LET'S GET COZY: THE DIVA HAUNTS THE HOUSE - A GIVEAWAY

GIVEAWAY ENDED 
THE DIVA HAUNTS THE HOUSE

A DOMESTIC DIVA MYSTERY

BY KRISTA DAVIS

ABOUT THE BOOK: 

Domestic diva Sophie Winston is getting into the holiday spirit, and her decorations for a community haunted house are so good, it’s scary. Not to be outdone, rival domestic diva Natasha is throwing a spooktacular Halloween party at her house. But when Sophie arrives, she discovers one of Natasha’s guests dead in a hair-raising Halloween display and a pale, fanged party-goer fleeing the scene.

The cause of death is not immediately apparent, but the victim does have two puncture wounds on his neck. While Sophie’s boyfriend, homicide detective Wolf, investigates, rumors start flying faster than witches on broomsticks. Could the killer be a real vampire—the same one rumored to have lived in Sophie’s haunted house back when it was a boardinghouse? Good thing a domestic diva never runs out of garlic…

RECIPE FOR THE DIVA HAUNTS THE HOUSE FROM KRISTA DAVIS:

Faschingskrapfen

"When I was in grade school, once a year my mom made Faschingskrapfen. (f-awe shings kr-awe pfen) Not as hard to say as it looks. Even better, how about carnival doughnuts? It was always a special treat to come home from school and find a platter of them on the table. 

What I love about this recipe is that the mixer does all the work, even most of the kneading! It's also fun to watch them puff up when they're cooked in hot oil -- not to mention eating them."--Krista Davis

1/2 cup milk
7 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups flour
1 packet yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 egg white
canola oil for frying
1 jar apricot preserves
powdered sugar

Place the butter and milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave briefly (30 to 50 seconds) to melt the butter and warm the milk. It should not be hot. Set aside to cool to lukewarm.

Use a large bowl that fits into your mixer and a bread hook. Sift the flour into the bowl. Mix the yeast, sugar, and salt with the flour. Slowly add lukewarm butter and milk. Whisk the eggs a bit and add them to the mixture along with the vanilla. Beat with the bread hook for about 5 minutes. Remove bowl from mixer, cover with a kitchen towel, and set aside in a warm draft-free area to rise.

When the dough has roughly doubled in size, knead briefly and roll out. Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut out rounds approximately 2 3/4 inches in diameter. Place on sheets or plates and allow to rise in a warm draft-free area.

When the doughnuts have risen, heat the canola oil. It should be hot enough to sizzle slightly around the edges of a test doughnut. The doughnut should fluff up a bit on the upper side. After about a minute, flip to fry the other side. You can cook several doughnuts at once, but don't crowd them. Place the fried doughnuts on a paper towel. Ideally, they will have a characteristic light ring around the sides, but if they don't -- not to worry, they still taste good!

Put the preserves through a sieve to eliminate any chunks. Using a long decorating tip, fill a pastry bag with the preserves, insert the tip into each doughnut and fill. Hint: Most of the doughnuts will have an empty spot inside. You can feel it when you insert the tip. Do not overfill! It will ooze out of the doughnuts if you use too much.

Dust the doughnuts with sugar and enjoy! 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Krista Davis lives and writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  She resided in Northern Virginia for many years and lived for a time in Old Town, Alexandria.

She really does have a gregarious Ocicat named Mochie who can open cabinets and leap to amazing heights.  Her dogs, including a Golden Retriever who isn’t golden and won’t retrieve, consider Krista’s writing career a convenient second job that allows her to be available for her primary job as door opener, canine cuisine chef, and walking assistant.

Krista’s fascination with mysteries was fueled by Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and Agatha Christie.  Like her protagonist, Sophie Winston, Krista loves to entertain friends and family, but would just as soon leave cleaning to someone else. 

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO KAITLYN AND THE GOOD 

FOLKS AT BERKLEY/NAL, I HAVE ONE

NEW COPY OF THIS FUN ENTRY TO THE

DOMESTIC DIVA MYSTERY SERIES,

THE DIVA HAUNTS THE HOUSE,

TO GIVE AWAY

 
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GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, SEPTEMBER 26

 GOOD LUCK!