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Mac Almeida’s boyfriend, baker Tim Brunelle, makes this yummy quick bread for his bakery, Greta’s Grains in Westham on Cape Cod. Bake a day ahead of time for easiest slicing.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2 cups unbleached white flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Zest and juice of one orange. If juice doesn’t equal 3/4 cup, add orange or cranberry juice to supplement
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”-x-5” loaf pan with butter.
2. Chop cranberries in a food processor or by hand.
3. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in the center and stir in the egg with a fork. Add the juice, buttermilk, oil, cranberries, and nuts, and stir until just mixed. Do not beat or overmix.
4. Pour batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean and the bread starts to pull away from the edges of the pan. Remove it from the oven and let cool on rack for fifteen minutes, then turn it out of the pan to cool completely.
5. Enjoy with butter or cream cheese and a cup of your favorite coffee.

Photograph from the Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder blog, where the recipe was first published.

Tis the season for hot chocolate and mouthwatering treats. But sometimes too much of a good thing can be downright deadly . . .

Christmas Cocoa Murder By Carlene O’Connor

Siobhán O’Sullivan’s hopes for a quiet Irish Christmas are dashed when the local Santa turns up dead in a carnival dunk tank of hot cocoa. Now instead of hunting down holiday gifts, she’s pursuing a heartless killer. Seems the dead Santa was no angel either, stealing neighborhood dogs to guide his sleigh. But was it his holiday antics—or worse—that led to his death by chocolate?

Christmas Cocoa And A Corpse By Maddie Day

When local businessman Jed Greenberg is found dead with a Chocolate lab whimpering over his body, the police start sniffing around Robbie Jordan’s country restaurant for answers. Was it something in Robbie’s hot cocoa that killed Jed, or was it Cocoa the dog? As the suspects pile as high as her holiday tree, Robbie attempts to get to the bottom of the sickly-sweet murder . . .

Death By Hot Cocoa By Alex Erickson

A Christmas-themed escape game seems like the perfect pre-holiday treat for bookstore café owner Krissy Hancock and her best friend. But when the host is found dead in a pool of hot cocoa, it’s up to Krissy and her team to catch the killer—or escape before getting killed.