Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for 70% Dark Intentions (Bean to Bar Mysteries) by Amber Royer. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews and more! I’m sharing a recipe from the book: Carmen’s Chocolate Rosemary and Cayenne Conchas!
70% Dark Intentions (Bean to Bar Mysteries)
by Amber Royer
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70% Dark Intentions (Bean to Bar Mysteries)
Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Publisher – Golden Tip Press (July 20, 2021)
Paperback: 266 pages
Felicity Koerber’s bean to bar chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand is bringing in plenty of customers – in part due to the notoriety of the recent murder of one of her assistants, which she managed to solve. Things seem to be taking a turn for the better. Her new assistant, Mateo, even gets along with Carmen, the shop’s barista turned pastry chef. Felicity thinks she’s learning to cope with change – right up until one of her friends gets engaged. Everyone’s expecting her to ask Logan, her former bodyguard, to be her plus one. But even the thought of asking out someone else still makes her feel disloyal to her late husband’s memory — so maybe she hasn’t moved on from her husband’s death as much as she thought.
Felicity isn’t planning to contact Logan any time soon. Only, Felicity finds ANOTHER body right outside her shop – making it two murders at Greetings and Felicitations in as many months. That night, Mateo disappears, leaving Felicity to take care of his pet octopus. The police believe that Mateo committed the murder, but Felicity is convinced that, despite the mounting evidence, something more is going on, and Mateo may actually be in trouble.
When Logan assumes that he’s going to help Felicity investigate, she realizes she’s going to have to spend time with him – whether she’s ready to really talk to him or not. Can Felicity find out what happened to Mateo, unmask a killer, and throw an engagement party all at the same time?
Character Guest Post: Carmen Avino
Hola! I’m Carmen, Felicity Koerber’s pastry chef at her bean to bar craft chocolate shop Greetings and Felicitations. The shop has a full coffee bar and a mini-bookstore in addition to selling Felicity’s chocolate bars and truffles. She just added in-house-produced cocoa powder and nibs to our inventory – and I’ve gone from occasionally adding baked goods to the coffee selection when I was a barista and general shop assistant to now regularly showing off my skills in the kitchen.
I’ve even started working on a cookbook for the shop, which will give home bakers interesting ideas on what to DO with our chocolate, other than just eat it straight. And now that we’re doing cocoa powder, it’s opened up even more options for recipe building. I’m all about taking traditional recipes and elevating them by adding in herbs and spices, or mixing ingredients from different parts of the global kitchen.
I’ve got some conchas about to come out of the oven that I’ve added an interesting dynamic to by adding cayenne and rosemary to the chocolate topping. Did you ever have an Atomic Fireball candy when you were a kid? No se why, but the topping mixture I came up with reminds me a little of that flavor. Please, try one with un cafecito.
I’m formally trained as a pastry chef, so I’m sure Felicity wondered why I applied for a barista job in the first place. Truth is, I’ve had some trouble in the past, where things that went badly in a previous job got blamed on me – even though they weren’t my fault. I’ve tried extra hard at my job at Felicitations, because I want to prove that I was worth a second chance, although I’ve since learned that Felicity wasn’t even aware of what had gone wrong. She’s a trusting individual. Too trusting, in my opinion.
She’s also a bit too eager to get involved in righting wrongs and looking for justice in things that aren’t really her business. Because she’s gotten caught up investigating not one but two murders. This annoying blogger, Ash, called Felicity a, “Murder magnet,” because both deaths happened here at the shop. But just because people were unfortunately killed here, that doesn’t mean it was her responsibility to go do something about it.
And still – I can’t help but like her need to see people get justice, and to help the grieving families left behind. That probably comes from the fact that she’s lost somebody herself, so she knows what grief feels like.
I like having a boss with empathy. She’s the kind of person who will give me the morning off from my job on days when the waves are good – which is especially rare here in Galveston. She knows surfing is one of my true loves. I have thought occasionally about moving to where the waves are better, but I moved to Houston for culinary school and now it feels like Galveston is my beach. I’m not sure I’m ready to start over somewhere new.
I have family in Austin and in El Paso, and even though we aren’t on the best of terms, the thought of moving even farther away from them breaks my heart a little. And I have a boyfriend here now, and I think he really could be the one.
Besides, I’ve started to feel like I really belong at Greetings and Felicitations. Felicity listens to my ideas, and lets me try whatever I want in the kitchen. I do wind up taking up the slack when she and Logan – the guy Felicity protests far too much that she’s NOT in love with – drop everything to follow up some clue or interview a possible murderer. But honestly – I don’t mind. It is more of a chance to prove I’m responsible, and truly an asset to the company.
