Blackberry Pie Murder (11 page)

And for another thing, I don’t have the money to fly to a for-eign country where they can’t extradite me.”

“Don’t worry, dear,” Delores told her, but Hannah saw the worried look in her mother’s eyes. “They’re bound to give you bail.”

“That’s another problem,” Hannah told her. “I don’t have the money to make bail.”

“But I do. I’ll be there at the arraignment, dear. And I’ll bail you out.”

“That’s nice of you, Mother.”

Delores shrugged again. “What else is a mother to do when her daughter’s in jail? I’m certainly not going to leave you here! Now eat your dinner, my dear. You must keep up your strength.”

Right, Mother
, Hannah thought.
I won’t be able to use my
super powers and bend these steel bars if I’m as weak as a
kitten
. But she smiled at her mother, anyway. Delores meant well. And then she dug into Sally’s excellent dinner like there was no tomorrow.

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CREAM CHEESE AND HERB SCONES

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

3 cups all-purpose flour
(pack it down in the cup

when you measure it)

2 teaspoons cream of tartar
(this is important)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1⁄2 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature

(1 stick, 4 ounces, 1⁄4 pound)

8 ounces
(by weight, not volume)
whipped cream cheese at room temperature
(I used Philadelphia

brand, which is also 8 ounces by volume)

6.5-ounce
(by weight)
package Boursin Cheese with Herbs at room temperature
(one package)

2 large eggs, beaten
(just whip them up in a glass

with a fork)

1 cup sour cream

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix thoroughly.

Mix in bits of salted butter with two forks or a piecrust blender, just as you would for piecrust dough.

Hannah’s 1st Note: If you have a food processor, you
can use it to do this. Cut 1⁄2 cup COLD salted butter into 8

chunks. Layer the chunks of butter with the dry ingredi-

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ents in the bowl of the food processor. Process with the
steel blade in an on-and-off motion until the mixture is the
texture of cornmeal. Transfer the mixture to a mixing
bowl and proceed to the next step.

Check your cheeses. If they haven’t come up to room temperature, take them out of the packages, put them in a microwave-safe bowl, and soften them on HIGH for 20

seconds or so. Then take them out and add the beaten eggs and sour cream. Mix everything together thoroughly.

Add the cheese, egg, and sour cream mixture to the dry ingredients. Stir the dough with a fork until everything is thoroughly combined. The resulting mixture should be roughly the consistency of cottage cheese.

Use a large spoon to drop the biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet. You can make 12 very large scones, 24 medium sized scones, or 4 to 5 dozen mini scones.
(You

can bake one sheet at a time with this dough—it’ll be fine

in the bowl for a half-hour or so while you wait for the

first batch to bake.)

Hannah’s 2nd Note: I line my baking sheets with parchment paper for easy removal.

If your scones look a little ragged around the edges, wet your fingers and shape them into rounds.

Bake the scones at 425 degrees F. for 14 to 16 minutes for very large scones, 12 to14 minutes for medium-sized

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scones, or 8 to 10 minutes for mini scones baked in miniature cupcake tins sprayed with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. To test for doneness, touch them with the back of a spoon to see if they’re “set” on top.

Hannah’s 3rd Note: DON’T OVERBAKE these scones.

That will make them dry. My very large scones took a
total of 15 minutes, the medium-sized scones took 14 minutes, and the mini scones in the miniature cupcake tins
took 9 minutes. The rule of thumb here is that if they look
done, they are done.

Cool the scones for at least 5 minutes on the cookie sheets, and then remove them with a spatula.
(If you used

parchment paper, all you have to do is pull the paper off

the baking sheet and peel off the scones.)
The mini scones in the miniature cupcake tins should cool for at least 8 minutes before you remove them.

Serve the scones in a towel-lined basket so that they stay warm.

Yield: Makes 12 very large scones, 24 medium-sized scones, or 4 to 5 dozen mini scones. These scones are simply delicious served with extra cream cheese, capers, and smoked salmon.

Hannah’s 4th Note: To serve mini scones as appetizers,
simply cool them and cut them in half horizontally. Top
them with more cream cheese, press on a few capers, and
place a small slice of smoked salmon on top. You can ei-

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ther serve them that way, or spread a little more cream
cheese on the top half and use it to make a mini sandwich
the way Sally does.

FETTUCCINI “PORCINI”

(Australian Fettuccini)

Trudi’s 1st Note: We just returned from a trip to Australia. This is my version of a recipe we experienced in
Sydney. It’s easy to make and a wonderful flavor.

For the Pasta:

Prepare a package of your favorite brand fettuccini pasta as instructed on the package. Use the size that serves 4. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, give it a stir to keep it from sticking together, cover it loosely with foil and set it aside on a cold burner to wait for its yummy sauce.

For the Sauce:

1⁄4 pound bacon
(regular sliced, not thick)

1⁄2 pound
(8 ounces)
fresh mushrooms sliced, or chopped

1⁄2 cup chopped onions
(regular yellow onions or

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green onions—if you use green onions, you can

use up to 2 inches of the stem)

4-inch square of fresh salmon filet

15-ounce
(approximate—if it’s a bit more, that’s

okay)
jar of prepared Alfredo sauce Pan fry the bacon until it’s crispy and lift it out of the fat with a slotted spoon to drain it on paper towels.

