by Joanne Fluke
“Hi, Loren,” Hannah said as she backed up the truck and got out. “Are you sure you have time to help us?”
“I’ve got time. Just hand things up to me. I brought a cart and we can push it to your booth.”
The loading dock wasn’t that high, and it was a simple matter to hand things up to Loren so he could stack them on the cart. When they were through, Michelle went with Loren to help him unload at their booth, and Hannah moved the cookie truck to their designated parking spot.
With all three of them working, it still took a while to unload at the booth and arrange things for display. Sally had already filled the two thirty-cup coffeepots with water, and she’d even filled the baskets with coffee grounds. Hannah found the eggs they’d brought, cracked one into the grounds and stirred it in, and started one pot of coffee while Michelle finished writing the names and prices of their bakery items on the big whiteboard that Sally had provided.
“Done!” Michelle said, just as Hannah turned on the coffee.
Hannah glanced at her watch. “Perfect,” she said. “It’s twenty to nine and we’re all ready to go. Let’s walk over and greet our neighbors.”
They started with Gary, the man that Sally had introduced when she had shown them their booth. Gary was busy unpacking another box of handmade Christmas ornaments, but he put the box down in order to greet them.
“Good to see you again, Hannah,” he said, and then he turned to Michelle. “You two are here bright and early.”
“That’s only because we had help unpacking,” Michelle told him. “Otherwise, we’d still be setting out cookies.”
“How about a cup of coffee?” Hannah asked him. “It should be ready in about five minutes.”
“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t drink coffee.”
“We have orange juice and apple juice,” Michelle offered him an alternative.
“I really like apple juice. Let me pay for it now.”
“Oh, there’s no charge for neighbors,” Hannah said quickly, as Gary reached in his pocket. “Come over and get more any time you want it.”
“Or holler over at us and one of us will bring it to you,” Michelle added. “After all, there are two of us and you’re handling your booth all by yourself.”
“We’ll give you cookies, too,” Hannah told him. “Do you like raisins and almonds?”
“Yes. Almonds are my favorite nut.”
“Then we’ll bring over two of our Raisin and Almond Crunch Cookies to go with your apple juice.”
Once they’d delivered the cookies and a paper cup of apple juice to Gary, Hannah and Michelle walked over to the booth on the other side of theirs.
“Hello,” Hannah said to the two women who were arranging holiday patterned scarves in a colorful array on one of their shelves. Their books were already displayed on shelves, and there was a rack at the side of their booth for samples of their boxed Christmas and Thanksgiving cards.
“We’re your neighbors in The Cookie Jar booth,” Michelle told them.
“Hello!” one of the women turned to greet them with a smile. “You must be Hannah Swensen. Sally told me all about you.” She turned her smile on Michelle. “And you must be Hannah’s sister Michelle.”
“That’s right.”
“Well, I’m Dorothy and this is my sister, Faye.”
Faye turned around to give a friendly wave. “Nice to meet both of you. Are you girls all ready to open?”
“Yes, and we’ve already made coffee. Would you like us to bring you a cup?”
“Oh, yes!” Dorothy responded quickly. “We didn’t have nearly enough coffee this morning, right, Faye?”
“Right.”
“Do you take cream or sugar?” Michelle asked them.
“Yes, both please.” Again, Dorothy was the one to respond.
“How about a couple of our Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookies?” Hannah asked them.
“Yes, but just one for me,” Dorothy said. “I’m watching my calories.”
Michelle turned to Faye. “One, or two?”
“Two, please. I’m watching my calories, too.” She paused and gave a little laugh. “I’m watching them very carefully as they go straight to my hips.”
Both Hannah and Michelle laughed, and Dorothy just shook her head. “My sister, the comedian,” she commented.
“We’ll be right back with cookies and coffee,” Michelle promised, and the two sisters walked back to their booth.
Once Hannah and Michelle had delivered Dorothy and Faye’s coffee and cookies, they went back to their own booth to start the second big pot of coffee. It was cold outside, and the people who arrived at the convention would want something to warm them up, especially if they hadn’t had time for a leisurely breakfast before they drove to the Lake Eden Inn.
As it turned out, it was a very good thing that they’d made advance preparations. When Sally unlocked the wide door to the convention hall, there was a line of customers, waiting to get in. People entered in droves, starting at one side of the huge space and stopping at any booth that caught their interest until they got to The Cookie Jar booth.
The smell of fresh coffee must have been enticing, because almost every shopper stopped for coffee and cookies, carried them to Sally’s decorated food court, and munched and sipped until they regained their energy for more shopping. Then they walked past the booths beyond The Cookie Jar booth, crossed to the other side and didn’t stop again until they’d reached the halfway point. That was when they went back to get their second cup of coffee and more cookies from Hannah and Michelle.
The line at The Cookie Jar booth seemed endless, controlled only by the speed with which customers finished examining and purchasing from the booths that caught their interest. Of course they needed something to go with the beverage of their choice, and dozens of cookies and bar cookies were consumed. When the line finally diminished, Hannah glanced at her watch.
