NOT A CREATURE WAS PURRING, book 5 in the Paws and Claws Mystery series by Krista Davis, has to be my favorite book so far! Set in adorable Wagtail, Virginia during the Christmas holiday, the setting sets the scene for getting the reader in the mood for holiday cheer. Even though I read an advance copy in autumn, I was ready to trim my tree and deck my halls. Holly Miller is an engaging protagonist. I love how she jumps in to tend to both human and pet guests’ needs at the family Sugar Maple Inn, even when there’s good reason to not like some of the human guests. Holly’s darling sidekicks, Trixie and Twinkletoes, get themselves right in the action and prove themselves to be worthy crime stoppers. Holly and her friends also show great generosity towards those in their community who are struggling, and the author provides plenty of heartwarming moments to add to this holiday cheer book.
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The subplots are woven effortlessly throughout the main murder mystery plot with plenty of suspects to keep you guessing. Early on in the book I thought I knew who the victim would be and who the suspects could be… boy was I wrong! The author provides lots of twists and turns, keeping the reader engaged and turning pages. With an exciting, suspense conclusion I can barely wait for the next in this darling series!
Holly’s grandmother is German and there’s plenty of mouthwatering delectable dishes mentioned. Krista has included several recipes at the back of the book, both for human and furry friends’ consumption. I was drawn to her recipe for Krista’s Modern Christmas Stollen for several reasons. First, I’ve heard of the traditional German bread numerous times but while I’ve been intrigued, I have never tried it. One of the things that stopped me is the use of Christmas candied fruit, which I have never developed a taste for. Krista, fortunately, substitutes dried cherries and apricots which I find much more palatable and definitely adds to the appeal of this yummy yeast bread. Even though it looks like it is time consuming to make the Christmas Stollen, a lot of the process is hands off, waiting for the bread to rise. I found Krista’s directions very easy to follow and the resulting festive Christmas Stollen was a hit at my granddaughter’s teachers’ in-service breakfast!
Amazon Synopsis
Inn owner Holly Miller finds it ruff staying cheerful over the holidays when the dead body of a beloved businessman turns up in the pet-friendly town of Wagtail, Virginia.
Inspired by her German heritage, Holly’s grandmother has arranged for Wagtail to have a Christkindl Market packed with goodies and decorations for the howliday tourists. But Holly’s mood takes an unseasonable turn when she learns that her old flame and childhood friend Holmes Richardson has brought his fiancée home—and she’ll be staying at the Sugar Maple Inn…
A love triangle becomes the last thing on Holly’s mind when her Jack Russell Trixie’s nose for trouble leads her to the corpse of a pet clothing tycoon. Now Holly and her dedicated detectives—Trixie and Twinkletoes the cat—must sniff out the killer to keep Christmas from going to the dogs…
A very special thanks to Krista Davis for providing one lucky winner a print copy of NOT A CREATURE WAS PURRING plus a pet bandanna! Contest ends Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at 11:59 pm PST and is limited to U.S. residents only. 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!)
Christmas Stollen is a German bread traditionally baked for the holiday. Krista has updated this bread with dried fruit in place of the typical candied fruit. She bakes it for the holidays every year.
- 1-1/2 cups (8 ounces) dried apricots
- 1-1/4 cups (8 ounces) dried cherries
- 1/2 cup rum, I used silver rum but any will do
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
- 2 packs fast-rising instant yeast
- 3/4 cup sugar plus a pinch of sugar, divided
- 5-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 6 - 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Confectioners' sugar
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Chop the apricots and cherries with a knife (do not use a food processor) and place in a bowl. Pour the rum over them and let sit for 1 hour.
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Pour the lukewarm water in a 2-cup or larger bowl. Sprinkle with the yeast and a pinch of sugar. Stir to help dissolve. Set aside (Krista puts it in a cold oven) for 10 - 15 minutes. It should have doubled in size.
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Pour the rum from the fruit into a bowl and set aside. Lay paper towels out and spread with the fruit. Dab with additional paper towels to dry. Pour the fruit into a dry bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of flour. Turn several times to coat. Set aside.
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Combine milk, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt in a heavy-bottomed pot and heat until the sugar dissolves and a thermometer registers 110 degrees (F). Remove from the heat. Stir in the rum and the yeast mixture.
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Fit dough hook into mixer. (This may be made by hand, but a heavy-duty mixer like KitchenAid is a big help.) Measure 4 cups of flour into a mixing bowl. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the milk mixture. Whisk the 2 eggs well, then add to the dough, and continue mixing. Slowly add as much of the remaining 1-1/2 cups flour as needed. Mix in the softened 1 cup butter. The dough should begin to shape into a ball.
