It's

Cozy Food Friday!

That means it's time to share a recipe from 

another great cozy mystery!

SPOOK IN THE STACKS

Book 4 in the Lighthouse Library Mysteries

by Eva Gates

Halloween in North Carolina’s Outer Banks becomes seriously tricky when librarian Lucy Richardson stumbles across something extra unusual in the rare books section: a dead body.

Wealthy businessman Jay Ruddle is considering donating his extensive collection of North Carolina historical documents to the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library, but the competition for the collection is fierce. Unfortunately, while the library is hosting a lecture on ghostly legends, Jay becomes one of the dearly departed in the rare books section. Now, it’s up to Lucy Richardson and her fellow librarians to bone up on their detective skills and discover who is responsible for this wicked Halloween homicide. 

Meanwhile, very strange things are happening at the library―haunted horses are materializing in the marsh, the lights seem to have an eerie life of their own, and the tiny crew of a model ship appears to move around when no one is watching. Is Lucy at her wit’s end? Or can it be that the Bodie Island Lighthouse really is haunted? 

With The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on everyone’s minds and ghoulish gossip on everyone’s lips, Lucy will need to separate the clues from the boos if she wants to crack this case without losing her head in The Spook in the Stacks, the delightful fourth in national bestseller Eva Gates’ Lighthouse Library mysteries.

🥄🥄🥄🥄🥄

On To The Recipe!

Maple Pecan Squares

As made by Josie O’Malley for meetings of the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library Classic Novel Reading Club in the books by Eva Gates. 

This month’s book club selection is The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, the perfect book to get the gang into the mood for Halloween.  And no meeting of the book club would be a success without treats from Josie’s Cozy Bakery in Nags Head. Some people even suspect that Butch Greenblatt ONLY comes for the treats. 

One of Josie’s most popular items is her maple pecan squares. She doesn’t normally share the recipe but just this once…

CRUST 

1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour 

¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar 

¼ tsp (1 mL) salt 

½ cup (125 mL) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes 

1 pkg (100 g) pecan pieces, about 1 cup (250 mL) 

FILLING 

2 eggs 

½ cup (125 mL) brown sugar 

2 tbsp (30 mL) all-purpose flour 

½ tsp (2 mL) salt 

¾ cup (175 mL) pure maple syrup 

¼ cup (60 mL) whipping cream 

1 tbsp (15 mL) vanilla 

GARNISH (OPTIONAL) 

Whipped cream 

Pecan pieces 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). 

2. Line an 8-inch (20-cm) square baking pan with foil overhanging all sides. Grease. In a food processor or large bowl, mix flour with sugar and salt. If using a food processor, pulse in butter until mixture starts to come together or use your fingers to work in butter. Pat into pan. 

3. Bake in centre of preheated oven, until golden and set, 18 to 22 minutes. After 10 minutes baking, on a separate baking sheet place nuts in the oven while crust bakes. Bake, stirring once until nuts are toasted and fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Leave oven turned on. 

4. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with brown sugar, flour and salt until mixed. Whisk in syrup, cream and vanilla. Sprinkle nuts over warm crust. Drizzle maple mixture over nuts. Redistribute nuts if needed. Continue to bake until filling is set, 35 to 42 minutes. Cool completely on a rack. Remove to a cutting board using foil handles. Peel off foil, then cut into squares. For a super-decadent treat, serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkling of pecans. 

Makes 25 squares

Please keep reading to check out my 

installments of 

Book Beginnings on Fridays

and

The Friday 56

Both the BB and 56 are from

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

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

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 Book Beginnings

   My colleagues burst through the library doors, weighted down by gravestones, skeletons, and a giant black spider. 

My 56%

   We climbed the steps and shoved open the front door.

A long, dark corridor stretched before us. Doors to either side were closed.

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