“It’s only five minutes to twelve!” she exclaimed. “I thought it was much later than that.”
“So did I.” Michelle reached up to straighten her apron. “Wave, Hannah. There’s Andrea across the way from us. She’s here with Tracey. They must have had a half-day at school today. And there’s Grandma McCann with Bethie.”
“I hope they come over to say hi. I want Andrea to taste one of our new bar cookies.”
“Which one?” Michelle asked. “We have several.”
“We’ll give them all a different one and they can compare them. Do I need to put on more coffee just in case we get a noon rush?”
“I just made it. Do you realize that we’ve gone through eight large pots of coffee and I don’t know how many cookies and bar cookies? We sold all my Orange Marmalade Filled Oatmeal Muffins, too.”
Hannah turned around to assess the packaged cookie and bar cookies that they had left. “We’ve gone through over half of our baked goods already! I’d better call Lisa and see if they have any extras they can spare.”
CHOCOLATE CARAMEL BAR COOKIES
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
The Crust and Topping:
2 cups (4 sticks, 16 ounces, 1 pound) salted butter
softened to room temperature
1 cup white (granulated) sugar
1 and ½ cups powdered (confectioners’) sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s)
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract (Tablespoon is not a misprint)
3 and ¾ cups all-purpose flour (pack the flour down in the cup when you measure it)
The Caramel Filling:
12 and ¼-ounce (by weight) jar caramel ice cream
topping (I used Smucker’s)
cup whipping cream
1 cup (6-ounce bag by weight) semi-sweet chocolate
chips (I used Nestle)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons sea or Kosher salt (the coarse-ground
kind)
Before you begin
to make the crust and filling, spray a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. Alternatively, you can line the pan with heavy-duty foil and spray that. (Then you can lift the bar cookies right out of the pan when they have baked and cooled.)
Hannah’s 1st Note: If your store doesn’t carry jars of caramel ice cream topping, you can still make these bar cookies by using an 11-ounce bag of square Kraft caramels, counting out 35 pieces, unwrapping them, and adding a 6-ounce by weight bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Drizzle with ¼ cup whipping cream and heat in the microwave for one minute, followed by another minute standing time. Try to stir the mixture smooth and if you can’t, heat for another 30 seconds, followed by 30 seconds standing time, and try again. Repeat heating and standing times until you can stir the mixture smooth.
Combine the softened butter, white sugar, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer. (This crust is easier to make if you use the mixer.)
Beat at MEDIUM speed until the mixture is light and creamy.
Add the vanilla extract. Mix it in until it is thoroughly combined.
Add the flour in half-cup increments, (the last increment can be ¾ of a cup), beating at LOW speed after each addition. Beat until everything is thoroughly combined.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: When you’ve mixed in the flour, the resulting sweet chocolate dough will be soft. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Measure out one rounded cup of the sweet dough. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to chill.
With impeccably clean hands, press the rest of the sweet dough into the bottom of your prepared cake pan. This will form a bottom crust. Press it all the way out to the edges of the pan, as evenly as you can, to cover the entire bottom.
Bake your bottom crust at 325 degrees F., for approximately 20 minutes or until the edges are beginning to turn a deeper brown color.
While the crust is baking, open the jar of caramel ice cream topping, take off the metal lid, and place the open, lidless jar in the microwave. Heat the contents on HIGH for 20 seconds.
Use pot holders to take the jar out of the microwave. Depending on the power of your microwave, it could be too hot to handle. Dump (yes, indeed. Dump is a recognized cooking term, at least in my house!) the warm caramel topping in a microwave-safe bowl.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: when I bake these at home, I always use my quart Pyrex measuring cup.
Sprinkle the semi-sweet chocolate chips over the top of the caramel ice cream topping and pour the whipping cream on top of that.
Give the contents of your microwave-safe container a stir with a heat resistant rubber spatula.
Listen for your stove timer. When your crust has browned a bit around the edges, remove the pan from the oven, but DON’T SHUT OFF THE OVEN!
Set the pan with your baked crust on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack to cool. It should cool approximately 15 minutes, so set the oven timer for that length of time.
After your crust has cooled approximately 15 minutes, place the microwave-safe bowl with the mixture of caramel topping, chocolate chips, and whipping cream in the microwave.
Heat the caramel mixture for 1 minute at HIGH power. Let the bowl sit in the microwave for an additional minute and then try to stir the caramel, cream, and chocolate mixture smooth with the heat resistant spatula or a wooden spoon. If you cannot stir the mixture smooth, heat it for an additional 20 seconds at HIGH power, let it sit in the microwave for an equal length of time, and then try again. Repeat as often as necessary, alternating heating and standing times until you achieve a smooth mixture.
Once your chocolate caramel mixture is melted, add the half-teaspoon of vanilla extract and stir until smooth. DO NOT ADD THE SALT YET.
