Cinnamon Roll Murder (Hannah Swensen, #15)(46)

Michelle held the bag aloft so that Hannah could see. “Four or five cups. Maybe a little more. It’s hard to tell without measuring.”

“If you think we’ve got one and a half cups, we’ll make Eleanor Olson’s Oatmeal Cookies. They’re some of Mike’s favorites, especially when I add raisins.”

“I think there’s that much. How about oatmeal? Do you have that?”

“I’ve got it. And I know I’ve got sugar and eggs. Let me get out the recipe and we’ll start mixing up the dough.”

Hannah took her three-ring binder from the spot next to the stand mixer and paged through it. “Here it is. I had one of these cookies almost every Thursday when Mrs. Olson was the head cook at Jordan High. The grade school got the cafeteria from eleven to twelve, and the high school came in from noon to one. I can’t think of anybody who didn’t like her oatmeal cookies.”

“Mrs. Olson wasn’t there when I started school,” Michelle said with a frown. “Then the head cook was Edna Ferguson, and we never got cookies every Thursday like you did.”

Michelle sounded a bit jealous and Hannah couldn’t blame her. It was great to have a school cook who made special treats. “What I liked best about those cookies was that every once in awhile, Mrs. Olson put a surprise inside her cookies.”

“Like what?”

“There would be small bites of sweet things like a square of Hershey’s chocolate, or a little piece of pineapple or apple. One week it was even M&M’s. We really liked those!”

Michelle didn’t say a word. She just walked over to her purse and opened it. And then, as Hannah watched, she drew out several small packages of M&M’s.

“Where did you get those?” Hannah asked.

“From the hospital vending machine last night. I brought back candy for everybody, and these were left over. Do you want to use them in the cookies?”

“Three guesses, and the first two don’t count,” Hannah said, grabbing the bags out of Michelle’s hand.





ELEANOR OLSON’S OATMEAL COOKIES

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





1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces, ? pound) salted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

2 eggs, beaten (just whip them up in a glass with a fork)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 and ? cups flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (I used Quaker Quick 1-Minute)

? cup chopped nuts (optional) (Eleanor used wal- nuts)

? cup raisins or another small, fairly soft sweet treat (optional)





Hannah’s 1st Note: The optional fruit or sweet treats are raisins, any dried fruit chopped into pieces, small bites of fruit like pineapple or apple, or small soft candies like M&M’s, Milk Duds, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or any other flavored chips. Lisa and I even used Sugar Babies once—they’re chocolate-covered caramel nuggets—and everyone was crazy about them. You can also use larger candies if you push one in the center of each cookie. Here, as in so many recipes, you are only limited by the selection your store has to offer and your own imagination.



Hannah’s 2nd Note: These cookies are very quick and easy to make with an electric mixer. Of course you can also mix them by hand.



Mix the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on HIGH speed until they’re light and fluffy.



Add the beaten eggs and mix them in on MEDIUM speed.



Turn the mixer down to LOW speed and add the vanilla extract, the salt, and the baking soda. Mix well.



Add the flour in half-cup increments, beating on MEDIUM speed after each addition.



With the mixer on LOW speed, add the oatmeal. Then add the optional nuts, and/or the optional fruit or sweet treat.



Scrape down the sides of the bowl, take the bowl out of the mixer, and give the cookie dough a final stir by hand. Let it sit, uncovered, on the counter while you prepare your cookie sheets.



Spray your cookie sheets with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. Alternatively, you can line them with parchment paper and spray that lightly with cooking spray.



Get out a tablespoon from your silverware drawer. Wet it under the faucet so that the dough won’t stick to it, and scoop up a rounded Tablespoon of dough. Drop it in mounds on the cookie sheet, 12 mounds to a standard-size sheet.



Bake Eleanor Olson’s Oatmeal Cookies at 350 degrees F. for 9 to 11 minutes, or until they’re nice and golden on top. (Mine took 10 minutes.)



Yield: Approximately 3 dozen chewy, satisfying oatmeal cookies.





Chapter Sixteen


“These are really good cookies!” Michelle exclaimed, biting into a warm oatmeal cookie. “I’m glad you said that about the M&M’s. Chocolate candy is perfect in oatmeal cookies. What else did Mrs. Olson use? Can you remember?”

“Once she put a slice of banana inside each cookie and sprinkled the top with cinnamon and sugar. Another time it was chopped dates. I think she did chopped dried apricots, too. That’s the beauty of this cookie. It’s one of those good, basic recipes that you can embellish almost any way you want.”