Plum Pudding Murder Bundle with Candy Cane Murder & Sugar Cookie Murder

by Joanne Fluke

  1 ½ cups cored, peeled, and then shredded apples (measure after shredding)

  Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg. Set aside.

  In another bowl, blend the sugar and melted butter together. Let the butter cool to room temperature.

  Add the egg, milk, and shredded apples to the butter and sugar mixture. Stir well. Then mix in the dry ingredients you’ve set aside.

  Fill well-greased muffin tins 2/3 full with batter. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes. Let the muffins cool in the tins for 10 minutes and then turn them out.

  Topping:

  ½ stick melted butter (¼ cup, 1/8 pound)***

  ½ cup sugar

  1 teaspoon cinnamon

  *** Use a whole stick if you really want to be sinful! It’s wonderful!

  Melt the butter and pour it into a shallow bowl. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in another shallow bowl. Roll the muffins in the melted butter and then in the sugar and cinnamon mixture.

  Yield: 12 muffins

  These muffins are wonderful warm, but they’re also good at room temperature, or even refrigerated! There is no way to serve them that’s not good. To borrow an advertising slogan, “Nobody doesn’t like Aunt Grace’s Breakfast Muffins.”

  Can Bread

  Do not preheat oven—bread has to rise for several hours before baking

  This bread recipe is from Cheryl Coombs. She says it’s almost foolproof even for somebody who’s never had the nerve to bake bread from scratch before.

  ½ cup butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)

  2 cups boiling water

  1 teaspoon salt

  ½ cup brown sugar

  1 cup oatmeal (I used Quaker Oats Quick 1-Minute)

  two ¼-ounce packages dry yeast (any type)

  2 eggs

  4 ½ cups flour (approximate measure)

  Melt butter in a saucepan with the boiling water. Pour it in a bowl. Add the salt, brown sugar, and oatmeal. Stir it all up.

  Add the yeast quickly, before the mixture cools.

  Crack the eggs in a glass and beat them up with a fork. Add them to the bowl and stir thoroughly.

  Add the flour, one cup at a time, until it feels about right for bread dough. (That’s a moisture level midway between muffin batter and cookie dough.)

  Turn the dough out of the bowl and onto a floured breadboard, or table top. Let it rest a couple of minutes. (It doesn’t need to rest, but you probably do.)

  Knead the dough, adding flour as it becomes too sticky to work. (Kneading is just punching it down, and turning it over and folding it a bunch of times. You’ll like it—it’s therapeutic.) There’s no need to knead (that’s a terrible pun!) any longer than five minutes…just until dough is no longer sticking to your hands like stringy glue.

  Wash your hands, wash the bowl, dry the bowl, and then spray the inside of the bowl with a non-stick spray. Dump the dough inside the bowl and cover it with a moist towel. Set it in a warm (but not hot) place to rise until doubled in bulk. (This will take from one to two hours.)

  IMPORTANT NOTE: If you don’t want to bake your bread today, don’t let the dough rise. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. It can wait up to 12 hours. Then just take it out in the morning, remove the plastic wrap, cover the dough with a damp towel, and set it in a warm place to finish rising.

  Once the dough has doubled in bulk, turn it out onto a floured board again and punch it down. Divide the dough and shape it into loaves, rounds, rolls, little animals, braids, or whatever. Place free-form breads on greased cookie sheets. Place loaves in greased loaf pans. You can even use greased metal coffee cans for rounds and amaze your friends when you give them round sandwiches.

  Cover whatever you’ve used to contain your dough with the moist towel again and let your creations rise for approximately 45 minutes.

  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position for cookie sheet loaves and loaf pans, or lower for the taller coffee cans.

  If you want a glaze on the top of your bread, brush the tops with egg yolk mixed with a little water before you bake.

  Bake large loaves and coffee cans for approximately 60 minutes, 45 minutes for smaller loaves or rounds. Rolls take about 30 minutes.

  Let cool in pans (or on cookie sheet) on top of wire rack for 15 minutes, then turn out of pans and cool directly on the wire rack.

  Cheesy Spicy Corn Muffins

  This recipe is from Danielle Watson. She argued that it really isn’t a recipe since it’s not made from scratch, but we told her that didn’t matter.

  1 package corn muffin mix, enough to make 12 muffins

  4-ounce can well-drained diced green chilies (Danielle uses Ortega brand)

  ½ cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese (or Monterey Jack)

  Preheat oven according to the directions on the corn muffin package.

  Prepare the corn muffin mix according to package directions. Add the green chilies and the shredded cheese, and stir well.

  Line muffin pans with a double layer of cupcake papers and spray the inside with Pam.

  Spoon the batter into the cupcake papers.

  Bake according to corn muffin package directions.

  Danielle says to tell you that if you have visiting relatives who don’t like any spice at all, you can substitute a half can of well-drained whole-kernel corn for the peppers.

  Yield: Whatever it says on the package and a little more.

  Cranberry Muffins

  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position

  These are from Becky Summers. They’re perfect to serve for a Thanksgiving dinner.

