“Is she always this emotional?” Dwight asked. “I mean I get it, but that’s a lot of tears for a happy ending.”
Tate and Angie looked at each other. “You have been pretty emotional,” Tate said. Their eyes went wide. They looked back at Mel and Angie said, “We have to go.”
Mel laughed. She knew right away what they were thinking. “Call me, you know, if there’s anything to report.”
Tate hustled his wife out the door, waving as they went.
“What’s going on with them?” Oz asked.
“They’re newlyweds,” Marty said. “What do you think?”
“Oh . . . oh!” Oz turned bright red beneath the fringe that covered his eyes. He glanced at Mel and said, “You know, I had to throw out all of that fondant. I made more, but seriously, that was a ton of product wasted, not to mention if we hadn’t come back tonight we could have had bugs, rats, and other vermin infesting our kitchen.”
“So sorry,” Mel said. “Next time I’m running for my life, I’ll be sure to ask if I can just wrap up my baking supplies before I flee.”
“Well, okay then,” Oz said. “I’m just saying you need to respect the kitchen.”
He turned away and Marty rolled his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Someone needs to get more comfortable with his feelings,” Marty said. “Sheesh.”
“Why are you all here anyway?” Mel asked. “I mean, how did you know what was happening?”
“Joe called us when he was on his way to the station. They had a couple of uniforms watching the place in case that lunatic came back, but once they caught him, they gave us the go-ahead to come in and clean up,” Marty said. He hugged Mel and then turned to look at Dwight. “All right, hero, what’s your poison?”
Dwight raised his hands. “I didn’t poison anyone.”
“I know that,” Marty said. “What I meant was what flavor cupcake do you want?”
“Uh, I’d like . . . well, one of those raspberry-lemon ones,” Dwight said.
Marty looked him up and down as if trying to match the flavor to the man. “One Tinkerbell, coming up.”
“He just had to call it that, didn’t he?” Dwight asked. He looked so put-upon that Mel laughed.
“Well, that is the name,” she said.
“You could give it a manlier name,” Dwight said. “You know, like the Lumberjack.”
“Or the Shark,” Joe said.
“I am not naming a cupcake after a fish or a tree cutter,” Mel said.
“How about the Danger Zone?” Marty said.
The other two nodded in approval. “No,” Mel said. “Oz, back me up.”
“Nope, you know, I think they might be onto something,” Oz said. He tapped his chin and then snapped his fingers. “How about the Diesel?”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Dwight said. He pointed at Oz. “He gets it.”
“No!” Mel squawked. “I am not naming a cupcake after truck fuel.”
Marty returned with a plate of cupcakes. Dwight opened his mouth, looking like he was going to continue arguing, and Mel held up one hand in a stop gesture. “No, enjoy your Tinkerbell.”
He grumbled but she noticed he chose the raspberry-lemon confection anyway. Mel chose a Peaches and Cream Cupcake. As soon as she unwrapped it and took her first bite, she felt the sugar hit her bloodstream and suddenly her world made sense again. Tucker Booth had been caught. He wasn’t going to harm anyone ever again. They were all safe and—she glanced at Dwight—she’d made peace with her past and gained a new friend.
It was going to be okay, better than okay in fact, because cupcakes always made everything better.
Recipes
Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes
A rich, buttery pineapple cake topped with a caramelized pineapple ring and maraschino cherry.
½ cup butter (1 stick), softened
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⅔ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 can crushed pineapple, undrained
Topping:
12 pineapple rings
12 maraschino cherries
Brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Alternately add the flour mixture and the crushed pineapple to the large bowl, mixing until the batter is smooth. Fill paper liners until two-thirds full. Place one pineapple ring and one cherry on top of each cupcake. Bake for 17 to 22 minutes until golden brown. After cupcakes cool, sprinkle brown sugar on top of the pineapple ring and use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar and pineapple. Makes 12.
Leave plain or top with vanilla buttercream.
Cinnamon Sinners Cupcakes
A moist cinnamon cupcake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pan with paper liners. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the large bowl, mixing until the batter is smooth. Fill paper liners until two-thirds full. Bake for 17 to 22 minutes until golden brown. Makes 12.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting with cinnamon stick garnish
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3½ cups powdered sugar
¼ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
Cinnamon sticks
Beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl until well blended. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat until frosting is smooth. Put frosting in a pastry bag and pipe onto cupcakes in thick swirls, using an open tip. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon to make cinnamon sugar and spread on a flat plate. Roll the side of the frosted cupcake so that the cinnamon sugar mixture coats the edges just above the wrapper. Top with a cinnamon stick.