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Dust your hands and kneading area with flour. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead 10 - 15 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pliable. Incorporate the fruit by pressing it into the dough a bit at a time. Flour your hands as necessary and continue to add the fruit and turn the dough.
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Grease a deep bowl with butter, place the dough in the bowl, flip it once to coat with butter, cover with a kitchen towel, and place in a warm area away from any drafts for 2 hours or until doubled in size. (A cool oven will work.)
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Punch the dough down and divide into 2 pieces. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Working with one at a time, roll each ball of dough out into a rectangle roughly 12 inches long and 8 inches wide. Brush each with 1 tablespoon of melted butter and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of sugar.
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Fold one side (of the 8-inch width) over about 2/3 of the way. Fold the other side over so that it overlaps the top of the first side by about 1 inch. Press the top seam gently. Shape it into an oval with floured hands as necessary, patting it so it is approximately 4 inches across.
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Prepare a very large cookie sheet or lipped baking pan by covering with parchment paper. Transfer the dough to the parchment paper, leaving at least 3 - 4 inches between the two loaves. Brush each with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. Place in a warm location away from drafts and allow to rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Slide the baking sheet into the oven and bake 25 - 30 minutes or until they are golden brown and crusty. Bread should reach an internal temperature of 190 degrees (F).
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When cool and before serving, dust generously with powdered sugar.
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If you need to, this bread freezes well. Wrap each loaf tightly in aluminum foil then encased in a freezer-safe ziplock bag. Allow to come to room temperature completely before removing from ziplock back and unwrapping the foil.
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Spritz your knife with non-stick cooking spray before chopping the fruit.
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I was provided a copy of this book with the hopes I would review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
No, I don’t dress my cat, Angel, up for the holidays.
We used to dress up our Yorkies in Santa vests until their bellies got too big!
Kim, this is gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much! I suspect most people eat it at afternoon tea, but we love a slice for breakfast during the holiday season.
You are very welcome, Krista. I love the holiday season and your Stollen is the perfect accompaniment for celebrating, whether breakfast or tea! Thanks for sharing both your book and your recipe with us!
I don’t have a pet right now, but I think it’s adorable when people dress up their pets! Legallyblonde1961 at yahoo dot com.
My husband refuses to let me dress the kids up. Thank you for the chance.
The Christmas stollen looks amazing. I only dressed my pug up as Santa once for our local Christmas parade. Thanks for offering a chance at winning this interesting book. She’s a new author to me.
I don’t dress my dog up for Christmas. I’ve tried but he doesn’t like it. I can’t wait to read this book. The Paws and Claws series is at the top of my favorite series list.
No I don’t, my cats would claw me to shreds if I tried.
The cats? No. The dog? Yes. And she could use a new bandanna. The old one is getting frayed around the edges. But she has a nice little wardrobe. For the winter. For summer. It is just the bandanna. Thanks for the recipe. I was going to go find mine. Somewhere being the key word. But. This one will do nicely. And it do look good.
The Christmas Stollen makes me think of a fruit cake. My pets do not dress up for the holidays. The closest they get to dressing up is putting on their collars. Thanks!
Nope! ☺
I have three cats and so I don’t dress them up for the holidays. I would fear for the safety of my hands! Thanks for the giveaway!
I don’t have a pet now. When I had a dog I didn’t.
What a wonderful idea to use dried fruit!
I don’t dress my cat, but my daughter used to have great fun dressing up our cats when she was younger. I was amazed at how patient they were about it.
No, I don’t dress my animals up for anything. My sister in law does and I tease her endlessly for it. Haha!
I have honestly tried! I really have, but my Yorkie, Calvin, gets out of anything I put on him! He will let me put his Halloween collar on him though. That’s as close as I can get, lol.
I don’t dress my dog up for the holidays but, I will put a sweater on him when it’s cold. He is very old.
No, but when my dog was about 17 months old, I found some adorable Halloween outfits (which I thought she would be able to wear later), but she is now too big for them.
I think our cats would disown us if we tried to dress them up for the holidays.
I do not. I have 3 cats, and they would take my arm off if I even tried!
I sometimes do & they seem to think they are really styling when I do.
I have 2 cats and 2 dogs—-and all of them say “NO NO NO”
Oh goodness when Daisy is naked she still has charms around her neck Michaels has a wonderful selection of them. Yes we dress both chihuahuas up I wish they would wear clothes all the time but they don;t for holidays and when we are having company they do get primped . They will pose for a pic which is so funny also.
