by Kate Bell
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Killer Caramel Apples
10 Granny Smith Apples, washed, dried and stems removed
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
¾ cup light corn syrup
1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
dash salt
10 wooden candy sticks
Green starbursts, tootsie rolls
Insert wooden sticks into apples. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper to dry apples. Unwrap starbursts and tootsie rolls and using a rolling pin, roll out flat. It they are too hard, place in microwave on a microwave safe plate and heat on low power for 5-7 seconds. You just want them soft and pliable, not melted. Rolling pin can be dusted with fine sugar before rolling so candies won’t stick to it. With a sharp knife, cut candies into triangles and mouth shapes.
In a heavy non-stick saucepan, heat butter, sugar, corn syrup, sweetened condensed milk and salt over medium high heat. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil.
Lower heat to medium. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan, being careful that the tip doesn’t touch the bottom of the pan, otherwise you’ll get a false temperature reading. Continue stirring until caramel reaches 245 degrees.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Dip each apple into the caramel, coating completely and set on parchment paper. While caramel is still warm, stick on candy triangle eyes and noses, and the mouths. Allow to cool completely. Enjoy!
Jack O’ Lantern hand pies
For the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 Tablespoons white sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup cold butter
½ cup ice water
For the filling:
½ cup pumpkin puree, not pie filling
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
¼ cup half and half or heavy cream
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Sprinkle:
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
For crust: mix flour, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Cut cold butter into flour mixture and using hands, incorporate the butter completely. Alternately, you can use a mixer or food processer. Add water by tablespoons, mixing after each addition. When crust is of the consistency that it can be rolled, don’t add anymore water .
Roll half of dough out onto a flour covered surface to a 1/8” thickness. Using a 4” biscuit or round cookie cutter, cut 16 rounds. With a sharp knife, cut out Jack O’ Lantern faces in 8 of them.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay out the un-cut circles of dough. Pinch small pieces of dough from remaining dough and attach to uncut rounds for stems, by pinching them onto the rounds. These are the pumpkin backs.
Mix filling together. Spoon a tablespoon or so of the filling onto the pumpkin backs and spread a little less than ¼” from edges. Place Jack O’ Lantern face piece over the back and crimp the edges together.
Mix the cinnamon and sugar for the sprinkle together and sprinkle over hand pies.
Preheat oven 400 degrees. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool.
Lemon Chess Pie
1 ½ Cups sugar
½ cup butter, melted
4 eggs
juice and grated rind of 1 large lemon
1 tablespoon cornmeal
pinch of salt
9 inch pie crust
Beat sugar and eggs together. Add melted butter and lemon juice and rind. Add salt and mix together. Pour into 9 inch pie shell. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.
Old Fashioned Custard Pie
1 ½ Cups white sugar
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
½ Teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
10 inch piecrust
nutmeg to sprinkle
Preheat oven to 375.
Mix sugar, butter, and salt until smooth. Add eggs and mix well. Add milk, vanilla and ¼ teaspoon nutmeg and mix well. Pour into piecrust. Sprinkle top of pie with nutmeg. Bake 40-45 minutes. Pie is done when a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. Let cool completely and then refrigerate.
Half and half can be substituted for the whole milk for a richer pie. Do not use milk with less fat than whole milk, as the results will not be nearly as tasty.
Old Fashioned Popcorn Balls
2 cups white sugar
1 ½ cups water
½ cup white corn syrup
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 quarts popped popcorn
Butter for greasing pan
Butter the sides of a heavy saucepan.
Put popped popcorn in a large bowl.
Combine sugar, water, corn syrup, salt and vinegar in saucepan over medium high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and keep from burning. Clip candy thermometer onto side of pan, making sure tip of thermometer doesn’t touch bottom of pan. Cook mixture until it reaches 250 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Slowly pour hot syrup over popcorn and mix just to coat popcorn. Butter hands and shape popcorn into balls. Colored sprinkles can be added now. Let dry on parchment covered cookie sheets. Makes 15-20 balls, depending on size.
Enjoy!
Thankfully Dead
A Freshly Baked Cozy Mystery, book 3
by
Kate Bell
Kathleen Suzette
Copyright © 2016 by Kate Bell. All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Author’s Notes
Sweet Potato Pie
Pear Cranberry Tart
Persimmon Cookies
Pecan Pie
Candied Sweet Potatoes
Chapter One
“Exactly how many pies did you bake?” Alec asked as I handed him two more. I was glad Alec had an SUV. It came in handy when I had large numbers of pies to transport. My Toyota just wasn’t cutting it.
