Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder (Hannah Swensen #1)(112)

Hannah’s 1st Note: Mixing this dough is a lot easier with an electric mixer. You can do it by hand, but it’ll take some muscle.



Combine the butter and sugars together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat them on medium speed until they’re smooth. This should take less than a minute.



Add the baking soda and salt, and resume beating on medium again for another minute, or until they’re incorporated.



Add the egg and beat on medium until the batter is smooth (an additional minute should do it.) Add the peppermint and chocolate extracts, and mix for about 30 seconds.



Shut off the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Then add the melted chocolate and mix again for another minute on medium speed.



Shut off the mixer and scrape down the bowl again. At low speed, mix in half of the flour. When that’s incorporated, mix in the sour cream.



Scrape down the bowl again and add the rest of the flour. Beat until it’s fully incorporated.



Remove the bowl from the mixer and give it a stir with a spoon. Mix in the pecan pieces by hand. (A firm rubber spatula works nicely.)



Use a teaspoon to spoon the dough onto the foil-lined cookie sheets, 12 cookies to a standard-sized sheet. (If the dough is too sticky for you to work with, chill it for a half-hour or so, and try again.) Bake the cookies at 350 degrees F., for 10 to 12 minutes, or until they rise and become firm.



Slide the foil from the cookie sheets and onto a wire rack. Let the cookies cool on the rack while the next sheet of cookies is baking. When the next sheet of cookies is ready, pull the cooled cookies onto the counter or table and slide the foil with the hot cookies onto the rack. Keep alternating until all the dough has been baked.



When all the cookies are cool, set them out on waxed paper for frosting.



Chocolate Butter Frosting:

2 one-ounce squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

2 cups powdered (confectioners’) sugar

1 ? teaspoons vanilla extract

Approximately 2 Tablespoons cream (or milk)



Unwrap the squares of chocolate and break them apart. Put them in a small microwave-safe bowl. (I use a 16-ounce measuring cup.) Melt them for 90 seconds on HIGH. Stir them until they’re smooth and set them aside to cool.



When the chocolate is cool, mix in the butter. Then stir in the powdered sugar. (There’s no need to sift unless it has big lumps.)



Mix in the vanilla extract and the cream. Beat the frosting until it’s of spreading consistency.



Hannah’s 2nd Note: This frosting is the no-fail type. If it’s too thick, add a bit more cream. If it’s too thin, add a bit more powdered sugar.



Frost your cookies and leave them on the waxed paper until the frosting has hardened. (If you’re like me, you’ll sneak one while the frosting is still soft, just to test it, of course.)



When the frosting has hardened, arrange the cookies on a pretty platter and enjoy. They store well in a covered container if you separate the layers with wax paper.



Hannah’s 3rd Note: Lisa says that when she’s in a hurry and doesn’t have time to make a frosting, she just sprinkles the cookies with a little powdered sugar while they’re still warm. She does a second sprinkling when they’re cool and calls it a day.



Yield: Approximately 6 dozen cookies





Chapter Eight




It was four days before Christmas and Hal & Rose’s Café was decorated for the season. There was a silver metal Christmas tree in the corner that was illuminated by a spotlight with a slowly revolving color wheel. The tree was red for ten seconds, blue for ten seconds, green for ten seconds, and yellow for ten seconds. Then the cycle started all over again. Hal had purchased the tree from Hannah’s father at Lake Eden Hardware in the seventies, and it was still going strong.

Hannah, Andrea, and Norman sat in the back booth under several strings of multicolored tinsel garlands that had been looped over the ceiling light fixtures in a crisscross pattern. A small fake poinsettia sat in the exact center of each table, and brightly colored cardboard cutouts of wreaths, snowmen, and sleighs were taped to the backs of the booths.

Except for the perpetual poker game that Hal hosted in the private banquet room in the back, the restaurant was deserted. It was two-fifteen in the afternoon, too late for lunch, and too early for the students at Jordan High to order after-school hamburgers and french fries. Even Rose had defected. She’d refilled their mugs, plunked the coffee carafe down on the table, told them to help themselves, and headed upstairs to the apartment over the restaurant to wrap a few Christmas presents.

“So what do we have so far?” Andrea asked, blowing on her coffee to cool it before she took a tentative sip.

Hannah got out her steno pad and prepared to read her notes aloud. She was taking a breather from work so that they could have a strategy meeting. Lisa and Candy were handling everything, and after a week at The Cookie Jar, Candy was fitting right in. Everyone appeared to believe Andrea’s cover story, although Hannah thought Bill might be a bit suspicious. He was letting it slide, though. Bill wasn’t about to haul Candy off to the county home right before Christmas, especially since she was now staying in the guest room at Hannah’s condo.