Yummy Mysteries!

Moving out to Pisgah Forest last month we made a troubling discovery: the Dish satellite TV and DVR that we had come to adore was no longer an option. Apparently the dish needs to actually talk to the satellite to get the aforementioned adored programming. Living in a forest kind of puts a damper on that, so we're back to fuzzy basic cable. Nothing like watching fuzz on a big screen TV. No siree, it's the tops...

Which is why I've been reading more again. And this is a good thing. I think my brain was beginning to rot a little bit trying to stay up late catching all of my recorded programming. It was a bit silly really. I've also been cooking more, since I find that all of these culinary mysteries have such scrumptious recipes I really cannot pass them up!

Two of my recent reads have been a few more from Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swensen series-- Key Lime Pie Murder and Carrot Cake Murder. The heroine is a Minnesotan cookie baker with her own shop. She is 30+, lives alone with her cat, Moishe, and has two or three boyfriends at a time. She also is a technophobe, which is highly annoying to me! In this first book she just gets her first cellphone (it's written in 2007) and is totally clueless about them. My GRANDMA had a cellphone before then! Good grief! Anyway, on to the books.


Key Lime Pie Murder takes place during the annual county fair where Hannah Swensen (cookie maker extraordinaire) is one of the judges for the baked goods competition. As you can imagine there are oodles of rich recipes from all of the winners--not for the calorie counters among us! In fact, when I saw the recipe for fried candy bars I decided that I ought to return the book to the library immediately before I became tempted with a treat that may add several inches to my waistline all on it's own!



The storyline is much the same as Fluke's other books: Hannah stumbles upon a dead body and races her half-boyfriend (she has two), Mike the detective, to solve the mystery. One of the more annoying aspects of the series is the whole two boyfriends thing. I mean, really, WHO would put up with such a ridiculous scenario?! She also has another out-of-town guy that we met in a previous book who likes to send her (and her silly cat) gifts. But, I'll give it to Fluke. I keep reading... hoping that someday Hannah will join us in the real world and choose one. Or better yet, all the boyfriends will give up on her and live happily ever after with someone who isn't quite so cruel!


Carrot Cake Murder takes place later that summer in Lake Eden when Hannah's business partner, Lisa, has a huge family reunion. Replay the tape-- Hannah stumbles on dead body. Hannah and half-boyfriend, Norman, race other half-boyfriend, Mike, to solve the mystery. Hannah is put in harm's way and is valiantly saved by the boyfriends. This is not higher reading, but it does entertain this Mommy who is interrupted often... maybe even several times a page!


All that said, there are some really yummy recipes in here! Last night I couldn't resist these brownies, and if you're a Michigander with easy access to dried cherries you shouldn't miss it either! They were DELISH! So here's the recipe, minus all of the superfluous notes "Hannah" likes to add in:


Black Forest Brownies


4- 1oz squares semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 c. butter
1 1/2 c. white sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. cherry extract (or vanilla)
1 c. flour, packed
1/2 c. pecans, chopped
1/2 c. dried cherries, chopped
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Prepare a 9x13-inch pan by lining it with a piece of foil large enough to flap over the sides. Spray the lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.
3. Microwave the chocolate squares and butter, stirring periodically, until melted. (~90 seconds)
4. Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture. Feel the bowl. If it's not so hot it'll cook the eggs, add them now, stirring thoroughly. Mix in the cherry extract.
5. Mix in the flour and stir until just moistened.
6. Mix in chopped nuts, cherries, and chocolate chips. Spread the batter into your prepared pan.
7. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
8. Cook the brownies in the pan on a metal rack. When they're cool grasp the edges of the foil and lift the brownies out of the pan. Put them face-down on a cutting board, peel off the foil and cut them into brownie-sized pieces. Store in an airtight container.