The Game Changer, стр. 72
He never did.
When I gave one last look before going inside, he was sitting again, his head in his hands, as if he was deep in thought.
I kind of liked it that way.
Chapter 29
“Welcome to the Knock ’em Dead podcast!”
“Where murder and muffins meet!”
“I’m Hollis.”
“And I’m up to my eyeballs in pie!”
I had given up on trying to make Daisy conform to a script. In fact, I’d given up on making Daisy do a lot of things. I figured it was her podcast, too, and people liked her exactly as she was. In fact, most people in Parkwood still believed this was a cooking podcast and I was interrupting her with my murder stories.
Hey, success was success, and I would be a fool to fight it.
“That’s Daisy, for all you pie-lovers out there.”
She held up a gorgeous dessert toward the microphone as if the audience could see it. She knew they couldn’t, but still did it out of habit. Or superstition. I wasn’t sure which. “Huckleberry,” she said. “Now, I know that’s a summer pie. But I don’t see any reason why we can’t have summer in our podcast nook—”
“Corner.”
“And, don’t worry. Next week I’ll dish up something special for your Thanksgiving Day menu planning. I think everyone’s going to be feeling a little energized after their turkey dinner with the recipe I have in store. But first, huckleberry. I have a story about huckleberry pie—”
“So listen, Daisy, before we get into any stories or today’s secret ingredient or our new theme, I need to do something.”
She looked panicked. Last time I’d hijacked the podcast with something serious to say, we’d ended up angry at one another.
“I have a retraction I need to issue. I didn’t say any names in my last podcast about the Coach Farley murder, but some people were pretty convinced that a certain person ran down Coach Farley. But police have cleared him—in fact, he was never an official suspect—and Coach Farley’s own wife, Wilma Louise, has plead guilty to one count of attempted assault with a deadly weapon and one count of voluntary manslaughter. My apologies to everyone for prematurely reporting.”
“Hollis, that was really nice,” Daisy said.
“It’s the right thing to do,” I said.
My phone rang. It was the Chronicle Weekly.
“Hollis?” Joyce’s voice came out tinny and urgent. “Mary Jean wants you to come in asap. There’s some breaking news coming in over the scanner, and she wants you to be our lead reporter to follow it.”
“Wait, what? What kind of news? Lead reporter? Me? Not Ernie? Are you sure? Did she really say that?”
“Are you going to ask questions all day or are you going to come?”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
I whipped off my headphones and dropped them on the table, then turned off the recording equipment.
“What’s going on?” Daisy asked, taking hers off, too.
“Breaking story, I don’t know what. Gotta go.” I grabbed my bag, double checked for my notebook and pencil, and then stopped at the front door. “Is Mike home?”
Daisy grinned. “You bet he is.”
“Let’s go.”
I opened the front door just in time to see Brooks pull up in front of my house. He was back in uniform. He got out, stood by his car, folded his arms, and shook his head.
“We’re going to have to shake my babysitter,” I said with a sigh. Though I couldn’t help smiling just a little when I said it. I would have been disappointed if he hadn’t shown up.
“Not a problem.” She fired off a quick text to Mike, then joined me at the front door. “Look at us—editing our podcast, making pies, solving crimes, shaking the fuzz. Girl, we are legit!”
We high-fived.
That was all I wanted from the very beginning, really.
The End
Cherry Chocolate Chunk Muffins
A Hallmark Original Recipe
Hollis and her best friend Daisy have a new podcast called Knock ‘Em Dead—“Where murder and muffins meet.” They talk about cold cases, and Daisy throws in some baking tips for good measure. Murder comes right to their small town when a local high school football coach is killed in a hit-and-run. But it’s no mystery why Daisy’s Cherry Chocolate Chunk Muffins are a favorite in Parkwood: this recipe is to die for.
Yield: 12 muffins (12 servings)
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Cherry Chocolate Chunk Muffins:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
½ cup whole milk (or buttermilk)
1 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chunks
1 (one-pound package) frozen tart red cherries, thawed, drained (reserve juice)
Dark Chocolate Ganache:
½ cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chunks
¼ cup heavy whipping cream
Tart Cherry Glaze:
1 cup reserved tart red cherry juice
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray and line with paper liners.
To prepare muffins: whisk together flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until blended.
Alternately, add flour mixture and milk to mixing bowl; mix on low speed just until blended. Fold in chocolate chunks and drained cherries.
Using an ice cream scoop, portion batter evenly into muffin cups.
Bake at 425 degrees F. (without opening oven door) or 6 to 9 minutes or until muffins rise ¼ to ½ inch above the paper; reduce heat to 350 degrees F. and bake an additional 6 to 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 5 minutes, remove muffins from pan. Makes 12 muffins.
To prepare chocolate ganache: measure chocolate chunks in microwave-safe container and heat in 20 second increments until melted (about 45 to 60 seconds). Add heavy cream and stir until smooth. Microwave 15 seconds and stir to blend. Drizzle over muffins.
To prepare cherry glaze: combine cherry juice, sugar and cornstarch in small saucepan. Whisk until smooth. Stir over low heat until mixture