Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(35)

“That’s right. And there’s something else about the farmers, especially in the winter when they live miles from their nearest neighbor. Remember when Arnie Carson fell down and broke his ankle during that storm last year, the one that took down the phone lines?”

“I remember.”

“Well, Arnie couldn’t walk on it and Sadie couldn’t get him into the house by herself.”

“I can understand that. Arnie’s a big guy and Sadie’s really tiny.”

“That’s why Sadie went into the kitchen, brought back Arnie’s shotgun, and fired it off three times at a snowbank. It was a signal they’d worked out with their neighbors. You can hear a shotgun blast a long ways away and that’s how she let them know that she needed help.”

“That’s very smart.”

“Yes, it is. And it goes to show that guns can be used for other things, not just for weapons. I just hope you’re right about Minnesota voters, Hannah. I don’t want to have to give up the new shotgun Herb gave me as a wedding present.”

“That’s a new twist on a shotgun wedding.”

“I know. Everybody makes that joke.” Lisa was smiling as picked up her pen again. “Now tell me exactly what happened after Grandma Knudson sent you over to the church office to fetch Reverend Matthew for lunch.”





BIG SOFT CHEWY MOLASSES COOKIES

Do NOT preheat oven yet—this cookie dough needs to chill.

Hannah’s 1st Note: Lois does this all by hand, but we use our stand mixer down at The Cookie Jar. She also makes these as rolled cookies, rolling out the dough a quarter-inch thick on a floured board and using a 3 and ? inch round cookie cutter to cut them out. In the interest of saving space and time, we do ours as refrigerator cookies.

1 and ? cups white (granulated) sugar





1 teaspoon salt





1 and ? teaspoons baking soda





1 and ? teaspoons ground ginger





1 cup light molasses (I used ? cup dark molasses mixed with ? cup light Karo syrup)





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





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





2 Tablespoons (1/8 cup) hot water (hot water right out of the tap is fine)





4 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (dry, right out of the package—I used Quaker’s Quick-1 Minute)





4 cups all-purpose flour (don’t sift, but don’t pack it down either—scoop it out with your measuring cup and level it off with a table knife)





1 and ? cups raisins (I used golden raisins)





1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)





approximately ? cup white (granulated) sugar for a topping





Put the sugar in the bottom of the bowl of your mixer and turn it on LOW speed.

Add the salt, baking soda, and ground ginger. Mix them in thoroughly.

Now add the cup of light molasses. Keep mixing until everything is thoroughly blended.

Add the beaten eggs. Mix until they’re well incorporated.

Melt the butter, either on the stovetop in a small saucepan, or in a microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 90 seconds in the microwave. (Stir the butter around after microwaving and if it’s not melted, give it another 20 seconds.)

Add the melted butter to the your bowl and mix it in.

Add the 2 Tablespoons of hot water to your bowl and mix it in.

With your mixer still on LOW speed, add the oatmeal in one cup increments, making sure to mix after each addition.

With the mixer still on LOW speed, add the flour in one cup increments, making sure to mix after each addition.

Add the raisins and mix them in.

Finally, add the nuts and mix thoroughly.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and give it a final stir by hand. This dough will be fairly thick.

Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and put the mixer bowl in the refrigerator for an hour. This dough will be easier to work with if it’s chilled.

There are THREE ways to bake these cookies. They all turn out about the same, so you choose the way you like best. I’ll give you the way Lois uses first:

Way to Bake #1—The Rolled Method

Divide the chilled dough in half. Put one half in the refrigerator and round the other half into a big ball.

Sprinkle your breadboard with flour. Set the dough ball in the center and flatten it with your palms.

Sprinkle the top of the flattened dough ball with flour.

With a rolling pin, roll out the cookie dough to ? inch thick. Cut the dough into 3 and a half inch circles with a round cookie cutter. (If you don’t have a cookie cutter that size, I’ll bet you have something in your kitchen that you can use for a cookie cutter. I had a plastic drinking glass that measured 3 and a half inches across, and I used that.)

Place the round cutouts on a greased cookie sheet leaving 2 to 3 inches between the cookies. A standard-size cookie sheet will hold 6 cookies of this size.

Brush the tops of the cookies with water and sprinkle them with sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 9 to 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. (Mine took the full 10 minutes.)