Thursday, June 9, 2016

Eclair & Present Danger with S'More Bar





We're baking dessert at the playground today to celebrate Laura Bradford's new book, Eclair and Present Danger. This novel is the first in the new Emergency Dessert Squad Mystery Series and the S'more bars look delicious.  


First a little about the book:

With her rent rising faster than her pie crust, bakery owner Winnie Johnson had hoped to be rescued by an inheritance from her wealthy friend and neighbor Gertrude Redenbacher. Instead all she inherits is the widow’s hostile hissing tabby, Lovey, and a vintage ambulance, restored by Gertrude’s late husband. As her dream crumbles, Winnie makes her final delivery—a peach pie to an elderly widower. But she finds Bart Wagner lying on his kitchen floor, smothered by a pillow.

To comfort her frightened and grieving neighbors, Winnie comes to the rescue with her baked goods—and an idea is born: dessert delivery via her ambulance and a new business called the Emergency Dessert Squad. When she’s not speeding to the scenes of dessert emergencies, Winnie is also racing to track down Bart’s killer—before she needs to call a real ambulance for the next victim...


Now for dessert:

For Mystery Playground, I decided to tweak Winnie’s favorite S’more Bar recipe (which, in keeping with her Emergency Dessert Squad theme, is aptly named, Worry No s’More Bar) by using mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups instead of chocolate chips. Something tells me, Winnie would approve (I know my kids sure did). 

While I love so many things about this series—the characters, the setting, the “emergency dessert” them concept—one of my favorite parts is coming up with ways to alter dessert names to fit a problem.  Like Hot Flash Fudge Sundaes (for women going through menopause) or Dump (Him/Her) Cake for that friend who needs encouragement to end a bad relationship.

With each new book in this series, Winnie will add more fun emergency desserts to her menu, which means there’s going to be a whole lot of giggling going on at my keyboard. 


Worry No s’More Bars

Ingredients:
  •  1¼ cup graham  crackers—crushed 
  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla
  • 1¼ cup  all-  purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
  • 1 cup mini marshmallows (with an additional handful for the top)
  • 12 mini Hershey Bars (unwrapped)

1. Line a square baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Combine crushed graham crackers and 4 tablespoons of melted butter. Press into bottom of prepared pan to form a crust.
3. Cream ½ cup of softened butter. Mix in both sugars and cream again until fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla. Mix again. 
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture and combine. 
5. Add in peanut butter cups and marshmallows. Stir.
6. Spoon cookie dough on top of graham crust and spread (dough will fill in any gaps as it cooks).
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
8. While bar is cooking, place mini chocolate bar in freezer.
9. After 10 minutes, sprinkle reserved marshmallows on top of cooking bar and then continue baking for another 8 to 10 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and place chocolate bar pieces on top. Cool completely.


Bio:
As a child, Laura Bradford fell in love with writing over a stack of blank paper, a box of crayons, and a freshly sharpened number two pencil. From that moment forward, she never wanted to do or be anything else. Today, Laura is the national bestselling author of several mystery series, including the Emergency Dessert Squad Mysteries, the Amish Mysteries, the Jenkins & Burns Mysteries, the Southern Sewing Circle Mysteries written as Elizabeth Lynn Casey, and the upcoming Tobi Tobias Mystery Series. She is a former Agatha Award nominee, and the recipient of an RT Reviewer’s Choice Award in romance. A graduate of Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, Laura enjoys making memories with her family, baking, and being an advocate for those living with Multiple Sclerosis.


You can find Laura on Facebook and occasionally on Twitter @bradfordauthor.

Laura is on tour with Great Escapes Virtual Book Tours and they are sponsoring a giveaway...


a Rafflecopter giveaway 



Tour Participants
June 1 – Girl Lost In a Book – REVIEW
June 1 – MysteriesEtc – REVIEW
June 2 – The Self-Rescue Princess – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 2 – cherylbbookblog – REVIEW
June 3 – Shelley’s Book Case – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
June 3 – Texas Book-aholic – REVIEW *
June 3 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, INTERVIEW *
June 4 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST
June 5 – Island Confidential – CHARACTER INTERVIEW
June 5 – Kaisy Daisy’s Corner – REVIEW  
June 6 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW *
June 6 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW
June 6 – fuonlyknew – REVIEW*
June 7 – Classy Cheapskate – REVIEW
June 7 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – REVIEW
June 7 – Books Direct – GUEST POST
June 8 – A Holland Reads – REVIEW*
June 8 – Jersey Girl Book Reviews – REVIEW, GUEST POST
June 8 – Community Bookstop – REVIEW *
June 9 – Melina’s Book Blog –  REVIEW *
June 9 – deal sharing aunt – REVIEW *
June 10 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, RECIPE *
June 10 – Booklady’s Booknotes – REVIEW
June 10 – Mystery Playground – RECIPE
June 11 – LibriAmoriMiei – REVIEW
June 11 – The Girl with Book Lungs – REVIEW *
June 12 – Book Babble – REVIEW
June 12 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW, INTERVIEW


4 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me here today with Éclair and Present Danger. And trust me, this dessert is deeeeeeelicious! :)

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  2. Emergency Dessert Squad? Now THAT'S a job for me! Oh, and I'm drooling over those Worry No S'Mores Bars. :O)

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  3. I will try this dessert. The names of your books are so much fun! I will have to read them. Thanks for the interview.

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  4. Yum, smores indoors?!?! It is almost too hot here to have an outdoor fire, I will have to try these.

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