Friday, October 24, 2014


It's
Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 
another great cozy mystery!

The Cozy Chicks are back!
Every Friday in October I'll feature a recipe from 
THE COZY CHICKS KITCHEN
A Killer Collection of Recipes by the 
Bestselling Authors of the Cozy Chicks Blog 
SECOND EDITION


This fantastic cookbook contains recipes from cozy mystery favorites, 
Ellery Adams / J.B. Stanley
Lorraine Bartlett / L.L. Bartlett/ Lorna Barrett
Deb Baker / Hannah Reed
Kate Collins
Mary Kennedy
Mary Jane Maffini/Victoria Abbott
Maggie Sefton
and
Leann Sweeney

Lisa's Note: Author Duffy Brown is also a Cozy Chick and will be featured on Cozy Food Friday, however, she is not in The Cozy Chick's Kitchen. 

You can follow The Cozy Chicks blog here...

Today's featured recipe is from 
Leann Sweeney
author of the Cats In Trouble Mysteries and the Yellow Rose Mystery series.

THE CAT, THE VAGABOND AND THE VICTIM
Book 6 in the Cats In Trouble Mysteries
 Released August of this year

On to the recipe!


Belle's Switcheroo Blonde Brownies
by Leann Sweeney

In the Cat's in Trouble Mysteries, Belle Lowry owns local coffee spot Belle's Beans right in the center of picturesque Mercy, South Carolina, and just a stone's throw from Jillian Hart's favorite stop in town, The Cotton Company. This shop is floor-to-ceiling quilting fabric and after hours looking for just the right bolts of quilting fabric for her kitty quilts, Jillian always heads straight to Belle's Beans afterward. Belle not only serves the best coffee in the South, she likes to have a variety of goodies to go along with a latte or a cappuccino. Belle makes everything from scratch herself and for this treat, she uses her basic blonde brownie recipe but varies the combination of flavored baking chips she adds to the brownies. Jillian likes the peanut butter-chocolate the best!


Ingredients

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups peanut butter chips
1 cup chocolate chips
OR
1 1/2 cups vanilla chips
1 cup cinnamon chips
OR 
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 cup caramel chips


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the first 5 ingredients until fluffy.

Add in dry ingredients, except for the chips, and combine well.

Fold in whatever combination of chips you want. (Feel free to experiment with you own combinations)

Spread in a lightly greased 13 x 9-inch pan. 

Bake for 25 to 30 min.

Yield: 20 brownies

Please note that all food photos are from Google Images. Your version may vary in appearance.

Don't these look wonderful?
Can't you just smell them baking?
Mmm...Mmm...Mmm!

You can find THE COZY CHICKS KITCHEN and other great books written by the wonderful authors at your local bookstore or online at




Welcome to our kitchen! The kitchen is the heart of the home. This sense of warmth and companionship is what The Cozy Chicks try to invoke in our novels. And now, our cookbook will allow you to enter the heart of our cozy mystery worlds—the stories of our characters, of their authors, told through food. For a short while, our heroines have taken a break from crime solving to don aprons and wield spatulas and wooden spoons. And they’d like nothing more than to spend some time with you. THE COZY CHICKS KITCHEN is chock full of mouthwatering gems. Everything is here: main dishes, desserts, salads, soups, drinks, and did I mention desserts? Don’t miss this fabulous collection. I’ve got both the ebook version and a hardcopy. Get yours today! --Julie Hyzy, New York Times bestselling author of the White House Chef and Manor House mysteries The Cozy Chicks Are Bestselling Authors: Ellery Adams / J.B. Stanley, Deb Baker / Hannah Reed, Lorna Barrett / Lorraine Bartlett, Kate Collins, Mary Kennedy, Mary Jane Maffini/Victoria Abbott,  Maggie Sefton, Leann Sweeney

Keep reading to check out my installments of 
Book Beginnings on Fridays
and
The Friday 56

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader
Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading

Keeping my Leann Sweeney theme going...
I'm featuring THE CAT, THE VAGABOND AND THE VICTIM
Book 6 in the Cats In Trouble Mystery series
My Book Beginnings for this week...


