CHRISTMAS DATE COOKIES
Do not preheat oven quite yet. This dough must chill before baking.
2 cups chopped pitted dates (You can buy chopped dates, or sprinkle whole pitted dates with a quarter-cup flour and then chop them in a food processor. I couldn’t find chopped dates, and a 10-ounce by weight container of whole pitted dates ended up being exactly 2 cups when I chopped them in my food processor.) 3?4 cup boiling water
1 cup melted butter (2 sticks, 1?2 pound) 2 cups white (granulated) sugar 2 teaspoons baking soda
1?2 teaspoon salt
4 beaten eggs (just beat them up in a glass with a fork)
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (that’s a 12-ounce package)
51?2 cups flour (don’t sift—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
1?2 cup white (granulated) sugar in a small bowl for later
Pour the boiling water over the chopped dates, give them a stir with a fork, and set them aside on the counter to cool.
Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl (I used a pint Pyrex measuring cup) for 90 seconds on HIGH. Set the melted butter on the counter to cool.
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In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the white sugar, baking soda, salt and eggs. Beat well. (If you don’t have an electric mixer, don’t worry. You can do this by hand, but it’ll take a bit of effort.) Feel the bowl with the date mixture. If you can hold it comfortably in your hands, add it now and mix thoroughly. If it’s too hot, let it cool another couple of minutes.
Once the dates are mixed in, add the chocolate chips to your bowl and mix. Then add the melted butter and mix thoroughly.
Add the flour in half-cup increments (that’ll be 11 half— cups) beating after each addition. Take the bowl from the mixer, give it a final stir by hand, cover it with plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to chill. (Overnight is fine, too.) When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F., rack in the middle position. (Yes, that’s 325 degrees F.—most of my cookies bake at 350 degrees F., but these are best if they bake slowly at a lower heat.) Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls with your hands.
This dough may be sticky, so roll only enough for the cookies you plan to bake immediately and then return the bowl to the refrigerator.
Roll the dough balls in the bowl of white sugar and place them on a greased (or sprayed with nonstick cooking ! % { # 9
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spray) cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Flatten them slightly with your hand so they won’t fall off on the way to the oven.
Bake at 325 degrees F. for 10 minutes. Cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two and then remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Yield: 8 to 10 dozen great cookies. You can freeze any extras for up to 3 months in freezer bags.
Hannah’s Note: All the Murphy men are crazy about Christmas Date Cookies. Michelle said she baked a whole batch one day when Lonnie was visiting her at Macalister.
They ate about a dozen and then they ran out of milk.
Michelle dashed to the corner grocery to buy some and when she got back, every single cookie was gone!
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Chapter
! Seven #
The shadows of the pine trees were beginning to lengthen and cant toward the east as Hannah and Norman turned in at the TriCounty Mall. It was two-thirty on a Saturday afternoon and it seemed that everyone who lived in the TriCounty area was out at the mall shopping.
“I’ve never seen it this crowded before,” Hannah said, eyeing the rows of cars in the parking structure.
“Only fifteen shopping days before Christmas.”
Hannah turned to him in surprise. “I didn’t know you counted things like that.”
“I don’t. There was a big sign at the entrance.”
“I didn’t notice.”
“I know. So now who’s the observant one?”
“Neither one of us. Or maybe both of us. Whatever.”
Hannah grinned and shrugged it off. “I think we’re going to have to park in the back forty and walk in.”
“The back forty?”
“It dates back to the days when there were large family farms. The back forty was the section of land farthest away from the farmhouse.”
“Oh. Like the toolies.”
“Right.”
Norman turned down another row and braked to a stop CANDY CANE MURDER
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when he encountered a driver parked in the middle of the garage, effectively blocking traffic from both directions.
“There’s one in every parking lot,” Hannah commented.
“She’s waiting for that couple to load all their packages in the trunk and she’s determined to get their space.”
“And she’s going to make everyone behind her wait until she does,” Norman added.
“Makes you wish for an accordion car.”
It took Norman a moment, but then he nodded. “One with collapsible sides?”
“You got it. Then we could skin right past her, idle in front of her and snag that parking spot before she could get it. But they don’t make accordion cars, so we’re stuck. Do you want a cookie while we wait?”
“Sure. Do you have anything in chocolate?”
Hannah laughed. “I’ve got four different kinds and three are chocolate. Do you want Angel Pillows, Devil’s Food Cookies, or Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies?”
“Hold on. I’ve never had a Chocolate Candy Cane Cookie.
What are those?”
“They’re rich dark chocolate cookies with a sugary candy cane topping.”
“Sounds great! I’d like to try one of those.”
Hannah turned around and reached into the backseat for the correct bag. “I brought another dozen of these in one of my signature bags for Cory.” She pulled out two cookies and handed one to Norman. “Here you go.”
The cookies were exactly as she’d described them, and the contrast of the sweet, dark chocolate with the tongue-tingling peppermint coating was deliciously startling.
“These are your best cookies,” Norman said, finishing his first cookie and dipping in the bag for a second.
“I thought the Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies were your favorites.”
“They were until I tasted these.”
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