It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

Today I'm featuring a recipe from the cozy mystery 

A BATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Book 2 in the Bakeshop Mystery series

by

Ellie Alexander

Welcome to Torte-a small-town family bakeshop where the coffee is hot, the muffins are fresh, and the cakes are definitely to die for...

It's autumn in Ashland, Oregon-'tis the season for a spiced hot apple cider with a serving (or two) of Torte's famous peach cobbler. It's also the perfect time for Jules Capshaw to promote her family's beloved bake shop by competing in The Pastry Channel's reality show, Take the Cake. The prize is $25,000. But as Jules quickly learns, some people would kill for that kind of dough. Literally.

Then, just as Jules dusts off her Bavarian Chocolate Cake recipe and cinches up her apron, the corpse of a fellow contestant is discovered-death by buttercream. What began as a fun, tasteful televised adventure has morphed into something of a true-crime detective show for Jules and everybody else on set. Who could have killed Chef Marco, and why? Can Jules sift out the killer before someone else gets burned?

Recipes included!

Available now!

September is here. 

That means all sorts of holiday parties are coming up. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas will be here before we know it. 

You know what this means don't you? 

COOKIES! :-) 

Here's a cookie that can be made so may ways. Just as the recipe below will show, or by adding and/or subtracting certain ingredients depending on your needs. You can also use food coloring to turn them into your holiday color themes!

  

AMARETTO DREAM COOKIES

Ingredients

1 cup butter

¾ cup granulated sugar 

¾ cup brown sugar

2 eggs 

1 tablespoon amaretto liqueur 

1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract                     

½ teaspoon anise extract        

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

 2¼ cups flour 

½ cup sweetened coconut flakes 

2 cups dark chocolate chunks 

1 cup sliced almonds 

Directions

Beat butters and sugars together until creamy. 

Add in eggs, amaretto, vanilla, almond, and anise (extracts). Mix together until blended. 

Sift dry ingredients in a separate bowl: add to butter mixture and mix on low. 

Stir in chocolate, coconuts, and almonds by hand. 

Scoop 1-inch balls onto cookie sheets. 

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Photos are from Google Images. Your cookies may vary in appearance. 

Wouldn't your love to have your house filling with the smell of these yummy cookies? 

About the author

Ellie Alexander, author of the Bakeshop Mystery Series (St. Martin's Press), is a Pacific Northwest native who spends ample time testing pastry recipes in her home kitchen or at one of the many famed coffeehouses nearby. When she's not coated in flour, you'll find her outside exploring hiking trails and trying to burn off calories consumed in the name of research. 

Find out more about Ellie and her books by visiting her here:

Blog: http://www.bakeshopmystery.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elliealexanderauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BakeshopMystery

Please keep reading and check out my 

installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Book Beginnings and Friday 56

 for this week are also from

A BATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Book Beginnings on Fridays is a meme hosted by Rose City Reader

Share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading

My Book Beginnings...

They say that time heals a broken heart. I've noticed that no one mentions exactly how much time it takes, though. A week? A month? A year? Having a solid number might have made me feel better, since my heart was mending slowly. 

While I waited for the heartache to subside, I busied myself with building a new life in my sweet hometown of Ashland, Oregon. Never would I have imagined that I'd be saying that, when I left the ship and my husband last summer. Returning to Ashland was supposed to be a temporary stop until I figured out what I was going to do next. 

Mom had advised me to take things slow. "One day at a time, Jules. You don't need to figure everything out this minute." 

She was right. Her words stuck, and so did I. 

The summer breezed by in a whilwind of activity. Ashland is home to the world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival and a playground for outdoor enthusiasts, with sunny mountains and rivers. During summer months, our little town bursts at the seams with tourists, actors, playwrights, backpackers, and whitewater guides. Torte, our family bakeshop, sits right in the middle of downtown. 

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.

My Friday 56...

"Juliet, stop stalling. What's going on?"

"There's been another murder Mom."

"What? At Tort? Who" 

"One of the contestants on Take The Cake. Not here, up at the Black Swan."

"Oh thank goodness." She let out a sigh. "I mean, of course it's terrible that someone's been killed, but I'm so relieved you're not in the middle of it this time." 

"Well."

"Juliet?" 

"I kind of found the body."

As always, please leave a comment and 

let me know what you think!

Follow my blog by 

clicking on the link in the 

upper right hand corner of this page.