Christmas Cookie Mystery

by Naomi Miller

  “You might be right, but I doubt it.” She nearly laughed again at the very idea, but she managed to stifle it as Dat and the other elders walked by them, making their way into the barn.

  “Kumme Freida, we had better get to our seats.”

  “Jah, we can always talk later, after the meal.”

  Arm in arm, the two of them followed the group moving through the wide-open barn doors, separating only when they reached the row where Katie's mamm and schweschders were already seated.

  Katie took the seat on the end of the row, knowing she would need to scoot out quickly to go and help prepare the meal as soon as service was finished.

  On the Fourth Day of Christmas . . .

  Pecan Drop Cookies

  Ingredients:

  2 large eggs

  3/4 cup sugar

  1 cup butter

  1 cup pecans, chopped

  1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

  1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

  2 cups plain flour

  1/4 teaspoon baking powder

  1/2 teaspoon salt

  Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°

  2. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder

  3. Mix butter and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy

  4. Add egg, and mix until well blended

  5. Add vanilla extract

  6. Reduce mixer speed to low

  7. Add flour mixture; mix just until combined

  8. Stir in pecans

  9. Shape dough into a 4-inch round balls and cover with plastic wrap

  10. Chill for 1 hour

  11. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface

  11. Cut out 40 (2 x 3 inch) cookies, re-rolling scraps as necessary

  12. Place cookies 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

  13. Bake at 350° for 9 minutes or until lightly browned on bottoms

  14. Cool on a wire rack

  15. Dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar

  — FIVE —

  The next morning, Katie held tight to the basket that Mamm had given her as she was preparing to leave for the bakery.

  Her pace this morning was much quicker than usual. Her feet struggled to keep up with the excitement that had taken hold of her before she'd even made it out of bed this morning.

  Dat would certainly tell her she was being prideful, but Katie could not seem to make the fluttery excitement in her stomach go away. She was excited to see what the town would think of the new décor in the bakery window. And although he had seen them the night before, Katie could hardly wait to see what Travis thought of them in the light of day.

  Thinking about the bakery reminded Katie of the bag she and Travis had found in the closet.

  Why does Mrs. Simpkins have it—and why did she hide it in the closet?

  Scooting a bit further away from the road when she heard the rumble of an engine from behind her, Katie looked down at the basket she carried and kept thinking about the display at the Sweet Shop.

  “Katie!”

  She looked up as a familiar voice called out to her from the car that was slowing down beside her.

  “Travis! It is early. Are you already on your way to the Sweet Shop?”

  “Not yet. I have a few things to take care of in the city, but I wondered if you might want a ride to work since I have to go right through town.”

  Katie vigorously nodded her head and moved to get into the car. She felt a little shiver of excitement when Travis reached across the seat and opened the door for her, and again when he pushed the seat forward for her to put the large basket she carried in the back seat.

  Ach, he is always so thoughtful.

  She set the basket down carefully and then moved back as Travis pushed the seat back into place for her.

  When she was settled in the seat beside him, Travis turned to her again. “How can you walk so far every morning? Aren't you freezing?”

  When Katie shrugged and then shivered, Travis pulled a blanket she had not even noticed out of the backseat and handed it to her.

  “Here. Wrap up in that. You'll be warm in no time.”

  Katie wasted no time in spreading the blanket out over her legs and pulled it up to cover her arms. She was accustomed to the chilly walk from home, but it was a nice change to be warm on the ride to town.

  Travis turned his attention to driving while Katie chatted and soon they were speeding over the narrow country lane toward town.

  Katie pulled the blanket up to her face, breathing in the scent that hung over it like the aroma of cookies and cakes that filled the Sweet Shop whenever she was baking.

  The smells from the blanket reminded her of the family she had recently met; the little boy who had insisted his big brother would fix everything, the young girl who had answered the front door with timid eyes and a hesitant smile, the mother who had radiated love—even from her sickbed, and the young man himself. With a blush, Katie remembered the hug Travis had given her on Saturday night.

  Travis is indeed blessed with a wunderbaar family. He didn’t mean anything by the hug. He’s my freind.

  “Do you think Mrs. Simpkins will like the window?” Katie tried to sound casual, as if she was just making conversation, but she couldn't help looking over at Travis as she spoke, hoping for a positive reaction.

  He did not disappoint. Before she even finished her question, she could see a smile pull the corners of his mouth up.

  “I don't think it's just Mrs. Simpkins you're wondering about, Katie.”

  Katie busied herself looking out at the countryside that whipped past the window beside her, but looked back at him a moment later when she heard a low chuckle.

  “I think the whole town will love it. It has something for everyone. You did an excellent job.”

  “Danki.” She ducked her head as relief washed over her.

  Gut. He is not laughing at me. She turned to speak again, but stopped when she saw they were already at the edge of town.

  “Well, Katie I do believe you are going to be early.” Travis smiled as he looked over at her.

  “Jah. It's gut. I can get a head start on the baking.”

  “Just don't you work too hard. And don’t go near that closet—or say anything to anyone, at least until I get back.”

