Cinnamon and Sugar

Popcorn Fudge

Popcorn has long been one of my favorite crunchy snacks since I was a kid. In fact back when I was single, I had popcorn for dinner about once a week. If I was in the mood to be a bit healthier, I’d eat a piece of fruit for dessert. Nowadays popcorn is saved for snacks and since I’ve discovered SkinnyPop, it’s one that I enjoy several times a week (I really do hate popping my own and having to clean up greasy pans and lids).

So when I met Kristi Abbott at Left Coast Crime and discovered her book, KERNEL OF TRUTH, I was smitten. KERNEL OF TRUTH is the first book in Kristi’s brand new Popcorn Shop Mystery series and is set at the gourmet popcorn shop, POPS, owned by Rebecca Anderson in Grand Lake, Ohio. Rebecca has moved back to her hometown from California after ending her marriage to celebrity chef Antoine Belanger. It wasn’t very easy coming “home” to the small town seeing how she had been a screw-up in high school after her parents were killed in an accident, and now it is perceived she has screwed up her marriage since Antoine is practically worshiped by everyone. Rebecca wants to live close to her sister, Haley, her brother-in-law, Sheriff Dan Cooper, and their young son. Opening the popcorn shop is met with skepticism by quite a lot of the townspeople, but once they taste her goodies she develops regular customers. One of her best friends and source of encouragement and mentoring is elderly but feisty, Cordelia “Coco” Bittles. Coco owns Coco’s Cocoas, a chocolate shop, next door to Rebecca and the two women collaborate on recipes and even plan on going into business together.

However, Coco’s vibrant life is ended much too soon, when a suspected burglary goes wrong. Jessica, Coco’s niece, finds her aunt dead one morning when she goes to open the chocolate shop. The young woman’s screaming brings Rebecca running to the shop, where she rushes through the crime scene to see if she can help Coco. With her mentor dead, Rebecca, pushes forward to secure some of the recipes they had worked on together. However, Jessica is insistent that she is the only heir and everything belongs to her. There’s long been tension and ill-will between Rebecca and Jessica, but with the death of Coco, it increases.

The police arrest one of the town’s pan-handling, “almost” homeless man, Jasper, after finding the stolen cash and chocolates from Coco’s shop in his humble abode. The town breathes a sigh of relief until another elderly shop owner is attacked while Jasper is sitting in jail. Perplexed, Sheriff Dan has no idea who the culprit is until someone starts suggesting it could be his sister-in-law, Rebecca. Unfortunately, there is incriminating evidence pointing to her at both the crime scenes. When she’s arrested twice for entering Coco’s business and residence without Jessica’s permission, most of the town thinks she could be guilty. Rebecca is determined to find out who’s out to frame her and why they’re targeting the elderly shop owners. When her questioning gets too close to finding answers the killer sets their sight on her. Rebecca must find the truth before she becomes the next victim but in order to do so she must overcome the town’s prejudices against her, proving her innocence and proving she does belong.

KERNEL OF TRUTH starts out with a bang from the very first sentence and the action continues at a rapid pace throughout this well plotted story. There were plenty of suspects to keep me guessing while the characters were nicely developed. I loved how the author wove Rebecca’s old teenage insecurities in with her current life, trying to integrate with the small town’s population who had preconceived ideas of who she really is. What made this book really stand out though is Kristi’s cheeky wit that included several clever popcorn related similes, such as “a few old maids shy of a fully popped bowl”, that made me laugh out loud. Her humor added to the enjoyment of a well crafted cozy and I look forward to seeing what Kristi has in store for Rebecca and POP in the next installment!

A special thanks to Kristi for allowing me to share her Popcorn Fudge recipe from KERNEL OF TRUTH! Oh my… amazing crunchy caramel corn adorns a thick layer of creamy, rich fudge which boasts a hint of spiciness. The fudge is super easy to make and is practically fool-proof using four pantry staples. But it’s the caramel corn that elevates this candy to nirvana and next time I’ll be sure to make a double batch!

