Raspberry Danish Murder (Hannah Swensen #22)(83)

Prepare your baking pans by filling 2 mini muffin pans (6 cups apiece) with mini muffin papers.





Measure out one and a half cups of biscuit mix and place it in a medium-size bowl. (Press it down in the cup when you measure it.)





Sprinkle the sharp grated cheddar cheese on top of the biscuit mix.





Sprinkle on the garlic powder.





Sprinkle on the onion powder.





Sprinkle on the quarter-teaspoon of salt.





Sprinkle on the Tablespoon of sugar.





Sprinkle on the dry mustard.





Mix all the dry ingredients together with a wooden spoon.





Pour the whole milk in a small bowl and add the beaten egg. Mix with a fork (you can use the same fork you used to whip up the egg) until they are thoroughly blended.





Pat the dill pickle relish with paper towels to get off some of the moisture. Then add it to the bowl with the milk and egg. Mix well with the fork.





Pour the contents of the small bowl (the wet ingredients) into the medium-size bowl (the dry ingredients). Mix them with the wooden spoon just until they are blended. Do not overmix. There are supposed to be some small lumps.





Using a small melon baller, or a teaspoon from your silverware drawer, fill the mini muffin cups almost but not quite to the top of the cups.





Hannah’s 3rd Note: These mini muffins don’t rise very much, just enough to get rounded on the tops.





Bake your Piccadilly Cheese Mini Muffins at 350 degrees F. for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are golden brown on the tops.





You can test your mini muffins for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center. If the toothpick comes out without sticky dough clinging to the sides, your mini muffins are done.





Hannah’s 4th Note: You can also make this recipe as regular-size muffins using a cupcake pan. If you do this, you’ll need to bake your larger muffins for 20 to 25 minutes.





Yield: approximately 3 dozen mini muffins.





Chapter Twenty-five


“Great meal, Hannah!” Norman said, leaning back in his chair. “I don’t think I could eat another bite.”

“Not even my Butterscotch Marshmallow Bar Cookies?” Michelle asked him.

“Oh boy!” Lonnie said, before Norman could respond. “Butterscotch and marshmallows are two of my favorite things. They sound great, Shelly!”

“I might try one,” Norman admitted with a smile. “I don’t think I can handle more. I ate two pork chops and three of Hannah’s Piccadilly Mini Muffins.”

Mike just smiled as he chewed and then he held up his thumb and forefinger in an okay sign. Hannah could understand why Mike was currently speechless. He was too busy eating his fourth pork chop and his fifth mini muffin.

Hannah stood up, intending to clear the table, but Michelle waved her back down. “Lonnie and I will clear the table, put up the coffee, and cut the bar cookies,” she said. “Just relax and try not to trip over Moishe if you go down the hallway for anything. He did the Moishe flop again and he’s in the middle of the hallway, stretched out and sleeping.”

“What’s the Moishe flop?” Mike asked, popping the last bite of pork chop in his mouth and putting down his fork at last.

“That’s Michelle’s term. Sometimes, if we’re walking down the hallway and Moishe is walking ahead of us, he just flops down in the middle of the carpet and goes to sleep.” She turned to Norman. “Does Cuddles do that?”

“She does something similar when I decide to go up to bed and I climb the stairs.”

“She flops on the stairs?” Mike asked.

“That’s right. And a second later, she’s asleep.”

“Doesn’t she roll off the step when she does that?”

Norman shook his head. “No. She’s small and she stretches out lengthwise. I used to go up the stairs in the dark because I always leave a light on in my bedroom and there’s a glow from that at the top of the stairs. Now I have to turn on the hanging light over the stairs so I don’t trip over Cuddles.”

“Was this before or after Doctor Bob ran his tests?” Hannah asked.

“Both before and after. I told him about it, and he was concerned until all her tests came back in the normal range.”

“What did he say then?” Mike asked.

“He told me to be very careful not to trip over Cuddles.”

“Because you might injure her?”

“Not exactly. He said to be careful because he wasn’t qualified to put a cast on me unless I had four legs.”

“That sounds like Doctor Bob,” Hannah said with a laugh. Then she sobered and turned to Mike. “How are you and Lonnie coming along with your investigation?”

“Slowly. We did eliminate Scotty MacDonald for lack of motive. He really didn’t want P.K.’s job that much, and since P.K. offered to share Ross’s office, there was no reason for Scotty to kill P.K.”