I am so happy to have Paige Shelton on my blog today to share an amazing shortbread recipe and celebrate her upcoming release, LOST BOOKS AND OLD BONES, with you! Be sure to check out her giveaway below the recipe, too!  

 * * * * * * * * * * 

Of course, shortbread direct from Scotland is the best shortbread in the world. Except for your grandmother’s. No one can beat your grandmother’s anything. Having said that, I do love shortbread. Known by a number of different names in the UK, I was first introduced to these cookies as Empire Biscuits. They are addictive. So, no matter if you call them Imperial Biscuits, Double Biscuits, German Biscuits, Linzer Biscuit, or Empire Biscuits, they are delicious. And pretty easy to make. If you’re craving something sweet, these are the way to go. Also, if you’d just like a yummy recipe for shortbread, this one is good.

I found a tip somewhere on the Internet, and I have really enjoyed what this ingredient does to shortbread. Bird’s Custard Powder.

Instead of 4 cups of the flour, I use 3 cups flour, and one cup of the custard powder. If you don’t want to track down some Bird’s, just use 4 cups flour. I ordered mine from Walmart.com. This recipe should yield about 24 sandwich cookies (more might be possible if you make small, thin cookies), but I make my cookies bigger than the normal “biscuit” size, so I only get about 18.

Print

Empire Biscuits

Ingredients

For the biscuits:

• 2 to 2-1/2 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 cup Bird’s Custard Powder (or substitute with flour)

For the filling and topping:

• 1 cup raspberry preserves
• 12 or more maraschino cherries

For the icing:

• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup milk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

For the biscuits:

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Gradually stir in the flour and custard powder until well blended. Start with 2 cups butter. Add more if you can’t keep the dough together enough to roll it out. It takes some work and some getting used to. If your dough seems too sticky, add a bit more flour at a time until it can be rolled out. 

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to ¼ inch thickness. Cut into rounds using a cookie cutter.

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

4. Sandwich one teaspoon of preserves between two cookies. Repeat until all cookies are used, or all jam is gone, and remaining cookies must be sacrificed to the baker for all her hard work.

For the icing:

1. In a medium bowl, gradually stir the milk into the confectioners’ sugar until the icing is of a spreadable consistency. Spread on top of the sandwiched cookies. Top each cookie with half a cherry while the icing is till wet. If you’re feeling like a rebel, go ahead and top with something else. Anything you like would work just fine. 

Cinnamon & Sugar's Notes:

1. Here is a recipe for making your own custard powder to use: 
   1 cup confectioners' sugar; 
   1/2 cup powdered milk; 
   1/2 cup cornstarch; 
   1 teaspoon vanilla powder (if you don't use, add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to shortbread recipe); 
   1 teaspoon salt; 
   Whisk together and then measure out 1 cup to use for shortbread recipe.

2. If you substitute flour for the custard powder, but sure to add 1 teaspoon of salt to the shortbread recipe.

Thanks to Kim for letting me stop by today! See you all in the bookstores.

 A special thanks to Paige Shelton for providing a hardcover copy of LOST BOOKS AND OLD BONES for one lucky winner. Contest is limited to U.S. residents only and ends Wednesday, April 4, 2018 at 11:59 pm PST. Please use the Rafflecopter box located below to enter. The winner will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Pin to Pinterest:

If you receive my blog post via email you will need to visit my website to view the video.

My Review

Click on book to visit Amazon

I’ve been a fan of the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series by Paige Shelton and was excited to read an advance copy of her third book, LOST BOOKS AND OLD BONES. Not only did it meet my high expectations but I think it’s the best book in the series so far! Ms. Shelton captured my attention starting with her Acknowledgments and continuing all the way through to her list of real-life victims at the back of the book. I couldn’t put the book down and devoured it in one sitting while neglecting to pause to even take a single note for my review. I greatly admire the protagonist, Delany, from Kansas in America, as the Scottish people are prone to call her. She has an adventurous spirit, enjoys researching historical books and items, and has a kind, friendly heart to those she meets… even to those who might not seem to deserve her compassion. She is surrounded by a wonderful cast of characters that greatly add to the enjoyment of the story. I adore The Cracked Spine, the delightful bookshop with its mysterious treasures and tomes! It’s a place I could spend days and days exploring and wish it were a real location. It’s also the perfect setting from which to feature Delany getting involved in murder mysteries.

Ms. Shelton weaves an intriguing plot incorporating not only a modern day murder but a murder that spans a decade and several historical murders from the early 1800’s! While the plot lines are intricate, the author writes skillfully so that the reader never feels lost. In fact, the suspense kept me on the edge of my seat, turning pages faster and faster to see how she would tie the seemingly unrelated deaths together. Ms. Shelton deftly brings the threads of the story together in an exciting and very satisfying conclusion that leaves me pleading for the next book to release soon!