Hannah’s 4th Note: At this point, I always want to dip a spoon into all that rich goodness and taste. Resist that urge. You’ll be able to scrape out of the bowl after you’ve added the mixture to your baking pan.
Pour the chocolate caramel mixture over the baked crust as evenly as you can. Spread it out with the heat resistant spatula so that it reaches the very edges of the pan.
Here comes the salt! Sprinkle the two teaspoons of sea salt or Kosher salt over the chocolate caramel layer in the pan.
Take the remaining sweet dough out of the refrigerator and unwrap it. It has been refrigerated for 35 minutes or more and it should be thoroughly chilled.
With your impeccably clean fingers, crumble the dough over the caramel layer as evenly as you can, leaving little spaces for that yummy chocolate caramel to peek through.
Return the pan to the oven and bake at 325 degrees F. for 25 to 30 additional minutes, or until the caramel layer is bubbly and the crumble crust is golden brown.
Take the pan out of the oven, turn off the oven, and place the pan on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack to cool. Resist the urge to cut just one Chocolate Caramel Bar Cookie to taste it. It will still be molten hot for at least another 25 minutes.
When your Chocolate Caramel Bar Cookies are completely cool, cut them into brownie-size pieces, place them on a pretty platter, and serve them to your guests. I can practically guarantee that everyone will rave about them!
Chapter Twenty-seven
“I’m here!” Norman walked up to The Cookie Jar booth at twelve noon, the exact time that Hannah and Michelle had asked him to come.
“Oh, good!” Hannah said, beaming at him. “Where did you park your car?”
“Right by the back door in the spot for deliveries. Sally said there wouldn’t be any more deliveries today so I could park there. Just teach me the ropes and I’ll handle the booth alone so you two can go to lunch. Sally has a great buffet lined up in the dining room.”
Hannah and Michelle exchanged glances. “It’s okay. I don’t need lunch right now,” Michelle said.
Michelle’s response made Hannah smile. The sisterly radar was working, and they were definitely on the same wavelength. “Neither do I,” she told him. “Michelle and I have something more important than manning the booth for you to do if you’re willing.”
“I’m willing,” Norman said, without even asking what it was.
“Could you drive back to The Cookie Jar to pick up the extra cookies that they baked for us? We’ve already gone through over half of our supply, and the doors don’t close until five.”
“I can do that. But how about your lunch break?”
“We’ll take it once you get back and we unpack the cookies. It’s not like there’s nothing to eat here.”
“That’s true,” Norman agreed, looking around at the display of partially-filled cookie jars. “I’ll head for town then.”
“Wait a second!” Hannah called out as Norman turned to go. “How about a go-cup with coffee for the road?”
“Great idea!” Norman stood by the counter until Hannah filled a cup of coffee and clamped on the lid. “Thanks for thinking of that, Hannah. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
The noon rush hadn’t hit yet, and the two sisters relaxed for several minutes on the stools that Sally had brought for them. Michelle erased several items that were sold out from the menu she’d written, and Hannah wiped down the counter and put out more sugar, cream, and low-calorie sweetener. Now that there was no line, she was beginning to realize how tired she was from the morning’s work, and she looked around at the decorations that Sally, Brooke, and Loren had done so beautifully.
Two huge Christmas trees sat in all their lighted splendor just inside the door to the convention hall entrance, one on either side. Tinsel hung from the branches, multicolored ornaments were strategically placed for maximum effect, and brightly hued mini lights created a lovely glow that captured the spirit of the season to come. She was just wondering how Sally and her crew had moved such huge trees inside when she heard a soft giggle.
“Hi, Aunt Hannah! Were you sleeping with your eyes open?”
It was Tracey and Hannah laughed. “I might have been. I was concentrat
ing on those beautiful Christmas trees by the door.”
“I do that all the time when I’m reading,” Tracey confessed. “My teacher calls it out to lunch.”
“That’s a good description.”
“Hi, Hannah,” Andrea said, arriving at the counter. “Tracey ran ahead of me.”
“That’s because I’m a sprinter, Mom. There’s no way you can keep up with me. Grandma McCann said she thinks I could run a mile in less than four minutes.” Tracey turned to Hannah. “That’s pretty good, isn’t it, Aunt Hannah?”
“That’s very good. It was the record for a long time. Roger Bannister did it first in nineteen fifty-four.”
“How old was he?”
“Well . . . he was born in nineteen twenty-nine, so . . .”
“Twenty-five,” Tracey gave the answer almost immediately. “He was twenty-five, Aunt Hannah.”
Hannah was amazed, especially because Tracey was only in second grade. “How did you subtract that so fast?”
“It’s easy. All I did was say to myself, Twenty-nine is almost thirty, and thirty from fifty-four is twenty-four. Then, because you made him a year younger than he actually is, you add that year to your answer. It’s easy, Aunt Hannah, because you can go up or down, whichever way is easiest. All you have to remember is to add to or subtract from your answer.”