Sugar And Spice (31 page)

There was no chance for Hannah to talk to Matt during lunch. The kids were in high spirits and the noon meal was filled with laughter and wisecracks. But after they’d finished eating, Julie organized the cleanup, and Hannah found herself straightening the chairs and putting on a clean tablecloth with Matt.

“Do you have a second?” she asked, moving as far away from the kitchen door as the confines of the room would allow.

“Sure. I figured you’d want to ask about the peach cobbler when Julie wasn’t around.”

Hannah started to say that wasn’t what had been on her mind, but she quickly changed tactics. A discussion of Julie’s culinary limitations might give her a clue to their relationship. “Did she manage to heat it in the oven?”

“Yes. She did a good job too. Only one corner got a little brown, and I ate it before she could notice.”

Love, Hannah thought to herself. She’d thought it was love before, but now she had the proof. Any man who would eat the corner of a burned dessert rather than embarrass the woman who’d heated it was definitely in love. “Then it doesn’t really bother you that Julie can’t cook?”

“Not at all. I like to cook, and I don’t think Julie would mind being my helper. She’s better than I am with a knife, and she’s great at plating. All I can do is follow a recipe.”

“But you’re not doing the cooking here.”

“I would have offered, but I thought it might make Julie feel bad. She’s very proud of being able to make lunches and snacks for the kids.”

Definitely love, Hannah decided, giving Matt an approving smile. “Do you bake?”

“I never really learned, but I’d like to get into it. Maybe later, when I have more time.”

Time. Hannah heard her cue word and picked up on it. “Julie said the kids are needy right now, and they demand almost constant attention.”

“She’s right. Not the girls so much, but the boys seem to really need us. We’ve been trying to watch Roman Holiday for three nights now, and Gregory Peck’s still got his arm in the gargoyle.”

Hannah laughed and so did Matt, but she quickly sobered. “About the kids…Julie thinks they’re probably lonely, missing their parents and all that.”

“Well…” Matt sounded as if he’d been about to agree when he’d had second thoughts. “That does make perfect sense, but I don’t think it’s the only reason.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a whole bunch of things. Let me give you some examples. Last night, an hour after he was supposed to be asleep, Spenser came down to tell us the window in their room was stuck and Larry wanted it open a crack.”

“It wasn’t stuck?” Hannah guessed.

“It slid right up when I tried it. Spense said he must have loosened it up and he should have tried it one more time before he came to get me, but I noticed that he couldn’t look me in the eye when he said it.”

“You found that a little suspicious?”

“Yes, in light of everything else. The night before that, Gary came down to tell us that the faucet in their connecting bathroom was dripping and he couldn’t get to sleep. I went up to fix it, and all I had to do was tighten it with my hand.”

“And Gary could have done that?”

“Of course. It’s almost as if the boys are jealous of the time I spend alone with Julie.”

“That’s interesting. And it must be frustrating for you and Julie, never getting any time alone together.”

“You have no idea!” Matt said, sighing deeply. “The only time we can talk without one of the boys standing there listening is when they’re eating dessert.”

“Good thing I brought extra Blue Blueberry Muffins,” Hannah said, proud of the way she’d managed to gather the information Julie wanted. “The next time I drive out, I’ll bring triple dessert and you might actually have time to finish that movie.”

BLUE BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

The Batter:

¾ cup melted butter (1 ½ sticks)

1 cup sugar

2 beaten eggs (just whip them up with a fork)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw if they’re frozen) 2 cups plus one tablespoon flour (no need to sift)

½ cup milk

½ cup blueberry pie filling

Crumb Topping:

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

¼ cup softened butter (½ stick)

Grease the bottoms only of a 12-cup muffin pan (or line the cups with double cupcake papers—that’s what I do at The Cookie Jar). Melt the butter. Mix in the sugar. Then add the beaten eggs, baking powder, and salt. Mix it all up thoroughly.

Put one tablespoon of flour in a baggie with your cup of fresh or frozen blueberries. Shake it gently to coat the blueberries and leave them in the bag for now.

Add half of the remaining two cups of flour to your bowl and mix it in with half of the milk. Then add the rest of the flour and the milk and mix thoroughly.

