Devil's Food Cake Murder (14 page)

4 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (dry, right out of the package—I used Quaker’s Quick-1 Minute)

4 cups all-purpose flour (don’t sift, but don’t pack it down either—scoop it out with your measuring cup and level it off with a table knife)

1 and 1/2 cups raisins (I used golden raisins)

1 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

approximately 1/2 cup white (granulated) sugar for a topping

Put the sugar in the bottom of the bowl of your mixer and turn it on LOW speed.

Add the salt, baking soda, and ground ginger. Mix them in thoroughly.

Now add the cup of light molasses. Keep mixing until everything is thoroughly blended.

Add the beaten eggs. Mix until they’re well incorporated.

Melt the butter, either on the stovetop in a small saucepan, or in a microwave-safe bowl on HIGH for 90 seconds in the microwave. (Stir the butter around after microwaving and if it’s not melted, give it another 20 seconds.)

Add the melted butter to the your bowl and mix it in.

Add the 2 Tablespoons of hot water to your bowl and mix it in.

With your mixer still on LOW speed, add the oatmeal in one cup increments, making sure to mix after each addition.

With the mixer still on LOW speed, add the flour in one cup increments, making sure to mix after each addition.

Add the raisins and mix them in.

Finally, add the nuts and mix thoroughly.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and give it a final stir by hand. This dough will be fairly thick.

Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and put the mixer bowl in the refrigerator for an hour. This dough will be easier to work with if it’s chilled.

There are THREE ways to bake these cookies. They all turn out about the same, so you choose the way you like best. I’ll give you the way Lois uses first:

Way to Bake #1—The Rolled Method

Divide the chilled dough in half. Put one half in the refrigerator and round the other half into a big ball.

Sprinkle your breadboard with flour. Set the dough ball in the center and flatten it with your palms.

Sprinkle the top of the flattened dough ball with flour.

With a rolling pin, roll out the cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut the dough into 3 and a half inch circles with a round cookie cutter. (If you don’t have a cookie cutter that size, I’ll bet you have something in your kitchen that you can use for a cookie cutter. I had a plastic drinking glass that measured 3 and a half inches across, and I used that.)

Place the round cutouts on a greased cookie sheet leaving 2 to 3 inches between the cookies. A standard-size cookie sheet will hold 6 cookies of this size.

Brush the tops of the cookies with water and sprinkle them with sugar.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 9 to 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. (Mine took the full 10 minutes.)

Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or so, and then remove them to a wire rack.

Cool the cookies completely and then store them in a tightly covered container or cookie jar.

If you just don’t want to make rolled cookies, I’ve found an alternative. Here’s the ball and sugar method:

Way To Bake #2—The Dough Ball Method

This way is fun and easy, and it doesn’t require a breadboard, rolling pin, or flour. You also get sugar on the tops AND bottoms!

Roll the chilled dough in 2 and a half inch balls with your fingers. (That’s approximately the size of a plum.) Roll the dough ball in a bowl of sugar and place it on a greased (or sprayed with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray) cookie sheet. Flatten it to a quarter-inch thick with a wide metal spatula or your impeccably clean palm.

Repeat the process of rolling dough balls, coating them with sugar, and placing them on the cookie sheet. They should be 2 to 3 inches apart and a standard-size cookie sheet will hold 6 of these big delicious cookies.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 9 to 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. (Mine took the full 10 minutes.)

Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or so, and then remove them to a wire rack.

Cool the cookies completely and then store them in a tightly covered container or cookie jar.

The third way to make the cookies is the refrigerator method. It takes a little longer, but it’s very simple. Here it is:

Way to Bake Cookies #3—The Slice Method

Divide the chilled dough into 2 parts. Return the 2nd part to the refrigerator while you work with the 1st part.

Tear off a sheet of wax paper that’s approximately a foot and a half (18 inches) long. Flip it over so it doesn’t roll right back up again for you and lay it out on your counter with the long expanse facing you.

Plunk your chilled dough down on the wax paper and use your hands to shape it into a foot-long log. (This may remind you of playing with modeling clay in kindergarten.)

Center the cookie dough log at the edge of the long expanse of wax paper and roll it up.

Twist the ends of the wax paper to secure the log of cookie dough inside, and place it in your refrigerator.

