As for me, I say a prayer of thanks every time I drive by Crabtree Cottage. Prunella Hooper had been a blight upon the village, but even blights have their uses. Her lies forced the villagers to tell the truth. Her death brought new life to my marriage. She was the devil incarnate, but without her, Nicholas might never have found his way out of hell. Her evil had given rise to an awful lot of good.
I’ll never build a monument to Pruneface Hooper, but when I drive by Crabtree Cottage, I give thanks.
The Pym Sisters’ Gilded Gingerbread
Oven: 300 degrees Fahrenheit
Yield: 15 cookies
1 cup dark brown sugar
⅓ cup honey
grated rind of one lemon
6 tablespoons butter, diced
2 cups unbleached flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 egg white, unbeaten
edible gold leaf (available at craft stores)
Butter two baking sheets. Warm sugar, honey, and lemon rind slowly over low heat until sugar has dissolved. Simmer for five more minutes. Add butter to the hot pan. Stir until it melts. Remove from heat. Stir in flour, baking powder, and ginger. Mix to a fairly stiff dough and roll dough out thinly on a floured board. Cut to desired shape. Transfer cookies to baking sheets with a palette knife or spatula. Bake for 20 minutes. Place on wire rack to cool.
When cool, use unbeaten egg white as glue to attach edible gold leaf in desired pattern.
Aunt Dimity: Detective Page 19