Here comes the fun part: Add ½ cup of blueberry pie filling to your bowl and mix it in. (Your dough will turn a shade of blue, but don’t let that stop you—once the muffins are baked, they’ll look just fine.) When your dough is thoroughly mixed, fold in the flour-coated fresh or frozen blueberries.

Fill the muffin tins three-quarters full and set them aside. If you have dough left over, grease the bottom of a small tea-bread loaf pan and fill it with your remaining dough.

The crumb topping: Mix the sugar and the flour in a small bowl. Add the softened butter and cut it in until it’s crumbly. (You can also do this in a food processor with chilled butter and the steel blade.) Fill the remaining space in the muffin cups with the crumb topping. Then bake the muffins in a 375

degree F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes. (The tea-bread should bake about 10 minutes longer than the muffins.)

While your muffins are baking, divide the rest of your blueberry pie filling into half-cup portions and pop it in the freezer. I use paper cups to hold it and freeze them inside a freezer bag. All you have to do is thaw a cup the next time you want to make a batch of Blue Blueberry Muffins.

When your muffins are baked, set the muffin pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes. (The muffins need to cool in the pan for easy removal.) Then just tip them out of the cups and enjoy.

These are wonderful when they’re slightly warm, but the blueberry flavor will intensify if you store them in a covered container overnight.

Hannah’s Note: Grandma Ingrid’s muffin pans were large enough to hold all the dough from this recipe.

My muffin tins are smaller and I always make a loaf of Blue Blueberry tea-bread with the leftover dough.

If I make it for Mother, I leave off the crumb topping. She loves to eat it sliced, toasted, and buttered for breakfast.

MINNESOTA PEACH COBBLER

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.,

rack in the middle position.

Hannah’s Note: Don’t thaw your peaches before you make this—leave them frozen.

Spray a 13-inch by 9-inch cake pan with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray.

10 cups frozen sliced peaches (approximately 2½ pounds)

1/8 cup lemon juice (2 tablespoons)

1½ cups white (granulated) sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup flour (no need to sift)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup melted butter (1 stick, ¾ pound)

Measure the peaches and put them in a large mixing bowl. Let them sit on the counter and thaw for 10

minutes. Then sprinkle them with lemon juice and toss.

In another smaller bowl combine white sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Mix them together with a fork until they’re evenly combined.

Pour the dry mixture over the peaches and toss them. (This works best if you use your impeccably clean hands.) Once most of the dry mixture is clinging to the peaches, dump them into the cake pan you’ve prepared. Sprinkle any dry mixture left in the bowl on top of the peaches in the pan.

Melt the butter. Drizzle it over the peaches. Then cover the cake pan tightly with foil.

Bake the peach mixture at 350 degrees F., for 40 minutes. Take it out of the oven and set it on a heatproof surface, but DON’T TURN OFF THE OVEN!

Top Crust:

1 cup flour (no need to sift)

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

½ stick softened butter (¼ cup, 1/8 pound)

2 beaten eggs (just stir them up in a glass with a fork)

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in the smaller bowl you used earlier. Cut in the softened butter with a couple of forks until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal. Add the beaten eggs and mix them in with a fork. For those of you who remember your school library with fondness, the result will resemble library paste but it’ll smell a whole lot better! (If you have a food processor, you can also make the crust using the steel blade and chilled butter cut into 4 chunks.) Remove the foil cover from the peaches and drop on spoonfuls of the topping. Because the topping is thick, you’ll have to do this in little dibs and dabs scraped from the spoon with another spoon, a rubber spatula, or with your freshly washed finger. Dab on the topping until the whole pan is polka-dotted.

(Don’t worry if some spots aren’t covered very well—the batter will spread out and fill in as it bakes and result in a crunchy crust.)

Bake at 350 degrees F., uncovered, for an additional 50 minutes.

Minnesota Peach Cobbler can be eaten hot, warm, room temperature, or chilled. It can be served by itself in a bowl, or topped with cream or ice cream.

“Maybe tonight is our lucky night,” Matt said, sitting down on the couch next to Julie and reaching for the remote control. “Hannah brought us a quadruple batch of fudge cupcakes, and the boys ate four apiece. With stomachs that full, they should sleep for hours.”

