginger Bolton. A number of us on Mystery Lovers Kitchen started out writing about the same time and Ginger was part of our group! I'm delighted to see her latest book, Jealousy Filled Donuts. Don't forget to enter her giveaway below!

When I was a kid, we lived on a hill that sloped toward the south. We had plenty of room to run up and down that sunny hill. We had a three-story-tall cherry tree that could hide at least three children on its lower branches alone. We had apple trees, a pear tree, and the most glorious and very rare Franklinia tree that gave us creamy white blossoms about this time of year. We had a grape arbor and a rhubarb patch.

With all that sunshine, my father’s garden was legendary—he grew tomatoes, green beans, beets, Swiss chard, kale, carrots, and I forget what else. My mother canned and preserved. I snapped piles of beans, and the entire house smelled of tomatoes cooking. We ate from that garden year-round.

And we had a raspberry patch. It bore fruit in the spring and late summer. It bore lots and lots of fruit. Ignoring the scratches to her arms and hands, my mother picked and picked. We couldn’t keep up with eating the raspberries. Pints and quarts of them were stored in my uncle and aunt’s freezer and brought out for holidays. 

My mother used plain yellow cake as the shortcake.

 Since then, I have been known to make true shortcake, which is easy and yummy.

However, my Deputy Donut Mysteries are about donuts, so I had to try donuts instead of shortcake or yellow cake.

Raspberry Shortcake Donuts

Donuts

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons warm water

¼ cup unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

3/4 cup sugar

4 cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg, room temperature

If frying your donuts: vegetable oil with a smoke point of 400° or higher (or follow your deep fryer’s instruction manual)

In your mixer bowl, combine the warm water, butter, yeast, and sugar. Stir.

Attach the dough hook and slowly stir 3 cups of the flour, the salt, and the egg to the yeast mixture. When blended, add the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time and knead with the dough hook. If the dough is too sticky, carefully add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue kneading—this might take some time—with the dough hook until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, is satiny, doesn’t stick to your fingers, and doesn’t keep its shape when pinched. It should still feel slightly sticky. Too much flour will make the donuts tough. Too little will make them stick to everything.

Cover the top of the bowl with a damp cloth or plastic food wrap and allow the dough to rise until it doubles in volume.

Punch the dough down.

Cover the top of the bowl again with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and allow to rise overnight in the fridge.

Divide the dough and shape each half into a large ball. Keeping one ball of the dough covered, roll the other ball to about ¼ inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper.

Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and cut out rounds with a plain round cookie or biscuit cutter. Shape the scraps into a ball and roll and cut that dough, also. Cover the cut donuts with a damp cloth or plastic food wrap.

Roll and cut the second ball of dough with the same cookie cutter, but this time, cut holes in the middle with a tiny round canape cutter. Cover these cut donuts and donut holes with a damp cloth or plastic food wrap.

Allow the donuts to double in height.

Fry the donuts at 345º about 2 – 3 minutes until they turn golden brown around the bottom edges. Turn them and cook them until their bottoms are golden-brown, another 2 – 3 minutes. The donut holes will cook in much less time. Watch carefully to prevent burning. Lift them from the oil and allow some of the oil to drip off. Drain the donuts on paper towels.

OR bake the donuts on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet in a 375º oven for about 10 minutes until the tops are golden.

Allow the donuts to cool.

Raspberry Topping

Fresh raspberries

Granulated sugar

OR frozen raspberries

If you’re using fresh berries, rinse them and put them in a bowl with two tablespoons of sugar per pint of berries. Stir, cover, and refrigerate.

If you’re using frozen berries, thaw them.

Other Toppings (optional)

Whipped cream

Cointreau

To assemble:

            Slice the donuts in half horizontally. Place half a round one, cut side up, in a bowl or on a plate. Top with a generous amount of sugared or thawed frozen raspberries. Place half a donut with a hole, cut side down, on the raspberries. Top with another generous amount of raspberries, a dollop of whipped cream, and a fried donut hole. Drizzle Cointreau over it to taste.

Jealousy Filled Donuts will be in stores on August 27.

