Lemon Pies and Little White Lies (34 page)

She saw a woman beginning a new chapter in what was certain to be a fascinating life.

A charmed life.

Recipes

Charmed Leprechaun Pie

20 chocolate sandwich cookie wafers, crushed

½ cup melted butter

2 cups marshmallow creme

⅓ cup crème de menthe liqueur

2 tablespoons white crème de cacao

Green food coloring

2 cups whipping cream

Andes Crème de Menthe Thins, finely chopped, for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix cookie crumbs and melted butter. Press crumbs into bottom and sides of a 10-inch pie dish. Bake for approximately 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Once cooled, place crust in
freezer. Also place large stainless steel mixing bowl and beaters in freezer to prepare to make whipped cream.

In large bowl, add marshmallow creme, crème de menthe, and white crème de cacao. Mix until smooth. Add food coloring until desired shade of green is achieved. For brighter green pie, add 5-6 drops.

Remove mixing bowl and beaters from freezer. Add whipping cream and whip with electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into marshmallow mixture. Pour into chilled pie shell. Garnish by sprinkling chopped Andes mints around rim of pie. Freeze for at least 3 hours.

Charmed Peach Blackberry Tart with Shortbread Crust

SHORTBREAD CRUST

¾ cup cold butter, cubed

⅓ cup confectioners’ sugar

1½ cups all-purpose flour

Blend ingredients in food processor on pulse setting until your dough is crumbly. Pat into a 9- or 10-inch greased tart pan. Prick crust with fork or use pie weights to keep from bubbling. Bake in 350-degree oven for 15 minutes.

FILLING

3 or 4 medium fresh peaches

1 pint fresh blackberries

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

⅓ cup buttermilk

3 large eggs

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1½ teaspoons lemon zest

While shortbread crust is baking, cut an X in the bottom of each peach with a knife. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Put peaches in water and boil for 45 seconds. If they’re a little underripe, boil for a full minute. Remove from heat and immediately transfer peaches to a bowl of ice water. Drain water and peel skin from peaches. Pit and slice peaches. Wash blackberries and pat dry.

When crust is finished baking, remove from oven and allow to cool. In the meantime, make the tart filling by combining sugar, flour, and salt in a medium bowl. Next, add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla and blend. Whisk in melted butter and lemon zest.

Place blackberries and peaches on shortbread crust. Transfer crust to a lined cookie sheet and pour filling over the fruit. The filling will reach the top. Bake until center is set, 55–60 minutes, depending on the strength of your oven. Cool tart, remove from pan, and enjoy.

Charmed Strawberry Muffin Pan Pies

5 cups strawberries, chopped

⅓ cup granulated sugar


¼ cup packed brown sugar


½ teaspoon apple pie spice


6 tablespoons cold butter, cubed

1 package refrigerated piecrusts

¾ cup flour

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice


1 tablespoon cornstarch


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Toss strawberries in sugar and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the crumble top in a medium bowl by mixing flour, brown sugar, apple pie spice, and butter in a food processor. Pulse until you have a nice crumble topping.

Place piecrust on a floured surface and cut out circles using a circular cookie cutter or biscuit cutter. Press circles into the muffin tins so there are no air bubbles.

Next, strain strawberries to remove excess liquid. Transfer back to the bowl and mix in lemon juice and cornstarch. Spoon strawberries into cups and crumble topping over each cup. The cups should overflow with the filling.

Bake in the oven for approximately 45–55 minutes. Let the mini pies cool completely and then use a thin butter knife to loosen and remove pies.

Makes 12–16 mini pies, depending on size of your piecrust circles.

Charmed Sunshine Lemon Pie

30 lemon cream–filled vanilla sandwich cookies, finely crushed

¼ cup butter, melted

1½ cups granulated sugar

6 tablespoons cornstarch

1 pinch salt

1 cup water

⅔ cup fresh lemon juice (plus 1 tablespoon for whipped cream)

2 teaspoons lemon zest

3 drops yellow food coloring

2 tablespoons butter

¾ cup heavy cream

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

⅔ cup confectioners’ sugar

½ cup finely crushed lemon drop candies for garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Break cookies into pieces. Using the pulse setting on a food processor, turn pieces into crumbly crust. Add butter. Pulse until blended. Spread into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate to form a crust. Bake for 10 minutes and then remove crust from oven and let it cool.

While crust is baking, place stainless steel mixing bowl and electric mixer beaters in the freezer to chill. (This helps produce a perfect whipped cream later on.)

