5. Bake for 25-30 minutes until knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan and then cut into squares.
6. Chocolate drizzle: For real fancy squares, melt 1/4 semi-sweet chocolate morsels with 2 teaspoons shortening and drizzle over bars with a fork.
Magnolia's Marvels:
Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bars
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (12 oz) bittersweet morsels
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 13 x 9 inch baking pan.
3. Cream butter and add in sugar and flour until crumbly. Press 13/4 crumb mixture into bottom of pan.
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
5. In microwave-safe bowl, micro wave 1 cup morsels and can of sweetened condensed milk for one minute or until chips are all melted. This may require frequent stirring.
6. Spread over hot crust.
7. Drop small teaspoonfuls of jam over crumb mixture. Sprinkle remaining bittersweet morsels on the very top.
8. Bake for 30 minutes or until set. Cool in pan or wire rack.
Magnolia's Marvels:
Thimble Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 baking soda
pinch salt
your choice of jelly
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugar.
3. Add egg yolk.
4. Mix in flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Roll into small balls and place on baking sheet, about one inch apart.
6. Press thimble into dough and fill hole with jam (Maggie likes seedless raspberry, strawberry, or apricot best).
7. Bake for 15 minutes.
Here's an excerpt from Path of the Wicked--the next Hope Street Church mystery by Jennifer Stanley, coming soon from St. Martin's / Minotaur!
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart."
Nehemiah 2: 1-2 (NIV)
Cooper Lee was not having a good day. She had spent the morning at an elementary school in the Far West End, trying to coax their aged copier, a Toshiba e-Studio28, back to life. But the machine had given its all and no amount of replacement parts, duct tape, or prayers were going to keep it running.
Kneeling on the floor next to her toolbox, a soiled rag, and the copier's rectangular back panel, Cooper examined the dirty developer tray. In removing the part, her hands and forearms had gotten covered in toner. As she worked, she'd rubbed her face in vexation, knowing that it would be impossible to resuscitate the spent machine.
Unaware of the splotches of gray and black ink on her cheeks and nose, Cooper sighed. She knew that the school didn't have funds in its bud get to purchase a new copier, and it desperately need one soon as summer break was ticking to an end.
"Hey!" A voice nearby whispered. Cooper looked up to see a girl dressed in a Hannah Montana t-shirt and white shorts standing over her.
"Hi," she smiled. "Aren't you supposed to be on vacation?"
"My mom's a teacher," the girl replied. "I had to help her carry stuff into her classroom." She continued to study Cooper's face with interest. "You look like you have the Boooooobonic Plague. I learned all about that for my summer reading assignment." She crossed her arms across her flat chest and peered at Cooper intently. "Are those black
boils
?"
Cooper laughed. "No, I do not have the
Bubonic
Plague. I probably smeared some ink from the copier on my face. Happens all the time."
The girl frowned. "Gross.
I
don't want a dirty job when I grow up. I'm going to be a famous singer and I'll live in a
huge
house, get driven around in a super big limo, and own, like, twenty horses. My mommy says she'll be
so
happy if that happens." She stretched out her skinny arms to emphasize her point. "Then she can quit her job. She's a nurse and
I
think what she does is gross, too!" The girl lowered her voice to an awed whisper. "She gives people
shots
! With
needles
!"
Examining her reflection in the shiny surface of an adjustable steel wrench, Cooper grinned and began to wipe away the ink, using a clean rag. "Well,
I'm
happiest when I'm getting messy. My hands are usually covered in ink, garden soil, or cookie dough."
"You're weird," the girl whispered, and then looked back over her shoulder as though her mother might be close enough to overhear her rude remark. "But you're still pretty," she amended, and then skipped away.
Cooper replaced the back panel of the defunct machine, taking her time turning the screws. This was the only part of her job at
Make It Work
!, an office machine sales and repair company operating out of Richmond, Virginia, that Cooper disliked. She hated telling nice people, like the secretary in the front office, that she, Cooper, had been unable to fulfill their expectations and could not repair their machine.
Dusting off her uniform shirt, Cooper snapped her toolbox closed and stood. She patted the lid of the copier. "You've given them your best. Time for you to retire to the greener pastures of the recycling facility."
Gathering her tools, Cooper steeled herself and walked down the hall to the front office. The secretary took one look at her doleful expression and said, "Oh dear. You don't look like you've got happy news for me."
"No ma'am, I'm afraid I don't."
The secretary paused for a moment, unable to keep herself from staring at the repairwoman's unusual eyes. The left eye was blue, but such a pale shade of blue that it was almost colorless. The right eye, however, was startlingly green. It immediately called to mind a meadow of emerald grass in the peak of spring, dappled by sunlight and bright circles of marigolds. The woman's face was quite lovely, though her nose was a bit too long and angular and her dirty-blond hair, which was cut in a flattering style, could do with some highlights. The secretary took in Cooper's athletic figure with a prick of envy.
She
could
use a bit of makeup
, the secretary thought and then blinked, embarrassed at having stared at the repairwoman so blatantly.
"Oh my." The secretary shook her head slightly as the enormity of Cooper's prognosis sank in. "Are you sure you can't fix our copier? We really need to get a few more months out of that machine."
"It's totally gone, ma'am. I would have been lucky to get you two or three more minutes, let alone months. It's got nothing left to give."
The secretary nodded, unsurprised by the revelation. "I know you did your best. You always do and we appreciate the extra time you've given us by keeping that ole dinosaur runnin' on a wing and a prayer." She rose and, signing Cooper's work order, walked Cooper to the front door.