As a bonus for my readers I have an autographed copy of KERNEL OF TRUTH for one lucky winner! Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. Contest is open to U.S. residents only and ends Monday, April 25, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST. Winners will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)

Popcorn Fudge

Ingredients

Caramel Corn

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups popped corn

Fudge

1-1/4 cups sweetened condensed milk
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Instructions

Caramel Corn

Preheat oven to 250 degrees (F).

Combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, while stirring.

Then hands off for four minutes! Serious, let it do its thing.

At the end of the four minutes, add in baking soda and vanilla, then pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn and combine well. You’ll have to use your hands, so grease ’em up and get in there.

Spread popcorn out on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes to an hour at 250 degrees. Check it every 15 minutes to avoid burning. The caramel corn should be light and crispy.

Once the popcorn is out of the oven, start making the fudge layer.

Fudge

Line a square pan with foil.

Combine the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips either in a double boiler or in the microwave. Either way, stir often.

When everything is melted and mixed together, add in salt and cayenne.

Pour into prepared pan and press caramel corn into the fudge.

Refrigerate for two hours.

Turn out onto a cutting board and cut into squares.

Tips

I used SkinnyPop packaged popcorn to speed up the recipe.

Do yourself a favor and double the recipe for the caramel corn. If you sample it before you make the fudge, there won’t be ANY left for the topping 🙂

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Cherries Jubilee

As soon as I picked up a copy of ON THIN ICING by Ellie Alexander and saw her recipe for Cherries Jubilee, I knew it was the dish I wanted to make for this blog post! I’ve made Cherries Jubilee numerous times in the past with an old recipe found in my mother’s vintage red and white checkered Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. That OLD recipe calls for using canned cherries and relies heavily on lots of cornstarch and sugar, resulting in a slightly metallic, overly sweet, gloppy ice cream topping. On the other hand, Ellie’s Cherries Jubilee uses fresh (or frozen) cherries with zesty orange citrus to brighten the flavor. With a generous pour of rum to flambé, this dessert will be the star while the ice cream plays a supporting role! Thank you, Ellie, for allowing me to share your gorgeous dessert!

I do have a funny story to share about making Cherries Jubilee (and one I always think of when I make them now!) with my then 4-year-old granddaughter, Emory. She loved to help cook with me, especially desserts, so I had her climb up on a chair and stir the canned cherries and juice into the sugar and cornstarch mixture. I had her get off the chair and stand about 5 feet away from the cooktop while I turned on the gas burner to start heating the mixture up. Something went wrong and it didn’t ignite until 10 seconds after turning it on and all of a sudden the gas went “poof” with flames climbing up the sides of the pan. Emory was far enough away that there wasn’t any danger. After I lowered the flame to low I told her she could start stirring again. She climbed back up on her chair shaking her head and muttering under her breath to no one in particular, “Scared the hell out of me!” Needless to say when it came time to flambé, she was clear on the opposite side of the room. And yes, I did explain that we don’t use language like that…after I finished laughing 🙂

ON THIN ICING is just as sweet of a read as Ellie’s delicious Cherries Jubilee! Jules works at her family’s bakery, Torte, in Ashland, Oregon, home to the world famous Shakespeare Festival. Lance, the Artistic Director for the festival, asks Jules to cater a weekend-long executive board retreat at Lake of the Woods Lodge. Jules jumps at the chance to showcase her cooking with the hopes of expanding Torte’s catering service.

Just as Jules and Sterling, one of Torte’s employees, arrive at the remote mountain resort it begins snowing, with a huge storm in the forecast. Their dinner prep is interrupted by the belligerent, lecherous bartender, Tony, who just so happens to like to get drunk on the job. Jules can’t understand why Mercury, the owner of the lodge, keeps Tony on the payroll, but she’s determined to do a professional job even if the bartender is “hitting” on her. Just when she thinks it can’t get any worse Carlos shows up. Carlos is her estranged husband and she left him sailing on the cruise ship they both worked for in the Mediterranean. Carlos, a sexy Spaniard, is a chef and makes himself at home in the kitchen helping out. He’s determined to work out the issues that split their marriage apart…like the fact that he never told Jules during their three year marriage that he had a son.

