NOT YOUR USUAL SUSPECTS

A group blog featuring an international array of killer mystery, suspense, and romantic suspense writers. With premises and story lines different from your run-of-the-mill whodunits, we tend to write outside the box. We blog several times a week on all topics relating to romantic suspense and mystery, our writing, and our readers. We welcome all comments and often have guest bloggers. All our authors can be contacted separately, too, using their own social media links.

We find our genre delightfully, dangerously, and deliciously exciting - join us here, if you do too!

NOTE: the blog is currently dormant but please enjoy the posts we're keeping online.


Julie Moffet . Cathy Perkins . Jean Harrington . Daryl Anderson . Nico Rosso . Maureen A Miller . Sandy Parks . Lisa Q Mathews . Sharon Calvin . Lynne Connolly . Janis Patterson . Vanessa Keir . Tonya Kappes . Julie Rowe . Joni M Fisher . Leslie Langtry

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Yes, you CAN be even sweeter!

IT'S WEDNESDAY WARMERS: The Not Your Usual Suspects authors share their seasonal recipes ... mmmmmm!

**Comment on any post this month & be entered to win FREE BOOKS!**
***Countdown today: NINE BOOKS under the Christmas tree, see below***




CLARE LONDON shares TIFFIN
Ingredients (Serves: 20)
110g (4 oz) butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup
4 teaspoons cocoa
225g (8 oz) Digestive / sweetmeal biscuits, crushed
1 handful of raisins (optional)
225g (8 oz) cooking chocolate - half milk & half dark

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 5 mins | Extra time: 1 hour, setting
In a saucepan, melt the butter, sugar, syrup and cocoa. Add the biscuits and raisins when melted. Stir to combine. Pour mixture into a swiss roll size tin and press down. Melt the cooking chocolate and pour over the mixture in the tin. Pop the tin into the fridge and leave for about 1 hour to set. To serve, cut into about 20 pieces.
Tip : Melt the chocolate by microwaving at 30 second intervals, stirring in between, till melted. But be careful not to scorch the chocolate! Otherwise, melt in a bowl set over a pan of boiling water.


MARCELLE DUBE shares CANDY CANE COOKIES
 
2 cups  Butter, softened
1 cup    Granulated sugar
½ tsp    Peppermint extract
4 cups  All-purpose flour
⅓ cup Crushed candy canes

In bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Beat in peppermint extract. Stir in flour, ½ cup at a time, until combined. Shape dough into four logs, each about four inches long and two inches in diameter. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours or for up to three days (Can be frozen in airtight container for up to three weeks.)

Using a serrated knife, cut logs into ¼–inch thick slices; place about two inches apart on baking sheets. Bake in center of 350˚F oven for 10 minutes; remove and sprinkle ¼-tsp crushed candy in center of each. Return to oven; bake for two minutes or until firm to the touch, bottoms are golden and candies are melted. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes; transfer to rack and let cool completely. (Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to three weeks.) Makes about 60 cookies, 100 calories each.


ANNE MARIE BECKER shares SNOWBALL COOKIES
 

1/2 lb. butter
2 1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. walnuts or pecans, chopped
2 tsp. vanilla
approx. 2 c. powdered sugar and/or sprinkles

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Cream the butter with the sugar and vanilla.  Add the flour (gradually) and then the nuts.  Roll spoonfuls of dough in hands to form into balls (about 1-2 inches in diameter).  Place on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake about 25-30 minutes, or until a pale golden brown.  While baked cookies are still hot, roll in powdered sugar (and sprinkles if desired).  Roll in powdered sugar again when cool.



**********************************************

Clare London
Writing … Man to Man

Marcelle Dube
Website

Anne Marie Becker
Thrilling Romantic Suspense
Website

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Update on the BOOK GIVEAWAY:
Follow this on each post during Dec as the books mount up. Comment on any post to to be entered in the draw. Final prize giveaway on Jan 2!

NINE BOOKS TO DATE!





Blinded by Our Eyes by Clare London
Dead Silent - Shirley Wells
Sea of Suspicion by Toni Anderson
Under Fire by Rita Henuber
The Shoeless Kid - Marcelle Dube
No One to Trust - Julie Moffett
Icescapade - Josh Lanyon
Choice of backlist - Shelley Munro
Desperate Choices - Kathy Ivan

18 comments:

Maureen A. Miller said...

You guys are killing me! That's why you're suspense writers. LOL!

These cookies look fantastic.

Anne said...

Tiffin is a new kind of bar cookie for me. Sounds like something my dad would really like.

Clare London said...

Anne, it's frighteningly easy to make, and even more shockingly delicious LOL. I must admit I couldn't find my earliest recipe - which was in my school exercise book! - and I don't usually bother with the raisins. It's just biscuit, sugary-stuff and chocolate. *sigh* I say that like it's a bad thing... :).

Toni Anderson said...

Oh, I love tiffin :) And those ball things...OMG, look delicious :)
Thanks! I might make these of Fri when kids are off.

JB Lynn said...

MMMMMMMM....these all look good!

What kind of consistency are "digestive" biscuits? And what would "golden syrup" translate to for US ingredients?

Marcelle Dubé said...

And what's a Swiss roll tin? (Dear Lord, I can feel my hips widening just reading this!)

Fedora said...

Drool... Those all sound delicious! Thanks for the recipes--tiffin is definitely something new to me!

qbee2 said...

Tiffin is something new to me but being from Canada, I'm familiar with all the ingredients...and what a Swiss Roll is! ;) I like the fact that this is one treat that doesn't need to be baked! *iz vry tired of baking now*

Maya

Elise Warner said...

I just had breakfast and I'm starving. Please explain to this American: Do Digestive biscuits have anything to do with the digestion?

Unknown said...

I am going to try all of these. Oh, yum!

I love the optimistic 'serves 20' for the Tiffin. *snort*

Toni Anderson said...

LOL @ Shirley :)

Rita said...

I agree with Maureen, you guys are killing me!
Claire really defined the type and the consistency of the biscuits. Is golden syrup like a simple syrup or is it like the type of syrup that people put on their pancakes?
That coconut ice stuff recipe from a few days ago is to die for OMG!
BTW next month is exercise month.

Jane said...

These all look so yummy.

Sarah said...

Yummy... Reading those recipes before bed time not a good idea my mouth is watering

Sarah S

Karen C said...

These recipes sound wonderful - for next year! I'm baked out for this year.

Clare London said...

I forget I may have to translate my UK ingredients LOL. Golden syrup is thicker than a fruit syrup but still of pouring consistency. Yes, it's like the syrup you'd put on pancakes, I'd guess.

Digestive biscuits - yes, Elise, apparently named because it was originally thought they had antacid properties! - are also called sweetmeal. They're thick and sweet and crumbly, perfect for dunking in your tea or coffee :) and good for dessert bases like cheesecake. But you could use any sweet biscuit that can be crumbled and moulded with butter into a base. So long as you can still cut it when it's set LOL.

Hmm. Wikipedia tells me people in the US substiture Graham crackers for digestives, but I wouldn't say they're the same?! :?.

Toni Anderson said...

Golden syrup is usually in a tin and is MUCH thicker than corn syrup. I'm not sure how it's sold here but I'll look. It's the consistency of honey.
You can get digestives in Canada so I bet you can get them in the US too. Love them with a cup of tea. :)

Rita said...

Okay guys, Golden syrup and digestive cookies are available at Amazon. And looking at the package of cookies I think my local market carries them so I will be checking.

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