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Over the course of the last year or so, I’ve seen the Henny Penny Farmette Mystery series by Meera Lester and have been intrigued but just haven’t had the time to pick up a copy. When I finally had the opportunity, I grabbed the chance to sit and read the newest release, A HIVE OF HOMICIDES. With this third book in the series, I found I’ve been missing out on a delight series and now need to go back and read the first two books! A HIVE OF HOMICIDES can be read as a stand-alone and I easily felt like I got to know the characters quickly. The protagonist, Abigail “Abby” MacKenzie runs a farmette and raises bees and even though she’s an expert, she still gets stung once in a while. I love how each chapter includes either fascinating facts about honeybees (I wouldn’t want to be a male bee!), farming tips, or recipes… all which sound incredibly delicious. These “extras” add charm to the book! Years ago while I was on vacation with my husband, we chanced upon a honey store. I was mesmerized by their clever take on including a working bee hive in their store. They had replaced part of a wall with glass then used pipes to let the bees in from the outside. You could easily see the busy bees working on building their hive and making honey, although I was quite relieved that they were on the other side of the glass and couldn’t reach me! 

When Abby’s good friend’s husband is murdered and her friend seriously injured right after their marriage renewal vows, Abby knows she needs to investigate. But this time PTSD almost gets the best of Abby dragging her down with anxiety, sleeplessness, and loss of appetite. On top of that, her former colleagues at the police department seem to think that she is capable of the murder and the betrayal is deeply felt. The author effectively captures the mood of the dark abyss Abby finds herself in and I found myself cheering her on, hoping that she finds a way to overcome. And of course she does but I admire the author’s sensitivity to the matter and the way she brings it about. Despite the personal issues Abby must face, she still feels a great sense of duty towards bringing the killer to justice. The plot holds several twists and turns with enough action to keep the reader turning pages.

With the variety of recipes to whet the reader’s appetite, I had a difficult time deciding which I wanted to try first. In the end I chose to try the Rustic Pear Galette since pears are in season. I decided to use Pillsbury refrigerated ready-made crust (the top rated pre-made crust by America’s Test Kitchen!) which made this a quick and easy dessert to put together. Fresh pears with candied ginger adding a pop of flavor and apricot jam adding a pop of color, I think we have a new fall favorite in our household!  

Amazon Synopsis

When Abigail Mackenzie left the police force to become a farmer and beekeeper in beautiful Las Flores, California, she thought her days of criminal investigation were behind her . . .
 
Her present life is mostly filled with hard work and happy occasions, including the upcoming event with her friend Paola, a truffle maker, who’s renewing her vows with her husband Jake, owner of the Country Schoolhouse Winery. Abby is delighted to provide her trademark lavender honey for the occasion.
 
But after the ceremony, the guests of honor are nowhere to be found. When Abby goes looking for them, she hears a gunshot and discovers Jake dead in his car and Paola injured beside him.
 
Who was the intended target? Jake had a reputation as a busy bee with the ladies. Is it possible that one of his flings, stung by rejection, took revenge? Or could it be sour grapes with one of his colleagues at the winery? If Paola was meant to be the victim, Abby needs to protect her as she searches for the shooter.
 
When a second murder occurs, it’s up to Abby to crush the clues—before the killer gets her over a barrel.

 A special thanks to Meera Lester for providing one lucky winner a signed hardcover copy of A HIVE OF HOMICIDES! Contest ends Saturday, November 4, 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!) 

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Rustic Ginger-Pear Galette

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients

• Parchment paper, for lining a baking sheet or tart pan
• All-purpose flour, for flouring a cutting board
• Pastry dough, enough for 1 large pie crust (made from scratch or store-bought)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/8 cup for sprinkling on pie crust
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 pinch kosher salt
• 3 - 4 large ripe pears (I only needed 3... my pears were huge!)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter*
• 1 large egg
• 2 - 4 tablespoons apricot jam (I found 2 tablespoons plenty)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees (F).

2. Line a baking sheet or tart pan with parchment paper.

3. Sprinkle flour over a cutting board and then roll the pastry dough into a 14-inch round. Place the round on the lined baking sheet or tart pan and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

4. Combine 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl.

5. Cut the pears in half. Use a melon baller (or a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon) to remove the pithy centers and then slice each half into 1/4-to-1/2 inch thick slices to lay them out in a fan shape.

6. Coat the pears with the cornstarch mixture and place them on a large plate.

7. Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator. Position the pear slices on pie crust, starting from the center of the dough and working outward, leaving a minimum of four inches of dough to fold back over the fruit.

8. Sprinkle the candied ginger over the pears. Place dots of butter all around the galette. Press the dough around the edges over the fruit to hold it into place.

9. Beat the egg with a whisk in a small bowl. Use a pastry brush to apply the egg wash to the edges of the dough. Sprinkle the egg-covered dough with the remaining 1/8 cup sugar. 

10. Bake 30 - 60 minutes, or until the crust is a golden brown. Remove the galette from the oven to a wire rack. (My crust was very thin so it browned quickly. My pears were plenty soft too.)