As the weather continues to deteriorate so does Tony who hasn’t stopped drinking. He gets into an altercation with one of the board members, and throws a wine bottle at him, ruining his expensive clothing. Then during dinner he starts a fight with Carlos, who was being protective of Jules, and it takes several of the guests and the handyman, to pull them apart. Jules would like Carlos to leave and wait for her back in Ashland so she can concentrate on her catering job, but the storm has blown in and they are stuck.

The next morning Jules is hunting for some of the supplies that Sterling packed away and she stumbles upon the body of Tony, who was stuffed into a freezer. With the storm raging, the phone lines are down, there’s no internet service, and the roads are blocked. Jules knows one of people staying at the lodge is the killer, and she needs to find out before they escape or strike again. But Tony managed to make so many people angry at him that narrowing the field of suspects is daunting. To make matters worse, she can’t count Carlos out as one of the suspects, but can her heart be objective?

ON THIN ICING was a fun read with plenty of suspects to keep me guessing until the very end. The poetic description of the cooking done by Jules and Carlos made me run to the kitchen and start baking something! I could almost taste and smell their creations. Ellie’s use of an isolated setting made the book a bit different from the others set in Ashland, but it was a nice change. She brings the scenery to life and draws you into the story. I liked that we finally got to meet Carlos and I look forward to seeing where the author takes their relationship in future books.

A special thanks to Ellie Alexander for providing an autographed copy of ON THIN ICING to one lucky winner! Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. Contest is open to U.S. residents only and ends Thursday, April 21, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST. Winners will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)

Cherries Jubilee

Jules likes to flambé the cherries tableside for a show-stopping presentation.

Ingredients

1 pound of fresh Oregon Bing cherries (pitted and halved) or frozen if not in season
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon freshly grated orange rind
1 tablespoon orange juice
1/2 cup rum*
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Instructions

Rinse and drain whole cherries. Cut them in half and discard pits.

Add pitted cherries, orange juice, orange rind, and sugar in a sauté pan.

Sauté on low heat for five minutes or until the sugar dissolves.

Bring heat to medium and cook cherries in their juices for an additional five minutes.

To flambé using a gas stove, remove cherries from the heat and add rum.

Light the rum with a long match, being sure to swirl the pan until the flames subside.

To flambé using an electric stove, add rum to a saucepan and warm it on low for 3 minutes. Remove pan from heat, light rum with a long match, and carefully pour ignited rum over the cherries, swirling the pan until the flames subside.

Serve warm cherries over ice cream.

Tips

Be safe: have a fire extinguisher close by, just in case!

*I used silver rum but gold rum will work just fine too. Both produce small, blue flames. For a show-stopping flambé, use Bacardi 151 which has a very high alcohol content and will flame brilliantly. I only had regular rum on hand… maybe next time I’ll track down some Bacardi 151!

If using frozen cherries, don’t defrost before slicing in half since they will be easier to slice while firm. Just add a couple minutes to cooking time.

Frozen cherries may create more juice than fresh cherries. If the liquid won’t reduce and is too runny, mix 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch with 1 teaspoon cold orange juice or water. Slowly stir the mixture into the cherries BEFORE you add the rum. Simmer for 1 minute and then proceed with the rum and flambé.

If you have any leftover Cherries Jubilee, swirl it through vanilla ice cream and store in an airtight container in the freezer. The rum will keep the dessert from freezing rock hard so you can enjoy this frozen concoction when you’re ready to indulge again!

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Be sure to keep your eyes open for CAUGHT BREAD HANDED by Ellie Alexander, releasing June 28, 2016!