“Don’t count on anything when it comes to the kids. Even after we put them to bed, there’s always something they need.”

“There’s always something the boys need,” Matt corrected her. “It’s never the girls.”

“That’s true. The girls are no trouble at all.” Julie glanced at the screen where The Quiet Man was playing without sound. “Where were we anyway?”

“I think I was kissing you and you were making those little purring noises in your throat, the ones that make me feel like I’m the most important guy in the world.”

Julie laughed, but her cheeks turned pink “Well, you are the most important guy in the world, but I was talking about the movie. What scene were we watching the last time the boys interrupted us?”

“The one where Maureen O’Hara bolts the door and John Wayne breaks it open. But I don’t really care about that. I’d rather research those little purring noises.”

“Research is very important for a teacher,” Julie replied, snuggling into his arms and leaving John and Maureen to their own devices.

“Mr. Sherwood?”

Matt groaned. This couldn’t be real. No one was that unlucky. He must be imagining the night’s worst scenario, because he was afraid it might happen again.

“Mr. Sherwood?”

Yup. It was happening. That was Larry’s voice, and the boys were interrupting his night with Julie again.

Resolutely, Matt pulled away from Julie’s willing arms and turned to face his ten-year-old tormentor.

“What is it, Larry?”

“Gary had a nightmare.”

There was a beat of silence while Matt considered the logic of that statement. “I’m sorry to hear that.

But if Gary had a nightmare, why didn’t he come down here to get us?”

“Because he’s hiding in the closet and he won’t come out. He thinks Spense and I are aliens. We think he’s still dreaming.”

It was the lamest excuse Matt had ever heard, and he was about to say so when Julie interrupted.

“I’ll go,” she offered, standing up and moving past him.

“You find the scene where John Wayne fights with Victor McLaglen while I’m gone. When I come back, we can start watching everything all over again.”

“Of course I’m sure,” Larry said, once Julie had gone back downstairs. “We broke them up, but not for long. They’re just going to start kissing again.”

Spenser nodded. “I think you’re right. And if they keep this up, we’re going to lose to the girls for sure.

It’s time to pull out the big guns.”

“What big guns?” Gary and Larry asked together.

“I’m not sure yet, but I’ll come up with something. Just give me a little time to think about it.”

Larry looked worried. “Better think fast, before…”

“…Mr. Sherwood asks her to marry him and we have to wear aprons and listen to Mrs. Caulder sing,”

Gary finished.

FUDGE CUPCAKES

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.,

rack in the middle position.

4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate (1 ounce each)

¼ cup white (granulated) sugar

½ cup raspberry syrup (for pancakes—I used Knott’s red raspberry)*

12/3 cups flour (unsifted)

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, room temperature (one stick, ¼ pound)

1½ cups white sugar (not a misprint—you’ll use one and three-quarters cups sugar in all) 3 eggs

1/3 cup milk

*
If you can’t find raspberry syrup, mix ¼ cup seedless raspberry jam with ¼ cup light Karo syrup and use that.

Line a 12-cup muffin pan with double cupcake papers. Since this recipe makes 18 cupcakes, you can use an additional 6-cup muffin pan lined with double papers, or you can butter and flour an 8-inch square cake pan or the equivalent.

Microwave the chocolate, raspberry syrup and ¼ cup sugar in a microwave-safe bowl on high for 1

minute. Stir. Microwave again, for another minute. At this point, the chocolate will be almost melted, but it will maintain its shape. Stir the mixture until smooth and let cool to lukewarm. (You can also do this in a double boiler on the stove.)

Measure the flour, mix in the baking powder and salt, and set it aside. With an electric mixer (or with a VERY strong arm) beat the butter and 1½ cups sugar until light and fluffy. (About 3 minutes with a mixer—an additional 2 minutes if you’re doing it by hand.) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition to make sure they’re thoroughly incorporated. Add approximately a third of the flour mixture and a third of the milk. (You don’t have to be exact—adding the flour and milk in increments makes the batter smoother.) When that’s all mixed in, add another third of the flour and another third of the milk. And when that’s incorporated, add the remainder of the flour and the remainder of the milk.