Apple Turnover Murder (Hannah Swensen, #13)(64)

1 teaspoon cream of tartar (critical!)

1 teaspoon salt

4? cups flour (not sifted—just scoop it up and level it off with a knife.)

? cup white sugar in a small bowl (for later)

Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl in the microwave for 3 minutes on HIGH.

Add the sugars to the melted butter and mix. Let the mixture cool to room temperature on the counter.

When it’s not so hot it’ll cook the eggs, mix them in, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.

Add the orange extract, orange zest, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix well.

Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition. (You don’t have to be exact about measuring—just guesstimate—it won’t come out even anyway.)

Chill the dough for at least one hour. (Overnight is fine.)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. and place the rack in the middle of the oven.

Use your hands to roll the dough in one-inch balls. Roll the dough balls in a bowl containing the last half-cup of white sugar.

Place the dough balls on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-size sheet. Flatten the dough balls with a greased spatula (or the palm of your impeccably clean hand).

Bake at 325 degrees F. for 10 to 15 minutes. (They should have a tinge of gold on the top.) Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove them to a rack to finish cooling.

When the cookies are completely cool, prepare them for dipping by laying out sheets of waxed paper on your counter, enough to hold all the cookies you baked.

Make the Chocolate Dip.


Chocolate Dip:

2 cups chocolate chips (12 ounces)

1 stick butter (? cup, ? pound)

Melt the chips and the butter in a microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 90 seconds. Stir to make sure the chips are melted. If they’re not, heat in 20-second increments until you can stir them smooth.

Dip the cookies, one by one, so that half of the cookie is chocolate coated. (The half you hold will not be chocolate coated, naturally!) Place them back on the wax paper to dry.

Yield: Approximately 10 dozen (depending on cookie size) pretty and tasty cookies. Yum!





Chapter Twenty-One


It was almost ten by the time Hannah and Andrea got back from the college. “Back to Casino Night?” Hannah asked. “Or would you rather go home?”

Andrea glanced down at the cookies in her lap. “Home,” she said. “I’ve got four cookies left and that’s just enough for the family.”

Hannah bit back a startled burst of laughter. There had been a dozen cookies on the plate when she’d handed it to Andrea, and her sister had eaten two-thirds of them.

Andrea and Bill lived only a few blocks from the school, and after Hannah had dropped off her sister, she took a run past the school parking lot. She drove up and down the rows, but Doc Knight’s vehicle was gone. She also kept a sharp eye out for her mother’s sedan, since Delores could have met Doc Knight at the school, but that wasn’t parked in any of the spots, either.

Should she call her mother, or shouldn’t she? That was the question. Hannah debated it for all of ten seconds before she decided to drive past her mother’s house to assess the situation.

There weren’t that many variables. It had been years since she’d taken a logic class, but Hannah was fairly confident that she could come up with all the possibilities. If Doc Knight’s vehicle was parked outside on the street, it meant one of two things … either he was inside with Delores after driving her home from Casino Night, or he had parked there earlier and they had taken her mother’s sedan. One glance in the window of the garage would tell her if this was the case. And if her mother’s car was gone, Hannah would know that Delores had driven somewhere with Doc and no one was home.

Not bad, the logical part of her mind praised her. Now what if Doc Knight’s vehicle is gone and your mother’s car is in the garage?

“I’ll go in because she’s there alone … unless, of course, the lights are off,” Hannah answered aloud, feeling a bit silly to be talking to herself. “That means she went to bed and I wouldn’t want to wake her.”

Very good! the logical part of her mind said. And what will you do then?

“I’ll drive home and call her in the morning. I can wait a few hours to find out what Nancy knows about the assistant professorship at the college English department.”

The logic problem had occupied her through most of the trip. Hannah turned the corner and drove down her mother’s street. It was deserted. Doc Knight’s vehicle wasn’t there, but the lights were on.

Check the garage, Hannah’s logical mind insisted. It’s possible she left the lights on and they went somewhere else together after they left the school.

“I understand. But since Doc’s car isn’t there, I can just ring the doorbell,” Hannah argued. “If nobody’s home, nobody will answer.”

True, but you’re going to be really embarrassed if Doc Knight didn’t use his car at all. Say your mother picked him up at the hospital and she hasn’t taken him back yet. They could be in there engaging in activities that you don’t really want to …

“I don’t want to hear it!” Hannah yelled, getting out of the truck and into the muggy heat of the summer night. The mosquitoes found her almost immediately, descending like a hungry cloud on her bare arm. Why hadn’t she worn mosquito repellent?