Cream Puff Murder (Hannah Swensen, #11)(44)

“The oven!” Hannah exclaimed, getting up so swiftly she dislodged Moishe. She must have fallen asleep, and her oven timer was beeping. She rushed to the kitchen, opened the oven door, and gave a sigh of relief as she pulled her pan of Candy Bar Bar Cookies out of the oven. They weren’t too brown on top. Everything was just fine.

She’d just replaced her oven mitts on the hook next to the stove when the doorbell rang. A glance at the apple-shaped clock on the wall over the kitchen table showed six forty-five. It was a good thing she’d set the table earlier. Company was here, and she’d gotten up from her nap just in time!





CANDY BAR BAR COOKIES

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



1 cup softened butter (2 sticks, 1/2 pound)

3/4 cup white (granulated) sugar 1 beaten egg (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

21/2 cups flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

5 three-ounce chocolate candy bars (I used Nestle Milk Chocolate)***



1/4 cup white (granulated) sugar

Prepare a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan by lining it with a piece of foil large enough to flap over the sides. Spray the foil-lined pan with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray.



Mix the butter and the sugar together in a bowl. Continue to stir until the mixture is light and creamy.



Add the egg, and stir it in thoroughly. Mix in the vanilla extract and the salt.



Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition. The dough will “ball up” like piecrust, and that’s fine.



Pat half of the dough into the bottom of your prepared pan. Smooth it out with your impeccably clean fingers.



Unwrap the candy bars and place them on top of the dough. (Make 2 rows with 2 candy bars in each row. Break the fifth candy bar in half lengthwise, and use it to fill in the ends of the rows.)



Pat the remaining dough on top of the candy bars, distributing it as evenly as you can.



Use the back of a table fork to make cross-hatches on the top of the dough, the way you’d do with a peanut butter cookie. The little grooves the fork makes will hold the sugar.



Sprinkle the quarter-cup sugar over the top of your pan as evenly as possible.



Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes. The bars should be slightly brown around the edges and still quite white on top.



Cool the Candy Bar Bar Cookies in the pan on a metal rack. Feel the bottom of the pan. When you can comfortably place your hand against the bottom and it’s not too hot to hold, grasp the foil and lift the bars out of the pan. Cut them into brownie-sized pieces while they’re still warm.



Place the squares on a plate and serve. Everyone will love these a bit warm from the oven, but they’ll also love them cold. 161





Chapter Fifteen




She made the attempt, but after ten minutes of hoping that it might get better, Hannah put down her chopsticks. Chinese chicken salad with low-cal ranch dressing just wasn’t very good. She should have made her own with raspberry vinegar, a little olive oil, and a good sugar substitute. To disguise the fact that she wasn’t eating, she alternated between moving bean sprouts around on her plate and taking notes in the brand-new shorthand notebook she’d started for Ronni’s murder.

“What’s wrong with Moishe?” Andrea asked as Moishe gave a howl from the kitchen.

“I don’t know. I filled his Kitty Valet when I got home, so I know he’s got plenty of food and water.”

“Rowwwww!” Another yowl hit their ears, louder and more prolonged than the first.

“Something’s bothering him,” Norman said, getting up from his seat on the couch. “He sounded really upset. I’ll go see what’s wrong.”

Michelle leaned close to Hannah. “Norman loves him,” she said.

“Norman loves Hannah,” Andrea said, correcting their younger sister.

“Where’s the yardstick, Hannah?” Norman called out, poking his head around the corner of the kitchen doorway.

“It’s either next to the stove, or leaning up against the side of the counter by the window,” Hannah told him. “Did Moishe lose his duck’s foot again?”

“Yes. It’s in that little space between the broom closet and the refrigerator.”

“Good luck fishing it out. Sometimes it goes under the refrigerator and I lose it.”

“I’ll get it. Never fear. Moishe’s directing the whole operation for me.”

All three sisters laughed. And all three were tempted to get up and go into the kitchen to watch. But they didn’t. They just sat there relaxing while Norman took care of the duck’s foot.

“If it slips under the refrigerator, do you have to move it to get out the duck’s foot?” Michelle asked.

“Yes, and I don’t. There’s a really short tube running to the icemaker and if it breaks, it’s a big plumbing bill. I just leave the duck’s foot there and hope for the best.”

“But doesn’t it smell?” Andrea wrinkled up her nose.

“No. I think maybe it’s because there’s not much meat on a duck’s foot.”