Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(58)

“I know.” Michelle reached across the table to give Hannah a hug. “There’s only one thing I know for sure.”

“What’s that?”

“That we have to catch the killer.”

“I agree,” Hannah said. “We have to catch P.K.’s killer, and that’s doubly complicated this time.”

Both sisters sat there staring down at their coffee cups as if, by some sort of magic, the answer to the killer’s identity might suddenly appear there.

“There’s got to be some way we can cope with this,” Michelle said, looking up at Hannah. “Do you know how we can do that?”

“Yes, I do. We have to be intuitive and logical. And be both of those at the same time. And we have to be perfectly neutral about how we want this case to turn out. We can’t even think about that aspect of it.”

“Right. Anything else?”

“We have to be suspicious of everyone who had any sort of quarrel or resentment toward either P.K. or Ross, or disliked either one of them for any reason, real or imagined.”

“That makes sense, but . . . how do we do that?”

“We have to interview everyone who had any kind of relationship with either one of them. And we need to learn about their lives from birth to the present. All we really know is that we have to collect all the information we can, listen to everyone attentively and critically, and wait for something to make some kind of sense.”

“That’s a tall order. Will it help us catch the killer?”

“Not necessarily, but that’s the only way I know to proceed. It could take us a while, but it’s like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Once we shake all the pieces out of the box and figure out how they fit together, we’ll get a clear picture of the killer.”

“I hope so! It sounds almost impossible, but I promise I’ll do my best to help.”

“I know you will. You always do. There’s just one more thing, a very important thing, that we have to do.”

“What is it?”

“We have to eat a lot of chocolate so we don’t get discouraged.”

Michelle just stared at Hannah for a moment, and then she began to laugh. “That I can do!” she declared, jumping up to get more cookies from the bakers rack.





CHOCOLATE BUTTERSCOTCH CRUNCH COOKIES


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



1 cup salted butter (2 sticks, one-half pound)

6 one-ounce squares semi-sweet chocolate (I used Baker’s)

1 cup powdered sugar (not sifted – pack it down when you measure it)

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3 cups flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

1 cup (6-ounce by weight package) butterscotch

chips

2 cups crushed corn flakes (measure after crushing)





Melt the butter and chocolate squares in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, or in the microwave. (I melted mine in a quart measuring cup in the microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes.) Once the butter and chocolate are melted, stir them smooth, transfer them to a large mixing bowl, and add the powdered and white sugars. Stir thoroughly and set the mixture aside to cool.





When the mixture is cool enough that it won’t cook the eggs, add the eggs, one at a time, stirring after each addition. (You can use an electric mixer at this point if you like.)





Mix in the vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Mix it all up together.





Add flour in half-cup increments, mixing after each addition. You don’t have to be precise. (One very important reason for adding flour in increments is so that the whole mountain of flour won’t sit there on top of your bowl and spill out all over the place when you try to stir it in.)





Scrape out the bowl, take it out of the mixer if you used one, and give it a good stir by hand with a wooden spoon. Then add the cup of butterscotch chips and the cups of crushed corn flakes. Mix them in thoroughly.





Once the dough has been thoroughly mixed, roll one-inch dough balls with your fingers. (You can also use a 2-teaspoon scooper to form the dough balls).





Place the dough balls on a greased cookie sheet (I usually spray mine with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray,) 12 dough balls to a standard-size sheet. Flatten the dough balls a bit with your impeccably clean palm so that they won’t roll off the cookie sheet on the way to the oven.





Bake the Chocolate Butterscotch Crunch Cookies at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. (Mine took 12 minutes.) Cool them on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.





Yield: Approximately 5 to 6 dozen delicious chocolate butterscotch cookies that everyone will love.





Chapter Eighteen


Ten batches of assorted cookies and bar cookies later, Hannah and Michelle sat down at the work station again. “We did it,” Hannah said, smiling at her sister. “You really helped a lot, Michelle.”

“It was fun. Do you think that Sally will let us into the conference center to check out our booth?”