Cinnamon Roll Murder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

? teaspoon nutmeg (freshly grated is best, of course)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 and ? cups peach pie filling (I used Comstock— my can was 15.5 ounces net weight, and it was exactly 1 and ? cups)

2 Tablespoons (that’s cup) peach jam

3 and ? cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)

1 cup finely chopped pecans

Drain the can of peach slices in a strainer over the sink, or over a bowl. You do not need to reserve the juice. Let the peaches drain while you mix up your cookie dough.

Hannah’s 1st Note: Unless you have a very strong stirring arm, use an electric mixer to make this cookie dough.

Place the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer.

Place the butter and the cream cheese, which must be softened to room temperature, on top of the sugar.

Turn the mixer to LOW and mix for one minute. Gradually increase the speed of the mixer, scraping down the sides of the bowl frequently and beating for one minute at each level, until you arrive at the highest speed.

Beat at the highest speed for at least 2 minutes or until the resulting mixture is very light and fluffy.

Turn the mixer down to LOW, and add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Continue to mix on LOW speed while you add the salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda. Mix until they are thoroughly incorporated.

Measure out a cup and a half of peach pie filling. If there are any large pieces of peach, chop them up with a knife into small pieces about the size of mini chocolate chips. The goal is to get some into each cookie.

With the mixer on LOW speed, add the peach pie filling to your bowl and mix it in.

Measure out the peach jam. If there are any large pieces of peach, chop them up with a knife just like you did with the peaches in the pie filling.

With the mixer on LOW speed, add the peach jam to your bowl and mix it in thoroughly.

Mix in the flour, one cup at a time, mixing on LOW after each addition. (You don’t have to be exact—just add the flour in 4 increments)

Shut off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then give the mixture a final stir by hand. The resulting cookie dough should be fluffy, but not at all stiff like sugar cookie or chocolate chip cookie dough. Let the bowl sit on the counter while you ...

Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. It’s the easiest way to bake these cookies. If you don’t have parchment paper and you really don’t want to go out to get any, grease your cookie sheets heavily, or spray them thoroughly with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

If you haven’t already done so, put the pecans in the bowl of a food processor with the steel blade in place, and process them with an on-and-off motion into fine pieces.

When the pecans are ready, place them in a shallow bowl. This is what you’ll use to coat the outside of your Peaches And Cream Cookies.

Using a teaspoon (not the measuring kind, but one from your silverware drawer) , drop a rounded teaspoon of cookie dough into the bowl of finely chopped pecans. Use your fingers and a light touch to form the cookie dough into a ball. Lift the ball gently and place it on your baking sheet. Continue to form dough balls covered with finely chopped pecans, 12 to a standard-size cookie sheet.

Lay your peach slices out on layers of paper towels on the counter. Pat them dry and then cut each one into two pieces, making thinner slices.

Top each Peaches And Cream cookie dough ball with a thin peach slice, cut side up. Press it down gently.

Bake your Peaches And Cream Cookies at 375 degrees F. for 12 minutes. Take them out of the oven and slide the cookie-laden parchment paper onto a wire rack to cool. If you used greased cookie sheets, you’re going to have to let the cookies sit on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack with a metal spatula.

Let the cookies cool completely before you attempt to remove them from the wire rack.

Yield: Approximately 4 to 5 dozen soft and moist cookies, depending on cookie size.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“One thing’s for sure,” Norman said grinning at Hannah. “These are the best peach cookies I ever ate.”

“These are the only peach cookies I ever ate. But I agree that they’re wonderful. Michelle is really talented at making up recipes. These are so good, I think I might have to serve them at The Cookie Jar.”

“Not these!” Norman jerked the plate away from her. “These are my cookies. You’ll have to get the recipe from Michelle and bake your own cookies.”

A message flashed on Norman’s computer monitor and he gave a little sigh. They were in his home office, a large room with a sofa, chairs, a spectacular view of the woods, a fireplace, and two walls of floor to ceiling bookcases. “I’m sorry, Hannah. None of the hits I got on Bernard Alan Neiman panned out.”

“That’s okay. It just goes a little further toward proving my fake name theory.”

“But we may never know who Buddy actually was.”

“I know that, but Doc and Mike are working on identifying him too, and they may have gotten some leads we don’t know about. Mike’s running his fingerprints and he’s got deputies checking for anyone who fits Buddy’s description in the missing person’s records.”

“That’s a big job.”

“Yes it is, but Andrea says Bill’s all for it. He even called in some retired deputies to work on it.”

“Is Doc helping the deputies?”

“No, he’s got his own plan. He told Mother that he was going to post Buddy’s picture in something called Hospital News. It’s a magazine like those airline magazines you read when you’re on a plane. Hospitals subscribe to Hospital News and put it in their waiting rooms. Lots of people see it, and one of them might recognize Buddy and know who he really is.”

“Doc really wants to know, doesn’t he?”

“Yes. He says that since Buddy died in his hospital, he feels a certain responsibility. And that responsibility is doubled because Mother was the one who discovered Buddy’s body. Both of them think that Buddy may have family or someone who needs to know what happened to him.”

“They’re probably right. Human beings don’t live in a vacuum.”