When a firecracker becomes a murder weapon, Emily Westhill pursues a killer with a short fuse …
 
It is a truth universally acknowledged—cops and donuts go together. Exhibit A: Deputy Donut Café, owned and operated by detective's widow Emily Westhill and her father-in-law, the retired police chief of Fallingbrook, Wisconsin. Named after Emily's adored and adorable tabby, the donut shop is a favorite among cops, firemen, and EMTs, as well as tourists and townspeople. So when Fallingbrook needs donuts for their Fourth of July picnic, Emily's shop gets deputized.

But a twisted killer has found another use for Emily's treats. At the picnic, a firecracker is hidden in a stack of raspberry-filled donuts and aimed at the unwitting queen of the festivities. When it explodes, she is killed. Having her jelly donuts involved puts Emily in a sticky situation, and when a shady shutterbug tries to frame her with incriminating photos, she finds herself in quite a jam. To preserve her freedom and her shop's reputation, Emily needs to solve this case—before the fuse-lighting felon goes off again …

Praise for Jealousy Filled Donuts:

Grab yourself a donut and a copy of this page turner! - Connie Wilson, Editor-in-Chief, moderncat

Bolton keeps the reader guessing throughout. Yummy donut recipes round out a whodunit (or is it a whodonut?) sure to please cozy fans. - Publishers Weekly

Ginger Bolton writes the Deputy Donut mystery series—coffee, donuts, cops, danger, and one curious cat . . . Jealousy Filled Donuts is the third in the series after Survival of the Fritters and Goodbye Cruller World. When Ginger isn't writing or reading, she's crocheting, knitting, sewing, walking her two rescue dogs and generally causing trouble. She’s also fond of donuts, coffee, and cafés were folks gather to enjoy those tasty treats and one another’s company. As Janet Bolin, Ginger wrote the Threadville Mysteries—murder and mayhem in a village of crafty shops.

Leave a comment below with your email address to enter Ginger's giveaway of a copy of JEALOUSY FILLED DOUGHNUTS!

Cupcakes for Breakfast!

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen is excited to introduce Wendy Lyn Watson, who will be substituting for Jenn McKinlay while she's off on a month long vacation. Wendy writes the Mysteries A La Mode series about, you guessed it, the proprietor of an ice cream parlor! Her first book, I Scream, You Scream, is available now and the second in the series, Scoop to Kill, will be released in September. Please join us in welcoming Wendy to Mystery Lovers' Kitchen.

Thanks for the warm welcome ... and thanks to Jenn for letting me step into her fabulous shoes for the month of July. This post is for her, as close as I get to pouring one out for my homies.

Lately I've been on a cupcake kick. Not just any cupcakes, mind you, but vegan cupcakes. (Vegan means no animal products: no meat, eggs, or dairy.) They're far from fat-free; they're packed with sugary goodness; and when you eat them by the half-dozen, it doesn't even help that they're small. But somehow I feel like I'm eating healthy because they're vegan.

I mean, really, these cupcakes are almost like vitamins. Ha!

Anyway, healthy or not, I've been making lots of them lately, all courtesy of the super-talented Isa Chandra Moskowitz from the Post Punk Kitchen: coconut, lemon, a chocolate so dark you need a flashlight ...

But my favorite discovery so far has been these little morsels of magic called Jelly Donut Cupcakes. They really and truly do taste like jelly donuts. And while cupcakes, even vegan cupcakes, may not be healthy, I think these gems are better for you than their traditional fried counterparts.


And lest you think filling a cupcake with jelly is going to require some sort of special equipment--or voodoo--rest easy. You just plop the jelly on top before baking, and it finds its own way into the heart of the cupcake.



Magic!

Jelly Donut Cupcakes
from the Veganomicon

The cupcakes need to sit out for about 12 hours before eating, so make the cupcakes in the evening for breakfast the next morning. Also, there's no upside to using good jelly here. The cheaper it is, the more like a donut shop jelly donut the final product will be.

1 c. soy, rice, or almond milk
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbs. cornstarch
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 c. canola oil
3/4 c. plus 2 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. raspberry jelly (or strawberry, grape, whatever you want!)
2 Tbs. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Mix non-dairy milk, vinegar, and cornstarch in a measuring cup; set aside. Line 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Whisk the cornstarch mixture again to make sure it's dissolved, then pour into the dry ingredients. Add the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until well-combined.

