Devil's Food Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen, #14)(80)

Hannah’s 1st Note: Edwina says that while her grandmother made a delicious oatmeal raisin cookie, she decided it was time to try an updated more “extreme” version. Her additions were: chewy chocolate-covered raisins, instant butterscotch pudding mix, and butterscotch chips. The result was definitely not her grandmother’s oatmeal raisin cookie!

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





1 small package (makes 4 half-cups) butterscotch instant pudding mix (NOT sugar-free)***





? cup white (granulated) sugar





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





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





1 teaspoon vanilla extract





1 teaspoon baking soda





? teaspoon salt





? teaspoon ground cinnamon





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





1 and ? cups quick rolled oats (not instant—I used Quaker’s Quick 1-minute)





1 cup chocolate-covered raisins (I used Nestle Raisinets, an 11-ounce bag. There was about ? cup left, but not for very long!)





1 cup butterscotch chips (a 6-ounce package)





*** - If you can’t find butterscotch instant pudding mix, you can use vanilla instant pudding mix, the kind that makes 4 half-cup servings. You can also use a 3.5 ounce package (also makes 4 half-cup servings) of butterscotch-flavored Jell-O Cook & Serve, but NOT the sugar-free kind.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: You can mix these cookies up by hand, but it’s a lot easier with an electric mixer.

Mix the softened butter, dry pudding mix, white sugar, and brown sugar together. Beat them until they’re light and fluffy.

Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Mix them in thoroughly.

Add the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until everything is incorporated.

Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.

Add the rolled oats in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the chocolate-covered raisins and the butterscotch chips by hand.

Drop the cookie dough by rounded Tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart, no more than 6 cookies to a standard-sized sheet. You can also use a 2-Tablespoon size scooper if you wish.

Bake the Chocolate-Covered Raisin Cookies at 350 degrees F. for 15 to 17 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Hannah’s 3rd Note: Edwina makes her cookies much larger than we do down at The Cookie Jar. Hers are triple the size of ours. We use a 2-teaspoon size scooper instead of the 2-Tablespoon size, and bake our cookies at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Regardless of size, cool the cookies for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets. Then remove them to a wire rack to complete cooling.

Yield: Makes approximately 2 and ? dozen large cookies. If you bake the smaller size, this recipe will make approximately 6 dozen sensational cookies.

Lisa’s Note: Herb adores these cookies. He says that no one can eat just one Chocolate-Covered Raisin Cookie.





Chapter Twenty-Six

It looked like an ordinary office with a desk and desk chair, two less comfortable chairs sitting in front of it, and a filing cabinet. There was a mirror on the wall opposite the door, perfectly placed to observe the door opening and see who was there if her back was turned. Somehow Hannah didn’t think the mirror’s placement was a lucky accident.

She closed the office door, dialed her own number, and got the answering machine. It was a little strange listening to her own voice on the outgoing message, and she found herself wishing she sounded a bit more businesslike. On the other hand, no one called her home phone for business, so casual was perfectly all right. If Lenny happened to pick up the phone behind the bar and listen in, he’d hear her talking and hang up. She hoped.

“Are you there, Norman?” she asked when her recorded voice stopped speaking and the beep sounded. “It’s me. If you’re there, pick up the phone.”

Of course Norman didn’t pick up the phone. She didn’t expect him to come to her condo because she hadn’t heard from him all day.

“I hope you get this message because we really have to talk about something,” she said, pulling out the first desk drawer. There was nothing there except pens, a ruler, and a telephone book. She paged through the telephone book as she told Norman that they needed to discuss his mother’s birthday present, but there were no marks by any of the names or any cryptic notes.

“Whatever you do, don’t tell her we’re getting together on this,” she said into the phone. And then she shut the center drawer and opened the top drawer on the right side.

The drawer was almost empty. There was absolutely nothing inside except a fake leather datebook. “I was thinking of perfume, but I don’t know which scent she prefers,” she said as she opened the datebook. It was filled with names and numbers, obviously the work schedule for the waitresses. Hannah closed it, put it back in the drawer, and tried the next drawer down.