  “Nee, I won't. Besides, I love baking.” She took one last sniff of the warm blanket before carefully folding it up in her lap, just as Travis pulled into the Sweet Shop's small parking area.

  “Well, I will see you later, then.”

  Katie smiled at the reminder. She had nearly forgotten that Travis would be working at the Sweet Shop later that afternoon. She would see him again soon.

  “Jah, later. Drive safely, and take care in the city.”

  “Thanks. I will. Just a couple of quick things I need to see to. Then it's right back to Abbott Creek.” He said no more, and though it was a struggle, Katie did not ask what business Travis had in the city. It was his to share if he felt the need—and clearly he had not, so it was not her place to ask.

  She for sure and for certain did not need to be nosy about his personal business. She was already pushing her luck with what she kept trying to convince herself was only an innocent infatuation.

  “Danki for the ride.” She opened the heavy door and slid out of the low seat, turning to pull her basket from the back.

  Travis had already moved the heavy seat forward for her, so all she had to do was lift the basket out. Once she did, she reached to close the door.

  “Well, I'll see you this afternoon.”

  “Jah, this afternoon.” She smiled at the thought that perhaps he was just as reluctant to leave, as she was to see him go.

  She started to speak again, but a strong gust of wind came up from behind her, and the stark contrast of chilly air as opposed to the warmth that had settled over her, made her shiver.

  “Katie, you'd better get inside. You've been in this warm car. You don't wan
t to get sick. And take care of yourself.”

  “Jah, you're right. I will see you later, then.” With that, she closed the door of his car and headed for the front door of the Sweet Shop.

  As she unlocked the door, memories washed over her. She could remember well that morning all those months ago, when she had done this very thing—only to find a disaster awaiting her inside the Sweet Shop.

  The bakery had been a mess! The display case was empty, except for a few crumbs and some broken pieces of decoration.

  Some of the jams, preserves, butters and specialty items had been taken, although most were intact, still on the higher shelves, untouched.

  But the lower shelves were pretty much empty. Dozens of loaves of bread, including favorites like whole wheat, pumpkin, cinnamon and zucchini, were missing.

  Even many of the prepared orders, waiting to be picked up, were gone! Katie had been scared, but she had acted brave when her freind Freida showed up.

  Katie had suggested they run across the street to The Coffee Cup, where she had contacted the owner, Mrs. Simpkins. They waited there until Mrs. Simpkins arrived, along with a police officer.

  That mess had brought their community together in a way that none could have expected—starting with Travis and his family.

  She had stumbled across the evidence completely by accident when she had met his youngest bruder. Of course she had done everything she could to help—and she was grateful that Mrs. Simpkins had come up with such a wunderbaar solution for the other two bruders.

  Of course, the real surprise had been Katie's plain community. Even though they were always quick to help each other, she had not expected the outpouring of love they had shown the little Englisch family who had lost their dat only a few months before.

  I should have, though. They are such wunderbaar people.

  Now there was another mystery at the bakery—another mystery to solve. Katie knew Travis wanted her to wait for him, but if she had the chance to investigate a little, it couldn’t hurt anything.

  She looked back as she pushed open the door. Travis still sat there, waiting. With a laugh, she stepped inside the shop and gave the front room a good look, before she stepped back outside and waved a hand to him.

  Travis returned the wave and then slowly pulled away. Once the red of his lights completely disappeared around the side of the building, Katie moved to go back inside.

  Hearing a shout from nearby, she looked around. Hannah was crossing the street, heading toward the bakery.

  “Katie, I am glad you are here early.” Hannah's voice held a tone of relief.

  Katie was surprised to see her freind so early in the day; normally around this time Hannah would be preparing to open The Coffee Cup.

  “Gut morning, Hannah. What is it you need?”

  “Our delivery of pastries never came last night. Mr. Dell left me a note to fill in our own stock with whatever I can this morning. I am hoping you have lots of extra on hand. Oh, and I brought you a coffee—just the way you like it.”

  “Danki for the kaffe. But this is not the best time of year for us to have extras on hand.” As Hannah's hopeful expression disappeared, Katie could not help but think of the basket she had sent with Travis the night before.

  Certainly Hannah would not have wanted the day-old pastries that were left over. And then she remembered that, thanks to Travis driving her to work, now she was nearly forty minutes early.

  “Wait! I got here early today, so I have nearly an extra hour this morning. I can certainly make up some extra pastries in all that time. Is there anything specific you are needing?”

  A smile spread across Hannah's face as she reached out and took hold of Katie's hands.

  “Katie, you are a life saver. I have a list of what we sell the most. Any of them would be a help.” She handed the list over. As Katie looked down at the half dozen items on the list, she breathed a sigh of relief. Most of the things would be simple to make and quick to bake.

  “Oh, and we have been selling out every day of those wunderbaar flaky croissants. You know the ones.”

  Katie nodded her head. She had been experimenting with her own version of them ever since Hannah had brought her one.

