Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers and Writers – Day Late Firecrackers

 

Photo by Trevor 205 from Pixabay

 Welcome back to Diet Killers, my series that’s become a bit sporadic and doesn’t always (as I’d originally intended) spotlight a chocolate dessert. This month I have a 1970s recipe for a fruity, icy, slushy, refreshing drink called a Firecracker. It gets Its bang from a bit of rum.

My husband and I were introduced to Firecrackers at a 4th of July picnic in Abilene, Texas. Abilene is hot and dry, and if you have cats they bring lizards and horned toads in the house. Snakes, too, if they can wrestle them through the door. The wind blows so much red dust you can taste it in the air—in your living room. It’s the kind of place where you can really enjoy a drink like a Firecracker.

We lived in Abilene for four years and I’ve only made Firecrackers once since then. Without the wind and the snakes and the dust they seem frivolous. Try them yourself, though, because your mileage may vary.

Mileage varies when it comes to books, too, so take what I’m about to say with a pinch of salt. Margarita salt if you’re so inclined. All Shell Breaks Loose, my latest Haunted Shell Shop Mystery, came out this past week and I think it’s a real firecracker of a story. The series takes place on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. Ocracoke is a real place with a real history as a pirate haven.

The series is about Maureen Nash, a shell scientist, who finds a new life running a shell shop in Ocracoke. She also finds herself solving murders with the help of the octogenarian Weaver siblings, Glady and Burt, and Emrys Lloyd, the ghost of a Welsh pirate. In the new book, all shell breaks loose when the island’s eccentric doctor claims he’s bought a haunted sword. It takes Maureen, Emrys, Glady, Burt, a bulldog named Ben, and the ghost from the haunted sword to set things right.

So here’s my recipe for a spot of post-holiday relaxation. Stir up a pitcher of Firecrackers and sit back with a copy of All Shell Breaks Loose. It’s available in print, e-book, and audio editions and also at your local library.

Firecrackers

Ingredients

1 small can frozen orange juice

1 small can frozen lemonade

32 once jar cranberry juice

4 shots rum (more or less, depending on how piratical you’re feeling)

7-Up (chilled)

Directions

Mix all the ingredients, except the 7-Up together and freeze in plastic container you can scoop from. The mixture will freeze into a slush.

For individual drinks or a pitcher, mix equal parts slush and chilled 7-Up.

 

 

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky. 

 

Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers and Writers – Flaming Bananas Foster from Molly MacRae

 

Image by Janja from Pixabay

Welcome back to Diet Killers, my series that’s become a bit sporadic and doesn’t always (as I’d originally intended) spotlight a chocolate dessert. Not because my family has gone off chocolate, but because we don’t eat that many desserts. I’ve been relying on pictures of desserts I’ve made in the past (and remembered to take pictures of) and am running low. Don’t worry, though, I’ve saved some to sprinkle throughout rest of the year. In October, for instance, you can look forward to Graveyard Fudge.

You’re bound to read more and better reports on this year’s Malice Domestic conference, but here are some of my highlights. First, it was a big weekend for Writers Who Kill. With twelve members in attendance, the blog was well-represented. With three members as finalists for Agatha Awards, we were exceptionally well-represented. I’m proud to be associated with Marilyn Levinson, a finalist for Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic (Best Children’s/YA Mystery), Connie Berry for Grave Deception (Best Contemporary Mystery), and Annette Dashofy for Devil Comes Calling (Best Contemporary Mystery).

Best of all, Annette was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor. That is incredibly cool and well-deserved. Hank Phillippi Ryan interviewed Annette in front of a packed auditorium, and I enjoyed getting to know more about her. Well done, Annette!

Hank also interviewed Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jaqueline Winspear. Winspear told us about the “moment of creative grace” that gave her the inspiration for her long-running Maisy Dobbs series. She’s a lovely, talented storyteller and author.

Malice-Go-Round, a yearly event subtitled “speed dating with authors,” is a marathon of trying to tell a table of eight readers about your latest book(s) in an interesting, concise, cogent, entertaining way in two minutes or less—twenty times in a row while nineteen other authors at nineteen other tables in the room are doing the same thing. Hoo boy. But! You get to go around with a partner and breathe while they do their two minutes before you both move on to the next table. The person to team up with for this crazy dash is Writers Who Kill member Sarah E. Burr. Sarah has enough bright energy to power both of you through to the finish. Thank you for carrying me along, Sarah.

