Brownies and Broomsticks: A Magical Bakery Mystery (31 page)

It was a start, at least.

The spellbook club had divided training duties, so that I was working with someone different each day. And the more I learned about magic and worked with
it, the better I slept in that gorgeous bed Lucy and Ben had given me.

And that was a start, too.

Mungo approached the hibachi and sniffed.

“Nope. Haven’t put anything on yet. You hungry?”

Yip!

“Declan mentioned coming over,” I said.

He wagged his tail.

“But I said not tonight. Had to tell Steve the same thing.”

Mungo cocked his head at me.

“Tonight it’s just you and me, buddy. Right after I make a phone call.”

I got up and went inside. Washed my hands in the kitchen sink and refilled my sweet tea. Back out on the patio, I entered the familiar numbers in my cell phone. As it rang on the other end, seven dragonflies glided in from the edge of the yard and took up station on the iron table.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mama.”

“Katie!”

“I think we need to talk.”

Recipes

¾ cup chunky peanut butter

4 tablespoons butter, melted

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

⅔ cup vegetable oil

½ cup boiling water

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1⅓ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil and flour a 9×13 baking pan.

Mix together the peanut butter, butter, confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Combine cocoa powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add ⅓ cup of the vegetable oil and mix together thoroughly. Add boiling water and stir until mixture thickens. Add the rest of the vegetable oil, eggs and sugar and stir until smooth. Mix in flour, vanilla and salt until thoroughly blended. Pour brownie batter into the prepared baking pan.

Drizzle peanut butter mixture over brownie batter. Using a knife, cut through the topping and batter to create a marbled effect.

Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until brownies are set in the middle and peanut-butter-swirl topping begins to puff slightly. Allow to cool in pan before cutting.

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried sage

6 tablespoons butter, cut into 1-inch pieces and chilled in the freezer for fifteen minutes

⅔ cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 egg

½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Set aside ¼ cup flour in a small bowl. In a medium bowl combine 2 cups flour, baking powder, salt and sage. Add chilled butter and cut into flour by rubbing with your fingers or a using a pastry blender until the consistency of rough cornmeal.

Add the grated cheddar to the ¼ cup flour and toss to coat. Shake to remove excess flour and add to pastry mixture, tossing with your hands to evenly distribute the cheese.

Whisk together the egg and milk. Add to flour mixture, stirring lightly with a fork until ingredients are moistened and just hold together.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead twenty times. Add more flour to the surface if needed. Pat into an 8-inch circle, slightly higher in the center than on the edges. Using a very sharp knife, cut eight equal wedges. Place scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, slightly apart from one another. Bake for 12–14 minutes, until golden brown.

Bailey Cates
believes magic is all around us if we only look for it. She’s held a variety of positions ranging from driver’s license examiner to soap maker, which fulfills her mother’s warning that she’d never have a “regular” job if she insisted on studying philosophy, English and history in college. She traveled the world as a localization program manager, but now sticks closer to home, where she writes two mystery series, tends to a dozen garden beds, bakes up a storm and plays the occasional round of golf. Bailey resides in Colorado with her guy and an orange cat that looks an awful lot like the one in her Magical Bakery Mysteries.

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