Use the remaining bacon fat in the pan to fry the mushrooms until they are very well done.

Add the onions to the pan and continue to fry until the onions are translucent and fully cooked.

Cut the raw salmon into cubes and add it to the pan.

Fry it until the salmon is fully cooked.

Add the drained bacon pieces to the pan and add the Alfredo sauce. Stir everything together until it’s well-combined and heated through.

Arrange the pasta you’ve cooked on 4 plates. Ladle the delicious mixture in the frying pan over the pasta and serve to rave reviews!

Trudi’s 2nd Note: The porcini is in quotes because I’m
sure the restaurant used them, but regular mushrooms
work just as well and are easier on the budget.

Fresh salmon works great but since it sort of falls apart
in the cooking anyway, you probably could use canned or
packaged salmon and get the same results.

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If you prefer, you could also use packaged Alfredo sauce
mix and prepare it yourself.

RUMMY TUM TUM CAKE

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

1 box chocolate cake mix
(the size that makes a

9-inch by 13-inch cake) (DO NOT use cake mix

with pudding in it because your cake will stick to

the pan. I used Devil’s Food Cake Mix when I

tested this.)

1 box chocolate instant pudding mix
(NOT sugar-

free—the size that makes 4 half-cup servings)

1⁄2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

1⁄3 cup rum
(I used Appleton’s Rum)

2 teaspoons rum extract
(If your store doesn’t have

this, you can use vanilla extract instead)

4 large eggs

6-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

(approximately 1 cup)

Spray a Bundt pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. Make sure to spray the little tube in the middle so the cake won’t stick to that.

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Place the dry chocolate cake mix and the dry chocolate pudding mix in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat them together on low speed until they’re combined.

Add the vegetable oil, sour cream, rum, and rum extract. Beat on LOW speed until thoroughly mixed.

Mix in the eggs, one at a time on MEDIUM speed, beating after each addition. When you’re through, this batter should be nice and fluffy. If it’s not, turn the mixer up to HIGH and beat for 2 additional minutes.

Take the bowl out of the mixer and add the chocolate chips by hand. Don’t over-stir. You want to keep as much air as possible in the batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

Bake the cake at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes or until a cake tester or a thin wooden skewer inserted in the center of the ring comes out clean.
(Mine took 53 minutes.)

Cool the Rummy Tum Tum Cake for 20 minutes on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack.

After 20 minutes, loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Don’t forget to run the knife around the tube in the center of the Bundt pan to loosen that, as well.

Invert a cake plate on top of the Bundt pan, flip the Bundt pan and the cake plate over, and unmold the cake.

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Let it cool completely on the plate before frosting it with Rummy Tum Tum Chocolate Frosting.

Hannah’s Note: If you would prefer not to use alcohol
in this cake, simply substitute 1⁄3 cup light cream for the
rum. It’s yummy that way, too.

RUMMY TUM TUM

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1⁄2 cup
(1 stick, 1⁄4 pound, 4 ounces)
salted butter 1 cup white
(granulated)
sugar 1⁄3 cup rum
(I used Appleton’s Rum)

1⁄2 cup chocolate chips

1 teaspoon rum extract
(or vanilla extract if you

can’t find rum extract)

1⁄2 to 1 cup powdered
(confectioner’s)
sugar
(I used a

total of 3⁄4 cup)

Place the butter, sugar, and rum into a medium-size saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.

Turn down the heat to medium and cook for two minutes.

Add the half-cup chocolate chips, stir them in, and remove the saucepan from the heat.

Stir in the rum extract.

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Let the frosting cool to room temperature. If it hasn’t thickened enough, add enough powdered sugar to bring it to spreading consistency.
(I started with 1⁄2 cup powdered

sugar, but had to add another 1⁄4 cup to make my frosting

the right consistency.)

Frost the cake and don’t forget the inside of the little crater in the middle. That’s an added bonus for frosting lovers.

Put the whole cake into the refrigerator so that the frosting hardens completely. Cover it loosely with foil if you intend to refrigerate it for more than 2 hours.

Hannah’s Note: If you would prefer not to use alcohol
in this frosting, simply substitute 1⁄3 cup light cream for the
rum.

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Chapter

!
Nine
#

Howie was as good as his promise. He was at the sheriff’s station within the hour. Delores and Andrea said their goodbyes so that Hannah could have privacy with her lawyer, but not before they’d promised to come back the next day. Rick let Howie inside the cell. Howie didn’t seem to mind when Rick explained that he’d have to lock him inside the holding cell with Hannah, and Hannah surmised that this sort of thing had happened to Howie before.

“This is ridiculous, Hannah,” Howie said, sitting down on the cot beside her.

“Then why did Judge Fleming issue a warrant for my arrest?”

“Judge Fleming didn’t issue a warrant for your arrest. He’s on vacation and Judge Colfax from Stearns County is filling in for him. He’s the one who issued the warrant.”

Hannah began to frown. “I don’t know Judge Colfax.”

“Believe me, you don’t
want
to know him. Cross your fingers that this is the one and only time you ever have to appear before him.”