There are so many moments that make Malice worthwhile to attend. I’ll leave you with one more. Ellen Byron, the weekend’s Toastmaster, opened the conference with the story of the warm welcome she received at her first Malice. She’d arrived knowing no one, feeling like an interloper and an imposter, and she left knowing she’d found friends. At the end of her story, Ellen asked first-time attendees to raise their hands. Then she asked if any of them had come alone and knew no one. One of those people sat directly in front of me. I quickly consulted with my conference buddies and then invited the newcomer to have dinner with us. She accepted with delight. We had a wonderful evening and in one of those odd Malice quirks we kept running into each other for the rest of the weekend. On Sunday we said goodbye knowing we’d found a new friend. For me, that’s a lot of what Malice is about.

Here’s the recipe for Flaming Bananas Foster that one of my sisters gave my husband and me as a wedding present 48 years ago (along with other recipes for more sedate and nutritious dishes). Why is this recipe appropriate for a post-Malice post? Because after a full and exciting Malice weekend, some people might feel bananas, some might need the rum and crème de banana liqueur, and some are on fire to get back to the keyboard and write. Which kind of Malice attendee are you?

 

Bananas Foster

Combine over medium low heat, stirring:

              1/4 cup margarine (or butter)

              1/4 cup brown sugar

              2 bananas, sliced

Cook until bubbly

Raise temperature to medium high and add:

              1 tablespoon rum

              1 tablespoon crème de banana liqueur

Have ready two bowls of vanilla ice cream (Or chocolate? That’s worth trying!)

When mixture gets hot enough it will burst into flame. Keep stirring until the flames stop, then pour the mixture over the ice cream and enjoy! 

 

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky. 

 

Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers – Galit’s Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies from Molly MacRae

 

In this edition of Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers we’re celebrating Galit (G.P.) Gottlieb’s Whipped & Sipped Mysteries. Specifically, we’re celebrating the re-release of this tasty culinary series with all-new, eye-catching cover art.

The series follows Chicagoan Alene Baron through her busy life as a single mom, the owner of the Whipped & Sipped coffee shop/café, and more recently as an amateur sleuth. Alene has the skills for all three, and the books prove that even a city the size of Chicago has neighborhood pockets of small-town charm.

To make this happen, Galit places the café mere blocks from the lakeview building where Alene lives with her three children and her father. Alene grew up in the building, as did many of the other residents. They drop in on each other, drop in at other local businesses, share secrets, spread rumors, and a few of them apparently solve their problems with a spot of murder. It’s everything you expect from a community where everyone knows everyone else’s business—or think they do.

The books, in order, are: Battered, Smothered, and Charred. Each one includes delicious, healthy recipes and you’ll find even more recipes on Galit’s website. The latest Whipped & Sipped rumor is that she’s busy concocting book 4 in the series. For a fun window into Galit’s writing life, read a guest blog she wrote for Writers Who Kill in November 2025.

Galit puts a refreshing spin on the small-town culinary cozy. Her books look great with their fresh new covers. Now here’s her recipe for a classic cookie—refreshed and healthy!

 

Galit’s Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies – vegan and gluten-free

Ingredients

3 cups old-fashioned gluten-free oats (While oats are naturally gluten free, did you know that the package of oats in your cupboard might not be? Unless the oats are certified to be gluten-free they might be cross-contaminated with gluten from other grains processed in the same facility.)

2 tablespoons flax meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup plain tahini

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Spray two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. In a food processor, blend the oats, flax meal, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until uniform.

Add the brown sugar, oil, tahini, water, and vanilla. Blend just until the mixture is smooth, no more.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl, stir in the chocolate chips, and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

With wet hands, form 24 balls. Place 12 balls on each cookie sheet. Bake each sheet until cookies are beginning to turn golden, 13 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on the sheets for at least 10 minutes. From Galit: If you try to nab one before it’s cool, it will fall apart!

 

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky. 

 

 

Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers and Writers – Bread Pudding with Chocolate and Ginger

 

Welcome back to Diet Killers. This month is a special edition because it’s more about writing than reading. But without writers, there can’t be readers, so maybe I have everyone covered. My subject is something I like to do while writing and cooking—rustle around in my kitchen or computer files to see what I have on hand, shop for any of the essentials I don’t have, and along the way add a bit of this, a dab of that, and maybe a touch of something unexpected. In other words, I tinker.

For example, when I started work on All Shell Breaks Loose, book 3 in my Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, I went to my writing cupboard. It’s really a computer file labeled “compost” but that doesn’t sound as appetizing as “cupboard.” Inside I found three fun items. The first is an article I saved in 2008 about a haunted sword for sale in Texas. The article debunks the idea that the sword in question is actually haunted (no big surprise) but it includes a picture of a tiny, frazzled-looking older woman holding up an immense sword. She apparently wanted to sell the thing because its aura upset the members of her knitting circle. I love that article and a supposedly haunted sword is now the main ingredient in All Shell Breaks Loose.

