Read Charms and Chocolate Chips: A Magical Bakery Mystery Online
Authors: Bailey Cates
Charms and Chocolate Chips: A Magical Bakery Mystery (23 page)
ipes
Mocha Shortbread Cookies
1¼ cups flour
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons instant coffee or espresso powder
1 cup softened butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift together flour, cornstarch, cocoa, and instant coffee; set aside. Beat butter with an electric mixer until it is creamy and lighter in color—about 5 minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar gradually, beating into butter until thoroughly incorporated. Add flour mixture and mix just until smoothly blended.
Spread parchment paper on a large cookie sheet. Divide the dough into three portions and, covering each portion with plastic wrap, press each one into a circle that is 5–6 inches in diameter. Be sure to press the rounds into place on the parchment where they will bake. If your cookie sheet is two small for all three rounds, use two smaller sheets with two rounds on one and a single round on the other. Remove plastic wrap.
With a very sharp knife, score each round into eight wedges. Bake for 25 minutes or until the shortbread feels firm to the touch (it will puff up a bit first). Remove from oven and rescore each round while it is still quite hot. Slide the shortbread, still on the parchment paper, onto a wire rack to cool. After they are completely cool, break or cut the rounds into wedges along the scored lines.
These are fabulous served with vanilla ice cream!
Chocolate Chip Gingerbread
2½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
¾ cup molasses
¾ cup boiling water
2 tablespoons grated ginger (or use pregrated ginger found in the produce department)
1
/
3
cup crystallized ginger cut into ¼-inch dice
1
/
3
cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch square cake pan.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and ginger; set aside. Beat butter with an electric mixer until it is creamy and lighter in color—about five minutes. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well.
Combine the molasses, grated ginger, and boiling water. Blend gradually into the butter mixture. Add in the flour mixture and combine thoroughly. Stir in the crystallized ginger and chocolate chips.
Pour into pan and bake for 35–45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool slightly; then turn gingerbread out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Delicious with a simple sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar or a dollop of whipped cream on top. Or both!
Bailey Cates
believes magic is all around us if we only look for it. She’s held a variety of positions, ranging from driver’s license examiner to soapmaker, which fulfills her mother’s warning that she’d never have a “regular” job if she insisted on studying philosophy, English, and history in college. She traveled the world as a localization program manager but now sticks closer to home, where she writes two mystery series, tends to a dozen garden beds, bakes up a storm, and plays the occasional round of golf. Bailey resides in Colorado with her guy and an orange cat that looks an awful lot like the one in her Magical Bakery Mysteries.
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