Visitors don't often knock on my front door at eleven o'clock at night. But my friend Allison Cuddahee from the local no-kill shelter had called me in a panic to ask a favor. She arrived thirty minutes later bearing a gift. 

The opportunity to foster a cat is always a gift as far as I'm concerned. This particular feline's name was Clyde, and I already knew he was a celebrity. The press was onto him and his amazing story. See, various out-of-town reporters had been hanging around Mercy Animal Sanctuary, hoping for photo opportunities. That was why Allison resorted to this late-night, stealthy delivery. I guess you could now call my home his "undisclosed location." 

The Friday 56 is a meme hosted by Freda's Voice
Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader (If you have to improvise, that's okay.) *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grab you. *Post it.

Continuing with the THE CAT, THE VAGABOND AND THE VICTIM theme
My Friday 56...

I closed the umbrella, and as soon as I slid into the passenger seat, a Mercy PD squad car came screeching to a halt behind Candace's RAV, it's lights turning like gaudy lit-up pinwheels in the lightning-streaked sky. 

Cover blurb...

Heir of the cat...

When Clyde the cat travels two hundred miles back home only to find his former owner dead, the story makes national news. While everyone seems eager to tell Clyde’s incredible tale, someone needs to step up to care for him. Because the media attention is creating chaos at the local shelter, cat quilter Jillian Hart agrees to foster the loyal orange tabby, hoping his location is kept secret.

But while the media circus around Clyde continues, Jillian learns the real story behind his owner’s death—he was murdered. Why would an eldery man already dying from a serious illness become a murder victim? As the local police search for an answer, Clyde makes another escape. Jillian is drawn into the case when she finds Clyde has returned to his home again—and he’s found another body. When the motive behind these murders is finally revealed, Jillian understands Clyde is in danger of becoming the next victim, and she must help find the killer before the claws really come out.…


As always, please leave a comment and 
let me know what you think!

I would love for you to follow my blog by 
clicking on the link in the 
upper right hand corner of this page.

15 comments:

  1. This sounds like a delightful mystery and the setting is one that draws me in. Thanks for sharing, and here's mine: “THE OLEANDER SISTERS”

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  2. Since I'm a quilter, this book immediately appeals to me. I'm curious about "kitty quilts"-- are they quilts for cats or quilts with cats in the design? Either way, I'm interested. Sounds like a fun series of stories.
    By the way, I've been saving the recipes you've been featuring. Can't wait to try those blonde brownies.
    My Friday post features Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind.

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    Replies
    1. I love that you've been saving the recipes!

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    2. Sandra, the quilter heroine in my books makes little quilts for cats. They are very cat-centric cozies! :-)

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  3. It seems to be working. I have more trouble getting in the the site. The little circle swirls for awhile before it finally finishes loading the page. It's been like that for awhile though.

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  4. These look absolutely delicious, I can't wait to try them!! And I can't wait for the next release in the CATS in TROUBLE series. It is fabulous...

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  5. I'm certainly not a cat lover by any means, but this one looks mischievous and enticing :D Thanks for sharing!

    Also, we just went to the pumpkin patch this past week and I am curious, do you have any yummy recipes that call for pumpkin puree?


    Here's mine:
    Sparrow’s BB & Friday 56

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    Replies
    1. Claudia, how about a Pumpkin Nut Bread that uses canned pumpkin? Would that work for you?

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  6. Lisa I love your blog! The recipes above are definitely going to be a Halloween treat! Thanks!

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  7. The book and recipe sound awesome. Love Lisa Ks Book Reviews!

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  8. OH...those cookies look so good.

    YUMMY!!!

    Cute book too.

    THANKS for sharing.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Book Beginnings

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  9. Looks like a fun cozy!
    Never had a blondie before, but they look yummy!
    Happy weekend!

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  10. A bit of a snack while reading is always good.
    sherry @ fundinmental Friday Memes - Freeblood by Marny Copal

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