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full with batter (about 1/4 c. per cupcake). Place a heaping teaspoonful of jam on the center of each cupcake. Just plop it on. Bake for 21-23 minutes, until the tops are firm.

Cool cupcakes on wire rack. Leave them uncovered in a cool place overnight (or up to 24 hours). Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and enjoy!

For information about Wendy's Mysteries a la Mode and more yummy recipes, visit her website. The first in the series, I Scream, You Scream, is available now; the second Mystery a la Mode, Scoop to Kill, will be released in September.

Around the Kitchen Table: OUR FAVORITE HOLIDAY FOODS + 6-Book #Giveaway

 

PEG COCHRAN: The holiday season is upon us—Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza and the Wiccan holiday of Yule celebrating the winter solstice—and most of those holidays are celebrated with…food! Christmas cookies, the Thanksgiving Day turkey, latkes for Hannukah.

What food puts you in the holiday spirit whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza or Yule? For me, the Christmas season starts with two things—eggnog and peppermint stick ice cream! I would never dream of having egg nog on the fourth of July but as soon as December rolls around, I have to have it.

Peppermint stick ice cream is rarely available year-round—at least not in our grocery store. But it appears like magic at the start of December. That first spoonful tastes like Christmas to me!

What food do you only enjoy during the holiday season? Is there anything you only eat when the holidays roll around?

 

LUCY BURDETTE: For me it's sugar cookies, especially the ones that are rolled and cut with cookie cutters and decorated to the max! I would love sugar cookies any time of year, but I'd only go to this much trouble for a holiday. My mom was big on making Christmas cookies, even though she wasn't usually a big baker. So I think that recipe brings me home to those holidays of yesteryear!

                                                         

LIBBY KLEIN: Mine has to be the German Stollen, and the Italian Panettone. Two Christmas breads filled with luscious fruits and rum - and sometimes marzipan. It would seem weird to me to bake a stollen in July. Kind of like eating a popsicle in January. I've made a gluten-free version of both of these holiday treats so stay tuned! I also love my Hanukkah Jelly donuts called sufganiyot, but truth be told, I would eat these babies all year long. 

KORINA MOSS: For me, it has to be fudge. In the small neighborhood where I used to live, everyone would leave a Christmas Eve gift or treat on each neighbor's doorstep. When I moved to a small townhome community about eight years ago, I discovered my neighbors do the same thing! So fudge has been my go-to gift for years. By the time I pack up each of them in pretty tins, there are usually only a few pieces left for me, which is just right! In this photo, I have (clockwise from left): chocolate marshmallow pecan, mint chip, peanut butter, cake batter, and dulce de leche fudge. Look for my fudge recipe later this month. 

                                    

LESLIE BUDEWITZ:  I popped in to say "fudge," and see that Korina and I share good taste! But really, it's just about any Christmas cookie. My late mother was not a great cook, but she was a terrific baker, and her plates of Christmas cookies were much-anticipated by our neighbors and family friends. There's a bit of a debate about what makes a Christmas cookie -- I attended an office cookie swap one year and a woman brought peanut butter cookies. A classic, of course, but more of an everyday cookie than a holiday treat! The question arose in As the Christmas Cookie Crumbles, my 5th Food Lovers' Village mystery, where Erin says it's got to be something you wouldn't make any other time of year. It may include special ingredients like nuts or dried fruit. Often, it's got ethnic roots, like my mother's Berlinkranzer and her Pfefferneuse. Always, it's got a story, a tradition, and evokes the response of "oh, I love those!" (Well, there are always a few Scrooges. We just don't give them the cookies they don't like, which leaves more for the rest of us!) So to celebrate the season, I'm mixing up Russian Teacakes, aka Snowballs, Mexican Wedding Cakes, and Pecan Sandies, using my mother's recipe. It appears in Cookie, where it plays a role in solving the mystery! 

 

🌲  🍗  🌿

 

LESLIE KARST: Growing up, in our family all the kids would get together around the dining room table to decorate sugar cookies that my mom had baked, and although we had all the traditional cookie cutter shapes--angels, Santa Claus, reindeer, etc.--we'd try to outdo each other making them into weird, different things. Aliens, horses (I was quite the horsey girl), football players, you name it. Here are some more recent cookies I decorated, using cutters I got in Alaska:

 

But now that my wife Robin is converting to Judaism--and the first day of Hannukah is on Christmas night this year--we'll be celebrating both holidays. And yes, we'll be eating challah!