“Just two more,” I assured him. Some people were such worrywarts.
It was Thanksgiving morning, and we were headed to the annual Turkey Trot where we would run a 5K in the frigid cold morning air and then indulge in a piece of pie as a reward. Running had become more and more important to me, and the Turkey Trot had turned into a tradition. I was thrilled I would have someone else to run with me this year
.
“Are you sure we’ve got them all?” he asked when I handed him the last of them.
“Yes, that’s it,” I said. I grabbed my running jacket off the hanger in the hall closet and followed after him. I had baked ten pies for the Turkey Trot and five for our Thanksgiving dinner. I was a little tired, but some caffeine would take care of that.
“Hey, Mom, I’m going to come with you,” my son Thad mumbled from behind me.
I turned around, surprised to see him up and about. He was dressed in running clothes, with a tuft of blond hair sticking up in back. He and his girlfriend had come in late the night before and I hadn’t expected to see him up so early. I smiled at him.
“Okay, honey, come out and I’ll introduce you to Alec.”
Introductions went around and we got into Alec’s SUV, with Thad in the back. I was glad that Thad was easy going like his father. He wouldn’t give me a hard time about dating Alec. It had been eight years since his father had died and he seemed happy that I had met someone.
I was so excited to have Thad home for the holiday that it took all the self-control I had not to nag him about transferring to the University of Maine so I could see him regularly. He was an adult and I kept reminding myself that he had to make his own decisions.
“Wow, it’s chilly out here,” I said, buckling my seatbelt. It had been getting increasingly colder in the early mornings, but today was the coldest by far. A light powder snow had fallen in the night, but it would melt as soon as the sun came up.
“It feels colder here for some reason,” Thad mumbled, still trying to shake the sleep off.
“It’s all that coastal air,” Alec said.
“Yeah, I guess I miss that. Or I maybe I don’t,” Thad said. “I don’t mind drier air.”
Alec pulled up to the Rec Center ten minutes later, and we got out to unload the pies.
“Hi, how are you doing, Allie?” Todd Spellman asked as I picked up an apple pie. Todd was the manager of the local branch of the Bank of Maine. He was pushing his father in a wheelchair. The elder Mr. Spellman wore a wool cap with earflaps, a heavy jacket, and a blanket draped over his legs.
“Good morning, Todd, good morning Mr. Spellman,” I said, nodding at them. “I’m doing great. Cold, but great.”
“It’s a fine morning for a run, isn’t it?” Todd asked and then glanced at Thad. “Is this your son?”
“Yes, this is Thad,” I said. “It’s a bit cold for my tastes. I was hoping the weather would turn mild like last year.”
Alec came around and stood by me and I introduced everyone. Mr. Spellman briefly looked in my direction and then stared off into space. I wasn’t quite sure what was ailing him, but it seemed he rarely engaged in conversation anymore.
“Are you going to run, Alec? Thad?” Todd asked. Todd had an all-American charm to him and I didn’t think he had ever met a stranger. It was sweet that he took care of his father in his failing health. He was a young thirty-something, and I didn’t think there were many people that age who would devote so much time to an ailing parent.
“Yes we are. I expect to work up an appetite for that turkey dinner Allie’s making later this evening,” Alec answered.
“That’s an excellent plan,” Todd said and flashed a perfect movie star smile. “I know Allie is quite the cook.”
“Well, we better get the pies inside,” I said. I knew Lucy would need help getting set up. “We’ll see you out on the course. Mr. Spellman, you save your appetite for some of my pecan pie, you hear? It’s the best in the state.”
Mr. Spellman looked at me with his eyes glazed over, but didn’t respond. “He certainly will,” Todd said, patting his father on the shoulder. “I need to get him out of the cold.” He turned the wheelchair around and pushed him into the Rec Center building.
“They seem like nice people,” Alec said as he reached for two pies.
“Some of the best in town,” I said, and picked up another pie. I handed them off to Thad and sent him inside with them and got two more to take inside myself. The dry leaves crunched beneath my feet as I headed for the building.
“Oh, Allie, I’m not sure about all of this,” Lucy said as I entered the building. There was a frown on her face and she looked around the room helplessly.
“About what?” I asked, heading for a table to set my pies down. There were already six other pies there. From the looks of it, three pumpkin, two store bought apple pies, and someone’s attempt at pecan. I didn’t want to criticize, but there weren’t nearly enough pecans in it.