Hi-Top Meringue Cupcakes
Chocolate cupcake with hi-top meringue frosting dipped in chocolate.
1⅓ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
⅓ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk and mix until smooth. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Makes 12.
Frosting: Hi-Top Meringue dipped in chocolate
1¼ cups sugar
3 egg whites
¼ cup water
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Chocolate coating:
12 ounc
es semisweet chocolate
3 ounces vegetable oil
In a large metal bowl, mix sugar, egg whites, water, and cream of tartar. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk the mixture, making sure the sugar dissolves and the temperature reaches 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Then return the bowl to the mixer, add the vanilla, and continue mixing on high speed until stiff peaks form, about fifteen minutes. Scoop the frosting into a pastry bag and, using a round tip, pipe thick swirls of frosting onto the cupcakes until they are about two inches high. Transfer the cupcakes to the refrigerator while making the candy coating.
To make candy coating: Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate and mix in the vegetable oil thoroughly. Once the candy coating is smooth, pour it into a deep bowl and let it cool to room temperature. Dip each cupcake frosting side down into the candy coating so that the meringue is fully covered. Place on a rack to cool completely for fifteen minutes, then store in the refrigerator.
Mel’s Fondant Recipe
Mel and Oz use a lot of fondant in their creations, so here is their tried-and-true fondant recipe so you can make fondant of your own.
16 ounce package of marshmallows
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
32 ounces confectioner’s sugar
¼ cup butter
Using a large microwave-safe bowl, pour in the marshmallows and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir in the water and vanilla until smooth. Using a mixer on low, gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar, setting aside one cup of sugar for kneading, until a sticky dough forms. Use the butter to coat your hands and then start to work the dough in the bowl until it becomes less sticky. Turn the dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and continue kneading with the remaining sugar, about ten minutes, until the fondant is pliable. When it reaches its desired consistency, shape it into a ball and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. When you are ready to use the fondant, let it come to room temperature and dust with confectioner’s sugar while rolling it out.
Turn the page for an exclusive look at Jenn McKinlay’s next Library Lover’s mystery . . .
Word to the Wise
Due out in Fall 2019.
“Too meringue, too low cut, holy bananas, too high cut!” Lindsey Norris sat at the reference desk of the Briar Creek Public Library and clicked through a website full of wedding dresses. Her mother had sent her the link in an e-mail and wanted to know what sort of dress Lindsey was thinking of wearing for her upcoming wedding. Too many choices. There were just too many. She felt herself starting to melt down, so she closed the website. She’d get back to her mother on this soon, really, she would.
It was the height of summer in Briar Creek and she had a good five months before the wedding. It was going to be a very small holiday ceremony out on Bell Island, one of the Thumb Islands that made up the archipelago of more than one hundred islands—some were just big rocks—in the bay off Briar Creek’s shore. Her fiancé, Captain Mike Sullivan, had asked that they get married on the island where he’d grown up and Lindsey couldn’t think of a more romantic place to say “I do.” So the location was a go. It was all of the other details that were killing her.
Click click click.
Lindsey turned around to see a bat fluttering through the book stacks. She was a pretty big bat. With large ears pointing up from a wide headband, enormous pale gray wings made out of an old bed sheet and some wire, she fluttered her outspread arms while holding a mango in one hand. She also had merry eyes, shoulder-length dark brown hair, and answered to the name Beth Barker. She was the Briar Creek children’s librarian and she was leading a parade of toddlers and their parents through the library, all fluttering their “wings” and making clicking noises.
Lindsey propped her chin on her hand as she watched the little bats flutter by. She met Beth’s happy gaze and said, “Practicing your echolocation, Stellaluna?”
Beth grinned and said, “Naturally, then it’s back to the bat cave to read Nightsong and Bat Loves the Night.”
“Flutter on,” Lindsey said.
“Will do. Don’t forget crafternoon is today,” Beth said. “We’re making tin-can lanterns. And for the food, I ran with the Chicana theme since we are discussing The House on Mango Street.”
“Can’t wait. I love that book,” Lindsey said. Which was true, but she had also seen the food that Beth brought for lunch and there were quesadillas, mango smoothies, and flan. There was just nothing better than flan on a hot summer day.
