Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(29)

ORANGE OR LEMON CREAMS

Do not preheat the oven yet—this dough must chill for an hour or two.

For The Cookies:

2/3 cup ultrafine bakers sugar (I used C&N in the carton) ***





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





1 egg yolk, lightly beaten (just whip it up in a glass with a fork)





2 teaspoons orange or lemon juice (or an orange or lemon fruit liqueur)





Zest of one lemon or orange (I measured mine after zesting—it was a little less than ? teaspoon)****





2 and ? cups all-purpose flour (scoop it up and level it off with a table knife—don’t pack it down)





*** - If you don’t have ultrafine bakers sugar, you don’t have to crank up the car and run to the store to get some. Simply put some white, granulated sugar in your food processor and zoop it up with the steel blade. Then measure it and use it in this recipe. (You have to measure AFTER processing because the granules will be smaller and you’ll get a bit more sugar to the cup.) In England this sugar is called castor sugar.

**** - The zest is the colored part of the rind. Try to grate only the colored part, not the white part under it. The white part is bitter.

For The Sandwich Cream Frosting:

1/3 cup salted butter, softened

4 and ? cups powdered (confectioners) sugar (no need to sift unless it has big lumps) *****

4 Tablespoons (that’s ? cup) milk or light cream

1 and ? teaspoons orange or lemon juice (or fruit liqueur)

***** - In England this sugar is called icing sugar.

To make the cookies, beat the sugar and salted butter together until they’re soft and fluffy. You can do this with an electric mixer, or by hand. (It’s easier with a stand mixer.)

Beat in the egg yolk, fruit juice or liqueur, and fruit zest. Make sure it’s well mixed. You want that zest to be thoroughly incorporated.

Measure the flour by scooping it up and then leveling off the measuring cup with a table knife. Don’t pack it down in the cup for this recipe.

Stir or beat in the flour in half-cup increments (just eyeball it—you don’t have to be exact) stirring or beating after each addition.

Round the dough up in the mixing bowl, and divide it into 2 parts. Pat the two parts into balls. Wrap the balls in plastic wrap, and refrigerate them for at least one hour. (Overnight is fine, too.)

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

On a floured board, roll out the dough (just like piecrust) to a 1/8-inch thickness. Use a round cookie cutter, or the rim of a drinking glass to cut out dough circles.

ALTERNATIVELY:

For those of you who don’t like to make rolled cookies, let your dough come up to room temperature and then use a 2-teaspoon scooper to make dough balls. Place them on a standard-size cookie sheet sprayed with Pam (or another nonstick cooking spray) or on a parchment-covered cookie sheet. You should have no more than 12 dough balls on your cookie sheet.

Flatten your dough balls with the blade of a metal spatula, or the flat bottom of a drinking glass, pressing down until they’re approximately 1/8-inch thick.

Bake the cookies at 375 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until they’re very slightly golden.

Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, beat the softened butter until fluffy. (This is easy with an electric mixer. It takes a bit more effort by hand.)

Measure out the powdered sugar and put it in another bowl. Scoop it up and level off the cup as you measure, but don’t bother sifting unless it’s got lumps.

Beat in approximately half of the powered sugar. (You don’t have to be exact.) Mix it up thoroughly.

Slowly, beat in half of the milk. Mix thoroughly.

Mix in the fruit juice or liqueur.

Beat in the remaining powdered sugar, mixing it all up thoroughly.

Slowly, mix in the rest of the milk. Careful! You may not use it all! Stop adding milk when your frosting reaches spreading consistency.

If you goof, don’t despair. This sandwich cream frosting is very forgiving. If your frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar until it’s just right. If your frosting is too thick, add a little more milk until it’s just right.

When your cookies are thoroughly cooled and you’re ready to assemble the Lemon or Orange Creams, spread a small amount of frosting on the ‘wrong’ side of a cookie, (that’s the bottom part). Put the ‘wrong’ side of another cookie on top of the frosting to make a cookie sandwich.

Kelly-Anne says that this cookie dough can be frozen for up to 6 weeks, and the frosting can be frozen for the same amount of time. She tends to stamp out her shapes, then store them between layers of greaseproof paper (I’m guessing this is wax paper) before freezing. She writes, “This way I can have one or two freshly baked cookies anytime I feel like it, without having to make a whole batch.”

Yield: 2 dozen 2-inch round Lemon or Orange Sandwich Creams, or 1 dozen 3-inch round Lemon or Orange Sandwich Creams.





Chapter Nine

When Hannah opened the kitchen door at the parsonage, she found Grandma Knudson standing at the stove, stirring a big pot of soup. “That smells wonderful!” Hannah told her, stepping into the steamy warmth and immediately shedding her parka. “Is that homemade chicken soup?”