Books & Bakes: A Doomful of Sugar
For this Books & Bakes, I read A Doomful of Sugar by Catherine Bruns and baked her Glazed Maple Doughnuts.
Official Description:
First in the new Maple Syrup cozy mystery series from USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bruns.
There's nothing sweet about murder…
Leila Khoury has always believed that everyone loved her father as much as they loved his artisanal maple syrup. But when he's killed, and she returns to Sugar Ridge, Vermont to take over his business, she starts to realize how much of his life she's left untapped.
With her brother under suspicion, her mother just barely holding it together, and police not producing any leads, Leila will have to investigate herself if she wants answers about her father's sticky end. But the more she learns, the more she worries that there won't be a sappy ending to the story.
Books & Bakes
I’m a big fan of Catherine Bruns’ Italian Chef Mysteries, so I was excited to read the first of her Maple Syrup Mysteries. This also included recipes and it followed Leila Khoury and Lebanese American family in Sugar Ridge, Vermont.
This was a seasonal read that I picked up when the leaves started changing color near me. Reading about maple syrup harvesting and Leila inheriting the syrup shop Sappy Endings made for a delightful autumn read!
I liked that Leila was investigating the death of her father because it made the mystery very personal to her, and I liked the family dynamics and complications.
After reading the book, I was definitely in the mood for something maple and decided to try baking the Glazed Maple Doughnuts included in the book.
It gave me the excuse to purchase some donut molds - but I think that might have been my one undoing when following the recipe. I think the silicone molds I used could have spent more time in the oven. My creations were a little doughy, but the flavor was still delicious. It reminded me of gingerbread but with delicious maple syrup included!
The glaze on top was fun to make and to dip into! That was probably my favorite part of making these cake doughnuts.
The recipe said it was optional to add bacon, which isn’t in my diet but did get me thinking that some decor on top would be cute. I opted to add some extra drizzles of the glaze in a pattern on top for texture.
Overall, I loved these sweet treats as much as I loved reading about Leila’s cat Toast!
