Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(8)

Flatten the mixture in the cake pan with a metal spatula or with the palms of your impeccably clean hands.





Open the jar of cherry preserves. Take off the lid and place the glass jar in the microwave.





Heat the jar on HIGH for 20 seconds. Let it cool in the microwave for 1 minute.





Spread the cherry preserves evenly over the mixture in the cake pan. Smooth it out with a rubber spatula.





If you haven’t already chopped your coconut flakes into smaller pieces, do it now. (If you have a food processor, use the steel blade to chop your coconut.)





Sprinkle the chopped coconut over the cherry preserves as evenly as you can.





Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the coconut flakes.





Crumble remaining dough mixture over the top of the chips.





Press down lightly with your impeccably clean palms.





Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is golden brown.





Remove the Cherry Chocolate Bar Cookies from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack.





Cool completely and then cut into brownie-sized bars.





Serve with plenty of strong coffee or tall glasses of cold milk.





Yield: Approximately 3 dozen delicious cookie bars.





Hannah’s 5th Note: These are Mother’s favorite cookie bars and our customers at The Cookie Jar loved them so much, they’ve become a permanent part of our cookie menu.





Hannah’s 6th Note: Sometimes, just to please my chocoholic mother, I frost these cookie bars before I cut them into pieces. I usually use my Neverfail Fudge Frosting recipe because it’s so quick and easy.





The Neverfail Fudge Frosting recipe follows:





NEVERFAIL FUDGE FROSTING




? cup (1 stick, 4 ounces, ? pound) salted butter

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

? cup heavy cream (that’s whipping cream)

? cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon vanilla extract





Place the butter, sugar, and cream into a medium-size saucepan on the stovetop.





Turn the burner to MEDIUM-HIGH heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.





Continue to stir and turn the heat down to MEDIUM. Stir for 2 minutes.





Add the half-cup of chocolate chips. Stir them in, and then move the saucepan to a cold burner. Don’t forget to turn off the heat on the original burner!





Let the mixture cool, without stirring, for one minute and then stir in the vanilla extract.





Pour the frosting on the top of the cake pan and spread it out quickly with a heat-resistant rubber spatula.





Cool the frosting completely before you cut and serve. If you wish, you can place the pan in the refrigerator, uncovered, until the frosting is cool and has “set”.





Chapter Three


When Michelle came in the back kitchen door at three in the afternoon with cheeks rosy from the cold, Hannah rushed to get her a cup of hot coffee. “I thought you were going to call me to pick you up.”

“I was, but I decided to walk.”

“You’re shivering,” Hannah said, turning to glance at the indoor-outdoor thermometer mounted on the kitchen window as she carried the mug of coffee to her sister. “It’s twenty-two degrees out there, and that doesn’t take the wind chill factor into account.”

“I knew that it was cold, but it felt wonderful at first. The cold air was nice and bracing, and I enjoyed it for almost a block. Then I started to shiver and the cold air began to hurt my throat.”

“Did you tie your scarf around your face and breathe through that?”

“Yes. And I had a real problem doing it with my mittens on. I had to take them off to tie on my scarf.”

“Why didn’t you walk back to the school and call me?”

“Because I was halfway here. I figured I’d be just as cold when I arrived back at the school as I’d be when I got here. Besides, the wind was at my back when I walked here. If I’d turned around, it would have been blowing in my face.”

Hannah gave a little laugh. “I can’t argue with your logic. You’re absolutely right, but if it’s this cold tomorrow, don’t do it again. I’ll be happy to drive you to the school for rehearsal and pick you up when you’re ready to come back here.”

“But you’re really busy here during the day.”

“True, but if I’m busy, Marge, or Aunt Nancy, or Lisa will come to get you. We can always spare one of us, and I don’t want you walking in weather like this and getting sick.”

“Doc says there’s no medical basis for that. You can’t catch a cold from the cold.”

“I know, but I still don’t want you walking. Just call, okay?”