  ¾ cup melted butter (1½ sticks)

  1 cup white (granulated) sugar

  2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)

  2 teaspoons baking powder

  ½ teaspoon salt

  1 cup dried cranberries

  2 ¼ cups flour (no need to sift)

  ½ cup milk

  ½ cup cranberry sauce (use whole berry, not jellied)

  Crumb Topping:

  ½ cup sugar

  1/3 cup flour

  ¼ cup softened butter (½ stick)

  Grease the bottoms only of a 12-cup muffin pan (or line the cups with double cupcake papers—that’s what I do at The Cookie Jar.) Melt the butter in a bowl with the dried cranberries and set them aside to plump up and cool. Measure out the sugar in a large bowl and add the beaten eggs, baking powder, and salt. Mix thoroughly.

  Stir in the cooled butter and plumped dried cranberries. Add half of the flour to your bowl and mix it in with half of the milk. Add the rest of the flour and the milk and mix thoroughly. Then add ½ cup cranberry sauce to your bowl and mix it in.

  Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have dough left over, grease the bottom of a small tea-bread loaf pan and fill it with your remaining dough.

  The crumb topping: Mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it’s crumbly. (You can also do this in a food processor with chilled butter and the steel blade.)

  Fill the remaining space in the muffin cups with the crumb topping. Then bake the muffins in a 375 F. degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes. (The tea-bread should bake about 10 minutes longer than the muffins.)

  While your muffins are baking, divide the rest of your cranberry sauce into half-cup portions and pop it in the freezer. I use paper cups to hold it, and freeze them inside a freezer bag. All you have to do is thaw a cup the next time you want to make a batch of Cranberry Muffins.

  When your muffins are baked, set the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. (The muffins need to cool in the pan for easy removal.) Then just tip them out of the cups and enjoy.

  These are wonderful when they’re slightly warm, but the cranberry flavor will intensify if you store them in a covered container overnight.

  Gina’s Strawberry Bread

  Preheat oven to 350 degree
s F., rack in the middle position

  This recipe is from Gina, Father Coultas’ cousin, and she always brings a loaf when she comes to Lake Eden to visit. She says to tell you that if you keep this bread in an airtight container, it’ll taste even better the second day. It’s also wonderful if you toast and butter it.

  ½ cup butter (1 stick, ¼ pound)

  1 cup white (granulated) sugar

  ½ teaspoon strawberry flavoring (or vanilla, or almond)

  2 eggs, separated

  1 teaspoon baking powder

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1 teaspoon salt

  2 cups flour (no need to sift)

  1 cup crushed or chopped fresh strawberries (or a 10-ounce package of frozen strawberries, thawed and well drained, then chopped.)

  Melt butter. Mix with sugar and strawberry flavoring. Set aside and let cool.

  Separate the eggs, reserving the whites for later. When the butter/sugar mixture is warm but not hot to the touch, add the egg yolks one at a time, stirring thoroughly after each addition.

  Stir in baking powder, soda, and salt.

  Stir in half of the strawberries. Stir in half of the flour. Add the second half of the strawberries, then the second half of the flour.

  Beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry. Fold them into the strawberry mixture.

  Spray a loaf pan (bread pan—9 x 5 inch) with non-stick cooking spray, then line it with wax paper and spray it again.

  Turn the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

  Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove the loaf pan and continue to cool on the rack. Wait another 10 minutes or so before removing the wax paper.

  Sally’s Banana Bread

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position

  Regina Todd got this recipe from her cousin, Sally Hayes, who got it from her brother’s neighbor, Connie. Regina tried to teach Andrea to bake it, but that was a lost cause and she gave up.

  ¾ cup softened butter (1½ sticks)

  1 ½ cups white sugar (granulated)

  2 beaten eggs (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

  1 ½ cups mashed bananas (3 or 4 overripe bananas, the ones with lots of black spots on the peel)

  2 cups flour (no need to sift)

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1 teaspoon salt

  ½ cup buttermilk

  ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

  Mix the butter and sugar together until they’re nice and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and stir it all up.

  Peel and mash the bananas. (You can do this with a fork, if they’re ripe enough.) Measure out 1½ cups of mashed banana and add it to your mixing bowl. Stir well.

  In another bowl, measure out the flour and mix in the baking soda and salt.

  Add half of the flour to your mixing bowl. Stir well. Add half of the buttermilk (you don’t have to be exact) and mix that in. Add the rest of the flour, stir well, and then mix in the rest of the buttermilk. Stir thoroughly.

  Mix in the nuts at this point, if you decided to use them.

  Coat the inside of a loaf pan (the type you’d use for bread) with non-stick cooking spray. Spoon in the banana bread batter and bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately one hour, or until a long toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

  You can also bake this in 3 smaller loaf pans, filling them about half full. If you use the smaller pans, they’ll need to bake approximately 45 minutes.

  Cool on a wire rack in the pan, loosen the edges after 20 minutes, and turn the loaf out onto the wire rack.

  Regina usually sends this banana bread home with Bill. (I guess she figures it’s the only way her son will get anything homemade.) Andrea likes it sliced, toasted, and buttered for breakfast.