11. Spoon the apricot jam into a small saucepan and heat thoroughly. Alternately, you can microwave in a microwave-safe bowl for 15 to 25 seconds. Brush the warm jam over the pears and serve the galette.

Tip

1. *I totally forgot to add the butter and my tart turned out fine. My pears were very juicy and tender as is. 

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BONES TO PICK, the debut cozy mystery in the Brie Hooker Mystery series by Linda Lovely starts out with humor in her acknowledgement and the chuckles continue throughout this delightful read! The quirky characters add to the charm of the story and captured my attention from the very first page. I found the protagonist, vegan chef Brie Hooker, to be an entertaining character from her ironic name to the situation she finds herself in helping her aunt run a goat farm, to her dilemma of the handsome vet and the moonshine man showering her with attention. The author provides many clever names and sayings that are quite entertaining. “Limburger and Liverwurst” is one of many creative cheese and meat swear words that Brie uses and just might find their way into my own vocabulary.

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There’s nonstop action in the plot, especially after Tammy the pig digs up bones belonging to Brie’s long-gone uncle by marriage. The local sheriff seems to have it in for Brie’s family with her Aunt Eva in his crosshairs. Brie shows her devotion to her family and jumps in to prove her aunt’s innocence even to the peril of her own life. There are plenty of people who are viable suspects in the decades old murder mystery and when one of Brie’s suspects is murdered, the stakes are even higher. I was intrigued with how the cold case was woven into the new murder along with fraud and forgery that kept me guessing at how the threads were going to come together. But come together they did in a very exciting, suspenseful conclusion!

While I could easily become a vegetarian, I would personally struggle with being a vegan as I adore cheese too much! I have friends who are vegan and I admire their commitment to their lifestyle and frequently enjoy the foods that they prepare… especially the desserts. Linda has graciously provided a recipe for Vegan Pumpkin Brownie Pie with Pecan Streusel for me to share. Vegans and non-vegans alike will swoon over this decadently rich-tasting treat! You will never miss the lack of eggs or dairy and if you don’t spill the secret, no one will even know. The three layers are each deliciously flavorful on their own, but when put together, the resulting dessert is absolutely amazing! 

 Amazon Synopsis

Living on a farm with four hundred goats and a cantankerous carnivore isn’t among vegan chef Brie Hooker’s list of lifetime ambitions. But she can’t walk away from her Aunt Eva, who needs help operating her dairy. 

Once she calls her aunt’s goat farm home, grisly discoveries offer ample inducements for Brie to employ her entire vocabulary of cheese-and-meat curses. The troubles begin when the farm’s pot-bellied pig unearths the skull of Eva’s husband, who disappeared years back. The sheriff, kin to the deceased, sets out to pin the murder on Eva. He doesn’t reckon on Brie’s resolve to prove her aunt’s innocence. Death threats, ruinous pedicures, psychic shenanigans, and biker bar fisticuffs won’t stop Brie from unmasking the killer, even when romantic befuddlement throws her a curve.

A special thanks to Linda Lovely for providing an e-book copy of BONES TO PICK for one lucky winner! Contest ends Friday, October 27, 2017 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!) 

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Vegan Pumpkin Brownie Pie with Pecan Streusel

According to the original recipe this serves 8-10. In our house figure on the side of 8 servings.

Ingredients

Pumpkin Brownie Layer

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil softened
• 1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (regular unsweetened cocoa will work)
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pumpkin Pie Layer

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 tblsp non-dairy milk (such as cashew, almond, coconut)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1/3 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (or more if you want it spicy)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3 tablespoons chocolate chips (vegan if necessary, otherwise regular are fine)

Pecan Streusel Topping

• 1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine
• 1/2 cup Sucanat or brown sugar
• 3/4 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

2. Grease a 9-inch pie plate.

Pumpkin Brownie Layer

1. Use a hand or stand mixer to mix pumpkin, sugar, coconut oil and vanilla together. 

2. Sift the flour, cornstarch, Dutch cocoa, salt and baking soda together and add to the pumpkin mixture. Spread into the pie plate.

Pumpkin Pie Layer

1. Mix together the pumpkin, vanilla, and non-dairy milk.

2. Whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, and spices. Slowly whisk dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture, then spread over the brownies.

3. Sprinkle pumpkin pie layer with the chocolate chips.

Pecan Streusel Topping

1. Mix all the topping ingredients together and sprinkle over the chocolate chip layer.

2. Bake 35 - 40 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature for 30 minutes, then refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, at least 1-1/2 hours. 

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SECRETS AND PIES, the long anticipated third release in author Jenny Kales’ Callie’s Kitchen Cozy Mystery series, lived up to and even exceeded my expectation! The adorable cover is filled with mouth-watering pies and invites you in and then the story grabs your attention, giving the reader a twisty, turvey ride. The protagonist, Callie Costas, is finding her stride and her life seems to be finally falling into place. Her relationship with Detective Sands is moving forward, her daughter is a delight, and her father has finally acknowledged her need to run her own restaurant. She’s even coming to terms with her ex-husband and his new wife living close by. But life is never static and Callie finds herself stressed by the amount of special events her kitchen needs to cater along with unforeseen personnel issues. When she finds a lifeless body in the garden of a lakeside Gilded Age home that her ex-husband is supposed to renovate, her mettle is put to the test.

