by Joanne Fluke
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees F., or until they’re lightly golden in color. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
These cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, and place the rolls in a freezer bag.
Michelle asked for this recipe after Lonnie Murphy tasted them at The Cookie Jar. She says she’s going to freeze some so he’ll have them when he visits her, but she’s going to mark the package “Lutefisk Patties” so her roommates won’t get into them.
Yield: Approximately 8 to 10 dozen, depending on cookie size.
CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES
6 tablespoons chilled butter ( ¾ stick, 3 ounces)
12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips (two cups—I used Ghirardelli’s)
½ cup firmly packed powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
6 egg yolks
1 Tablespoon rum, brandy, flavored brandy, or vanilla extract
Put an inch or so of water in the bottom half of a double boiler and heat it to a gentle boil. Cut the butter in chunks and place them in the top half of the double boiler. Add the chips and then the powdered sugar and set the top half over the bottom half. Put on the cover and let everything melt while you…
Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl with a whisk. Whisk until they’re thoroughly combined, but stop before they get fluffy or lighter in color.
Stir the chocolate until it’s completely melted. It will be thick, almost like fudge. Remove the top half of the double boiler and set it on a cold burner.
Stir several spoonfuls of beaten egg yolk into the chocolate mixture. When that’s incorporated, stir in several more spoonfuls. Keep adding egg yolk in small amounts, stirring constantly, until all the egg yolks have been incorporated and the chocolate mixture is smooth and glossy.
Stir in the rum, brandy, or vanilla. Put the lid back on the top of the double boiler and refrigerate the chocolate mixture for 3 hours.
To Decorate Truffles:
finely chopped nuts
powdered (confectioner’s) sugar
chocolate sprinkles
shaved chocolate
cocoa powder
finely shredded coconut
Warning: This next step is fairly messy. If you like, wear disposable plastic food-server gloves. You can also lightly grease your hands, or spray them with Pam or other non-stick cooking spray so the chocolate won’t stick to your fingers.
Form small balls of chilled chocolate with your hands and roll them in bowls of the above ingredients. You can mix and match, or give all of your truffles the same coating. Place the truffles in ruffled bon-bon papers and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
These are incredibly delicious candies. They’re super easy to make, but let’s keep that a secret. It can’t hurt to let people assume that you went to a lot of trouble, just for them.
Yield: 4 to 5 dozen, depending on truffle size.
Chapter
Seventeen
Hannah and Andrea broke into applause when Tracey spelled onomatopoeia, a very difficult word for the third-grade girl she was playing. They were standing at the back of the classroom, pretending to be parents who’d come to watch the spelling bee and doubling as extras since Dean Lawrence had decided at the last minute he wanted a few “parents” involved.
He cued Andrea, who was playing Amy’s mother shortly before the fatal accident that would claim her life, and she rushed to the front of the room to hug Tracey. They held their pose for a moment and then Dean cued in several of the real third graders, who’d been instructed to look both angry and jealous, and to start whispering to each other.
“Cut,” Dean called out, once he’d gotten the shot. “That’s a wrap, everybody. We got it in just one shot.”
The real third graders took their cue from their teacher and the whole class applauded. Hannah could tell that they were very excited about being in a movie.
Dean caught Andrea’s arm as she moved to pass him, and he bent down to address Tracey. “That was perfect, Sweetheart. You’re a fine little actress. And Mommy?” Dean straightened up and took Andrea’s hand. “You were every bit as wonderful as I knew you’d be. Now don’t forget what I told you, all right?”
“I won’t forget,” Andrea said, leading Tracey from the room with Hannah following in her wake.
“What did he mean by that?” Hannah asked, as soon as they’d cleared the doorway. “What did he tell you?”
Andrea gave an elaborate shrug, but she didn’t meet Hannah’s eyes. “Nothing, really. He just said he thought I’d be perfect in that scene as Tracey’s mother.”
“Because you are Tracey’s mother?”
“Maybe,” Andrea said, leaning forward to re-tie the bow in Tracey’s hair. “Okay, honey. Say good-bye to Aunt Hannah. We’ve got to get you home so we can take off that makeup.”
Once Tracey and Andrea had left, Hannah walked back to The Cookie Jar. Andrea had left in such a hurry she’d forgotten she’d promised to give Hannah a ride. That was odd, and so was the comment Dean Lawrence had made as they’d exited the classroom. Could Andrea’s doubts about Bill’s fidelity have driven her into another man’s arms? Hannah didn’t think so. She was positive that Andrea loved Bill. But jealousy and doubt could be taking its toll, and a real womanizer would attempt to capitalize on that. The voice she’d heard when she’d delivered Dean’s cheesecake this morning sounded a lot like her sister’s voice. But certainly she must be mistaken about that.
Hannah put her suspicions firmly out of mind as she passed the park with its empty play equipment. The chains on the swings hung straight down like suspenders holding up a pair of pants, and the gleaming metal slide had a puddle of melted snow at the bend. Tracey’s favorite, the Flying Dutchman, Merry-Go-Round, or Whirl-A-Whirl, whatever you cared to call the large circular platform with metal handholds that the children rode as it spun around and around, was perfectly motionless and surrounded by melting bits of snow. The area beneath it, scraped clear of grass by children’s feet, was beginning to turn muddy in the noonday sun.
