What are you reading right now?
Leslie Budewitz’s new Assault and
Pepper, a Spiced to Death mystery. It’s a first in a series and
not out yet, but will be soon. Very enjoyable, set in Seattle. Also,
I’ve got Lee Child’s latest on my bedside table, as well as Lisa
Gardner’s Fear Nothing.
Who is your favorite author?
I really enjoy reading Lisa Gardner and
Harlan Coben. I also enjoy a bunch of cozy authors including Krista
Davis, Kate Carlisle, Cleo Coyle, and Hannah Dennison. The list goes
on!!!!
What is your go to cookbook?
Gourmet I. The first edition. It is
really worn, but it’s where I learned out how to make so many
things, pastry dough, apple pie, boeuf bourguinon, biscuits!
Do you have a favorite celebrity chef?
I love Anthony Bordain (love his
historical perspectives), Ina Garten (though she’s so mellow
sometimes it drives me crazy LOL), and Bobby Flay (for flair and
cockiness). I love watching Iron Chef. That’s downright fun. And I
love watching up-and-coming chefs on the challenge shows.
If you could have a meal with anyone
past or present/ who would it be, and what would you be eating?
Well, it would
have to include a number of people. I’d love to get Will
Shakespeare, Mark Twain, and Agatha Christie in a room together. I’d
probably throw in Audrey Hepburn for style and the wonderful humanity
conversations we could have. Hillary Clinton because she’s just so
well versed on everything and she’s funny. Billy Crystal or Mel
Brooks or both--so witty! And Ina Garten, because then I don’t have
to do any cooking! What a fun, interesting, colorful mix, right? I’d
ask Jesus to attend, too, because he has the best bread!! Feeds
hordes of people. And talk about witty?!! I’m thinking fresh
crab and shrimp, maybe a side of pesto pasta with lots of basil and
Parmesan cheese, organic tomatoes with homemade buffalo mozzarella,
basil, and pesto oil. My homemade ice cream. I make some killer
flavors. And something chocolate. I have a wonderful recipe for
homemade chocolate spritzed with a sassy spice in the upcoming
STIRRING THE PLOT. Check it out.
Savor the mystery!
LEMON MERINGUE &
MYSTERY
I write mysteries. Culinary mysteries
that include recipes. That means I have to cook. A lot. Luckily, I
have over the course of my life. As a girl, I sold chocolate cream
pies to my neighborhood, I catered during college, and I ran a
restaurant in my twenties. I love to cook!
In the Cookbook Nook mysteries,
the lead character, Jenna Hart, is not a cook. She is a foodie. She
dined out often while working at an advertising firm in San
Francisco. When she left her job to return home to Crystal Cove to
help her aunt open a culinary bookshop and café, Jenna decided she
had to learn to cook. Baby steps. Five-ingredient recipes. This
recipe I’m sharing would give her heart palpitations…and she’s
not thirty yet.
But don’t
despair if you, too, are a novice. It’s really not a difficult
recipe. It simply has a lot of ingredients and a few extra steps.
Follow them, and you won’t go wrong.
By the way, I
often find recipes in cookbooks, but I found this recipe in a Food
Network Magazine, the April 2014 issue. However, I tweaked it because
I have to eat gluten-free. It turned out fabulously! ***If
you wish to make these with regular flour, simply swap out the
glutlen-free flour with regular flour and OMIT the xanthan gum! All
the rest of the steps are the same.
These are perfect for a book club!
LEMON
MERINGUE CUPCAKES
GLUTEN-FREE
VERSION
Ingredients:
For
the cupcakes:
2
large eggs
1
¾ cups granulated sugar
1
cup whole milk (I used 2%)
¾
cup vegetable oil
Finely
grated zest of 2 lemons (2 tablespoons)
2
tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1
teaspoon vanilla extract
1
¾ cups GF flour (I used Sweet Rice/Tapioca)
½
teaspoon xanthan gum
½
teaspoon baking poder
¼
teaspoon baking soda
¼
teaspoon salt
For
the meringue:
2
large egg whites
¼
teaspoon salt
½
cup granulated sugar
½
cup light corn syrup
¼
cup water
¼
teaspoon vanilla extract
For
the glaze: (optional)
2
½ cups confectioners’ sugar
¼
cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
1
tablespoon lemon-flavored liqueur (optional)
6-7
drops yellow food coloring (optional)
Directions:
Make
the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper
liners. (My batch made 12 plus 6 mini muffins) Whisk the eggs, sugar,
milk, vegetable oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla in a large
bowl until combined. Whisk the GF flour, xanthan gum, baking powder,
baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Add the flour mixture
to the egg mixture and mix on medium high. Don’t overmix.