I love this bread but it’s one of a few I can’t convert as it’s not easy to replace the milk. But there are other holiday breads I can eat. I’ve never dressed an animal up. Don’t really see a need maybe a holiday bandana it hair ribbon that’s all.
Rhyan, I’ve substituted coconut milk in a variety of recipes with good results, along with substituting Earth Balance vegan margarine for butter. While I haven’t tried those substitutes in this specific recipe I think it would work just fine. Good luck!
No. I am looking forward to reading NOT A CREATURE WAS PURRING . Have a wonderful weekend.Thank you for the opportunity to win.
Don’t dress my kitties up lol they wouldn’t like it
No, my cats would not allow it!
“Do you dress your pet up for the holidays?” My cat is not a “dress-up” kind of cat!
No I don’t dress my pets for the Holidays. But thank you for a chance to win a print copy of Not A Creature Was Purring + a pet bandanna.
No, I can’t say that we specifically dress him for the holidays, although he has a few sweaters that we put on him, especially after we get him shaved, he gets chilled easily with the loss of fur. He has become quite the clothes horse with the collection that he is getting between sweaters and bandanas.
Yes Josie has a Christmas dress and Santa outfit.
If I had a pet I probably would dress them up, Thanks for your great generosity.
No, I have two boy cats and they don’t like dressing up.
My cats would have a fit if I even tried but, my husband recently brought home a puppy so will probably get her something, if just a sweater.
No, we don’t dress our animals for the holidays.
I do not have any pets to dress up. But my granddaughter dresses her cat. At one time, she had 3 cats & a dog, and they all got dressed up!
No, my dog doesn’t like to dress up.
Yes we have Christmas clothes for our cats and dogs. Our cats are some of the few that will let you dress them up.
No pets to dress but the ones I see are adorable.
I wish I had a pet to dress up. I would definitely do it.
But of course! Wish I could add a picture of Buffy Dumplin’ d Pug to prove it. ?
I wish there was a way to share photos here. I love seeing all the adorable pets whether they’re dressed up or not 🙂
My cats will have nothing to do with dressing up — they run and hide, LOL. My Aussie will let me put a holiday shirt on her, but she requires monitoring so she doesn’t chew it off!!
we try to dress them up for at least one picture! so fun!
Yes we do and believe it or not he loves it. 🙂 He has both a Santa suit as well as a reindeer hat. He’s just a big ham but then again he knows to get all “purdy” means treats are sure to come too. LOL
No we only have a guinea pig.
When I had my 2 dogs, they loved to wear scarves and had them for every holiday. They have long since gone to the Rainbow ? Bridge. My cats, well, no, they don’t play that game ?
We put a scarf on out boy dog and a dress in our girl dog last year. Love the review and the recipes sound great.
Would just love your book and also a bandanna for my girls I have yorkie mixes Thank you for the chance
my JRT refuses to wear any clothes..including a winter down coat I bought for him years ago
We used to have a special collar for Sasha, my mom’s dog. Might try to get Jax to wear something this year.
I don’t have any pets, we travel too much. But I do walk my sister’s dog occasionally. Dawson might like a bandanna, or maybe her cat Axel would like one. I am looking forward to getting the book.
Sometimes I will dress up our two dogs but generally they object so I haven’t for the passed few years. I would not dress up our cat ever, he’s a big feisty guy and his objections would, I’m sure, be rather unpleasant!
Rusty gets so excited just having his harness put on for a walk. I’d never be able to get clothes on him.
I’ve tried to put a Christmas collar and a Santa hat on the cat, but she did not like it one bit and I thought she was going to scratch me to pieces. Can’t wait to read this!
My kitty is not a fan of dressing up.
I have one cat who tolerates wearing a Santa hat, the rest of them I wouldn’t even try.
We sometimes try to put a Santa hat on one of our cats, but he doesn’t always like it.
I used to dress up my mini dachshunds when I still had them but, I would likely be shredded if I attempted to dress up my cats lol!
My cats would not tolerate being dressed up. When we had our Basset Hound we would dress her for most holidays. She was such a sweet girl. Thanks for hosting Krista Davis and her new book on your blog.
Nope never dress my dog up.
we did once in a while; Sam had a Christmas sweater that he wore.
I do dress my pet for the holidays
No pets to dress up at this time.
Shirley Robinson I don’t dress my cat up for Christmas
We don’t have any pets to dress up. Love the cover of the book.
I dress up my ferret lol