Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **AUTHOR SPECIAL** with JENNIE MARTS!
Welcome to my Friday bonus feature called Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **Author Special**!! Today, in lieu of one of my own recipes, I’m going to introduce you to a new author who will share one of her favorite recipes. Not only will you and I occasionally learn how to make something new and delicious, but we’ll get a chance to check out some wonderful authors. Introducing author, JENNIE MARTS, and their favorite recipe for Honey-glazed Quesitos (Cream Cheese Pastries!
TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN
A Bee Keeping Mystery Book 1
BY JENNIE MARTS
Blurb
As a successful mystery author, Bailey Briggs writes about murder, but nothing prepares her for actually discovering the dead body of the founder of her hometown of Humble Hills, Colorado. Bailey grew up at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee, and her two eccentric sisters, Aster and Marigold—which is why she drops everything to come home and help Granny Bee after a bad fall.
A broken foot doesn’t stop her grandmother from ruling The Hive, her granny’s book club, or continuing to prepare and package her bee-inspired products. But when Bailey’s grandmother’s infamous “Honey I’m Home” hot spiced honey turns out to “bee” the murder weapon and her granny is now the prime suspect, Bailey has no choice but to use her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder and “smoke out” the real culprit.
With the help of Bailey’s witty bestie, a pair of meddling aunts, the feisty members of The Hive, and her computer-savvy daughter, this amateur sleuth is determined to solve the case. A malicious attack and an ominous threat reveal that someone wants Bailey to butt out of the investigation, but there’s no way she’s backing down. She must use her skills to uncover the truth and catch the clever culprit before her grandmother ends up bee-hind bars.
“A honey of a cozy mystery filled with secrets, friendship . . . And a bee-fuddling murder that will keep you guessing.”
—Diane A.S. Stuckart, New York Times bestselling author of cozy mysteries
“You’ll love this hive of charming, feisty women and delight in the tasty way they catch more thieves with honey.”
—Elle Brooke White, author of the Finn Family Farm Mystery series
TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN
A Bee Keeping Mystery Book 1
BY JENNIE MARTS
Thanks so much to Karen for inviting me to share on her blog. I’m really thrilled to be here! I’m Jennie Marts, and I write small town stories with humor and heart. My books range from cozy mystery to romantic comedies to western romance.
My new book, TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN, is the first in a fun new Bee Keeping Cozy Mystery series. And after having over thirty books published, I’m so excited that this will be my first hardback. Yay!
TAKE THE HONEY AND RUN is the story of Bailey Briggs, a single mom mystery author, who returns home to her small mountain town of Humble Hills, Colorado. She and her twelve-year-old daughter, Daisy, arrive to hear her grandmother, Granny Bee, threatening to kill the town mayor. The next morning, Bailey discovers the mayor’s dead body, and Granny Bee’s Honey I’m Home Hot Spiced Honey turns out to bee the murder weapon. Now Granny’s got herself into a sticky situation, and Bailey has to use her fictional detective skills to solve a real murder and keep her grandmother from ending up bee-hind bars.
Oh, and did I mention that upon arriving in town, she runs into Sawyer Dunn, the love of her life, whom she hasn’t seen in thirteen years, not since he got shipped off to his uncle’s farm in Montana the night they stole a tractor and accidentally drove it into a pond? And did I also mention that Sawyer now happens to be the town sheriff?
I had so much fun writing this book! My husband is a certified beekeeper, and he has always told such fascinating stories about the life and habits of bees, that I knew I had to incorporate them into a story somehow. Granny Bee is the beekeeper in this book, and her book club, affectionately known as The Hive, consists of her two spinster sisters (who live in an old purple Victorian called Lavender Manor), Rosa Delgado, and town librarian, Dottie Duffield.
Bailey and her sidekick bestie, Evie Delgado Espinoza (Rosa’s granddaughter), have been described as a mashup of Lucy & Ethel and Thelma & Louise trying to solve a murder.
Granny Bee loves to bake and is always offering up honey-inspired dishes, so I knew I had to add recipes to this book. When I told my mom, who is a fabulous cook, this, she insisted we spend the day in the kitchen testing out all the recipes and finding the best ones for the book.