Divide
the batter among the muffin cups, filling them to just below the rim.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes
out clean, 20-22 minutes (depending on your oven). Let cool 15
minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Don’t
start making the meringue until the cupcakes are out of the oven.
Beat the egg whites and salt in a large bowl, using a mixer on medium
speed for 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to high and add in 2
tablespoons of the sugar. Beat until shiny peeks form, about 3
minutes.
Combine
the rest of the sugar (6 tablespoons), the corn syrup and ¼ cup
water in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until the mixture
registers 245 degrees on a candy thermometer. Do
NOT over cook!!
About 6 minutes. Remove from heat. With the mixer on medium, slowly
pour the hot sugar syrup into the egg whites; increase the speed to
high and beat until the meringue is fluffy and cool, about 6 minutes.
Beat in the vanilla. Transfer the meringue to a pastry bag fitted
with a large round tip. [I didn’t have one; I used a spoon.] Pipe
the mixture onto the cooled cupcakes; set aside at room temperature
to firm up, about 15 minutes.
Note:
I did not do the rest of the recipe, as laid out in the magazine. Why
not? See my fear below… Here
are the remaining instructions. Make
the glaze:
Whisk the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, limoncello and food
coloring in a microwave-safe bowl until smooth. Microwave the mixture
1 minute, then whisk again until the sugar dissolves; let cool about
5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Dip the meringue-covered tops of
the cupcakes into the glaze [MY
FEAR
WAS THE MERINGUE WOULD SLIDE RIGHT OFF; I WAS CHICKEN.] Let any
excess drip off [sort of like you would dipping an ice cream into
chocolate]. If the glaze gets too thick, microwave 20 seconds.
* * *
Below is a
tidbit about STIRRING THE PLOT, the next in my Cookbook
Nook mysteries. It comes out
September 30! FYI, though I write a series, each book is a
stand-alone and can be read first, even if you haven’t read the
others in the series.
STIRRING
THE PLOT
(3rd
in Cookbook
Nook
Mysteries)
Halloween
in Crystal Cove, California, is a big deal, involving a spooky soiree
where the Winsome Witches, a fund-raising group, gather to open up
their purse strings and trade superstitions. But party magicians,
fortune-tellers, and herbalists are only the beginning of this recipe
for disaster. Jenna Hart has packed The Cookbook Nook chock-full of
everything from ghostly texts to witchy potions in anticipation of
the annual fund-raiser luncheon. But there’s one unexpected
addition to the menu: murder. When the Head Priestess of the Winsome
Witches is found dead, there’s plenty of blame to go around, and
Jenna will have to use more than just sleight of hand to conjure up
the truth…
[This
is NOT a paranormal story. It is a traditional cozy mystery.]
Author: Daryl Wood Gerber
Title: Stirring The Plot
Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date: Sept 30, 2014
Jenna Hart has packed The Cookbook Nook chock-full of everything from ghostly texts to witchy potions in anticipation of the annual fund-raiser luncheon. But there's one unexpected addition to the menu: murder.
When the Head Priestess of the Winsome Witches is found dead under mysterious circumstances, there's no logical answer and plenty of blame to go around. With her aunt, Vera, unable to call on her ability to foresee the future, Jenna will have to use more than just sleight of hand and a few magic tricks to conjure up the truth...
Review: This is book 3 in the Cookbook Nook series, and probably one of the few series that I've read from the start. I love this one!
I also love that it is a holiday book, especially as it is Halloween. I love books that revolve around holidays and Halloween in Crystal Cove seems like a great place to be, until Pearl winds up dead. Pearl is the Head Priestess of the Winsome Witches (Not real witches though). She's also a counselor, who a lot of people have told their secrets to. See, look at all that motive.
There are a lot of people with motives though, and Daryl makes it hard to figure out which one it might be, and some of the suspects come across as really suspicious. There was one character, in particular that I wanted to be the killer, but wasn't.
Jenna and Vera are at their very best here, as they work to find out whodunit. Oh and Jenna and handsome Rhett are progressing in their relationship, though not nearly fast enough for me.
Like the other two books in the series, this one is full of great cookbook titles from the shop and some fabulous recipes that will make you want to munch while turning the pages.
I absolutely loved this book, and can't wait for the next installment!
Rating: 5 flowers
a Rafflecopter giveaway