Seared Pork Chops with Apricot Brandy Sauce

I am so pleased to be able to introduce you to debut author, Leslie Karst, who is celebrating the release of her brand new book this week, DYING FOR A TASTE! I met Leslie at Left Coast Crime in Phoenix (I am SO glad I decided to attend) and after talking a bit about her book I knew I needed to read it sooner rather than later… and it exceeded my expectations!

Sally Solari, former attorney, is helping run her father’s old-school Italian restaurant after her mother passed away. The long-time multi-generational family restaurant sits at the end of a wharf in Santa Cruz, California with spectacular views of Monterrey Bay. Sally would rather be in the kitchen learning to be a chef instead of managing the business side of things, but her father doesn’t think women belong in the kitchen. Sally’s Aunt Letta rebelled against the tradition, left the family business, and started her own restaurant, Gauguin. Aunt Letta has been mostly estranged from her family for many long years, but Sally connected to her and considers herself close to her aunt.

It comes as a heartbreaking shock when Aunt Letta is found stabbed to death with Sous Chef Javier’s personal knife. The police are almost certain Javier is the killer….he had an unrequited love for his boss….and his arrest is imminent. Sally is certain of Javier’s innocence, even with incriminating evidence mounting, and she decides she needs to find the truth. As she starts asking questions and digging into her aunt’s past, she finds her aunt had been hiding long buried secrets that maybe should have been left hidden, especially when the killer sets their eyes on her.

There were so many things to love about this fast-paced debut mystery! A tightly woven plot with memorable characters parading across the pages kept me turning pages and left me feeling regret when I had to put the book down to attend to other responsibilities. But what I truly loved about DYING FOR A TASTE is not only was it an entertaining read, Leslie gives it a voice of social consciousness. She deftly weaves social issues and prejudices into the plot that is thought provoking without being heavy handed. It’s refreshing to come across a book that can combine both entertainment and realism while tackling the issues relevant to our society today. Well done, Leslie! I truly look forward to your next book!

Leslie, like her protagonist Sally, was an attorney before going to cooking school. She has some amazing recipes in DYING FOR A TASTE and has allowed me to share Seared Pork Chops with Apricot Brandy Sauce, which is one of the dishes Aunt Letta served at Gauguin. I’ll be honest, cooking meat that is the center of attention scares me. I’m a competent baker and good with veggies, chicken, and fish but I’m very insecure when it comes to showcasing pork or beef on the plate. However, I decided to be challenged and try this recipe…and I think my photos and the video at the bottom of the page speak for the end results 🙂 Leslie’s instructions were easy to follow and not time-consuming, resulting in succulent, flavorful pork chops that are covered with a gorgeous jewel-toned pan sauce that is company worthy! But, since the dish cooks so quickly it will earn a regular rotation in my weekday meals too. The apricot brandy sauce would be incredible on chicken or fish as well, making it very versatile. Thank you, Leslie, for allowing me to share your exquisite dish and for building my culinary confidence!

A special thanks to Crooked Lane Books for providing a hardcover copy to one lucky winner! Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. Contest is open to U.S. residents only and ends Monday, April 18, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST. Winners will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)

Seared Pork Chops with Apricot Brandy Sauce

This is a classic à la minute hot line dish, where a piece of meat is seared and then the pan it was cooked in is deglazed with liquid to dissolve all those luscious caramelized bits left behind. Once you’ve done all your prep work (chopping, coating meat with spices), it only takes about fifteen minutes to fry the chops and make the sauce.

Ingredients

6 ounces dried apricots, thinly sliced (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup brandy
1 teaspoon dried cumin
1 teaspoon dried ginger
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
4 thick-cut pork chops, excess fat around edges removed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large red onion, sliced (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup beef or chicken stock
4 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Place the sliced apricots in a bowl and pour the brandy over the fruit to let them soak. The longer they soak the better – two hours minimum, but first thing in the morning or even overnight would be best.