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The author effectively weaves the theme of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Gilded Age throughout the book. I loved her description of the majestic mansions doting the lake around Crystal Bay, and the provided bits and pieces of history of that era. I also enjoy the photos that the author occasionally posts on Facebook of the real Lake Geneva in Wisconsin, of which she uses as inspiration for her fictional town. I’ll admit I thought I knew where the plot was going early on in the story but was totally thrown for a loop by the twist the story took. It kept me turning pages, wanting to find out how the mystery was going to be resolved. The conclusion provided a suspense scene that helped tie the threads together into a satisfying cozy mystery.

Callie bakes up so many amazing treats in her kitchen that you’ll drool while reading. Jenny provides several mouthwatering recipes that you will definitely want to try out! I was instantly drawn to the recipe for Callie’s Sour Cherry Pie. Fruit pies are my favorite type of pie and my most favorite dessert (next to cookies, of course)! My mother-in-law was a whiz at making pie dough from scratch but that’s one thing I always struggled with. Jenny’s crust can be mixed up using a food processor which I found to be super easy to do and without the frustration of over-working the dough. The results were an easy to make, easy to roll, and super flaky pie crust! She also uses tart “sour” canned cherries instead of the sickening sweet “fake” cherry filling. I thought the tart cherries provided more fruit flavor and I liked the texture much better, without the hassle of pitting fresh cherries. Served with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, Callie’s Sour Cherry Pie is sure to please your family and friends! 

Amazon Synopsis

Summertime in Crystal Bay means tourist season for Calliope “Callie” Costas, owner of Callie’s Kitchen, a Greek-meets-Midwest from-scratch eatery. Business is booming but so is the stress. Callie can barely keep up with the demand for her famous summer fruit pies and savory Greek delicacies, plus she’s agreed to bake dozens of “pitas” for the annual Greek Fest.

When Callie is asked to deliver cast party treats for a Murder Mystery Night at the historic Harris House, it seems like a welcome break from her hot stove. That is, until she finds herself an unwilling player in yet another suspicious death. Worse yet, the victim is a family friend and graduate student working on a project involving Crystal Bay’s colorful past.

Before long, a motley crew of suspects makes things as juicy as the succulent berries strewn around Callie’s Kitchen. And that’s not all Callie’s got on her plate. Add family obligations, a deepening romance with a local detective and unexpected personnel problems to the mix.

A special thanks to Jenny Kales for providing one winner the choice of either print or an e-book copy of SECRETS AND PIES for one lucky winner! Contest ends Monday, October 23, 2017 at 11:59 pm PST and print copy is restricted 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!) 

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Callie's Sour Cherry Pie

Serves 8

Ingredients

Callie's Perfect Pie Crust

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening (such as Crisco), very well-chilled
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, very well-chilled
• 6 - 8 tablespoons iced water *

Callie's Cherry Pie

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cans tart or "sour" red cherries (NOT cherry pie filling)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Instructions

Callie's Perfect Pie Crust

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. With a pastry blender, or using a food processor, cut in the shortening and butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

2. Mix in the iced water, one tablespoon at a time, until dough forms a ball. If dough doesn't come together or looks crumbly, gradually add more ice water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until it does. Take the dough out of the food processor (if using) and knead gently with your hands a few times. It should feel pliable and smooth. If not, add a little more water and knead in. Do not over process the dough.

3. Divide dough into two balls and flatten slightly into discs. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling.

4. Using a well-floured surface and a rolling pin, roll each pastry disc from the center to the edges.

5. Roll each pastry into a circle that is several inches larger than a 9-inch pie plate.

6. Place gently in pie plate and trim overhang. Fill pie and add top crust as recipe directs.

Callie's Cherry Pie

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F).

2. Drain the cherries and reserve the juice from only one can.

3. In a saucepan, stir the cherry juice into the combined mixture of the cornstarch and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened, but not gluey.

4. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract, then gently stir in cherries.

5. Pour filling into pastry lined pie pan. Dot with butter or margarine. 

6. Place second crust on top and gently seal by making a decorative edge with your fingers or the tines of a fork. Vent the pie by slashing the top crust several times. Or do as Max and Callie do, and use a shaped pie crust cutter to make decorative vents in the crust (such as a cherry shape). Place cut-outs on the crust and gently seal for additional decoration.

7. Bake 30 - 40 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble though the vents. Make sure it's bubbling or the filling will be too thin or "runny" once it cools. 

8. If the edges of the pie are browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil or "pie crust protectors" (found at kitchen stores) for the last 15 minutes of baking.

9. Cool pie several hours to allow filling to thicken before slicing.

Tip

1. * You can substitute well-chilled vodka for the water. This creates a super flaky crust and cuts down on the worry of over-handling the dough. 

2. You can make the dough a couple of days in advance and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. 

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