Lemon Meringue Pie Murder (Hannah Swensen #4)(52)

"That's strange. How about your other employees? Do any of them know about this?" Hannah asked the question even though she thought she already knew the answer.

"I didn't see any point in telling them. I just tightened security the way I promised Reggie I would."

"I've got a tough question for you," Hannah warned him. "Do you think Reggie was mad enough at Rhonda to kill her?"

Jon thought about it for a moment and then he sighed. "I don't like to think so, but I suppose it's possible. Reggie really loved to fly."

"Thanks for being honest with me, Jon. I only have one more question and I don't want you to take it personally. Where were you on Friday night?"

"You think /killed Rhonda?" Jon looked utterly shocked.

"Of course not, but you did have a motive."

"What motive?"

"If things had gone differently, Rhonda could have cost you your business. I've got to put you on my suspect list, but I can cross you off if I know where you were."

"I guess it can't hurt to tell you. I picked Judy up right after I locked up at five, and we drove to Mille Lacs Lake for my mother-in-law's birthday. You can check with Judy. We stayed over that night and drove back early Saturday morning so that I could open at nine."

"Thanks, Jon." Hannah slipped her steno pad back into her purse and stood up to leave. She glanced at his coffee-maker as she passed it and sighed. "The next time you come in The Cookie Jar, the coffee's on me. You could probably bottle that stuff of yours and sell it for rat poison."

Praline Charlottes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees R, with rack in middle position.

11/2 cups melted butter (3 sticks)

1 !/2 cups brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 !/2 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt (decrease to /6 teaspoon if you

use salted pecans)

11/2 cups finely ground pecans (grind them up in your food processor with the steel blade and measure AFTER grinding)

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

3 cups flour (no need to sift)

Microwave the butter in your mixing bowl to melt it Add the sugar and vanilla. Stir until blended, and then add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.

Grind the pecans in your food processor. (Remember to measure AFTER grinding.) Add them to the bowl





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and mix. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir. Then add the flour and mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly blended.

Let the dough sit for a few minutes to firm up. Then form dough into walnut-sized balls and arrange them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. (If the dough is too sticky to form into balls, chill it for a few minutes and try again.)

Flatten the balls with a fork in a crisscross pattern. (If the fork sticks, either spray it with Pom or dip it in flour.)

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until they're golden brown around the edges. Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. When they're cool, prepare the frosting.





Praline Frosting

3/4 cup butter (7/6 sticks)

3!/2 cups powdered sugar (not sifted)

2 teaspoons vanilla (or l'/2 teaspoons vanilla

and '/2 teaspoon maple flavoring) l/3 cup cream

!/2 cup finely chopped pecans Approx. 6 dozen pecan halves for decoration

(optional)

Before you start, arrange the cooled cookies on racks or on sheets of waxed paper. Then heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it turns a medium shade of brown (the color of peanut butter). Remove the pan from the heat, and add the vanilla (and the maple flavoring if you use it). Blend in the powdered sugar, the cream, and the finely chopped pecans. Stir the frosting with a spoon until it's well mixed, but don't let it cool completely.

Frost the cookies and place a pecan half (optional) on top of each cookie for decoration. (It's like spread-





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ing butter; you don't have to spread it all the way out to the edges.) If your frosting hardens before you're through, scrape it into a microwave-safe bowl and heat it for 30 seconds to 1 minute on high in the microwave to soften it so that you can spread it again.

Let the finished cookies rest on racks or on waxed paper until the frosting has hardened (at least an hour). Then store the cookies in a cookie jar or other closed container.

Yield: Approximately 8 dozen, depending on cookie size.

Note: These cookies, unfrosted, make a delicious "tea" cookie with a light, delicate flavor. The only changes you have to make are to roll the dough balls smaller and press them down with the heel of your impeccably clean hand. Bake them for about 8 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden. Andrea says they 're EXCELLENT with hot chocolate.





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Chapter Sixteen

TT Then Hannah got back to Norman's clinic, she still had VV four minutes to wait. She took out her steno pad and jotted a note to speak to Reggie York at the first opportunity. Rhonda's gossip had almost cost him his job and that was certainly a motive for murder. Then she placed Reggie second on her list of suspects, right after Ken Purvis. Since she'd eliminated both Reverend Knudson and Gil Surma as Rhonda's possible dinner companion, Ken was left holding the bag, or rather, the boxes of osso buco.