“Because it’s your recipe. This time I’ll get the ingredients and you can be in charge of mixing everything up and putting it into the pans.”
“But . . . are you sure that—”
“I’m sure,” Hannah said quickly, interrupting her younger sister. “It’s going to work just fine, Andrea, and you can do this one on your own. There’s only one thing you have to promise to do for me.”
“What’s that?”
“I get to taste the first one,” Hannah said, walking over to give Andrea a big hug.
APRICOT, COCONUT, AND MILK CHOCOLATE BAR COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Ingredients:
? cup salted butter, melted (1 stick, 4 ounces, ? pound)
1 and ? cups Lorna Doone cookie crumbs (measure AFTER crushing) (buy 2 packages—you’ll have some left over, but the kids will love them as an after-school snack)
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened, condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)
? cup dried apricot pieces (measure AFTER chopping)
2 cups milk chocolate chips (I used Nestlé—an 11-ounce or a 12-ounce package will do fine.)
1 cup shredded coconut flakes (pack it down when you measure it)
Directions:
Prepare your pan. Use a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan to make these yummy bar cookies.
Melt ? cup of salted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces) in the microwave or on the stovetop. Pour the melted butter into the bottom of the cake pan. Tip the pan so that the melted butter covers the bottom of the pan and approximately an inch up the sides of the pan.
Crush 1 package of the Lorna Doone cookies in a food processor with the steel blade attached. Measure the cookie crumbs and if you have one and three-quarters cups of cookie crumbs, you have enough for this recipe.
Take out one-quarter cup of cookie crumbs and set them aside in a small bowl on the counter.
Scatter the one and one-half cups of cookie crumbs that remain, over the bottom of the cake pan as evenly as you can.
Open the can of sweetened, condensed milk and pour it, as evenly as you can, over the cookie crumbs in the bottom of the pan.
Remember that quarter-cup of cookie crumbs you saved? Take one Tablespoon of the cookie crumbs and sprinkle them over the bottom of the bowl of the food processor.
Place approximately 15 dried apricot halves on top of the cookie crumbs in the bottom of the food processor.
Sprinkle another Tablespoon of the cookie crumbs over the top of the apricots.
Chop the dried apricots with the steel blade, using an on-and-off motion until the pieces of apricot are in small pieces.
Take the chopped apricots out of the food processor and measure them. If you have ? cup of chopped apricot pieces, you have enough.
If you don’t have enough chopped, dried apricots, sprinkle another Tablespoon of cookie crumbs over the bottom of your now empty food processor bowl.
Place more apricot halves over the crumbs in the food processor. (If your first batch of apricot halves made approximately a half-cup of pieces, then that is perfect. If you have too many, that’s okay. These bar cookies will work anyway.)
Sprinkle the remaining cookie crumbs over the dried apricot halves.
Chop the second batch of dried apricots (only if needed) with the steel blade in an on-and-off motion until the apricots are in small pieces.
Measure out enough chopped apricot pieces to equal approximately ? cup in all. Scatter them over top of the sweetened, condensed milk in your pan.
Measure out 2 cups of milk chocolate chips. Scatter the chips over the chopped apricots as evenly as you can.
Measure out 1 cup of shredded coconut flakes. Don’t forget to press them down in the measuring cup.
Scatter the coconut over the top of the milk chocolate chips in your baking pan.
Use a wide, flat metal spatula to press everything down in the cake pan. If you don’t have a wide, flat metal spatula, moisten your incredibly clean palms and use your hands to press everything down.
Bake your Apricot, Coconut, and Milk Chocolate Bar Cookies at 350 degrees F. for 30 (thirty) minutes.
Take your bar cookies out of the oven and place them on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack to cool.
Wait until your bar cookies are cool before cutting them into brownie-sized pieces.
Yield: 20 to 30 deliciously sinful bar cookies, depending on the size you cut the bars.
Serve these bar cookies with strong black coffee, or icy cold glasses of milk.
Chapter Fifteen
Of course Andrea’s bar cookies worked just fine, as Hannah knew they would. They’d finished the day’s baking and were sitting down with a cup of coffee after cleaning the kitchen when Sally came in.
“Oh, good,” Sally said. “You’re taking a coffee break. Can we join you? There’s someone I want both of you to meet.”
“Of course,” Hannah said quickly, and Andrea gave a nod of agreement. “We just put on a fresh pot of coffee and you can taste Andrea’s new bar cookie.”
Sally beckoned to the woman who’d followed her in. “Come in, Janette. I want you to meet my friends, Hannah Swensen and Andrea Todd. They’ve been kind enough to fill in for my pastry chef this week.”
“How nice of you both,” the woman said, taking the chair that Sally pulled out for her. “Sally explained what a pickle she was in, and how you two stepped right in to help her.”
“This is Lily’s mother, Janette,” Sally introduced her. “Mike told Lily that he was going to make an announcement about Sonny this morning, and said it was okay to invite her mother.”
Janette, a well-groomed older woman, nodded. “I drove here the moment I got Lily’s call this morning. What a horrid thing to happen to my poor daughter!”
“Did your husband mention that he asked Lily to come here and take control of the situation with Sonny?” Hannah asked.
“No. I haven’t spoken to Wally about it.” Janette sighed and glanced at Sally. “You didn’t tell them?”
“No. I didn’t think it was my place to mention it,” Sally replied. “Go ahead, Janette.”
“Wally and I are separated,” Janette said, frowning slightly. “We’ve been married for years and we didn’t want to divorce, but we just don’t do well spending all our time together. We still love each other and we’re together on the weekends, but we lead separate lives during the week.”
“And that works?” Andrea asked, and Hannah noticed that she looked utterly amazed.
“Yes, it’s worked for the past several years. You see, I had a terrible addiction problem. I was depressed, and lonely, and used pills to fill the void in my life.”
“The void?” Hannah asked, hoping that Janette would go on.
“That’s right. It was just that Wally was so busy with the business, he didn’t have much time left over for me. Part of that was my fault. I wanted him to be successful for me, and for Lily. My father was a very successful man and, as I remember, he worked all the time. And that meant he didn’t see much of Mother and me. It seemed to work for our family, and I thought it would work for Wally and me, too.”