Leave it there overnight so it’s chilled thoroughly.

In the morning, when you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

While you’re waiting for your oven to preheat, grease (or spray with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray) your cookie sheet.

When your oven comes up to temperature, remove the log of cookie dough from the refrigerator. Unroll it and use a sharp, thin knife to slice off 6 quarter-inch slices.

Put some white sugar in a bowl with a fairly flat bottom and, one by one, lay the cookie slices in the bowl. Flip them over to coat the other side with sugar and then place them 2 to 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. A standard-size cookie sheet will hold 6 of these large cookies.

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 8 to 10 minutes or until slightly brown around the edges. (Mine took the full 10 minutes.)

Remove the cookies from the oven, leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute or two to set up, and then use a flat metal spatula to remove them to a wire rack. Cool the cookies completely and then store them in a tightly covered container or cookie jar.

It doesn’t really matter which way you choose to prepare the cookie dough for baking. Whether you roll them out with a rolling pin, form them into dough balls, or slice them, the bake time will be approximately the same, the cookies will be delicious, and the yield will remain approximately the same.

Yield: 3 dozen large, Big Soft Chewy Molasses-Oatmeal Cookies.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: Lois told Grandma Knudson that these were her dad’s favorite cookies. We can certainly see why!

Hannah’s 3rd Note: My great-grandmother, Elsa Swensen, had a trick for keeping cookies like this soft and chewy. She put some orange or lemon peel in the bottom of her cookie jar. The moisture in the citrus peel kept the cookies soft and any slight orange or lemon flavor the cookies absorbed was all to the good! When citrus fruit wasn’t in season in Minnesota, she used a chunk of apple to keep the cookies moist.

“Are you okay?” Norman asked when she opened her condo door at seven that night.

“I think so.” Hannah thought about his comment for a moment. “Don’t I look okay?”

“You look great! You know I love to see you wear that outfit.”

Hannah smiled, but she declined to do the little pirouette that was called for by his compliment. Her heart was too heavy for that. “I love this skirt and sweater set,” she said. “I wore it because I needed …”

“What?” Norman asked when her voice trailed off.

“I guess I needed a little cheering up.”

“Then that’s exactly what I’ll do,” Norman promised. “Let me get your coat and we’ll go. I know what happened this afternoon, Hannah, so we can talk over dinner and sort things out.”

It wasn’t exactly a miracle, but it felt like one to Hannah as she thrust her arms into the dress coat Norman held for her, watched him toss Moishe several fish-shaped kitty treats to keep him busy while they were gone, and escorted her out the door. One thing about Norman—he always seemed to know what she needed. And this time the gorgeous-enough-to-be-a-model Doctor Bev didn’t enter into the equation. Norman was here, and Hannah planned to keep him with her for a good, long while. Doctor Bev was home alone. She had to be. Mike was tied up with Reverend Matthew’s murder, so Doctor Bev would just have to cool her heels.

“It’s good to see you smiling,” Norman said, opening the passenger door for her.

“That’s because I’m with you,” Hannah said, and left it at that. It was true. She always felt better when she was with Norman. There was a second factor that accounted for her improved mood, but Hannah decided not to mention that the image of Doctor Bev languishing in her apartment alone made her feel much better.

“Hannah? We’re here.”

A voice roused Hannah from her extremely pleasant nap. It was a nice voice, a caring voice, and for a moment she thought her father was waking her in the morning so that she could get ready for school. But it wasn’t her father’s voice. It was…Norman. And she’d fallen asleep on their first date in a whole month!

“Oh, Norman! I’m so sorry! I didn’t think I was that tired, but…why are you parking here? It’s a loading zone.”

“I called Sally and cleared it. She said there won’t be any deliveries tonight. I didn’t want you to have to walk all the way from the parking lot.”

“Thank you, Norman.” Hannah gave him a big smile, even though the cold night air might have chased away the cobwebs in her mind and the almost overwhelming urge to go back to sleep. But even the short distance from the car to the front door of the inn did the trick. By the time Norman opened the door, Hannah was feeling much more alert.

Once they’d hung up their coats and switched from boots to the shoes they’d brought with them, Hannah and Norman headed straight for the dining room. As they stepped inside, Sally greeted them.