What a day we had! Mom came over around ten that morning, and I finally finished cleaning everything up around midnight. Whew! There were different variations of several of the recipes, and we wanted to make sure we picked the best ones, so our plan was to bake all day and create several recipes then have the family over for dinner to be our guinea pigs…um…I mean, our taste testers.
I think we made sixteen recipes in all. We tried two variations of whipped ricotta cheese drizzled in honey, and the citrus flavor won over the cinnamon. We made honey banana bread and honey pound cake. We tried three versions of honey butter. We made honey lemonade and two versions of the specialty danish from Evie and Rosa’s bakery, Cream-Cheese Quesitos. We made a honey cake with marshmallow frosting and crispy honey cookies. And of course, we had to find our favorite of three versions of the murder weapon, Granny Bee’s Honey I’m Home Hot Spiced Honey.
I love the picture of my mom in her apron! And I love it even more because you can see my golden retriever, Cooper, who is the inspiration for the golden retriever in the book, peeking out from behind my mom, keeping a watchful eye on things and hoping a cookie falls on the floor.
I will admit, we had a few duds…nobody liked the honey lemonade, except for the characters in the book, of course. They loved it.
But overall, we made some delicious creations, and I think our favorite was the cream-cheese quesitos drizzled in honey. Sooo good! They were almost to die for!
I’d love for you to check out all the recipes and find out who used the hot spiced honey to murder the mayor in Take the Honey and Run. Humble Hills and Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch are full of fun and quirky characters, and I hope you love them as much as I do.
Do you have any favorite recipes that you use honey in? I’d love to hear about them! I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration for the next book in the series, Kill Or Bee Killed, coming out next spring. Tell me about your favorite use for honey in the comments.
Thanks for hosting me today! I so enjoy the blog and was thrilled to be part of it today!
…But maybe not to kill for!
I’d love for you to check out all the recipes and find out who used the hot spiced honey to murder the mayor in Take the Honey and Run. Humble Hills and Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch are full of fun and quirky characters, and I hope you love them as much as I do.
Do you have any favorite recipes that you use honey in? I’d love to hear about them! I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration for the next book in the series, Kill Or Bee Killed, coming out next spring. Tell me about your favorite use for honey in the comments.
Thanks for hosting me today! I so enjoy the blog and was thrilled to be part of it today!
About Author Jennie Marts…
Jennie Marts is the USA TODAY Best-selling author of award-winning books filled with love, laughter, and always a happily ever after. Readers call her books “laugh out loud” funny and the “perfect mix of romance, humor, and steam.” Fic Central claimed one of her books was “the most fun I’ve had reading in years.”
She is living her own happily ever after in the mountains of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a parakeet who loves to tweet to the oldies. She’s addicted to Diet Coke, adores Cheetos, and believes you can’t have too many books, shoes, or friends.
Her books range from western romance to cozy mysteries, but they all have the charm and appeal of quirky small-town life. She loves genre-mashups like adding romance to her Page Turners cozy mysteries and creating the hockey-playing cowboys in the Cowboys of Creedence. The same small-town community comes to life with more animal antics in her latest Creedence Horse Rescue series. And her sassy heroines and hunky heroes carry over in her heartwarming, feel good romances from Hallmark Publishing. More fun abounds in her newest cozy mystery, Take the Honey and Run: A Bee Keeping Mystery.
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Links to Jennie’s website, blog, books, #ad, etc.:
https://books2read.com/TaketheHoneyandRun
Jennie loves to hear from readers. Follow her on Facebook at Jennie Marts Books, Twitter at @JennieMarts, and at jenniemartswriter on Instagram. Visit her at www.jenniemarts.com and sign up for her newsletter to keep up with the latest news and releases.
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I hope you enjoy the recipe Jennie is sharing today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy Eating!
Karen
P.S. We’re at 657 recipes and counting with this posting. Hope you find some recipes you like. If this is your first visit, please check out past blogs for more Killer Fixin’s. In the right-hand column menu, you can even look up past recipes by type. i.e. Desserts, Breads, Beef, Chicken, Soups, Author Specials, etc.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE: If an author’s favorite recipe isn’t their own creation and came from an online site, you will now find the entire recipe through the link to that site as a personal recommendation. Thank you.
