Leaves are turning scarlet and gold. An autumn chill snaps the air. And people are getting cozy with soft blankets and wooly mittens. I don’t know about you, but now that the temperature is dropping, baking has gotten a lot more attractive.
My new cozy mystery, The Quiche and the Dead, takes place in a pie shop, Pie Town. The owner, Val Harris, is obsessed with pie (and figuring out who killed a man in her shop). So, in honor of the season, here’s a Fall recipe direct from Pie Town:
Val’s Apple Cranberry Pie
Filling:
7 medium granny smith, golden delicious, or gravenstein apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 C frozen cranberries (you can use fresh too, but frozen berries tend to hold their shape better)
1/2 cup + 3 T granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
Topping:
3/4 c. packed dark brown sugar
3/4 flour
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/3 c. chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 premade pie crust.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line bottom of a 9” pie tin with a pre-made pie crust. Toss filling ingredients in a large bowl. Put in the in the lined pie tin.
Mix topping, cutting butter in until mixture like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over apple mixture. Bake until topping is lightly browned and filling is bubbly, about 35 minutes.
Let cool. Enjoy!
Is Val’s breakfast pie the quiche of death?
Owning her own business seemed like pie in the sky to Valentine Harris when she moved to the coastal California town of San Nicholas, expecting to start a new life with her fiancé. Five months—and a broken engagement—later, at least her dream of opening a pie shop has become a reality. But when one of her regulars keels over at the counter while eating a quiche, Val feels like she’s living a nightmare.
After the police determine the customer was poisoned, business at Pie Town drops faster than a fallen crust. Convinced they’re both suspects, Val’s flaky, seventy-something pie crust maker Charlene drags her boss into some amateur sleuthing. At first Val dismisses Charlene’s half-baked hypotheses, but before long the ladies uncover some shady dealings hidden in fog-bound San Nicholas. Now Val must expose the truth—before a crummy killer tries to shut her pie hole.
Is Val’s breakfast pie the quiche of death?
Owning her own business seemed like pie in the sky to Valentine Harris when she moved to the coastal California town of San Nicholas, expecting to start a new life with her fiancé. Five months—and a broken engagement—later, at least her dream of opening a pie shop has become a reality. But when one of her regulars keels over at the counter while eating a quiche, Val feels like she’s living a nightmare.
After the police determine the customer was poisoned, business at Pie Town drops faster than a fallen crust. Convinced they’re both suspects, Val’s flaky, seventy-something pie crust maker Charlene drags her boss into some amateur sleuthing. At first Val dismisses Charlene’s half-baked hypotheses, but before long the ladies uncover some shady dealings hidden in fog-bound San Nicholas. Now Val must expose the truth—before a crummy killer tries to shut her pie hole.
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