“I was wondering when you’d get here,” she said. “I have a new dessert tonight and there are only a few servings left. Do you want me to save you a couple?”

Norman nodded. “That would be great. What is it?”

“Pear Crunch Pie. It’s Rhanna’s recipe. You remember her, don’t you Hannah? She managed the whole place for me during our first year.”

“I remember. You were fit to be tied when she retired and moved to California.”

“What’s the best thing on the menu tonight, Sally?” Norman asked her. “Hannah needs to relax with a nice glass of wine and some really great comfort food. And actually…I could use the same thing. Not the wine, though. It’s fizzy water for me. And whatever you have in the way of comfort food would be perfect for me, too.”

“You came to the right place,” Sally said, smiling broadly. “I figured a lot of folks would need something hot and hearty tonight. It’s so cold out there. So I made Brisket and Veggies.”

“That’s what I want!” Hannah said quickly.

“Me, too,” Norman echoed her choice.

“Wonderful. Just relax and leave everything to me.” Sally turned to pat Hannah’s shoulder. “I saved one of the private booths for you. That way nobody can come to your table to ask you questions.”

Hannah was grateful. She hadn’t even considered that possibility, but Sally was right. Everyone from Lake Eden would want to hear the story of how she found Reverend Matthew’s body. “Thanks, Sally. That was really thoughtful.”

“I’ll tell Dot to seat you and pull the curtains.”

Sally gestured and Dot Larson, Sally’s head waitress, led them up the steps to the raised part of the dining room and seated them in the end booth.

“How’s the baby, Dot?” Hannah asked, before Dot could pull the curtains.

“Growing like a weed. He’s got one speed and that’s full throttle. If we had a bigger house, Mom would never be able to keep up with him.”

“Your mother babysits while you’re at work here?” Norman asked.

“That’s right. It works out really well. I have the five to ten shift during the week, and Mom comes over at four-thirty. She fixes supper for Jimmy when he gets home at five-thirty, feeds Jamie and puts him to bed, and she’s back home in time to watch her favorite shows. Taking care of Jamie gives her something to do now that Dad’s gone.”

“I’m sorry to hear your father died,” Norman said quickly.

“Oh, he’s not dead!” Dot gave a merry laugh. “He’s just up in Alaska with the dogs for the season. Mom usually goes with him, but there’s not much for her to do up there while he’s off mushing. To tell the truth, I think she’s glad she could use babysitting with Jamie as an excuse not to go this year.”

When Dot bustled off to get their drinks, Hannah amused herself by peeking through the curtains at the other diners. “Howie and Kitty Levine just walked in,” she reported to Norman. “And there’s Pam and George Baxter. And right behind them is…Mother!”

“Yours, or mine?”

“Mine. She’s all alone.”

“Would you like to ask her to join us?”

Hannah debated for a moment. She really wanted to be alone with Norman, but she knew Delores hated to dine by herself.

“Hannah? I’ll do whatever you want.”

Norman was waiting for an answer. Hannah sighed deeply and dipped her head. “No, I don’t really want to invite her to join us, but I suppose we should.”

“Then we will. Would you like me to go over and ask her?”

“That would be good,” Hannah said, crossing her fingers for luck. It was possible that Delores was meeting some friends for dinner and the rest of her party hadn’t arrived yet. She’d certainly taken care with her appearance, but then she always did. Delores was definitely the most attractive woman of her age in Lake Eden, perhaps even in Winnetka County.

Tonight her mother was dressed in a designer suit. Hannah knew that it was a designer suit even though she wasn’t a fashion expert like Andrea, because Delores never bought anything that wasn’t a designer creation. Tonight’s outfit was made of soft green wool in a superfine weave that reminded Hannah of luna moths with gossamer wings. It was a shade of green that was lighter than an avocado and darker than the sprout of a crocus when it poked its head above ground in the Spring. Only Delores could get away with wearing such an unforgiving material and style. The jacket was nipped in at the waist, setting any excess pounds on display for all to see. Delores, of course, had none. The skirt was pencil thin and would show any imperfections. Delores, of course, had none. In short, Delores Swensen looked ravishing. Her hair was perfect, her makeup was flawless, and her appearance was top of the line. She’d obviously taken time to get ready for tonight’s dinner, and Hannah was curious to see who her dining companion or companions would be.