Jessica Beck - The Donut Mysteries Cookbook

JESSICA BECK

The Donut Mysteries Cookbook

The Donut Mysteries Cookbook

Copyright 2019 by Jessica Beck All rights reserved.

First edition: April 2019

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Recipes included in this book are to be recreated at the readers own risk. The author is not responsible for any damage, medical or otherwise, created as a result of reproducing these recipes. It is the responsibility of the reader to ensure that none of the ingredients are detrimental to their health, and the author will not be held liable in any way for any problems that might arise from following the included recipes.

The First Time Ever Published!

The Donut Mysteries Cookbook

Recipes For Your Sweet Tooth (Mostly)

Taken from the novels by Jessica Beck

J essica Beck is the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Donut Mysteries, the Cast Iron Cooking Mysteries, the Classic Diner Mysteries, and the Ghost Cat Cozy Mysteries.

Gathered in one place for the first time, the Donut Mysteries Cookbook offers many of the recipes featured in the pages of the New York Times Bestselling Donut Mystery Series by Jessica Beck. Here you will find enough treats to send you into absolute sugar shock, with a few recipes for more standard fare peppered in, if youre so inclined. The author makes no claims to be a professional baker or cook but has enjoyed making goodies for the family for many years, and has had very few complaints from those consuming the treats included here.

As Always, For P & E,

The Reasons range from A to Z!

Foreword

N ot long after the first Donut Mysteries appeared, I started getting requests for a compilation of recipes only, a clearinghouse of directions if you will, to make it easier to refer to favorites without searching through my lengthy books of fiction for them. With Donut Mystery #41, Counterfeit Confections, on the horizon (consider this your first alert that its on its way, if its not already been published by the time you read this), Ive decided that this is as good a time as any to offer a compilation to those of you whove asked for this cookbook. Be warned, the only fiction presented here is the repeated opening chapter of Donut Mystery #10, Deadly Donuts for those of you who unfamiliar with my mysteries. Herewith Ive presented versions of many of the recipes Ive created, adapted, and polished over the years. As well as including nearly all of my favorites, this book also contains some of the worst recipes Ive ever come up with as well. Dont worry, Ill let you know which are which, though our opinions may vary on a few of them. Donuts, and treats in general, seem to me to be as specific as favorite types of books to read, so dont be too upset if we dont always agree. Some of these are repetitive, as Ive honed and refined many of my recipes as the books, and my prowess in the kitchen, have progressed. In addition, in order to deliver the novels Ive written to you all in a timely manner, there have been times when Ive been forced to go back into past books and use recipes more than once, a fact Ive never tried to hide from anyone. In the end, I am a storyteller who happens to bake and cook, not a baker or a cookbook writer who also writes fiction. At least the introductions to these recipes are all unique, so youve got at least one reason to read all the way to the end. I ask that you forgive those samples here that are redundant and consider that this collection, much as my life, is a constant work in progress, ever changing in an endless desire to get better; at baking, at writing, at living. Chances are good that if Ive repeated something, it was because it was one of my favorites and I didnt want you to miss it. Feel free to ignore any you feel are repeated, but if you do that, you might miss something amusing in one of the introductions.

Ultimately, thats probably why I couldnt bring myself to discard some of the repeated entries.

If youre not a fan of baking treats yourself, if you dont know or care about the difference between cake and yeast donuts, but you enjoy my introductions to each recipe, then I still urge you to try this volume. The truth is that at times they shed more light on the writer than the recipes, and some folks find that interesting in and of itself. It has long been my belief that a grocery list can reveal massive amounts of information about whoever wrote it. Think about how we are exposed to the world by what we buy, what we need, what we desire. There have been requests too numerous to count for me to be more active in social media than I am, as many of my peers are, but the truth is that Im an extremely private person. Ive been known to socialize with the world on rare occasions, but Im at my happiest when Im with my immediate family, or all alone in my office writing for you, somewhere out there in the darkness. Ive often said that its an odd profession, making up people who go out and have adventures and then spending my time writing it all down. But thats the thing. They are all very real to me. After all, I can see Suzannes smile, hear Jakes laugh, take in Graces style, and experience Mommas scolding tone just as easily as I can see the world outside my window as I write this. In a way, they are more real to me than any of you. After all, Ive lived with them, mostly in joy, sometimes in real pain, for a very long time.

On the other hand, if youve never heard of the Donut Mysteries but are intrigued by the idea of a book crammed full of recipes of goodies, keep in mind that I am by no means a professional baker. I am a writer by vocation and avocation writing culinary cozy mysteries, a genre I loved to read before I even knew that it existed. Some of these recipes are wonderful. Some are decidedly not. And ultimately, the outcome of them is in your hands just as much as they are in mine. We each bring something to the table in this, and our results may not be in perfect agreement, but thats the fun of it, isnt it? I love experimenting, and more times than I can count, the mistakes have turned out better than what Id originally planned, and how can you not love that?