teaching an adult cooking class at the school and then I'm going out to dinner with Mike. Don't worry. I'll leave you with plenty of food.'
Hannah was still chuckling over her sentence structure as she hurried down the stairs. She was looking forward to her date tonight with Lake Eden's most popular unmarried man. Mike Kingston had moved to Lake Eden just over a year ago, recruited from the Minneapolis Police Department by Sheriff Grant to head up the Winnetka County Detective Division. Since Mike was Bill's partner, both Andrea and Bill favored him for the position of brother-in-law. Delores liked Mike, but she'd teamed up with Carrie to push Norman, and Michelle, Hannah's youngest sister, liked both of them. So did Hannah and that was why she couldn't choose one over the other. Perhaps it was just as well that neither man had proposed. Sharing her life with someone who didn't use a litter box might be nice, but Hannah didn't really want to give up any of her independence.
Twenty minutes later, Hannah drove into the school parking lot. She was early and it was deserted. She pulled up as close to the home economics classroom as she could, grabbed her box of supplies, and headed for the delivery entrance. When Jordan High had been designed, the architect had put in an outside door for ease in delivering kitchen equipment and supplies. The regular teacher, Pam Baxter, had given Hannah a key when she'd agreed to take over the night cooking class. Instead of learning cake decoration, as Pam had originally planned, Hannah's class would be testing all the recipes that had been submitted for the Lake Eden cookbook.
Hannah stepped inside and flicked on the lights, blinking like an owl caught in the beam of a searchlight. The multiple overhead lighting fixtures were bright enough to turn night into day. When her eyes adjusted, Hannah set her box on a counter. Pam Baxter's pantry contained all the staples, but she'd brought the special ingredients her class would need for the recipes they were testing tonight. One of the ingredients was a package of sweetened dried cranberries for the cookies Hannah had just created. Since they were made from cranberries and cranberries grew in a bog, she planned to call them Boggles.
Five minutes later, Hannah was ready to teach. Her name was written on the blackboard in the unlikely event there were students who didn't know her, stacks of recipes were ready to be dispersed to the five groups that would bake at the five kitchen workstations, and the sign-in sheet was displayed on a clipboard at a desk in the front row. The only thing missing was Hannah's class and she had over an hour before her students would arrive.
Hannah sat down at the desk, but it didn't feel right. Perhaps she'd been wise to change her career plans. She was a lot happier in front of an oven than she was behind a desk. She got up and walked to one of the workstations. She'd put the extra time to good use by mixing up a batch of Alma Koester's Fudge Cupcakes without the secret ingredient. Once she'd tasted them, Beatrice might be able to tell what was missing.
Boggles
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position
2 cups melted butter (
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs-beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
4 cups flour
3 cups sweetened dried cranberries (
3 cups rolled oats (
* * *
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in large microwave-safe bowl. Add sugars and let cool a bit. Add eggs, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Add flour and mix. Then add the cranberries and oats and mix everything up. The dough will be quite stiff.
Drop by teaspoon onto a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 12-15 minutes. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes. Remove to rack until cool.
Yield: 10 to 12 dozen, depending on cookie size.
These freeze well if you roll them in foil and put them in a freezer bag.
Chapter Three
Hannah had just finished frosting the cupcakes when she heard someone approach in the hallway outside her classroom door. Perhaps it was Mike and he was early.
'Is my nose wrong, or do I smell chocolate?'
Hannah sighed as she recognized the voice. Then she put a friendly smile on her face and turned toward the doorway. Sheriff Grant had never been one of her favorite people, but he was a good customer at The Cookie Jar and it was wise to be friendly to the man who was Bill and Mike's boss. 'Your nose is right. I'm trying out a recipe for the Lake Eden cookbook.'
'It sure smells good.' Sheriff Grant moved closer to the counter and Hannah noticed that he was listing toward the cupcakes at approximately a forty-five degree angle.
'Would you like to taste one?' Hannah offered. 'I think they're cool enough.'
'That'd be great! I haven't had anything to eat since lunch and I need to stick around until Kingston gets here. Got some paperwork for him to pass out.'
Hannah packaged up four of the cupcakes. She knew Mike was teaching a self-defense class in the room next door. 'Do you want to leave the paperwork with me? I can make sure he gets it.'
'No, that's okay. I'll just wait in the parking lot and catch him when he drives in.' Sheriff Grant accepted the package Hannah gave him with a smile. 'Thanks, Hannah. This is really nice of you.'
'Maybe not,' Hannah replied with a grin.
'What do you mean?'
'These cupcakes are an experiment and I haven't even tasted them yet.'
'Do you want a report on how I like them?'
'That would be great,' Hannah said with a smile. 'You're a brave man, Sheriff Grant.'
'Why's that?'
'For all you know, they might be poisoned. After all, my brother-in-law is running against you in the election.'
When Hannah's students arrived, she divided them into five groups, one group for each workstation in Jordan High's home economics room. Then she set them to work testing pastry recipes. One group had the cookie recipe she'd developed, another was baking a pie, the third group was in the process of making a cobbler, the fourth