"It's going to take more than a bake sale to raise funds for a new copier." The secretary's expression was bleak. "And with school starting in two weeks, I don't know what we're going to do." She wrung her hands anxiously.
"The way I see it--you've got two choices. You can soak a mess of cakes in a barrel of rum and hope that the folks who show up for your bake sale write you checks with a whole lot of zeroes. Or," Cooper smiled wryly, "you could lease one of our machines until you raise the money for a new one."
The secretary brightened. "A lease?" She paused to consider the idea. "I'm fond of the rum cake plan too, but a lease just might get us through the crisis. Thank you, Ms. Lee. You're an angel!
Please
call me with the rates as soon as you're able. We need a copier in here as of yesterday." Then her face grew solemn and she lowered her voice. "And you'll take away the old one for us?"
Cooper nodded to the older woman, said she'd call back later with leasing options, and hopped into a black van with the
Make It Work
! logo splashed across both sides in bright red lettering. As she drove back to the office, she remembered that the new employee Mr. Farmer had hired to handle the document-shredding side of the business would be at work today. Initially, Mr. Farmer had filled the need by having the son of his widowed next-door neighbor work over the summer, but the young man was returning to college for the fall, so Cooper's boss had placed an ad in the
Richmond Times-Dispatch
ten days ago. However, he ended up hiring a cousin recently relocated from northern New Jersey. As a result, no one had met the mysterious new addition to their team and all three of Mr. Farmer's staff members were curious to discover what kind of person would become their co-worker.
"Thank goodness he didn't hire some pageant princess," Angela said, giggling, as she told Cooper about meeting the new employee while Cooper was at the elementary school.
Angela, the office manager at
Make It Work
!, wore a typically tight pencil skirt, a low-cut blouse, and an armload of vintage bangles. As Cooper looked at Angela's platinum-blonde bob, held firmly in place by a wide pink headband and half a can of Aqua Net, she noticed the presence of a beauty mark on Angela's cheek that had never been there before.
"I'm not sure there are too many pageant princesses interested in a career in document shredding," Cooper said. Tapping her own cheek with her index finger, she teased Angela. "You're really channeling Marilyn Monroe today, huh?"
Angela batted her false eyelashes as she examined her reflection in a compact that was never far from reach. "I wanna see if Mr. Farmer notices." She leaned over her desk and whispered. "And if
he
doesn't, then I sure hope that
gorgeous
creature gettin' dressed in one of our uniform shirts does." Her eyes gleamed.
"So tell me about the new guy," Cooper leaned comfortably against Angela's desk. "I can see you're fit to burst over him."
Angela placed her hands over her ample bosom. "Lord, I don't know what I did to deserve such tasty eye candy! This boy is a stud cocktail made up of one part soap-opera star, one part professional baseball player, and three parts Chippendale dancer." She frowned. "He's a bit too young for me, unfortunately. You know you're old when you wish you were forty again, but I can still
look
." She wiggled her pencil-drawn eyebrows. "And if he asked me to dinner, I wouldn't be in any hurry to say no."
At that moment, Mr. Farmer stepped out of his office at the end of the hall. The owner/manager of
Make It Work
! was a short, stocky, balding man who looked like Danny DeVito. A quiet, reserved individual, he was a kind and generous employer. Angela had been firting with him for years, and though he occasionally displayed a hint of fondness for her in return, he had never officially asked her out on a date.
"Good morning, Cooper." Mr. Farmer straightened his tie, which was embroidered with cobalt computer monitors on a field of yellow. "Our new employee is in the locker room. His name is Emilio Calabria and word has it that this young fellow is an exemplary salesman. He's sure to increase our burgeoning secure document destruction division. Ben will be showing him the ropes over the next few days." He smiled shyly at Angela. "Let's all go out of our way to make him feel at home."
"Oh, I'll make him feel
real
welcome, sir." Angela saluted their boss, her cherry-red nails brushing her powdered forehead.
"Ah, yes ..." Mr. Farmer shuffled his feet, looking slightly daunted by Angela's enthusiasm. Hearing footsteps approaching from down the hall, he turned and held out his hand. "And here he is now. Emilio, you've met the rest of our small staff except for Cooper Lee. Cooper, this is Emilio, the man who'll soon be shredding paper all over town."
The first thought that ran through Cooper's mind was that Angela's assessment of their new coworker was completely accurate. Emilio wasn't tall, but his lean and muscular build gave him the appearance of height. His black hair fell in shiny waves that framed his olive skin and twinkling dark eyes. When he smiled at Cooper, flashing a row of square, white teeth and sensuous lips, she decided that his was a face meant for television and movie screens or the pages of
GQ
. His hands were wide and strong and as he crushed Cooper's in a steely, wet grip, his smile turned to a snort.
"Lady, you've got some
awesome
eyes!" he laughed as they shook hands. "Man, I mean they are wicked cool. They remind me of that pretty blonde actress--she was in the Superman remake."
"Kate Bosworth?" Angela guessed.
Emilio pointed at her. "Smart
and
classy." He turned to Mr. Farmer. "I can see who runs
this
show."
" And
I
can see why you're such a good salesman. You're just as smooth as a stick of butter brought to room temperature." Angela batted her false eyelashes. "I'd never of taken you for kin of Mr. Farmer's. Just
how
are you related again?"
"Emilio's my aunt's boy," Mr. Farmer answered, clearly displeased over being so overshadowed by his cousin. "My own folks died when I was in my early twenties. Now all I've got left is my big sister and Aunt Mildred."
