Diane Mott Davidson

Catering to Nobody: A well-received, bestselling mystery featuring Goldy Bear, a divorcee caterer with a taste for crime. Catering a wake for her son's favorite teacher was unpleasant enough for Goldy, without some rat putting poison in the coffee. And the ensuing investigation causes Goldy's kitchen to be shut down.

Dungeon Bars
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup oats
1 cup raisins

Prehat oven to 350 degrees f.  Cream butter with sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir in oats and raisins.  Spread in greased 9- by 13-inch pan.  bake half an hour.  Cool slightly and cut into 32 bars.

Honey-Ginger Snaps
1/2 cup honey
1 stick butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Cream honey, butter, sugar, and egg.  Sift together and add flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.  Chill one hour.  Roll level tablespoons of dough into balls and place 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

Dying For Chocolate: Determined to take control of her life, caterer and battered wife Goldy Bear accepts a job as a cook for the Aspen Meadow Country Club and soon finds herself enmeshed in a murder mystery involving   a handsome local shrink.

Cereal Murders: A wickedly delicious mystery--complete with recipes--from the bestselling author of Dying for Chocolate. The College Advisory Dinner seemed harmless enough to Aspen Meadow's premier caterer, Goldy Bear. But when she discovers the main course for the evening is murder, Goldy is hungry for answers.

Cereal Killer Cookies
2-1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
2 (6-oz) pkgs almond brickle chips (Bits of Brickle)
1-2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 F. In a small bowl, mix the oats with the brickle chips. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. In a food processor, mix the sugars until blended, then gradually add the butter. Continue to process until creamy and smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and process until blended. Add the flour mixture and process just until combined. Pour this mixture over the oats and brickle chips and stir until well combined. Using a 2-tablespoon measure, measure out scoops of dough and place at least 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks. Makes 4 to 5 dozen.

Killer Pancakes: Her latest assignment, catering for Mignon Cosmetics, provides the answer, as Goldy heads for a showdown with a killer. Along the way, as she sleuths at the department store make-up counter, and battles with a violent animal rights group, she soon learns that cosmetics is definitely a cut-throat business!

Recipe from Killer Pancakes:

Lowfat Fettuccini Alfredo with Asparagus
2 tbsp finely chopped red onion
2-1/2 cups diagonally sliced asparagus
1 tsp mashed baked garlic (see note)
1/3 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1-1/2 cups skim milk
1-1/2 tbsp Wondra flour
2 tbsp light cream cheese
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
9 oz. fettuccini

Heat a medium-sized skillet. Remove from the heat and spray with vegetable spray. Add the onion and saute over mediumheat until limp, about 5 or 10 minutes. Add the asparagus and the garlic, cover the pan, and turn off the heat.

In a large skillet, combine the dry milk and the skim milk and whisk until blended. Add the flour, stir and cook over medium heat until thickened. In a small bowl, add two tablespoons of the hot sauce to the cream cheese and stir until smooth. Return this mixture to the hot sauce. Add the Parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Keep hot. If the mixture becomes too thick, thin it with small amounts of skim millk. The consistency should be like cream, not gravy.

Cook fettuccini in boiling water until al dente. Drain. Add the hot pasta and the garlic and vegetables to the sauce in the skillet. Stir and cook over medium heat until heated through. Serves 4.

Note: To bake garlic, preheat the oven to 350 F. Place a whole head of garlic in a small baking pan. Drizzle one teaspoon of olive oil over the garlic. Add 1/4 cup of water to the pan. Bake the garlic, loosely covered with aluminum foil for 45 to 60 minutes until the cloves are soft. The cloves will slip right out of their skins to be mashed, chopped, or served whole. Whole cloves can be served along side any roast meat. They can be mashed and spread on bread. They are delicious mashed and mixed into mashed potatoes.

Last Suppers: Colorado caterer Goldy Bear is about to marry homicide detective Tom Schulz, when she gets a phone call from Tom saying that he's found Father Olsen at the rector shot and dying. When the police arrive Tom has disappeared. It's up to Goldy to decipher Tom's cryptic message--to save his life and their future.

The Main Corpse: For caterer Goldy Schulz, who's been worrying about her cash flow, the chance to work for a high-powered company like Prospect Financial Partners seems like a dream come true. But it turns out to be murder in every sense of the word.

Recipe from The Main Corpse:

Chocoholic Cookies
2 cups rolled oats
1 (12-oz) pkg semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened to room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
9 oz. white chocolate, preferably Lindt Swiss (three 3-oz bars) White Confectionary Bar
1-1/2 tbsp shortening

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter two cookie sheets. Do not alter the order in which the ingredients are combined. In a medium bowl, combine the oats and chocolate chips; set aside. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until creamy. In another large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa, then add the butter mixture, stirring until thoroughly combined. The batter will be very stiff. Stir the milk and vanilla into the eggs, then stir this mixture into the butter mixture until thoroughly combined. Add the chips and oats; stir until well mixed. Using a two-tablespoon scoop, drop batter 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake 9 to 12 minutes until cooked through. Cool on pan for one minute; transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Melt the white chocolate with the shortening in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Holding a cooled cookie between your thumb and forefinger, dip the edge into the warm white chocolate to cover the top third of the cookie. Place on a rack to dry completely. Store between layers of wax paper in an airtight container in a cool place.

Grilling Season: Caterer Goldy B. Schulz swallows her pride to clear her unsavory ex of murder. But will Goldy be next on a killer's menu?

Prime Cut: Last seen in The Grilling Season , caterer Goldy Schulz returns in her usual fine form. However, things are a little disturbed in Aspen Meadow, Colorado, right now: Goldy's policeman husband Tom is having nasty arguments with a new assistant DA with political aspirations and no sense; there's a new caterer in town who seems to be underbidding Goldy at every turn and displays an extremely condescending attitude; and her kitchen is in a state of construction due to the defection of a contractor. Things go from bad to worse when Goldy finds the body of the missing contractor and an old friend, caught by circumstantial evidence, is arrested for the murder at the insistence of the obnoxious new DA.

Recipe from Prime Cut:

Savory Florentine Cheesecake
2 cups dry bread crumbs, preferably made from homemade brioche bread
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard
4 eggs
1-1/4 cups freshly grated Gruyere cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/4 cup freshly grated imported Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine the bread crumbs and melted butter and press on the bottom and sides of a buttered 9-inch springform pan. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, or until very lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

Cook the spinach according to package directions, place in a strainer, and press out all the liquid. In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, cream, salt, and mustard until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add the spinach, grated cheeses, paprika, cayenne, and scallions. Beat on low speed until well combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and bake for approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes, or until the filling is set and browned. Cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack. Serve with sliced fresh fruit and a green salad with vinaigrette dressing. Makes 12 servings.
 
 

 
 

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