“Okay, little bats,” Beth said. “Let’s get back to the cave. Click click.”
Lindsey watched as Beth led her colony of bats and their parents back to the story-time room. Then she glanced at the circulation desk to see Ms. Cole watching the commotion over the top of her reading glasses. Nicknamed “the lemon” for her occasional puckered disposition, Ms. Cole had come a long way since Lindsey had been hired as the library director several years ago. Instead of chastising Beth, she simply heaved a put-upon sigh, which was encouraging.
The lemon had lightened up on late fees, beverages in the building, and the exuberance of the story-time regulars, but the one policy Ms. Cole did not bend on was noise. She was a shusher of the first order and Lindsey was surprised she hadn’t hissed at Beth to keep it down. Instead, Ms. Cole put her left index finger over her left eyelid as if trying to prevent it from twitching. Lindsey glanced down at the top of her desk to keep from laughing.
“Excuse me.”
Lindsey turned her head to see a man standing at the corner of her desk.
“Hi, may I help you find something?” she asked.
“I hope so,” he said. He sounded worried.
The man was middle-aged with just a hint of gray hair starting at his temples. He was wearing a short-sleeved collared shirt in a muted plaid with navy pants and brown shoes. He looked to be somewhere in his mid- to late-forties, but his forehead had worry lines going across it and his blue eyes looked concerned.
“Well, let’s give it a try,” Lindsey said. She gave him a reassuring smile. “Tell me what you need.”
“I grow roses,” he said. “But I’m new to this area and I’m not sure that my garden can survive the drought we’re having. Do you have any books on growing roses specifically along the shoreline or in drought conditions?”
“Thanks to our local garden club, we have an excellent collection on that subject,” Lindsey said. “I’ll see what’s available.”
“Thank you,” he said.
Lindsey typed her search into the catalog, limiting the search to the items that were currently available. She got three books on roses but they weren’t specific to the region. Still, they might have something in them about dealing with drought conditions. She noted the call numbers and then did a quick check of the organizations on the local community webpages that they had bookmarked on the reference database. She found several local gardening groups and one that specialized in roses. She swiveled the monitor on its base so her patron could see it.
“We do have some books in but they aren’t specific to the area,” she said. “However, there is a local rose club and I am sure they can help you with your concerns about the current drought. Would you like me to write down their contact information for you?”
“Yes,” he said. “Thank you. This is great.”
Lindsey smiled. She took a piece of scratch paper and wrote down the name of the chapter president and her e-mail and phone number. She handed that to the man and then rose from her seat and said, “Let’s go see what’s on the shelves.”
As she led him through the stacks of books, she asked, “So, you’re new to Briar Creek?”
“Yes, my wife and I just moved here a few months ago,” he said. “We bought a place with a beautiful rose garden, but then this dry spell hit.”
�
�It’s a bad one,” Lindsey said. “I’ve only been here for a few years myself, but the locals tell me that they’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I hear the town is planning to ration water,” he said. The lines in his forehead deepened.
“There has been some preparatory talk about that, Mr. . . . um, I’m sorry,” Lindsey said. “I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Lindsey Norris, the library director.”
She held out her hand. The man stared at her and then her hand for a moment and she wondered if she had offended him.
“Aaron,” he said. “Aaron Grady. It’s nice to meet you.” He clasped her hand and gave it a firm squeeze before letting go.
Lindsey smiled and continued along the shelves until she reached the gardening section. She followed the Dewey Decimal numbers until she found gardening and then roses specifically. The three books the online catalog had listed were there as well as two more that she hadn’t seen. She pulled them from the shelf and turned to find Mr. Grady right beside her. He was staring at her instead of the books with his hands down by his sides.
She’d had this sort of patron before and they always amused her. They asked for books, she showed them the books, but when she took the books off the shelf, they didn’t reach for them, as if their hands didn’t work. They just stood there. Lindsey often wondered if they thought she was planning to read the books to them. Per usual, she broke the stalemate by forcibly handing the books to him.
“Here you are,” she said. She handed him the stack, keeping the most recently published book so that she could check the index. She flipped to the back and scanned for the word drought. The book referenced several pages on it, so she opened the book to those pages and scanned the content. It listed different methods to maintain roses in a drought situation and even included a watering schedule. She handed Mr. Grady the open book and said, “This one looks like it will answer your question.”
Dying for Devil's Food Page 22
