Chocolate Cream Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #24)(74)

Stir in the white chocolate (or vanilla baking) chips by hand.



Cover the dough in the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and stick it in the refrigerator.



Chill the dough for at least 1 hour. (Overnight is fine, too.)



When you’re ready to bake, take the cookie dough out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter.



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.



While your oven is preheating, prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or lining them with parchment paper.



Once your cookie sheets have been prepared, measure out ? cup white granulated sugar and place it in a shallow bowl. You’ll use this to coat your cookies.



With impeccably clean hands, shape the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls. (If your cookie dough is sticky, coat your fingers with sugar and then try to shape the balls.)



Roll the dough balls in the bowl of white granulated sugar to coat them. Work with only one cookie dough ball at a time.



Place the coated cookie dough balls on your prepared cookie sheets, 12 balls to a standard-size sheet.



Press the dough balls down slightly so that they won’t roll off on the way to the oven.



Bake Crunchy Chewy White Chocolate Cookies at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 14 minutes or until they are nicely browned. (Mine took 14 minutes.)



Take the cookies out of the oven and place them on wire racks or cold stove burners.



Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets for 1 minute and then remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling. (If you used parchment paper to line your cookie sheets, you can simply pull it off the sheet and onto the wire rack, cookies and all.)



Yield: 5 to 7 dozen tasty cookies, depending on cookie size.





Chapter Twenty


“Please stop here, Norman,” Hannah said as they approached the visitor parking lot in front of the condo clubhouse. “Mother wants to hold her book launch party here and I have to run in for a second to check out the seating.”

“No problem.” Norman pulled into the spot closest to the clubhouse and got out of the car. “I’ll go with you, Hannah.”

Hannah almost told him that she was perfectly capable of checking out the seating by herself, but before she could form the words, she thought better of it. Norman was protecting her and, if she admitted the truth, she was very grateful to have someone looking out for her. Her encounters with Ross, both in person and on the phone, had left her severely rattled. It made her feel much safer to have someone accompany her inside the large building that would probably be deserted at this hour.

“Thanks, Norman,” she said as he walked around the car and opened the door for her. “I’m glad you’re coming with me. It’s dark this time of night and having you with me makes me feel safer.”

The moment the words had left her mouth, Hannah was happy that she’d voiced them. Norman looked very pleased by her comment. They walked together to the front door of the building.

“It’s locked,” Norman said, trying the door.

“Yes, it’s supposed to be. Our door keys fit this lock and it’s kept locked. The only way visitors can use the clubhouse is if they’re accompanied by a resident with a key.”

The light switch was just inside the door on the right and Hannah flicked it on. The big, overhead banks of can lights came on and the central room was bathed in bright light.

“This is nice, Hannah,” Norman said, gazing around at the octagonal tables that converted into card tables with holders for cards or poker chips on eight sides.

“Ten tables, eight chairs at each,” Hannah said, doing a mental count. “This room, just the way it is, seats eighty people.”

“Is that big enough for your mother’s book launch?” Norman asked her.

“I think so, but there should be extra stack chairs downstairs in the gym. Let’s go down and check it out, Norman.”

Hannah led the way to the wide staircase that led down to the gym. “Here’s where they keep the exercise equipment,” she told Norman as he followed her into the cavernous room. “There’s a sauna down here that no one ever uses and all these machines.”

Norman walked over to look at the exercise equipment. “This is like the one they advertise on television,” he said, pointing to a machine that looked like a combination bicycle, treadmill, and weight-lifting apparatus. “It’s supposed to give you a complete workout in eleven minutes.”

“Really?” Hannah walked over to look at the machine. “Do you think it works?”

Norman shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe, if you follow the manufacturer’s instructions.” He picked up the manual that was hanging from a chain on the handle. “It sounds pretty complicated to me.”

“I wonder how much extra that cost us in our homeowner’s fees,” Hannah mused, patting the leather seat. “Whatever it was, I don’t think it was worth it. From the dust I can see on the seat, it looks like no one ever tried to use it.”

“Perhaps they didn’t want to get all sweaty and then have to walk home in the cold,” Norman suggested.