Mix the cumin, ginger, black pepper, and salt together in a small bowl and then coat the chops on each side with this dry marinade.

Heat a large, heavy duty skillet over medium-high heat and then add the oil.

Once the oil is shimmering, place the pork chops gently in the pan. (Do not crowd the chops; cook them in separate pans or in two batches if necessary.)

Fry until golden brown and then turn. Continue cooking until the chops are done to your liking (Gauguin serves them still a little pink in the center).

Remove chops to a large plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Dump the sliced onions into the pork chop skillet and saute over medium heat in the oil left in the pan, stirring occasionally so they don’t burn.

When the onions start to brown, add the apricots (saving the brandy they’ve been soaking in for later) and continue to cook until the apricots start to brown.

Add the brandy and chicken stock to the pan and continue to cook for another two minutes.

Add the butter and stir into the sauce once melted.

Plate up the chops and spoon the onions, apricots, and sauce on top.

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Sadie’s Lemon Summer Surprise

I’ve had the pleasure of reading a few of the books in Lynn Cahoon’s Tourist Trap Mystery series over the last couple of years. When MURDER ON WHEELS came out in February, I added it to my to-read-pile, but after seeing some of the other book blogger reviews, I knew I wanted to read it sooner than later. Lynn mixes just the right amount of small town charm with a cleverly crafted plot in her latest cozy mystery. Added in is a pinch of geocaching with it’s gluten-free baking president hiding stolen recipes and a cast of characters to round out the menu.

Jill Gardner, owner of Coffee, Books, and More in South Cove, California, seems to have trouble find her more often than not. Her best friend’s boyfriend is becoming a geocaching enthusiast and drags Jill and her boyfriend, Detective Greg King, along for an afternoon search. There they meet Kacey, the young president of the Coastal Geocache Club, who recently reunited with her estranged husband, Dustin Austin. The problem is that Dustin recently dumped Sadie, one of Jill’s good friends, to go back to his wife. Sadie’s heart was broken, especially when Austin stole some of her treasured recipes from her business, Pies on the Fly, before leaving her.

Kacey and Austin are planning on opening up a gluten-free dessert food truck in the very same truck that Jill had planned on purchasing before Austin “stole” it out from beneath her. There’s lots of bad feelings going around and then Kacey is found dead on the beach. She was highly allergic to gluten and it appears that someone slipped her a deadly dose. Could it have been Austin, who had made her sick in the past? Or could it be Sadie looking for revenge over the young woman stealing both her recipes and her lover? Jill is certain Sadie is an innocent victim but the police suspect otherwise, so Jill starts asking questions.

On top of trying to clear her friend’s name, Jill is also having best friend troubles and Amy is no longer speaking to her. Her aunt’s love life is more active than her own and Jill is caught in the middle of the conflict between the two men vying for her aunt’s affections. When one of Kacey’s friends gives Jill a cryptic message and later that day is pushed off a cliff while geocaching, Jill knows she’d better find the culprit before the murderer comes after her.

While Murder On Wheels does not have any recipes included, Sadie is quite the baker, providing treats to sell at Coffee, Books, and More. One of the desserts she likes to make is her Lemon Summer Surprise and Lynn Cahoon has graciously allowed me to share that recipe with you. A delicately flavored lemon cheesecake-style pie, Sadie’s Lemon Summer Surprise is super quick to whip up (especially if you buy a pre-made graham cracker crust!) and isn’t fussy like traditional cheesecakes. Basically dump the ingredients in a bowl, mix them until creamy, then pour into a crust and bake. I worried about the cracking that can occur on regular cheesecakes, but this baked up beautifully with no special care! I took the liberty of adding gluten-free substitutions to the recipe, probably similar to what Kacey would have done for her food truck. I have also included a short video tutorial on how to make Sadie’s Lemon Summer Surprise at the bottom of the page, along with a sneak peek at Lynn’s next release debuting June 7th!