The second ingredient from my writing cupboard is information about mudlarking gleaned from several sources over a number of years. Here’s an article on mudlarking from the London Museum. According to the article: “In the 18th and 19th centuries, poor Londoners sold scraps they found on the foreshore to earn any money they could. They became known as mudlarks.” Today mudlarking is a hobby, one I could see enjoying. When we were kids, my brothers and I found cool stuff washed up along our shore on Washington Island in Lake Michigan. Each piece of flotsam and jetsam told its own story—or gave us the chance to make up our own. Mudlarking appears like a dash of nutmeg in All Shell Breaks Loose.

The third ingredient in the cupboard is a snippet of conversation with a friend that I wrote down ten or twelve years ago. My friend hadn’t been able to get her doctor to take her hip pain seriously. Her husband told her that was because she didn’t tell the doctor the right story well enough. She went back to the doctor and told him, in graphic detail, how that hip felt and how that pain affected and diminished every part of her life. Telling the right story well enough is an important ingredient for solving the crime in All Shell Breaks Loose. (I won’t leave you in suspense over the outcome of my friend’s revised hip story—the doctor ordered an MRI, saw that her hip joint was in the process of disintegrating, she got the replacement, and today she walks, hikes, and plays with her grandchildren like a champ.)

While writing All Shell Breaks Loose, I picked up a few more ingredients about the history of Ocracoke Island where the book takes place. These tidbits add bright notes and depth to the story. There’s Loop Shack Hill, a relic from World War Two. There are also the Navy Beach Jumpers memorial and the Beach Jumpers’ motto: “Turbo Vestri Hostilis.” Translated from the Latin, the motto reads “a whirlwind to your enemy” and it's an excellent example of serendipity. It fits into the story perfectly.

Chocolate chips and crystalized ginger fit into this month’s recipe perfectly, too. Bread pudding is a dish made for tinkering. If you don’t like chocolate, add raisins or another dried fruit. Toss in some nuts. Add a bit of pumpkin to the milk mixture. Make a boozy bourbon sauce to pour over your pudding. Or leave out the extras and stick to a great, tried-and-true comfort food dessert. 

Bread Pudding with Chocolate and Ginger

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or darker)

1/4 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

4-6 slices old bread or leftover rolls or buns. If using rolls or buns, slice them horizontally into pieces 1/2 inch thick. You want enough bread to make 2 layers in an 8” x 8” x 2” baking dish. White bread is fine, whole wheat is great, rye a little strange. If you don’t have old bread, lightly toast fresh bread.

2 cups milk (dry nonfat, 2%, whole, or half-and-half – however indulgent you feel)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

Butter – enough to spread on one side of each piece of bread

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Butter one side of each piece of bread. Put half the bread, buttered side up, in a greased 8” x 8” x 2” baking dish. Sprinkle half the chocolate chips over the bread. Top with the rest of the bread, buttered side up. Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate chips and the chopped ginger.

Heat the milk and sugar until just steaming. Stir in the vanilla.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, then gradually whisk them into the milk. Pour this mixture over the bread.

Bake, uncovered 30-40 minutes, or until the top is beginning to brown and a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Serve warm, cold, or reheated.

All Shell Breaks Loose comes out June 30, 2026 and is available for pre-order now. 

Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky. 

 

Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers – Date, Walnut, Chocolate Chip Cake from Molly MacRae

Welcome back to Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers. In this month’s edition we’re straying a bit. Rather than talk about one or several mystery writers, we’ll celebrate acclaimed narrator Barbara Rosenblat, a woman whom AudioFile named a Golden Voice. 

Rosenblat, also a stage and screen actor, has narrated more than 400 books in a wide range of genres, from classics such as Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, to the popular Stink series for children by Megan McDonald, to short story collections by Kurt Vonnegut and Eudora Welty.

Even better for mystery lovers, Rosenblat is known for her narrations of well-loved mystery series such as the Mrs. Pollifax books by Dorothy Gilman, Nevada Barr’s Anna Pigeon books, Elizabeth Peters‘s Amelia Peabody series, Vicky Bliss series, and Jacqueline Kirby series, and books by Lisa Scottoline, Linda Fairstein, Carol O’Connell, Diane Mott Davidson, and Amanda Quick, among others.

Using a virtuosic range of accents. Rosenblat voices believable females and males  from small children to crotchety, aged seniors. Without being over-the-top, her characters are charming, smarmy, snide, sniveling, pompous, calming, threatening, naïve, and everything between. Her voice is warm, engaging and always welcome. I’d happily sit back with a piece of Date, Walnut, Chocolate Chip Cake and listen to her read a dictionary. Or two pieces if she chooses an unabridged dictionary.