Down at the far end of the park, the skating rink gleamed in the sun. Hannah was amazed that the ice looked so firm until she remembered that it was artificial. If the day kept up its warming trend, all the snow would melt and Ross would have to rely on fake snow as well as fake ice. That wasn’t so bad, but Tracey and the other girls would broil in their heavy costumes during the skating scene.
Once she’d passed the circular sidewalk that ringed the park, Hannah crossed the street and walked up Fourth to Main Street. She rounded the corner by the now-defunct Magnolia Blossom Bakery, and found herself glancing in the front plate glass window and remembering how beautifully decorated it had been. Some of those decorations, including the lovely round tables and matching chairs, now graced the coffee shop at The Cookie Jar. Hannah still felt a bit guilty for taking advantage of Vanessa’s panicked offer to sell them to her at such a ridiculous price, but she wasn’t about to give them up. She’d done the right thing and contacted Gloria Travis, who should have inherited the money Vanessa had spent to buy them, and Gloria had told her to keep everything she wanted and give away the rest.
Lake Eden Realty, the office where Andrea worked, was humming in lonely splendor. The computers were on, the desk lamps were lit, and the fax machine was spewing out paper. The owner, Al Percy, wasn’t there and neither was Andrea. Since Ross had rented Main Street for the week, no business except movie business would be conducted.
Her shop looked busy and Lisa must have been waiting for her to arrive, because she opened the front door and motioned to her. Hannah dashed across the street and into The Cookie Jar, wondering what sort of emergency had reared its ugly head in the forty-five minutes she’d been gone.
“He…he wants what?” Hannah sputtered, looking at her young partner with dismay. “And by when?”
“Hors d’oeuvres, that’s what. And he had the nerve to ask me if I knew what they were!
”
“That’s not the insult you think it is,” Hannah informed her. “He asked me if I knew what finger food was!”
Lisa gave a startled little giggle, and Hannah knew her good mood had been restored. That was one of the things she loved about her partner. Lisa had a sunny disposition, and even though Dean had introduced a few storm clouds on her horizon, her cheerful nature couldn’t remain hidden for long.
“What sort of small bits of appetizing food does he want?” Hannah asked, giving the dictionary definition and earning a smile from her partner.
“He said he’d leave that up to us. The only thing is, everything has to be edible, because he wants the extras at the cocktail party to mingle and munch.”
“Mingle and munch?” Hannah repeated, making a face. “That sounds positively inane. I wonder what sort of appetizers they served in the fifties.”
“I’ll call Marge. The library’s got a section of old cookbooks. She can look it up for us.”
“Good idea,” Hannah said, heading for the pantry to see what supplies they’d need to buy for mingle-and-munch time at the nineteen-fifties house.
Searching the pantry didn’t take long, and neither did going through the walk-in cooler. When she came back out to the coffee shop again, Hannah found Lisa just hanging up the phone.
“I’ve got three,” Lisa said, holding up one of Hannah’s steno pads. “What do you think of celery sticks stuffed with peanut butter? Everybody served it at parties back then.”
“Okay. We’ve got plenty of peanut butter, but we don’t have celery. Put that down on our shopping list. One of us will have to make a quick trip to the Red Owl.”
“I’ll go,” Lisa said, “I’ll just call Florence and give her a heads-up, so she’ll let me in the back.”
While Lisa called Florence, Hannah took the notebook and looked at the other appetizers Lisa had listed. There was something that sounded interesting using olives, crackers, and cream cheese tinted with food dye. They could certainly make those. And there was no reason why they couldn’t take the stuffed celery idea and run with it. They could make a second type stuffed with flavored cream cheese, and a third stuffed with Mike’s Busy Day Pâté. All three would look nice on a platter.
The last appetizer was the most difficult and it all had to do with the timing. The ingredients were simple enough, just cream cheese mixed with minced onions and a little mayonnaise. The mixture was spread on crackers and the crackers were broiled just before serving so that the cream cheese would puff up. Hannah was sure they could handle that. Delores and Carrie had a toaster oven in their upstairs break room. All it would take was someone to man the toaster oven and they could have hot appetizers at the scene.
“So what’s on my grocery list,” Lisa asked.
Hannah explained about the three kinds of stuffed celery they could make, and then she read the list she’d made. “Celery, mayonnaise, horseradish, crackers, dried onions, braunschweiger, flavored cream cheese, and a can of tuna.”
“Okay.” Lisa took the list and headed for the back door, but she turned before she got there. “What’s the tuna for?”
“Moishe.”
“Because…?”
“He didn’t scratch Andrea.”
“I see,” Lisa said. “I guess I’d better pick up a can of salmon, too.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because he didn’t scratch me, either!”
CREAM CHEESE PUFFS
Hannah’s Note: If you’re not going to serve these right away, you can mix up the cream cheese part and refrigerate it until it’s time to spread it on the crackers.