🌲  🍗  🌿

VICKI DELANY: Count me on Team Cookie. In Canada our Thanksgiving is in early October, so we enjoy much the same feast as at Christmas. Turkey and all the trimmings, usually followed by pie. Many people in my family love egg nog (as obviously do some of you!) with a splash of rum to keep out the chill, but I’m not that fond of it.

I can take it or leave it. For me, the one essential Christmas recipe is cookies. And, not just any cookie (I can eat cookies anytime) but my own coconut sugar cookies, my mom’s recipe for stained glass cookies, and usually some shortbread. Those are always to be found in a cookie tin in my kitchen in mid to late December.

Here’s the recipe for coconut sugar cookies I featured at MLK last year.

Mystery Lovers' Kitchen: Coconut Sugar Cookies from A SLAY RIDE TOGETHER WITH YOU by Vicki Delany

🎄 🎄 🎄

MADDIE DAY: I love holiday sweets, especially the Christmas treats I grew up with, baking five or six kinds of cookies with my mother. One kind, Spritz cookies, are fabulous.

I also always make gingerbread people, two kinds of sugar cookies (recipe here), Mexican bridecakes, and more. One thing we never do in our house is frosting cookies. Decorating is colored sugars and chocolate chips all the way. Peppermint fudge is good, too!

Next year when my Jewish daughter-in-law and grandbaby are here for the December holidays, I vow to master rugelach for Hanukkah. Latkes? I'll leave those to Alison!

MAYA CORRIGAN: It wouldn't be Christmas without cookies at our house. We make our family favorites: my mother-in-law's Mexican wedding cakes, my mother's nutmeg bars, and my daughter's angel slices from a Joy of Cooking recipe. Each year we try a new cookie. If it's a winner, we add it to the cookie repertoire. These easy caramel almond cookies passed the test.

MOLLY MACRAE: We’re into cookies at our house, too, and for the holidays we often make a batch of the traditional cut-out, decorated sugar cookies. But we just as often try fancy cookies we’ve never made before. One year that was Beurre & Sel cookies – beautiful and delicious.

We also pretty much only make gingerbread pancakes around the holidays. (Sometimes we have them off-season and they taste just as good.) This year I poured the pancake batter onto a large, rimmed sheet pan and put it in the oven for 15 minutes. Talk about nearly instant gratification. Everyone could sit down to eat at the same time and the pancakes were moist, cakey, and gingery.

  

CLEO COYLE: For me and my husband, a game of “I Spy” always kicks off our Season’s Eatings. The mystery question is when and where will we spot that first carton of holiday eggnog. Because Christmas Cookies are also a favorite part of our holiday, Marc and I decided to put that festive flavor of eggnog into a special recipe for our Coffeehouse Mystery readers. See our recipe for EGGNOG SHORTBREAD by clicking here or on the photo below…

Cleo's Eggnog Shortbread

Candy canes are another nostalgic food that Marc and I appreciate, especially because of their connection to the reason for the season. 🌟 Learn the story of how candy canes (which evoke a shepherd’s staff) came to be invented by clicking here on our recipe post where we also share our recipe for Candy Cane Frosting. We find this easy frosting is a great way to instantly turn a plain cookie, cupcake, sheet cake, or pan of brownies into a pretty-in-pink Christmas treat. Whatever your favorites for the holiday season, may you eat with joy to the world!

Cleo's Easy Candy Cane Frosting
for instant Christmas cheer.

GIVEAWAY!

Readers: What food do you only enjoy during the holiday season?  Is there anything you only eat when the holidays roll around? Whatever you celebrate, we wish you a joyous holiday!

Join the conversation!

Comment below to win these 6 great mysteries!

Include your email address so we may contact the winner.

Giveaway Prize Package:

SILENT NIGHTS ARE MURDER by Libby Klein

GINGERDEAD MAN by Maya Corrigan

A SLAY RIDE TOGETHER WITH YOU
by Vicki Delany

MURDER, SHE REPORTED by Peg Cochran

THE CHRISTMAS STRANGER by Leslie Budewitz

MURDER UNCORKED by Maddie Day 

🎄

Comments open through 

Wednesday, December 4