Duxbridge Update and an Apple Cider Donut Hole Recipe

Duxbridge Mysteries, book 1 is with the editor after the first round of rewrites. I think there will be a little more tweaking and then a final edit and it should be off to the publisher.

Meanwhile, I’m working on another series that takes place in Colorado, the first in the series is in the fall, so this seemed appropriate, although this recipe may also show up in the third of the Duxbridge series (yes, we have planned and outlined THREE so far. The third in the series will be a Holiday Special and since it Duxbridge is in Massachusetts, it seemed appropriate our first holiday edition would be Halloween! Boo!

From the cooking blog:

It’s the time of year when folks go out to orchards; spend the day filling bags with apples, going on hay rides, running through corn and bale mazes, before finishing up with cider and cider donuts. In honor of that, I decided to try and make my own. Baked, not fried.

I haven’t purchased cider in a while and was a little shocked at the cost – but I bought from a local orchard, so it was worth it. Excellent flavor.

These turned out pretty good – unless you’ve got donut tins, these are going to be a little lopsided, not perfectly round as the dough is more like muffin dough. They are much lighter than muffins, more like a good cake donut, and once you coat them in cinnamon and sugar, no one will notice their little flat bottoms.

This recipe made about 3 ½ dozen holes or 2 ½ dozen mini muffins.

Apple Cider Donut Holes

Dry ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp baking soda
  • 1 ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed

Wet ingredients:

  • 2 cups of apple cider (reduced to ½ cup)
  • 2 cloves
  • 2 tbsp melted butter
  • ½ cup buttermilk (or 2 tbsp buttermilk powder and ½ cup water)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 small apple, shredded or 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce

Topping:

  • 3 tbsp melted butter
  • ½ granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon

Saucepan, large mixing bowl, Mini-muffin pan or donut pan (these usually make mini-donuts), two small bowls

Book ‘Em, Daffy

I TOLD you ducks were shady.

The final scene in my newest novel, Jennifer McCaffrey Mysteries, (spoiler alert!) has to do with rescued ducks in a bathtub. Available soon!!

So, of course, this came across my FB feed yesterday:

Respite Open Thread: You Do The Crime

This guy is my new hero:

Mark Luther: For everyone inquiring, these two fellas, now named Denzil and Beau, were owner surrenders that were being rehomed to Oinking Acres Farm Sanctuary here in Indiana by a couple that recognized they were not equipped to care for them properly! With the owner unable to self-transport, I volunteered to go and pick them up! However, they were Jumbo Pekins (size of a Goose), and they wouldn’t fit in any carrier! So we got crafty and made a box seat for to keep them contained for the drive!

https://www.facebook.com/oinkingacres/

Seems he does this tranport a LOT:

Respite Open Thread: You Do The Crime 1

Oinking Acres Farm Rescue doing their best to rescue and educate:

More ducks!!! I got a call today about 3 ducks in need of rescue. We quickly arranged transportation, huge thanks to my friend Mark! He is becoming quite the expert in duck wrangling 🤩 We definitely need more kind hearted, selfless people like Mark in the world.

These big babies were rescued off a neighborhood pond. Domestic ducks CANNOT fly. They are NOT a wild animal. They cannot survive on their own. Please please please stop dumping your ducks!! These guys were lucky enough to have been rescued before they were mauled or eaten by a wild animal.

Another big thank you to my friend Mark who has been transporting ducks for the third night in a row 😂😂🌟🦆

Book ’em, Daffy!

(x-posted at What’s 4 Dinner Solutions)

Reviews and Prizes

Underway – expected June 2019
TJ arrives in Boston and is quickly involved in a missing persons/art theft mystery

A writer friend of mine shared some good information today and I wanted to share it here:

… if you read something and enjoy it, you give the author a big gift by reviewing the book on Amazon and/or Goodreads. The review can be very short (I enjoyed this book). It doesn’t have to 5 star. The issue is that Amazon uses the sheer number of reviews as part of its algorithm for which books to promote. Also some sites…require that a book have a certain number of reviews before you can promote on there.

I could use a few more reviews. Because, while I’ve heard from many of you (and even signed your books!) there are not many reviews on Amazon right now. And I know it can be a pain and you don’t know what to say, etc. I get it.

So, I’m going to offer a little incentive! Between now and January 31, 2019, anyone who leaves a review will be entered into a contest for the newest volume in the TJ Wilde Mysteries Trilogy – Underway. I will pick two winners at random (regardless of stars!). The winners will receive a signed copy of Underway.

And just to make things fair and equal – if you leave a comment here or on my Facebook page, under this post, between now and January 31, 2019 – you’ll be entered, too. And I’ll award a signed copy of your choice, Run Aground or Underway. Heck, you can even choose the first book in my Jennifer McCaffrey mystery series. More on that to come…

Now I have to get back to writing, or there won’t be any new books. I will try to post a new Instagram Short Story this weekend. It may be a little (real life) mystery, itself.

Oh, and that author, Dorothy A. Winsor, you can find her terrific YA books here.

A Little Night Music: Marc Anthony, You Sang To Me

Working on a different book tonight. The series is tentatively titled The McCaffrey Mysteries.  Not sure about individual book titles yet. It’s a concept that’s been rattling around in my brain for quite a while. So I needed to go old school with music this week. I hit the Marc Anthony playlist a bit hard.

More details on the new book series as I flesh out more of the story. Until then…