“My get up and go, got up and went. I can’t remember the name of it, but it has a line like that.”
“That figures.” Hannah took a sip of her coffee. “Did you know that a lot of Country-Western songs that were popular in the fifties and sixties were written by a lady who lived in the country in Minnesota?”
“No, but that makes sense. If you live in the country, there’s not much to do in the winter. And in Minnesota, you can get snowed in for weeks unless the county plow happens to come through. And that was before they probably had cable or satellite out in the country. And there were only one or two television stations to watch.”
“That’s true. At times like that, you had to rely on your family for entertainment. It’s possible that lady entertained her husband and children by signing the songs she wrote.”
“Maybe,” Michelle said, sounding doubtful. “But if that woman made it big and sold a lot of songs, the whole family probably moved to a big house in Minneapolis and went out to dinner and a movie whenever they wanted.” Michelle was silent for a moment and then she abruptly changed the subject. “What cookies did you bake, Hannah? I’m getting a little hungry and they smell really good.”
“I’m calling them Citrus Sugar Cookies. They have lemon and orange zest in them and I rolled them in sugar and baked them. The pans at the bottom of the bakers rack came out of the oven first and they should be cool enough to try if you want to taste them.”
Michelle didn’t wait for a second invitation. She jumped to her feet and rushed to the bakers rack to put some cookies on a plate. “Here you go,” she said, arriving back at the workstation slightly breathless.
Hannah took a cookie and smelled it. It still had a lovely scent of lemon and orange. She bit into it and began to smile. “Not bad,” she said, taking another bite.
“Not bad?” Michelle questioned, looking a bit dumbfounded. “Not bad? Think again, Hannah. They’re fabulous!”
Hannah preened slightly. She always loved it when a new recipe worked the first time around. “You’re right. I’m happy with them.”
“And everybody else will be happy with them, too. Are we going to serve them today?”
“We might as well. You can fill a couple display jars with them and carry them out front, but save at least a dozen for me to take to Lorna. I have to catch her at the office before she goes to lunch.”
“Lorna Kusak at Howie’s law office?”
Hannah nodded. “Howie goes to lunch first and then he comes back to relieve Lorna so she can go. I need to catch her after Howie leaves and before he comes back.”
“You’re going to find out about Tori’s will,” Michelle said and it was a statement rather than a question.
“That’s right. It might not matter if Mayor Bascomb believed it, but I’d like to know if Tori really changed her will, or if she was simply making an empty threat to try to bring the mayor back in line.”
CITRUS SUGAR COOKIES
DO NOT preheat the oven. The dough must chill before baking.
2 cups salted butter, melted (4 sticks, 16 ounces, 1 pound)
2 cups powdered sugar (don’t sift unless it’s got big lumps and then you shouldn’t use it anyway)
1 cup white (granulated) sugar 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon lemon extract 1 teaspoon orange extract Zest of 1 lemon Zest of 1 orange 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cream of tartar (critical!)
1 teaspoon salt 4 and ? cups all-purpose flour (don’t sift—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
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? cup white sugar in a small, shallow bowl (for later—you’ll be using the sugar to coat dough balls after the dough has chilled)
Hannah’s 1st Note: Just in case you don’t know, zest is the finely shredded colored part of the peel on citrus fruit. Use the colored part of the peel only. The white part under it contains pectin and it’s very bitter.
If you haven’t already done so, melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. 60 seconds on HIGH should be enough.
You can also melt the butter in a saucepan on the stovetop at LOW heat. If you do this, stir the butter with a spoon to make sure the butter doesn’t brown.
Pour the butter into a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer.
Add the powdered sugar and the white (granulated) sugar and mix it in thoroughly.
Let the mixture cool to room temperature before you proceed further.
When the butter and sugar mixture is cool, turn the mixer on LOW. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.
With the mixer running on LOW speed, mix in the lemon and orange extracts.
Mix in the lemon zest and the orange zest.
Add the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix until everything is thoroughly combined.
Add the flour in one-cup increments, mixing well after each addition. (You can mix the quarter-cup at the end in with the fourth full cup of flour.)
Give your dough a final stir by hand and cover the bowl.
Chill the covered dough in the refrigerator for at least one hour. (Overnight is fine, too.)
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. with the rack in the middle position.
Prepare your cookie sheets by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or lining them with parchment paper.
Prepare a shallow bowl with the half-cup of white sugar.
Take your chilled Citrus Sugar Cookie dough out of the refrigerator and set it on the counter. Remove the cover.
Use your impeccably clean hands to roll the dough into walnut-sized balls. Roll only a half-dozen dough balls or so to start. Then cover the bowl again so that it will remain chilled.
One at a time, dip the dough balls into the bowl of sugar and roll them around until they’re coated.
Place the sugar-coated dough balls on the cookie sheets you’ve prepared, 12 dough balls to a standard-sized sheet. Flatten the dough balls with the back of a metal spatula.
Bake the cookies at 325 degrees F. for 10 to 15 minutes. (The cookies should have a tinge of gold around the edges when they’re fully baked, but they should not be brown.)