“This whole thing!” Lucy wailed, motioning toward the empty tables and chairs. A few people milled about with coffee cups in hand, visiting with one another.
“You’ve got tables and chairs set up, coffee and tea made, and all the forks, spoons, plates, and napkins set out. You even put fall-themed tablecloths on the tables and have a fire started in the fireplace,” I pointed out. “It looks pretty perfect to me. What’s upsetting you?”
Lucy Gray was my best friend. She was one of the first people I had met when I moved to Maine over twenty years ago, after marrying my husband, Thaddeus. I don’t know how I would have survived the death of my husband without Lucy. But, she could be a little high strung under pressure. Her blond curly hair was sticking out at the sides and her eyes darted around the room.
“Oh, Ed started the fire.” She leaned against a table and crossed her arms. “Diana would have done it so much better. She would have had all sorts of decorations for this event. Look at the bare walls!”
“We’ll get the rest of the pies,” Alec said, heading out the door with Thad. The guys were not particularly brave around wailing women.
“Now, look. Everyone knows you’re doing this on short notice. Everything looks very nice. We are going to have a nice run, and then eat some pie and visit for a bit, then go home and make Thanksgiving dinner. It will be a fun day. You watch and see.”
“Do you think so?” she asked, sounding unsure.
Lucy had never hosted a community event and she never would have if her boss and friend hadn’t been murdered last month. Diana Bowen had been the community organizing queen when it came to any kind of event. She lived for them. But she had been poisoned the day of the Halloween bazaar and that had left the community without an organizer. Lucy had done a great job stepping up with so little notice, even if she didn’t feel confident about it.
“Of course!” I said and gave her a quick hug as Alec and Thad brought more pies in.
“I’m glad you brought so many pies. I don’t know what I’d do if I had been expected to make pies, too,” she said.
The annual Turkey Trot brought out a large gathering each year. Many people walked the course, and some just came to visit and eat free pie. It was a fun event that brought the community together.
Ellen Allen came through the door and I saw Lucy stiffen. “Just take it easy,” I told her. Ellen was Lucy’s former co-worker who had been fired for stealing from the cash register. The two weren’t fond of each other.
It was still dark out as more people began arriving. I grabbed a Styrofoam cup and poured myself some coffee from the huge, industrialized-sized coffee pot.
“Hi, Lucy, the place looks great,” Todd Spellman said. “You did a great job pulling this thing together on such short notice.”
“Do you think so?” Lucy asked, turning toward him.
“Absolutely! Community involvement is important. If it weren’t for people like you and Diana Bowen, God rest her soul, we’d be lost,” he said, cheerfully.
I glanced up and saw that Mr. Spellman had been parked near the fireplace. I fixed up the cup of coffee I had poured for myself to give to him instead. I didn’t know how he took it, but I decided at this point, he probably didn’t either. I put cream and sugar in it and took it to him.
“Here you go, Mr. Spellman,” I said loudly in case his hearing wasn’t very good. “I brought you some coffee. It’s hot, so you need to be careful.”
Mr. Spellman looked at me. I mean, he really looked at me. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He looked at me so intently, it felt odd. Maybe he had moments of clarity and he wanted to communicate something to me.
“How are you doing, Mr. Spellman?” I asked, squatting beside his wheelchair, and put the coffee cup in his hands, placing both of them around the cup.
Mr. Spellman, shifted the cup to one hand and suddenly grabbed my hand with the other. It startled me and I jumped a little, but I let him hold my hand. He held the coffee cup in his other hand and it shook a little. His eyes got big and he squeezed my hand.
“How are you, Mr. Spellman?” I asked again, looking into his eyes. Was he okay?
He opened his mouth again, but no sound came out. He looked at me intently and it gave me pause.
“Hey, how’s it going?” Todd said, coming up behind me. Mr. Spellman looked up at his son and Todd gazed back at him. I felt something pass between Todd and his father, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.
“Oh, I see you brought Dad some coffee. Thank you! That’s very nice of you,” he said. “Are you warm enough, Dad?” He bent and rearranged the blanket on his father’s legs.
Mr. Spellman gazed off into the distance.
I stood up. Maybe I was just tired and was imagining things. I had gotten up early to get the pies ready to bring down here, and I still had a race ahead of me. Not that it mattered if I ran fast or whether I ran at all today. The point was to have fun.