A huge thank you to Lynn Cahoon for providing an e-book copy of MURDER ON WHEELS to one lucky winner! Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. Contest ends Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST. Winners will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)

Sadie’s Lemon Summer Surprise

Ingredients

Filling

2 8-ounce packages softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla (if necessary, make sure your vanilla is gluten-free)
1- 1/2 tablespoons flour (or use your favorite gluten-free flour + 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum)
2 eggs, room temperature
A couple drops yellow food color (if you want it really yellow)

1 Graham Cracker Crust (pre-made such as Keebler, or make your own like Sadie would)

Crust

2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs (Use gluten-free graham cracker crumbs if desired. My favorite brand is Kinnikinnick.)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter

Instructions

Crust

Mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter together.

Pat into a spring-form pan or a deep dish pie plate. Set aside.

Filling

Mix all the ingredients together until smooth and pour into your crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Cool and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

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A sneak peak at Lynn’s soon-to-be released book, TEA CUPS AND CARNAGE! Available June 7, 2016!

The quaint coastal town of South Cove, California, is all abuzz about the opening of a new specialty shop, Tea Hee. But as Coffee, Books, and More owner Jill Gardner is about to find out, there’s nothing cozy about murder . . .

Shop owner Kathi Corbin says she came to South Cove to get away from her estranged family. But is she telling the truth? And did a sinister someone from her past follow her to South Cove? When a woman claiming to be Kathi’s sister starts making waves and a dead body is found in a local motel, Jill must step in to clear Kathi’s name–without getting herself in hot water.

Toss Across Sweet Potato Chip Dog Treats

About 1-1/2 years ago, before I started blogging, I attended the Bouchercon conference in Long Beach, CA (my first mystery conference ever) and met Sparkle Abbey (aka Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter) at a luncheon. As fate would have it, they had an extra seat available at their table and I joined them. I didn’t know who they were when I sat down, but as I chatted with these VERY NICE ladies I become increasingly interested in their books and immediately downloaded one when I went home that night.

Fast forward a few months…I started blogging (not really knowing what I was doing or where I was going) and wanted to share my review of the Sparkle Abbey book I had read. I personally didn’t have any pet treat recipes up my sleeve so I gathered up my courage and contacted these VERY NICE ladies and asked if I could share their recipe. I was expecting a brush off, or a “heck no” response….instead my request was met with enthusiasm! And the rest is, as they say, history. I’ve found the authors I’ve connected with through my blog to be genuinely nice people, who readily support each other and their fans! So thank you, Sparkle Abbey, for helping me make my blog what it is today!

Recently, Sparkle Abbey released their eighth book in The Pampered Pets Mystery series, RAIDERS OF THE LOST BARK! Don’t you just love the title?!?! This time the story takes place from the viewpoint of Melinda Sue Langston, former Texan beauty queen, but she’d rather you call her Mel. Mel is the owner of Bow Wow Boutique in Laguna Beach, California. Feisty 80-something-year-old, Betty Fox, is her assistant at the shop and is nagging her to attend the Five Paws-Up Laguna Beach Animal Reserve League fundraiser. While Mel doesn’t have anything against the charity, the fundraiser is glamping for a week in the Laguna Hills wilds. Plus there’s the issue of the chef for the event, blackmailer Addison Rae, hired only because she forced Mel to recommend her for the job. Mel would rather not be around Addison all week long.