  Soda Bread

  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position

  This recipe is from Bridget Murphy. She makes it every year on St. Patrick’s Day and many times in-between.

  ½ stick butter, at room temperature ( ¼ cup, 1/8 pound)

  1 cup flour

  In a large bowl, with a fork, cut the butter into the cup of flour.

  Add the following ingredients to the bowl:

  3 more cups flour

  1 teaspoon salt

  3 teaspoons baking powder

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  ¼ cup white sugar (granulated)

  ½ teaspoon cardamom (or coriander)

  In a separate bowl, mix the following:

  1 and ¾ cups evaporated milk (or buttermilk)

  2 beaten eggs

  2 cups golden raisins (optional)

  Add the milk and eggs (and the optional raisins) to the bowl with the flour and stir thoroughly. Turn out on a floured board.

  Bridget says to make sure this step doesn’t scare you off. Anyone can knead bread. Just put some wax paper on your counter, and sprinkle it with flour.

  Knead the dough (punch it down, roll it around, and fold it over on itself like you’re playing with clay and mashing it down) for 2 to 3 minutes. If the dough becomes too sticky for you to handle, sprinkle it with more flour. When your 2 or 3 minutes are up, shape it into a ball and cut it in two with a knife you’ve sprayed with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray. Shape each half into something resembling something round.

  Spray two 9-inch pie plates with non-stick cooking spray. Put the dough inside the pie plates, press it down, and use a sharp knife to cut an “X” on the tops a half-inch deep. (Bridget says you might have to spray the knife first to keep it from sticking.)

  Bake the soda bread at 375 degrees F. for 40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, turn out onto a breadboard, and slice to serve.

  This soda bread is especially good with John Brady’s Quick Irish Chili, or Irish Roast Beast.

  Entrees

  Baked Fish

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position

  Geraldine Goetz contributed this recipe. Her husband goes fishing with Lisa’s dad, Jack Herman.

  9 to 12 fillets of fish (any firm white fish will do) juice of one lemon

  2 teaspoons Season Salt (see Mrs. Knudson’s recipe on backmatter)

  2 teaspoons pepper (freshly ground is best)

  2 cloves garlic, minced or mashed (you can also use jarred garlic)

  ½ cup dry white wine

  2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

  2 Tablespoons chopped green onion

  2 Tablespoons dry breadcrumbs

  4 Tablespoons melted butter (½ stick, ¼ cup, 1/8 pound)

  Rinse and dry fish fillets with paper towels. Rub with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  Sprinkle or spread minced or mashed garlic in the bottom of a greased baking pan (a 9 x 13 inch cake pan will do fine.)

  Place the fillets in the pan and pour the wine over the top. Sprinkle with parsley, green onion, and breadcrumbs. Melt the butter and spoon it on.

  Cover the pan loosely with foil.

  Bake at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes. Take off the foil and bake 15 minutes longer.

  Pour off most of the liquid before serving. This fish is wonderful served with crusty bread and a tangy green salad.

  Barbecued Anything

  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F., rack in the middle position. Spray a 5-quart or 6-quart crock-pot with Pam

  Norman Rhodes says this is the easiest barbecue anyone could ever dream up. I’ve tasted his barbecued ribs and they’re absolutely delicious.

  4 to 5 pounds ribs, cut up into 2-rib servings

  Barbecue Sauce:

  ½ cup catsup (Norman uses Heinz)

  2 Tablespoons (1/8 cup) firmly packed brown sugar

  ¼ cup bottled steak sauce (Norman uses Heinz 57)

  ¼ cup prepared mustard (Norman uses honey mustard)

&nb
sp; 2 Tablespoons (1/8 cup) wine vinegar (or apple cider, or plain white)

  ½ teaspoon Season Salt (see Mrs. Knudson’s recipe on backmatter)

  ½ teaspoon liquid smoke

  ½ onion, minced (if Norman’s in a hurry, he uses dried chopped onion)

  Place the ribs on a rack in a baking pan and brown them at 400 degrees F. for 15 minutes. Turn them over and brown them on the other side for an additional 15 minutes. Drain off the fat.

  Combine the sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Place the ribs in the crock-pot and pour on the sauce. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

  These ribs are great cooked entirely in the slow cooker. If you want to use your grill, pre-cook them in the crock-pot for 5 hours, refrigerate them, and finish them up outside on the grill.

  Norman says to tell you that this barbecue sauce also works for chicken or sausage cooked entirely on the grill. For chicken, it’s even better if you leave out the steak sauce and increase the mustard to ½ cup.

  Norman also says that if you’re pressed for time, you don’t have to make the barbecue sauce. Just use a good bottled sauce. The secret is slow cooking the meat in the crock-pot—that’s what makes it so tender and tasty.

  Chicken Paprikash

  (You can do this in a 5-quart slow cooker, or a 325 degree F. oven)

  This is Janice Cox’s recipe, and Eleanor and Otis swear it’s going to land them a son-in-law soon.

  12 skinless, boneless chicken breasts *** (or the equivalent)