“I really like these,” Hannah said, reaching out to take another cookie from the platter to prove it. “They’re good, Andrea. You’ll give me the recipe, won’t you?”
“Of course. And you’ll use it here in The Cookie Jar?”
“We will. I think our customers will love these, especially the peanut butter and chocolate fanatics.”
Andrea looked very happy. “So everybody likes them?”
Delores laughed. “I’ve eaten two already, and I’m about to go for my third. They’re wonderful, dear.”
“Yes, they are.” Aunt Nancy took another cookie, and then she turned to Hannah. “Didn’t you say there were five judges?”
“Yes. The fifth judge is Alain Duquesne. I don’t know anything about him.”
“I do,” Andrea said. “He was a guest chef on Chef Christian’s show and he was really picky. He didn’t like the way Chef Christian sautéed all the vegetables together. He said that each vegetable should be sautéed separately to get the full flavors.”
“He said that on someone else’s show?” Aunt Nancy began to frown when Andrea nodded. “He’s known for being very critical, but it wasn’t even his show!”
“That’s what Tracey said. She said the only reason he was there was because Chef Christian had invited him and it was wrong to criticize your host.”
“That’s very adult of her,” Delores commented.
“It certainly is,” Aunt Nancy agreed, and then she turned to Hannah again. “You’ve named all five judges. Which one is the head judge?”
“Alain Duquesne.”
“That’s a stroke of bad luck,” Aunt Nancy said, wearing the same expression she would have worn if she’d tasted something unpleasant. “He’s a nasty know-it-all. And his recipes aren’t worth the powder to blow them up!”
Hannah burst into laughter. She couldn’t help it. Aunt Nancy looked terribly irate. “Sorry. I’ve just never heard you be so disapproving of anyone before. And what you said about his recipes was really funny.”
“Well, it’s true. They’re unnecessarily complicated, incredibly time-consuming, and the results don’t warrant that amount of work. The man doesn’t know what shortcut means! Of course he’s got as many assistants as he wants to do all the prep work and clean up his mess.”
“Do you know him personally?” Lisa asked, gazing at her aunt in something very close to awe.
“You could say that. He was born less than five miles from my parents’ farm, and I went to school with him. Of course his name wasn’t Alain Duquesne then. He changed it when he became an important celebrity chef.”
“What was his name back then?” Michelle asked.
“Allen Duke. He was the youngest of three children and his mother babied him. He grew up thinking that he was better than anyone else.”
Hannah was silent for a moment, and then she asked, “Did he have any favorite foods?”
“I see where you’re headed, and it won’t do you a parcel of good.” Aunt Nancy shook her head. “Allen doesn’t really like food. When he was in third grade, he brought a peanut butter sandwich and a thermos of milk to school every day for lunch. And he never tried to trade with any of the other kids whose mothers packed different sandwiches and home-baked cookies.”
“He didn’t have dessert?” Lisa looked shocked.
“Yes, he did. Allen always had a little bowl of Jell-O or butterscotch pudding, the kind you can buy ready-made in the grocery store. He was crazy about Jell-O and butterscotch pudding.”
“He ate them every day?” Andrea asked, and Hannah could tell she was surprised.
“Almost every school day, or at least every day that I was in the lunchroom with him. And I’m willing to bet that he had Jell-O or butterscotch pudding for dessert on the weekends, too. My mother always said that Allen’s mother wasn’t much of a cook.”
Hannah jotted that down. She wasn’t sure if it would come in handy, but it was a piece of personal information about the head judge. “Is there anything else you remember about him?” she asked Aunt Nancy. “I really need an edge for the hometown challenge.”
“I have that covered,” Aunt Nancy declared, looking very proud of herself. “I think you should bake something that Chef Alain Duquesne loves, but something he never could bake successfully.”
“What’s that?”
“A white chocolate soufflé. He adores soufflés, and he’s crazy about white chocolate. I saw him interviewed on television and he mentioned that it was the one dessert he had trouble baking.”
“Aren’t soufflés difficult to bake?” Lisa asked.
“Normally, yes. I tried to perfect a chocolate soufflé for years,” Aunt Nancy admitted. “But then my friend Anne Elizabeth gave me a never-fail recipe.” She turned to Hannah. “That’s what you can bake for the hometown challenge.”
“A chocolate soufflé?”