Addison threatens Mel into attending and before she knows it, Betty Fox is driving them down the freeway in a tricked-out motorhome, worthy of any glamping trip. Mel’s only interest in tagging along is to be able to retrieve her mother’s ill-advised love letters to Addison’s father, and hopefully save her own father from heartache in finding out about his wife’s affair. Instead of getting the letters from Addison, the blackmailer demands one more “favor” before she hands them over. Mel blows up and their fight is witnessed by many of the other campers. Later, Addison is found murdered in the spa, the letters missing, and Mel has no alibi since she was waiting out on the hiking trail for the blackmailer. A suspect in the murder, Mel must contend with the Laguna Hills detectives who aren’t very appreciative of her offer to help find the real killer. Betty joins her in snooping around and asking questions, but the more they talk to people the more they realize Mel wasn’t the only one being blackmailed. When another murder takes place, Mel and Betty realize they had better find the killer before one of them becomes the next victim.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST BARK was such a fun read! I loved Betty Fox as Mel’s sidekick…she’s a hoot and provided plenty of laugh out loud moments! There were other quirky characters that added to the book’s entertainment, while the mystery plot had plenty of suspects and was nicely interwoven with relationship subplots. The on-going fight between Mel and her cousin, Caro, over their grandmother’s gaudy brooch adds additional humor along with the issue of what will happen between Mel and her on-again, off-again, fiancé, Grey Donovan, who comes back to town. Even though this is the eighth book in the series, it’s easily read as a stand-alone. I greatly look forward to the next installment in The Pampered Pets Mystery series!

As usual, Sparkle Abbey provides a couple pet treat recipes with their book. While Caro is a cook, Mel isn’t so much, but she is able to easily make these one-ingredient Toss Across Sweet Potato Chip Dog Treats that were served to the dogs during a fun game at the glamping fundraising trip. The low and slow baking of the rounds of sweet potatoes produce a chewy, concentrated sweet flavored treat that my grandpuppy, Piper, loved! I also enjoyed eating a few myself, with a bit of flaky sea salt sprinkled on my pieces.

Thank you, Sparkle Abbey, for allowing me to share another recipe from your very delightful books!

A very special thank you to Sparkle Abbey for providing one lucky winner a choice of either an e-book or a print copy of RAIDERS OF THE LOST BARK! Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. Contest ends Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST. Non-U.S. residents will be awarded an e-book copy. Winners will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)

Toss Across Sweet Potato Chip Dog Treats

These are easy-peasy homemade treats your dog will love. They’re so quick and simple, even Mel likes to make them for Missy.

You’ll need:

3 large sweet potatoes
Baking Sheet
Cooling rack

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Scrub those sweet potatoes. No need to peel.

Cut the potatoes into 1/3″ slices, no smaller than 1/4″.

Keep in mind, the thinner the slice, the shorter the cooking time.

Place sliced potatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake for almost 3 hours. Turn over after 1-1/2 hours.

Cool completely on a wire rack.

Depending on thickness, this could take 30 minutes to 1 hour. As the treats cool, they will harden.

For desired chewiness: Baking 3 hours creates a soft chewy dog treat. If your pooch prefers crunchy treats, bake for an additional 20 – 30 minutes.

Storing

Remember, these are preservative-free and should be refrigerated for no longer than 1 week. You can freeze them for up to 1 month.

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Maple Pecan Squares

I had the pleasure of meeting Eva Gates (aka Vicki Delaney) at the Left Coast Crime conference in Phoenix in February. I was a bit embarrassed to admit, though, that I had never read any of her books. I had good intentions of doing so and had some of her books on my massive Amazon wish list over the last couple of years…but somehow they got lost in the shuffle and never purchased. Well let me tell you, I have sorely been missing out on the Lighthouse Library Mystery series and I have some catching up to do! Eva graciously provided me with a copy of READING UP A STORM, her newest release and the third book in the series. I was captivated from the very first sentence, “It was a dark and stormy night….” While a cliche, the author made me chuckle with her very next sentence and then proceeded to pull me in for a terrific read.

