Michelle laughed. “It’s not in my budget to miss a free meal. And dinner at the Inn is always wonderful. Of course I’ll come, Mother. Thank you for inviting me.”
“Excellent. Andrea and the children are going to meet me there at seven. Grandma McCann is giving Bethie a long afternoon nap so she won’t be too tired. Can you two girls come a little earlier than that?”
“Of course we can!” Hannah said quickly, realizing that her mother wanted a private conversation with just the three of them. “Michelle and I will leave The Cookie Jar at five, go straight back to my condo to change clothes and feed Moishe, and drive right out to the Inn. Will you be there by six-thirty?”
“I’ll be there and six-thirty is perfect,” Delores told them. “I reserved one of the curtained booths, and I’ll be waiting for you. That will give me plenty of time to tell you both everything that I managed to pry out of Stephanie.”
ORANGE MARMALADE BAR COOKIES
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
Coconut Shortbread Crust and Topping:
1 and ? cups shredded coconut flakes ? teaspoon ground cinnamon ? cup powdered sugar (not sifted)
? cup brown sugar (pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
1 and ? cups cold butter (3 sticks, 12 ounces, ? pound)
2 cups all-purpose flour (don’t sift—pack it down in the cup when you measure it)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon coconut extract (If you don’t have coconut extract, use a total of 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract)
Orange Marmalade Filling:
18-ounce (by weight) jar of orange marmalade (I used Smucker’s – if you can only find 10-ounce jars, use two jars)
Prepare your baking pan by spraying a 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray. You can also line it with heavy-duty aluminum foil, leaving “ears” of foil on the top, bottom, and sides, and then spray the foil. (If you do this, you may not have to wash your cake pan!)
To make the Crust:
Put the shredded coconut in the bowl of a food processor with the steel blade in place.
Add the cinnamon, powdered sugar, and brown sugar.
Process in an on-and-off motion with the steel blade until the coconut is finely cut and the cinnamon and sugars are mixed in thoroughly.
Cut each stick of butter into 8 pieces.
Place eight pieces on top of the shredded coconut mixture.
Sprinkle one cup of flour on top of the butter.
Place the 8 pieces from the second stick of butter on top of the flour.
Sprinkle HALF of the remaining flour on top of the butter.
Place the 8 pieces from the final stick of butter over the flour.
Sprinkle the rest of the flour on top of the butter.
Sprinkle the vanilla extract and the coconut extract on top of the flour.
Process in an on-and-off motion with the steel blade until the resulting mixture is the size of coarse gravel.
Spread HALF of the crust and topping mixture out in the bottom of your prepared 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan.
Pick up the cake pan and shake it back and forth a couple of times until it looks as if the crust mixture is spread out evenly.
Pat the crust mixture down with the palms of your impeccably clean hands or with a wide blade off-set metal spatula.
Open the jar(s) of orange marmalade and place puddles of it all over the crust in the pan.
Spread the puddles of marmalade out evenly with a rubber spatula.
Sprinkle the remaining crust and topping mixture over the top of the marmalade filling.
Bake your Orange Marmalade Bar Cookies for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the crumble topping is golden brown.
Take the pan out of the oven and place it on a cold stovetop burner or a wire rack to finish cooling.
Refrigerate the bar cookies after they’re cooled so the orange marmalade filling will “set”.
When you’re ready to serve, cut the bar cookies into brownie-size pieces and place them on a pretty platter.
Hannah’s 1st Note: If you lined your cake pan with foil, this is easy. You simply lift up the bars by the foil “ears” and place them on a cutting board. Then flatten the top and the sides of the foil, and cut your Orange Marmalade Bar Cookies.
Yield: One cake pan full of brownie-sized, Orange Marmalade Bar Cookies fit for a King (or a Queen).
Hannah’s 2nd Note: Everyone loves these bar cookies. Mother says that Stephanie Bascomb told her they were especially good with champagne.
Chapter Fifteen
The first thing Hannah did when she got back to the condo was feed Moishe. The second thing she did was to go off toward the bedroom to take a quick shower and get into the clothing her mother would deem suitable for a fancy family dinner.
She entered the bedroom, glanced around, and began to frown. It was fairly obvious that Ross had not been in a hurry to pack. She turned on her heel, and hurried to the guest room where Michelle was changing into something dressier than jeans and a sweatshirt. “Can you come out for a second? I’ve got something to show you.”
“Sure! I’m ready!” Michelle opened the door and frowned slightly as she noticed that Hannah hadn’t yet changed clothes. “You look upset. What’s wrong?”
“Follow me.” Hannah led the way inside the master bedroom. “Look around. I think you were wrong about Ross being in too much of a hurry to call me.”
Michelle stepped into the room and her frown deepened. “He took a shower. I can smell the soap.”
“That’s just one thing he did. Go see what’s in the wastebasket.” Hannah gestured toward the wicker wastebasket that matched the wicker clothes hamper and the wicker tissue holder.
“Dry cleaning bags,” Michelle announced, plucking something from the contents of the wastebasket. “Here’s a receipt. And it’s date-stamped with the time of pickup.”
“I missed that,” Hannah said, mentally chastising herself. “What time did Ross pick up his dry cleaning?”