Writers Who Kill member Grace Topping introduced me to Barbara Roseblat. Thank you, Grace. This cake, also rich, warm, and always welcome, is for Barbara and you.   

Date, Walnut, Chocolate Chip Cake

A moist cake with plenty of dates and a topping of chocolate chips, walnuts, and lots of crunchy white sugar—one of the best pieces of cake you’ll ever have. 

Ingredients for the cake

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda (divided)

1 ½ cups boiling water

½ pound chopped pitted dates

¾ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

2 eggs

¾ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour 

Ingredients for the topping

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup chopped walnuts

8 ounces chocolate chips 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350℉ and grease a 9”x13” pan.

In a medium bowl, pour boiling water over dates and one teaspoon of the baking soda. Set aside to cool. (If you don’t let it cool, the butter will melt when you add it. Then the batter will be runny and the topping will sink out of sight. The cake will taste just fine but the crunchy topping is a lovely feature.)

In a second medium bowl, mix flour, salt, and remaining ¼ teaspoon of baking soda.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, stirring until thoroughly mixed.

Alternately add flour and date mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until just combined. Pour into prepared pan, spreading batter evenly to the corners.

Sprinkle top with the walnuts, then the chocolate chips. Stir the sugar and salt together and sprinkle over walnuts and chocolate chips.

Bake about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool, cut, and serve. MMMmmmm.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She writes the award-winning Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries, the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. MacRae’s short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and is a past president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

 

 

Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers – Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread from Molly MacRae

Welcome back to Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers. Today’s recipe evokes a comfy teatime. It also involves fresh garden produce, so I’ve paired it with a few freshly picked produce-related cozy mystery series. Let's dig in.  

Elle Brooke White’s Finn Family Farm Mysteries are a whimsical addition to the long list of amateur sleuths working with animal sidekicks. Former advertising executive Charlotte Finn inherits a farm in Little Acorn, California, and ends up dealing with a corpse instead of her crops. Her sidekicks, a teacup pig named Horse and a ladybug named Mrs. Robinson, prove more reliable at solving crimes than Charlotte’s staff or relatives.  

Lynn Cahoon is a master at writing entertaining cozy mysteries. Her Farm-to-Fork series doesn’t disappoint. Set in Idaho, they star best friends Angie and Felicia with their new farm-to-fork restaurant, County Seat. Murder intrudes, of course, and there are loveable animals—a hen named Mabel, a pooch named Dom, and a baby goat named Precious. 

Peg Cochran’s Farmer’s Daughter Mysteries take us to Love Blossom Farm in Lovett, Michigan. There, Shelby McDonald, a widow with two children, keeps the family farm running while writing a popular lifestyle and cooking blog—and reluctantly solving murders. Cochran is a deft hand at creating engaging characters and charming settings. 

Amanda Flower’s Farm-to-Table Mystery series also takes place in Michigan. Shiloh Bellamy leaves her California life behind and cashes in her 401K to save the family farm—by turning it organic, sustainable, and adding a farm-to-table café. It’s a tall order in a small town full of secrets, lies, and deceit. Shiloh has a good sense of humor, though, and family and friends to see her through.   

Edith Maxwell brings her own experience as a former organic farmer and her usual flair to her Local Foods Mysteries. In the books, Cam Flaherty, a former corporate world computer scientist, turns her hand to managing her great-uncle’s small Massachusetts farm. Cam’s rusty social skills make the small-town scene somewhat difficult, but she does her best to plug into the locovore community. Maxwell is great with intriguing plots and winning characters.     

Now for the recipe! Double chocolate zucchini bread is an amazing hunk of flavor. It’s dense, moist, and delicious. The zucchini is like a hidden clue or a suspect lurking out of sight. If you didn’t know it’s there, you might never catch on.  

What’s your favorite stealth ingredient—in your cooking or in your writing? 

 

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread 

 

Ingredients 

1 ½ cups sugar 

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed 

1 cup vegetable oil 

3 large eggs 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

2 cups finely grated zucchini, slightly drained 

1 cup chocolate chips 

 

Directions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray a large (9”x5”) loaf pan or line it with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, beat together sugars, oil, eggs, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.  

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon. 

Gradually add dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in zucchini until it’s evenly distributed in the batter. Stir in chocolate chips. 

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan, spreading so top is somewhat level.  

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean, 65 – 75 minutes. 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She writes the award-winning Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries, the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries, and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. MacRae’s short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and is a past president of the Short Mystery Fiction Society.