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in water, lemon juice, lemon zest, and food coloring. Bring
to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often for 2 minutes. Stir until mixture is smooth and thickened.

Remove saucepan from heat and let mixture cool completely.

Remove mixing bowl and beaters from freezer. Add ¾ cup heavy cream and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.

In another mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped cream. Remove ½ cup of this mixture to save for garnish. Spread the rest over the cookie crust.

Top with cooled lemon filling and chill in the refrigerator overnight.

If desired, garnish with dollops of whipped cream mixture and sprinkles of crushed lemon drop candy.

Look for the next Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery from Ellery Adams, coming 2016.

Turn the page for a preview of the next book by Ellery Adams in the Book Retreat Mysteries . . .

Murder in the Paperback Parlor

Available August 2015 from Berkley Prime Crime!

“You expect me to break that with my bare hand?” Jane Steward, manager of Storyton Hall and mother of six-year-old twin boys, pointed at a piece of wood in disbelief.

“I do,” replied Sinclair, Storyton’s head librarian. He was looking at Jane with the fixed stare he reserved for guests who made too much noise in one of the resort’s reading rooms or who had dared to mishandle a book.

Storyton Hall had thousands of books, and Sinclair knew the location and condition of every volume. He cared for the books as if they were priceless treasures. And to those who worked and visited Storyton, that’s exactly what they were. People came from across the globe to spend a few days in the stately manor house tucked away in an isolated valley in western Virginia. Surrounded by blue hills and pristine forests, Storyton Hall was heaven on earth for bibliophiles.

Jane glanced around and for a moment, nearly forgot that she was standing directly beneath the carriage house in a
room that didn’t appear on the official blueprints. In fact, only a select group of people knew of its existence. Like Sinclair, they used the practice space to hone their martial arts skills. Butterworth, the butler, was particularly fond of attacking the seventy-pound weighted bags hanging from the ceiling. Sterling, the head chauffeur, preferred to spar with nunchaku, and Sinclair’s preferred weapon was a set of throwing knives he kept hidden inside a hollowed-out copy of
The Art of War
.

Not too long ago, Jane would have found the idea of dressing in a
dobok
and practicing roundhouse kicks utterly ridiculous, but now, as she caught a glimpse of herself in the wall-length mirror, she knew that there was nothing amusing about her situation. It was also clear from Sinclair’s expression that he expected her to break the board with her bare hand, and he expected her to do so without delay.

“It’s easy, Mom! Fitz and I did it on our first try.”

Displeased over the idea of being shown up by her sons, Jane frowned. “All right, I’m ready.”

Sinclair held the rectangular piece of pine by its sides and braced himself for impact. “Check your stance,” he ordered. “The power comes from your body. Whip your trunk around and you’ll break the board without injuring your hand. Focus on a spot in the center of the board. See your hand going through the wood and continuing to move forward. Don’t stop. If you think about stopping, you won’t succeed. Lead with your palm, not your pinkie finger.”

“Got it,” Jane said. She adjusted her legs until she was in the proper stance and pretended not to notice the doubtful look on Hem’s face or how Fitz was gnawing at his thumbnail. “I can do this,” she said, unsure if she was addressing the boys or herself.

Taking a deep breath, Jane trained her eyes on the board.
She saw the grains in the wood and visualized the exact location she intended to strike. Raising her right arm, she pivoted her entire right side toward the back wall. Concentrating on whipping her hip and shoulder around as quickly as possible, she drove her hand, palm facing the ceiling, into the board. It parted with a satisfying crack and a large splinter of wood flew past Jane’s cheek and landed on the floor mat near Hem’s feet.

He picked it up, testing its sharpness with his index finger, and promptly jabbed it into his brother’s side.

“Ow!” Fitz howled, and immediately retaliated by administering a front snap kick to his brother’s wrist. The splinter came dislodged from Hem’s hand and was snatched in midair by Sinclair.

“What have I told you gentlemen about martial arts?” he asked, his voice steely with disapproval.

Hem dropped his gaze and tried to appear penitent. “We should only use it for self-defense.”

“Or if another person’s safety is . . . threatened,” Fitz added, looking pleased to have remembered the second half of the creed Sinclair recited at the end of every class. Too late, Fitz realized that he should have adopted a contrite expression as well. He opened his mouth to speak, but Sinclair only had to shake his head once and Fitz immediately clamped his lips shut.

I wish I could do that
, Jane thought.
Give them one stern look and watch them fall into line.