Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates

Shake to remove excess flour and add to pastry mixture, tossing with your hands to evenly distribute the cheese.

Add chilled butter and cut into flour by rubbing with your fingers or a using a pastry blender until the consistence of rough cornmeal.Īdd the grated cheddar to the ¼ cup flour and toss to coat. In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt and sage. For this book, I decided to overcome my misgivings with savory scones and try out this recipe: Cheddar-Sage Scones IngredientsĦ tablespoons butter, cut into 1-inch pieces and chilled in the freezer for fifteen minutes Plus, the murder mystery itself is rock solid, perfectly paced and executed.Īnd if all that wasn’t enough, there are two recipes included! A large part of why I wanted to go through this entire series is because of the amazing recipe Ms. Despite myself-and despite having read Book 6 already-I really enjoyed Steve, who had the self-awareness to know when he was veering dangerously close to stereotypically awful behavior. The love triangle is also written in such a way that the men aren’t just standard-issue romance novel archetypes. That is a whole lot of plot for 300-odd pages, but Bailey Cates handles it all with an admirably deft writer’s touch that grounds the otherworldly in very human emotions. Katie refuses to sit by and do nothing while her family’s lives and livelihood are threatened, so with the help of her suitors, her burgeoning magical abilities, and her aunt’s (Spell)Book Club, she sets out to find the real killer-running into plenty of danger along the way.

And then-as if things aren’t complicated enough-a nasty business owner is found dead, and Uncle Ben is accused of the murder. Soon after arriving in Savannah, Katie’s Aunt Lucy starts to broach the delicate subject of why Katie has always felt “different” all her life: she comes from a long line of witches and possesses mystical powers herself!Īs Katie is processing that, she finds herself attracting the romantic attention of two men who just happen to hate each other. Today, I’m going to start reading and cooking my way from the beginning of this delightful series to see if there’s more magic to be had from where that 6th book came.įor those unfamiliar with this particular series, Brownies and Broomsticks tells the story of how our heroine, professional baker Katie Lightfoot, moves from Ohio-after her fiancé calls off their wedding-to Savannah, Georgia to help her newly retired aunt and uncle run the bakery they’ve always wanted to own.

Several weeks ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing the latest in Bailey Cates’s Magical Bakery Mystery series, Spells and Scones.

Brownies and Broomsticks by Bailey Cates