Apple Turnover Murder (Hannah Swensen, #13)(21)

Hannah hurried to the kitchen and opened the pantry to survey the ingredients she had on hand. She’d received a recipe last month from a friend she’d known in college. History major Katie Strehler had always attended class with a to-go cup of coffee in her hand. She’d been an even bigger coffee drinker than Hannah, and if Katie said her Mocha Nut Butterballs satisfied that coffee urge, Hannah certainly wasn’t about to doubt her. She’d already stocked up on the ingredients she needed to make Katie’s cookies. They were on the top shelf, along with the recipe. Hannah read it through again to make sure she had everything, and then she carried it all out to the kitchen counter.

It didn’t take long to mix up the dough, and within five minutes Hannah had the first pan in the oven. Since it was silly to try a new recipe without at least tasting it, she put on a fresh pot of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table to wait for the cookies to come out of the oven. She’d just slipped the second pan into the oven and was preparing to roll the cooled cookies in powdered sugar when the door opened and Michelle came in.

“It’s almost midnight!” Michelle said, spotting Hannah at the kitchen counter. “Can’t you sleep?”

“I can’t sleep quite yet. I have to wait for another couple of pans of cookies to come out of the oven.”

Michelle sniffed the air appreciatively. “They smell great. What are they?”

“Mocha Nut Butterballs. Do you want to try one?”

“Sure.” Michelle tossed her purse on the table and went to the coffee pot to pour herself a cup. “I’ll help you bake the rest. I’m too mad to go to sleep.”

“Why are you mad?”

“It’s Lonnie. He’s being a real pain about wanting to get engaged right away. I think he’s afraid I’m going out with someone else.”

“Are you?” Hannah asked the important question.

“I was, but I’m not right now. It’s just that I want to keep my options open. I don’t want to be tied down at this point in my life.”

“Mmm,” Hannah commented, keeping it neutral as she filled a plate with cookies. “Have a cookie and tell me what you think.”

Michelle took a cookie and bit into it. She gave a little moan of delight and popped the remainder into her mouth. “I’ve got three words to describe them.”

“And they are …?”

“Mocha. Butter. Yum!”

“That’s good enough for me,” Hannah said, taking a cookie for herself. “So what are you going to do about Lonnie?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you love him?”

Michelle took another cookie. “Yes, I love him. But he’s demanding too much of me. Maybe next year, or the year after. But not right now. I’m still trying out my wings.”

“I know,” Hannah said, hoping those wings weren’t flapping anywhere near Bradford Ramsey. One broken Swensen heart was enough.

“Men!” Michelle muttered around her third cookie. “You can’t live with them, and you can’t live without them.”

“That’s true, but it’s okay.”

“It is?” Michelle turned to stare at her.

“Sure it is … as long as the Mocha Nut Butterballs hold out.”





MOCHA NUT BUTTERBALLS


Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, ? pound)

? cup white (granulated) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon instant coffee powder (I used espresso powder)***

? cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)

? teaspoon salt

1 and ? cups all-purpose flour (no need to sift)

1 and ? cups finely chopped pecans ****

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powdered sugar (that’s confectioner’s sugar) to coat the baked cookies



*** If the only instant coffee you can get comes in granules or beads, crush them up into a powder with the back of a spoon before you add them to the cookie dough.

**** - Mother likes these with chopped walnuts. Andrea prefers pecans. I think they’re best with hazelnuts. Tracey adores these when I substituteflaked coconut for the nuts and form the dough balls around a small piece of milk chocolate.

Soften the butter. Mix in the white sugar, vanilla indent1, instant coffee powder, cocoa, and salt.

Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition. (You don’t have to be exact. It won’t come out even anyway! Just make sure the flour is added in three parts.)

Stir in the nuts. Do your best to make sure that they’re evenly distributed.

Form the dough into one-inch balls (just pat them into shape with your fingers) and place them on an ungreased baking sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Press them down very slightly (they’re supposed to look like balls, but you don’t want them to roll off on their way to the oven.)

Bake the cookie balls at 325 degrees F. for 12 to 15 minutes, until they are set. (Mine took 14 minutes.)

Move the cookies from the cookie sheet to a wire rack. Let them cool on the rack completely.

When the cookies are completely cool, dip them in powdered sugar to coat them. (If you roll them in powdered sugar while they’re still warm, they have a tendency to break apart.) Let them rest for several minutes on the wire rack and then store them in a cookie jar or a covered container.