While you’re in town, make sure you check out the rest of the Strand. There are so many little cute shops. And take some time to visit Moody Gardens. I just found out Felicity used to work there, back when she was in college. I’d never been before – it seemed waaaay too touristy for my taste — but I was curious after she’d talked about it, and their aquarium is actually really cool. They also have river otters. Otters are my favorite animals. They’re like cats that swim. Water cats. I could just watch them swim all day.
You really enjoyed the concha? I’m so glad! Let me jot down the recipe.
Carmen’s Chocolate Rosemary and Cayenne Conchas
vegetable oil, for greasing the bowl
½ c. milk
3 ½ c. all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
½ c. sugar, plus 1 tsp. for proofing yeast
1 ½ tsp. active dry yeast
½ tsp. salt
½ c. unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 batch chocolate herb topping
Heat the milk until it is warm, but do not allow to boil. Add the yeast and 1 tsp. of sugar. Set aside. Grease a large mixing bowl and set aside. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low, just until combined.
Add the butter and mix thoroughly on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing between each. Then add the vanilla extract and slowly pour in ¼ c. of the milk, slowly adding more and mixing between additions until you have a cohesive dough (you may not need all the milk).
Switch to the dough hook attachment and continue mixing about 7 minutes at medium speed, until the dough is soft and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and place in the large greased bowl, rolling the ball to grease on all sides. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel. Place the bowl in a warm spot and allow the dough to rest until it doubles in size (roughly 1-2 hours).
Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate herb topping and set aside.
Turn the risen dough out onto a floured surface, and shape the dough into 16 equal-sized balls. Place them on the lined baking sheets. Use your fingers to generously grease the top and sides of each ball with shortening.
Place the topping balls one at a time onto a sheet of plastic and flatten them into discs. Peel each disc off the plastic and place it on one of the dough balls, pressing down firmly until the whole thing forms a dome shape. Use a knife or a concha cutter to mark the top with “swoop” shapes, to resemble a shell.
Place the baking sheets in a warm place, and allow the conchas to rise until almost double in size.
Preheated your oven to 325º degrees. Bake the conchas for 20 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Allow to cool completely, and serve with a strong cup of coffee.
NOTE: You can freeze shaped, topped conchas on a sheet tray before baking and store in a plastic bag in the freezer until ready to bake.
Chocolate Herb Topping
½ c. vegetable shortening, plus extra for greasing dough
1 c. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tsp. dried rosemary, finely ground
½ tsp. cumin, ground
½ tsp. cayenne pepper, ground
¼ tsp. cracked black pepper
Place the shortening in a medium bowl, and whip it with a spatula or spoon until it becomes very creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Divide into 16 balls, and use to top the conchas before baking.
About Amber Royer
Amber Royer writes the CHOCOVERSE comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series, and the BEAN TO BAR MYSTERIES. She is also the author of STORY LIKE A JOURNALIST: A WORKBOOK FOR NOVELISTS, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. Amber blogs about creative writing techniques and all things chocolate at www.amberroyer.com. She also teaches creative writing for both UT Arlington Continuing Education and Writing Workshops Dallas. If you are very nice to her, she might make you cupcakes.
Author Links
Website: http://www.amberroyer.com
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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoA_29HV2nPmRnox9LPVanw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/amber_royer
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Amber-Royer/e/B00PFV4CGM
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8144619.Amber_Royer
Purchase Links:
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TOUR PARTICIPANTS
July 12
Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST
Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW
July 13
Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT
Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 14
Novels Alive – GUEST POST
FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
July 15
My Reading Journeys – REVIEW, EXCERPT
Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 16
CelticLady Reviews – SPOTLIGHT
July 17
I Read What You Write – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 18
Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 19
Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT
July 20
StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW
Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW
July 21
Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT
July 22
Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST
Baroness’ Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT
July 23
ebook addicts – REVIEW
July 24
My Journey Back – CHARACTER GUEST POST
July 25
BookishKelly2020 – SPOTLIGHT
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Amber Royer says
Thank you for hosting my post! Writing from Carmen’s POV was fun.
Christy Maurer says
You’re welcome! The recipe looks so good. I’ll have to make my daughter make me some lol.
Amber Royer says
Send pics if she makes them!
Christy Maurer says
I definitely will!
Leela says
It looks like a good read.
Betty Curran says
I love a good cozy mystery.