Amazon Synopsis

Delaney Nichols, originally of Kansas but settling happily into her new life as a bookseller in Edinburgh, works at The Cracked Spine in the heart of town. She’s recently befriended a few medical school students after they came into the shop to sell some antique medical tomes. But when one of the students’ friends is found murdered outside in the alley, Delaney takes it upon herself to help bring the murderer to justice.

During her investigation, Delaney finds some old scalpels in the bookshop’s warehouse―she finds out that they belonged to a long-dead doctor, whose story might be connected to the present-day murder. It’s all Delaney can do to race to solve this crime before time runs out and she ends up in danger herself.

I was provided an advance copy with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Click on book to visit Amazon

THE UNINVITED CORPSE, the first book in the brand new Food Blogger Mystery series by debut author Debra Sennefelder, was such a fun read for me as a fellow blogger! Protagonist Hope Early writes the blog, “Hope at Home”. I so enjoyed seeing her blogging process along with her ideas for creating recipes. Hope has some baggage that she’s brought back to the small Connecticut town and she’s learning to move past her perceived failures. But trying to settle in “back home” has its own problems and among them, her sister being accused of murdering the real estate agent she’s in competition with. It doesn’t help that Hope was the one to find the body and as she starts asking questions around town, finds that her sister had several reasons to kill the victim. Despite that, Hope is loyal and learns how important it is to take time to connect with her family and friends without having ulterior motives. There is also humor interjected via the character of Hope’s former reality show manager and his ideas he pitches to her for new reality shows. I’ve never been a fan of reality shows aside from Cupcake Wars and the cake challenges on the Food Network and Ms. Sennefelder brings to light what I’ve always envisioned them to really be: contrived contentious situations having nothing to do with reality.

Being the first book in a new series, the author introduces many characters all at once. I’ll admit I had a hard time following who was who at the beginning of the book but once the murder happens the story falls in place and the pace picks up. In addition to Hope’s sister being a viable suspect, Ms. Sennefelder weaves in several other suspects who wanted the abrasive real estate agent dead. The climatic ending brought good resolution to the mystery and wrapped up the subplots nicely.

One of the scenes in the book revolves around Hope creating a blog post for celebrating National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. She develops five recipes for her blog post in the story (and they all sound amazing). Ms. Sennefelder shares two of those chocolate chip cookie recipes at the back of the book plus other delectable sounding treats. I chose to make Hope’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies because these generously-sized cookies are thick and soft with just a bit of chewiness thanks to the addition of a bit of bread flour. While I’ve never met a chocolate chip cookie that I didn’t like, these are perfection!

Amazon Synopsis

Leaving behind a failed career as a magazine editor and an embarrassing stint on a reality baking show, newly divorced lifestyle entrepreneur Hope Early thought things were finally on the upswing—until she comes face-to-face with a murderer . . .
 
Hope’s schedule is already jam packed with recipe testing and shameless plugs for her food blog as she rushes off to attend a spring garden tour in the charming town of Jefferson, Connecticut. Unfortunately, it isn’t the perfectly arranged potted plants that grab her attention—it’s the bloody body of reviled real estate agent Peaches McCoy . . .
 
One of the tour guests committed murder, and all eyes are on Hope’s older sister, Claire Dixon—who, at best, saw Peaches as a professional rival. And suspicions really heat up when another murder occurs the following night. Now, with two messy murders shaking Jefferson and all evidence pointing to Claire, Hope must set aside her burgeoning brand to prove her sister’s innocence. But the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer intent on making sure her life goes permanently out of style . . .

Thanks to Debra Sennefelder for providing a print arc copy of THE UNINVITED CORPSE for one lucky winner. Contest is limited to U.S. residents only and ends Sunday, April 1, 2018 at 11:59 pm PST. Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. The winner will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!) 

Print

Hope's Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted by Hope Early: I know it's wrong to have a favorite cookie. As a food blogger, I shouldn't play favorites with recipes but I can't help myself with these cookies. Loaded with chocolate chips, these buttery, thick, soft chocolate chip cookies are heavenly. You won't want to miss out on these. Seriously.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup bread flour
• 3/4 teapoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1-2/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F) and line cookie sheet pans with silicone baking sheets. (Or line with parchment paper.)

2. Cream butter and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment, about 3 - 4 minutes. Scrape sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed of mixer and then add in the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, beating well to incorporate into mixture.

3. Beat in vanilla.

4. Whisk together flours, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Scoop dough by rounded tablespoon and drop onto prepared pan, 2-inches apart to allow room for spreading. Then drop another scoop (approximately 1-1/2 teaspoons) of dough onto top of each cookie. Press lightly together making sure to not flatten the cookie. 

7. Bake for 9 - 12 minutes, rotating half-way through baking, or until cookies have spread out and the edges are golden, but the center of the cookie still looks soft and just slightly undercooked. Every oven is different, so I like to bake two cookies first to get the timing down correctly and then fill up the next cookie sheet.

8. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. 

Notes

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 Pin to Pinterest:

If you receive my blog post via email you will need to visit my website to view the video.

I was provided an advance copy with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.