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Honey-glazed Quesitos (Cream Cheese Pastries)
From the kitchen of: Rosa Delgado
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet Pepperidge Farms Puff Pastry, thawed according to package instructions
- 1 (8 ounce) brick cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg white, beaten slightly
- 3 tablespoons honey for drizzling
Instructions:
To start—preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Then on a lightly floured surface, cut puff pastry into 9 equal pieces (should be 4 x 4-inch squares).
In a bowl, mix cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until soft and creamy. Drop a spoonful of mixture into the center of each puff pastry then fold one corner into the center. Dab a little egg white onto the tip of the opposite corner of pastry then fold it toward the center, just barely overlapping the first corner and using the egg white to stick the dough together. It should look like the quesito is hugging itself with the pastry meeting in the center and the filling showing on the sides.
Repeat with remaining pastries then transfer to the parchment lined baking sheet and brush each pastry lightly with egg white.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until puffed and golden.
Remove from oven and drizzle pastries with honey.
Enjoy!
I’d love for you to check out all the recipes and find out who used the hot spiced honey to murder the mayor in Take the Honey and Run. Humble Hills and Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch are full of fun and quirky characters, and I hope you love them as much as I do.
Do you have any favorite recipes that you use honey in? I’d love to hear about them! I’m always on the lookout for new inspiration for the next book in the series, Kill Or Bee Killed, coming out next spring. Tell me about your favorite use for honey in the comments.
Thanks for hosting me today! I so enjoy the blog and was thrilled to be part of it today!
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Special Giveaway: Jennie will give away a $10 Amazon gift card to one reader who comments on her Karen’s Killer Fixin’s blog. To enter, tell Jennie about your favorite use for honey!
Happy Reading!
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Thanks, Jennie, for sharing your book with us!
Don’t miss the chance to read this book!
Both the story and the recipe sound delicious! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thanks so much Diana! I had so much working on both!
I hit send before finishing my comment: I use honey in my tea, and with peanut butter on my toast in the morning. It’s also wonderful on ice cream! 😀
I also love peanut butter and honey on toast! One of my favorites! I haven’t tried it on ice cream–but I’ll bet it’s amazing!
tasty recipe
These were easy to make and tasted so delicious!
I’m fond of honey woven into my yogurt, not very creative, sadly.
Thanks, Jennie , your books are always a treat.😉
Thanks, Karen for having Jennie here today.
Aww! Thank you so much! What a nice compliment! And honey in yogurt sounds delicious!
I actually have never used honey… I have had honey biscuits though.
Honey biscuits sound delicious!
Both the story and the recipe sound delicious! Thank you so much for sharing. I love the idea of all the recipes.
Hi Elleen- my mom and I had so much fun creating all these recipes! It will be a special memory for us both!
These pastries sound SO good! I’m looking forward to reading this series! One of my good friends is a bee keeper and she has stories too.
Oh thank you Glenda! The pastries were delicious! We tried two different variations and this one was the best! And I always love hearing good stories from bee keepers. You’ll have to tell her about this book and that if she ever wants to share ideas or bee stories to contact me through my website at jenniemarts.com. 🙂
Hi, Jennie, and welcome back to Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. I love your book cover, the story premise, and the recipe. Your books are always so much fun. Loved the photos you shared cooking with your mom. Looks like you had so much fun. Thanks for sharing everything with us today!
Awww- thank you Karen! You are so kind! I really love this book and think Crooked Lane did such a great job with the cover. I really wanted the golden retriever on the front playing with the bee and I love how it turned out! Thanks again for inviting me to be on your blog! <3
I’m looking forward to starting this series, and the recipe sounds delicious! I like incorporating honey in my cooking, my favorite recipe with honey is Baklava.
Oh, I hope you love the book Julie! and I agree, Baklava is soooo good! <3
Sounds like a good read and I usually put honey in my tea!
Thanks Teresa! And honey in tea is always good!
Thank you for sharing the recipe. They sound delicious. I use honey to sweeten my tea and on toast. I have used it in recipes a few times. Our second daughter uses a lot of honey in her cooking. She often drizzles her roasted vegetables with honey.
Hi Patricia! what an interesting idea to drizzle roasted veggies with honey. I’ll bet it adds a delicious sweetness!