Cinnamon Roll Murder

Microwave the chocolate squares and butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl for one minute. Stir. (Since chocolate frequently maintains its shape even when melted, you have to stir to make sure.) If it’s not melted, microwave for an additional 20 seconds and stir again. Repeat if necessary.

Place the sugar in a mixing bowl. Stir in the chocolate and butter mixture, and continue stirring until it’s well combined.

Hannah’s 1st Note: The caramel ice cream topping comes next. It will stick to your measuring cup unless you first spray the inside of the cup with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray.

Add the caramel ice cream topping to your bowl and mix it in thoroughly.

Feel the bowl. If it’s not so hot it’ll cook the eggs, add them now, stirring thoroughly.

Mix in the salt and the vanilla extract.

Mix in the flour, ? cup at a time, stirring just until it’s moistened.

Hannah’s 2nd Note: These are a form of brownies, and you don’t want to stir the batter any more than necessary.

Put the chocolate chips and the pecans in the bowl of a food processor. Using an on and off motion, chop them together with the steel blade. (If you don’t have a food processor, you don’t have to buy one just for this recipe – simply chop everything up as well as you can with a sharp knife.)

Mix in the ingredients you just chopped, give one final stir, and spread the batter out in the pan you prepared earlier.

Bake the Chocolate Caramel Pecan Bars at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

Cool your yummy creation in the pan on a metal rack. When the bar cookies are cool, slip them into the refrigerator at least an hour for ease in cutting.

When you’re ready to serve them, lift the chilled cookie bars out of the pan, using the “ears” of foil you left at the sides. Place them face-down on a cutting board, peel the foil off the back, and cut them into brownie-sized pieces.

Place the squares on a plate and dust them lightly with powdered sugar. Everyone will think you’re a genius when they taste them.

Baking Conversion Chart

These conversions are approximate, but they’ll work just fine for Hannah Swensen’s recipes.

VOLUME:

U.S. Metric ? teaspoon 2 milliliters 1 teaspoon 5 milliliters 1 tablespoon 15 milliliters ? cup 50 milliliters cup 75 milliliters ? cup 125 milliliters ? cup 175 milliliters 1 cup ? liter

WEIGHT:

U.S. Metric 1 ounce 28 grams 1 pound 454 grams

OVEN TEMPERATURE:

Degrees Fahrenheit Degrees Centigrade British (Regulo) Gas Mark 325 degrees F. 165 degrees C. 3 350 degrees F. 175 degrees C. 4 375 degrees F. 190 degrees C. 5

Note: Hannah’s rectangular sheet cake pan, 9 inches by 13 inches, is approximately 23 centimeters by 32.5 centimeters.

KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

Kensington Publishing Corp.

Copyright © 2012 by H. L. Swensen, Inc.

All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7582-7822-7