Lucy Richardson is the Assistant Librarian at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, ten miles outside Nags Head in the Outer Banks region. She’s only been there a few months, after leaving Boston and a breakup behind, and now resides in the cozy living quarters at the top of the lighthouse (which sounds totally awesome to me!). After wrapping up a surprise tenth work anniversary party for her boss, Bertie James, everyone heads home as a storm blows in. Lucy goes upstairs to her quarters and sees small lights waving from a beach that should be deserted. To make matters more eerie, a small motorboat is heading for the lights and towards certain destruction. Lucy calls the Coast Guard who end up rescuing Will Williamson and his much younger girlfriend, Marlene, just before the boat crashes onto shore.

The next day Will and Marlene attend a book club meeting that Lucy is moderating. One of her new friends, Stephanie, is also attending. Stephanie is a newcomer to Nags Head as well, moving to town to tend to her mother who was severely injured when a drunk driver hit her. Later that night a tipsy Stephanie confronts her mother about revealing who her father was, with Lucy there as a witness. It turns out Will Williamson is the cad who got Stephanie’s high-school-aged mother pregnant and then dumped her and left town with his wife and son, never once providing any type of child support. Now Will is back in town, a wealthy man with a trophy girlfriend on his arm.

The following morning Lucy walks through the marsh with her friend, and the town’s police officer, Butch Greenblatt, when they come across the stabbed body of Will Williamson in an abandoned boat. It doesn’t take long for the police to set their sights on Stephanie as the killer when it comes out that Will was her deadbeat dad and she doesn’t have an alibi. But the town rumor mill is also throwing their up-for-reelection mayor, Dr. Connor McNeil, into the pool of suspects. Lucy knows that neither of them could be guilty of such a heinous crime and she knows she’s going to have to find the real killer before her friends lose everything they hold dear.

Aside from the fabulous location, location, location of READING UP A STORM, Eva Gates provides a compelling plot with plenty of twists and turns and suspects to keep you wanting to turn the pages. Lucy is surrounded by people who care about her and by people who try her patience which adds to the humanization of the characters. There’s also a bit of romance that could develop between Lucy and Connor or Lucy and Butch… no spoilers here, but I will say that Eva won’t keep you hanging book after book after book… While there are not any recipes included with the book, Lucy’s cousin, Josie, is a talented baker and brings all the goodies to the surprise party and the book club events. The dessert that she most often provides is Maple Pecan Squares (or tarts if you want to be fancy). Eva kindly provided the recipe for me to share and they were an enormous hit with my taste testers as they are with Lucy and Josie’s friends! I’ve also included a short video tutorial on how to make these delectable cookie bars that feature gooey maple filling surrounding crunchy, buttery pecans on top of a pecan based shortbread crust.

I look forward to catching up with the first two books in this series AND look forward to the next book in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series…but in case you haven’t heard, several publishers are ending their contracts with numerous cozy mystery authors. Eva Gates has heard that the Lighthouse Library Mystery series may not be renewed if the sales don’t meet up with the publisher’s expectations. Click on the link for very cute blog posts from Mary at mjbreviewers on Six Ways to Support Authors and Six More Ways to Support Authors.

A very special thank you to Eva Gates for providing an autographed copy of READING UP A STORM to one lucky winner! Please use the Rafflecopter box located below the recipe to enter. Contest ends Monday, April 11, 2016 at 11:59 pm PST and is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only. Winners will be announced on this page and on Cinnamon & Sugar’s Facebook page, as well as notified by email (so check your spam folder!)

Maple Pecan Squares

As featured in Reading up a Storm by Eva Gates

Makes 36 squares

Ingredients

Base
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

Pecan Layer
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1-3/4 cups chopped pecans

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)

Grease and line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper so that it hangs over the sides.

Base

Pulse flour, brown sugar, pecans, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a food processor to combine.

Add butter and pulse until mixture is crumbly.

Press mixture into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes, until it just browns around the edges.

Allow to cool while you prepare the pecan layer.

Pecan Layer

Whisk melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt and egg until smooth.

Stir in chopped pecans and pour over shortbread base.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until bubbling around the edges. The middle may not look like it’s entirely set but don’t worry, it will firm up as it cools.

Allow to cool completely before slicing.