  “Tis a gut thing I have been working on a similar recipe for the bakery. I cannot promise these will taste just like what Mr. Dell orders, but I will do my best.”

  “Dear Katie, your best is so much better than us having nothing. Danki. Mr. Dell will for sure be pleased.”

  “Well, I had better get to work, then.”

  “Jah. Danki, Katie. You just give me a call when the first batch is ready. I'll run right over and get them.”

  “Jah, I will, Hannah. And danki again for the appeditlich kaffe.” With that, Katie gave her freind a quick hug. Then, opening the door, she went back inside the bakery—while Hannah looked both ways before crossing the street and heading back to the Coffee Cup.

  Don't work too hard, indeed. Katie nearly laughed aloud at the thought.

  On the Fifth Day of Christmas . . .

  Christmas Date Cookies

  Kid Friendly Recipe

  Ingredients:

  2 large eggs

  4 cups rice cereal

  1 1/2 cups chopped dates

  1 tablespoon butter

  2 cups sugar

  1 bag coconut (optional)

  Instructions:

  1. Add eggs, dates, butter and sugar to medium pot

  2. Cook together 5-15 minutes or until the mixture pulls away from the pan

  3. Pour over rice cereal

  4. Roll into balls and coat with coconut

  — SIX —

  “Katie, what are you doing?” Freida's surprised voice caught her unaware. Katie jumped and the mixing bowl in her hand skidded away from her.

  Both Katie and Freida scrambled to catch the bowl as it spun around in a circle on the counter and nearly toppled over, splashing the ingredients up and around the sides as it turned.

  “I've got it.” Freida reached for the bowl just as Katie touched the rim. The opposing forces sent the bowl and its ingredients spinning out of reach, batter spilling across the workstation between the two maedels.

  Katie looked up at Freida and both girls looked around at the unusually messy kitchen—and then burst into fits of laughter.

  Several times they tried to say something—and every time, they both began speaking at the same time, which only made them laugh all the harder.

  It was several minutes before the laughter quieted enough for Katie to clear her throat a bit and try again to speak, without interrupting her freind.

  Freida was quicker this time though. “Katie, I am so very sorry, but really, what are you doing? You could not have waited for me to do the morning baking?”

  Katie laughed once more before she was able to calm herself enough to answer. “Actually Freida, this is not the usual morning baking.”

  When Freida opened her mouth to interrupt, Katie pushed on. “I got here early, which must have been a part of Gott's plan, because I had barely opened the door, when Hannah rushed over and asked if we could make some extra pastries for the Coffee Cup this morning.”

  Katie waited a moment before going on, giving Freida time to say something—but she said nothing.

  “Their pastry delivery never arrived yesterday and they are out of the morning pastries that the customers will be expecting.”

  “But Katie, isn't that a bit silly? Shouldn't Hannah just send them over here for their sweet treats?”

  “I suppose she could, but Mr. Dell specifically told her to buy some sweets to have in the shop—so that is what she is doing.”

  “Well, that is what she should do then, I guess.” Frieda looked around. “Hey, where’s Mrs. Simpkins? I thought she was coming in early today?”

  “She left a note, saying she was busy this morning and wouldn’t be in until later.” Katie tried not to look worried, so Freida wouldn’t suspect anything was wrong.

  This mor
ning, after Hannah left, Katie had checked to see if the paper bag was still in the closet. There had been three bottles in the bag on Saturday evening. Today there were two bottles . . . one bottle was missing.

  Katie turned to clean up the mess of batter that was covering the already messy workstation.

  “Nee, Katie, let me do this. You already have to start over. I can clean up this mess and you can go back to work on the batter.” With that, Freida took the towel out of Katie's hand to wipe up the mess of batter splattered between them.

  “Jah. Allrecht, Freida. You go ahead and clean up. I'll start a new batch of batter.”

  The two maedels worked together in silence for nearly an hour, mixing ingredients and preparing treats to bake for the day, before Freida left the kitchen to do whatever needed to be done so the bakery could open on time.

  * * *

  Katie had a lot of extra baking to do for the Coffee Cup, but she knew that it was important to get everything done before their regular customers began coming in to pick up orders—or to place new orders.

  Knowing that Freida could handle prepping the customer area, Katie continued to mix ingredients, rotating trays in and out of the oven whenever the timer sounded.

  She split her time between the list that Hannah had given her, and the usual early morning pastries they served their own customers. When she checked the list of special orders, she saw that she had missed one.

  Ach. Mrs. Mueller will be here before we even unlock the doors. And she doesn’t like to wait. She always seems to be in a hurry to get someplace else.

  With that in mind, Katie rushed to find the finishing touches they would need for the cake Mrs. Mueller had ordered, giving a quick thanks to Gott that she had baked and iced the cake already.

  Just then, she heard Freida’s voice coming from the other room.

  “Katie, I see Mrs. Mueller. She is on her way here. Is her order ready?”

  “Nee, it is not.” Katie knew she sounded a bit short, but thankfully her freind did not seem to notice.

  “Don't you worry none, I can distract her while you finish up.”

  “Bless you, Freida.”