8-ounce package cream cheese (the firm kind, not the whipped)
2 Tablespoons ( 1/8 cup) mayonnaise (We used Hellmann’s***)
3 Tablespoons minced green onion
OR 3 Tablespoons minced dried onion
OR 3 Tablespoons minced shallots
1 beaten egg
A box of salted crackers (We used Ritz Crackers and they were great!)
Unwrap the cream cheese and put it in a microwave-safe bowl. Nuke it on HIGH for 30 seconds, or until it begins to soften.
Mix in the mayonnaise and stir until the mixture is smooth.
Mix in the onion. (If you use green onion instead of shallots or dried onion, you can use up to one inch of the stem.)
Mix in the beaten egg.
Lay out the crackers on a broiler pan, salt side up. (We used a disposable broiler pan so we could trash it at Granny’s Attic and we wouldn’t have to carry it back to The Cookie Jar.)
Spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the cracker in a circle that reaches the edges. Mound it slightly in the center. Use about two teaspoons of cheese mixture per cracker.
Position the rack approximately three inches below the coil of the broiler and turn it on HIGH. Broil the crackers (with the oven door open to the first latch so the broiler doesn’t kick on and off) until the cream cheese puffs up and is just starting to turn golden. This should take about 90 seconds if the rack is correctly positioned.
Let cool for a minute or two, so your guests won’t burn their tongues. Transfer the Cream Cheese Puffs to a platter and serve.
Yield: Approximately 2 dozen hot and yummy hors d’oeuvres.
Another Note From Hannah: I haven’t actually tried this, but I’m willing to bet a dozen of my best cookies that you could also add a quarter cup chopped smoked salmon to the cream cheese mixture.
Chapter
Eighteen
Hannah had just finished giving instructions to Luanne
Hanks, who’d offered to broil the Cream Cheese Puffs. “Michelle will cue Mother and she’ll beep you on the intercom when we need a batch. But are you really sure you want to be stuck up here while they shoot the fancy cocktail scene?”
“I’m positive. I don’t want to have anything to do with some of those movie people.”
Luanne wore a very determined look on her pretty face, and Hannah sensed a story. One of those movie people had caused some sort of problem for Luanne.
“Are you talking about any one movie person in particular?” Hannah asked, doing a little fishing.
“Mr. Lawrence. He’s a dirty old man, Hannah!”
The old classification took Hannah back a little, but then she remembered that Luanne was Michelle’s age, only twenty. Dean Lawrence, who was in his forties, would seem old to her. “He made a pass at you?” she asked.
“How did you know?” Luanne looked profoundly shocked. “I didn’t tell anybody.”
“It was a guess, but I figured it was a good one. From what I hear, Dean’s made a pass at almost every woman in town.”
“Even you?”
Hannah winced slightly. Luanne didn’t have to sound so incredulous. “Yes, even me. He’s a frustrated adolescent, Luanne.”
“You mean like the high school boys? When all they can think about is girls?”
“Exactly. Dean probably doesn’t mean anything by it. It’s just a game to him. And maybe they don’t mind his behaving like that in Hollywood.”
“Lake Eden isn’t Hollywood,” Luanne retorted, her eyes flashing with anger. “And I don’t appreciate grown men acting like high school boys.”
“Neither did some of the other women I talked to,” Hannah said, thinking about Lisa and how she’d almost poured hot coffee down Dean’s neck.
“Well…I guess it helps to know it’s not just me. And here I was, trying to figure out what I did to make him think I’d say yes when he invited me to his trailer. I thought maybe it was Suzie and the fact I had a baby without being married and all. But it’s just the way he behaves with everybody…right?”
“Just women. I think the guys in town are safe.”
Luanne gave a startled giggle. “Oh, that’s funny. Thank you, Hannah. You made me feel a lot better, but I still don’t want to get within ten feet of Mr. Lawrence. It’s insulting, you know? If he even looks at me crosswise, I’ll probably kill him.”
“Don�
��t do that. Just come and tell me. We’ll organize all the other women and run him out of town on a rail.”
“Do we even have a rail?”
“I’m not sure, but if we don’t, we’ll get one. Besides, he’s probably on his best behavior now that his wife’s in town.”
“I didn’t know he was married!” Luanne looked shocked. “He certainly didn’t act like he was. That poor woman! She must not know about what he does behind her back.”
“What makes you think that?” Hannah asked.
“Because if she knew, she’d either leave him or kill him, whichever one seemed better at the time.”
Hannah busied herself by filling the silver trays the movie waitresses would use for the cocktail scene. No one was here yet, but they were due to arrive any minute. As she placed stuffed celery sticks in a giant sunburst around the radish roses that Lisa had made, she thought about all she’d learned in the past several days about the movie business.
Her first revelation had been that movie scenes weren’t shot in sequence. Ross had come to Lake Eden to film the “hometown” scenes. Three were with Tracey playing Amy as a child, four were with Erica playing Amy as a teenager, and three were with Lynne playing Amy as an adult. Today’s scene, the second to the last in the movie, was the cocktail party. And even though Burke’s character would die in the scene they were shooting today, he’d be back tomorrow to play Jody walking arm in arm with Amy down the street.
