Hannah’s 1st Note: Use regular potato chips, the thin salty ones. Don’t use baked chips, or rippled chips, or chips with the peels on, or kettle fried, or flavored, or anything that’s supposed to be better for you than those wonderfully greasy, salty old-fashioned potato chips.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla until they’re light and fluffy. (You can do this by hand, but it’s a lot easier with an electric mixer.)
Add the flour in half-cup increments, mixing well after each addition.
Add the crushed potato chips, chopped walnuts, and dried cranberries. Mix until everything is well blended.
Form one-inch dough balls with your impeccably clean hands and place them on an UNGREASED cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-size sheet.
Hannah’s 2nd Note: Alternatively, you can line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Place the ? cup white (granulated) sugar in a small bowl. (You will use this for dipping the cookie dough balls.)
Spray the flat bottom of a glass or the flat bottom of a metal spatula with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray.
Dip the cookie dough balls in the bowl with the sugar and roll them around until they’re coated. Work with the balls one by one.
Hannah’s 3rd Note: If you dip multiple balls in the sugar and try to roll them around, they may stick to each other.
Once you’ve placed your sugared dough balls on the cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-size sheet, dip the sprayed bottom of the glass or the metal spatula in the sugar to coat it. Then use the glass or the spatula to flatten the dough balls on the cookie sheet.
Hannah’s 4th Note: You may have to dip the glass or the spatula in the sugar for each dough ball to keep it from sticking to the ball.
Bake your Potato Chip and Cranberry Cookies at 350 degrees F., for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are starting to turn golden brown at the edges.
Take your cookies out of the oven and set the cookie sheets on cold stovetop burners or wire racks. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove them to wire racks to cool completely.
Yield: 5 to 6 dozen delicious cookies, depending on the size of your dough balls.
Serve these cookies with strong cups of coffee or icy cold glasses of milk. Everyone loves them down at The Cookie Jar, especially around Thanksgiving when everyone is in a cranberry mood.
Hannah’s 5th Note: These cookies travel well and don’t crumble as much as some other cookies. They are ideal for the kids to take to school with them.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Hello, Hannah!” Craig called out as she entered the lobby. “Did you bake my grandma’s cookies yet?”
“I did, and they’re cooling on the racks. I thought I’d go out on the lake for a little fresh air and then package some up for you when I come back.”
“Perfect,” Craig said, and then he turned to the person who had just entered the lobby. “Hello, Janette.”
“Hello, Craig,” Janette responded. “And hello, Hannah.”
“Hello, Janette,” Hannah said, smiling at the opportunity that had just landed in her lap. “I was just thinking about going out on the lake for a little fresh air. Would you like to go with me?”
“That sounds nice.” Janette smiled at the thought. “Do you have a fishing boat?”
“No, but I’m sure Dick would let me borrow his again.”
Janette shook her head. “There’s no need for that. My boat is at the end of the dock. It’s the newest Wally Boat. Would you like to go out on the lake with me?”
“That would be fun. I’ve been in Dick’s boat and it was great. And my friend, Norman, rented a fishing boat from your husband’s boat works. Your husband designs beautiful boats.”
“Yes, he does. So did my father, and Wally learned about boat design from him. Come with me, Hannah. We’ll take Wally’s newest creation out for a spin to see if you like it.”
“That sounds wonderful to me!” Hannah didn’t hesitate to accept Janette’s invitation. Of course she wanted to see the newest fishing boat that Wally had designed, but there was another even more important reason to go with Janette. It would give Hannah the perfect opportunity to ask Janette some probing questions in the privacy of her fishing boat. What could be better than that?
*
“I thought we’d go out to the water lily garden,” Janette announced, once she’d gotten Hannah settled in the roomy seat next to her. “You’d better put on your seat belt, Hannah. The lake looks a little choppy this afternoon.”
“Thanks for reminding me,” Hannah said, reaching for her seat belt. “This one is a lot bigger than the one Norman rented.”
“Was it a Wally Boat?” Janette asked, engaging the trolling motor and guiding the boat away from the dock.
“Yes, but it must have been an older one.”
Janette gave a delighted laugh. “Of course it was! This is Wally’s newest prototype. There aren’t any boats exactly like this yet. They’ll come off the assembly line sometime next month, but they won’t be for sale until early next year.”
“Then thank you for showing me what’s coming next!” Hannah said, settling back to enjoy the ride out to the water lily garden. “I love it out there. The water lilies are beautiful.”
“Yes, they are. And it’s just in time for Lily’s birthday later this month.”
It took Hannah a moment to digest that fact. “That’s wonderful. I wish I knew who planted it. I never knew that water lilies came in all those different colors.”
“Neither did I. Wally hired the perfect aquatic specialist to design it.”
“Your husband arranged for the water lily garden here on Eden Lake?”
“That’s right. He chose ten of his favorite Minnesota fishing lakes and had them planted right after Lily was born. He told me he thought it would be a nice tribute for her, and I was so happy he’d thought of it.”
“Your husband is a very nice man. I don’t know if you noticed Barry Withers’s face when he heard about his scholarship, but he was so grateful, he had tears in his eyes.”
“Wally’s always done nice things for people,” Janette said. “I’m very glad my father talked me into marrying him.”
“Didn’t you want to marry Wally?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it, before my father talked to me. I liked Wally. I used to do all my father’s accounting work and I had coffee with Wally every time I went to the boat works. Wally was my father’s foreman.”
“You didn’t think about Wally romantically?”
Janette shook her head. “It never occurred to me. I wasn’t really interested in getting married even though I’d finished my college degree and I was certainly old enough. It was just . . .” She gave a little shrug. “It was just not on my list of things to do right then.”