Part 13 (1/2)

Stir in the vanilla and the eggs.

Spread the batter into a greased and floured 9-inch by 13-inch cake pan. (You can spray the inside with baking spray, if you'd rather.) Make the cream cheese filling.

Start with the cream cheese. Cut off 2 ounces and reserve it for the frosting. (That's one-quarter of the package.) If your cream cheese isn't soft enough to stir, heat it in a microwave-safe bowl for 10 to 20 seconds until you can stir it. If your next ingredient, the b.u.t.ter, is still cold, you can throw that in when you heat the cream cheese and do both together.

Combine the softened cream cheese with the b.u.t.ter, sugar, flour, and vanilla. Stir it until it's smooth.

Add the beaten egg and stir until well combined.

Mix in the chopped nuts.

Spread the cream cheese layer over the chocolate layer. Use a rubber spatula to smooth it out.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Do this as evenly as you can.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20 to 25 minutes. (Mine took 23 minutes.) Take the pan out of the oven, sprinkle the top with the miniature marshmallows, and put it back in the oven to bake an additional 2 minutes.

While the marshmallows are baking, start your frosting. Your pan will come out of the oven before you're through making the frosting, but that's okay.

Melt the b.u.t.ter in a two-quart saucepan over medium-low heat. (You can also do this in a bowl in the microwave.) Break (or cut with a knife) the unsweetened chocolate square into two parts and stir them into the b.u.t.ter.

Stir in the softened cream cheese and the milk.

Heat the mixture until it can be stirred smooth. (Again, you can do this in the microwave in 20-second increments, stopping to stir after each time period.) Remove the saucepan from the heat (or the bowl from the microwave) and beat in the vanilla.

Beat in approximately a cup of the powdered sugar. When that's incorporated, beat in another cup. When that's incorporated, beat in the rest of the box. (Doing it this way keeps the powdered sugar in the bowl and not flying out like snow flurries all over your counter.) Stir the frosting until it's smooth.

When the frosting is smooth, spread it over the hot Chocolate Marshmallow Cookie Bars, swirling it into the marshmallows. It'll be soft, but don't worry. It'll firm up as the bars cool.

Set the pan on a cold burner or a wire rack to cool. When you can handle it without using potholders, slip the pan into the refrigerator and let it chill for at least an hour. (This makes the bars less crumbly and easier to cut.) To serve, cut the bars into 32 pieces. (That's 8 rows and 4 rows crisscrossing them.) Hannah's Note: Chocolate Marshmallow Bars are very rich. (Mike's the only person I've ever known to eat four in one sitting.) Make sure you have a full carafe of strong coffee right next to the plate with the bars. You should also have another pot all ready to go in the kitchen.

Yield: One recipe makes 32 incredibly chocolaty marsh-mallowy bars.

AGGRESSION COOKIES.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

3 cups flour (pack it down when you measure it) 1 Tablespoon baking soda (that's 3 teaspoons) 3 cups brown sugar (pack it down when you measure it) 4 eggs, beaten (just whip them up in a gla.s.s with a fork) 3 cups salted b.u.t.ter, softened (6 sticks, 24 ounces, 1 and pounds) 6 cups oatmeal (I used Quaker Quick Oats) cup white (granulated) sugar for dipping the dough b.a.l.l.s Put the flour in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in the baking soda and mix until it's well combined. Wash your spoon and put it away. You won't be using it again today.

Go to your cupboard and find a large bowl, preferably one that's unbreakable. Dump the flour and baking soda mixture in the bottom.

Measure the brown sugar and dump that in on top of the flour mixture. Do not stir.

Whip up 4 eggs in a gla.s.s with a fork until they're frothy. Add them to your bowl.

Add all that softened b.u.t.ter. Just dump it in. Don't stir.

Dump in the oatmeal, too. Don't stir.

Think about something that really makes you mad. Now mash, knead, squeeze, pound, and pulverize all those ingredients in the bowl. Drum up every bit of aggression you can and take it out on your cookie dough. Don't stop until everything is mashed, and squeezed, and rounded up into a big ball.

Hannah's 1st Note: Karen says to use ungreased cookie sheets. I forgot and sprayed mine with Pam. Lisa says she used parchment paper. I think these cookies will turn out fine no matter what you do.

Put the cup of white sugar in a small bowl.

Form the cookie dough into small b.a.l.l.s about an inch in diameter. Roll the b.a.l.l.s in the white sugar and place them on the cookie sheet, 12 to a standard-size sheet. They'll flatten out as they bake.

Bake your cookies at 350 F. for 10 to 12 minutes or until they're golden brown on top. Cool on the cookie sheets for 2 minutes and then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Hannah's 2nd Note: Mich.e.l.le and I added golden raisins to half of this batch, and chocolate chips to the other half. We thought the cookies were sweet enough without the added sugar on top, so we left that out. The dough b.a.l.l.s flattened out by themselves as they baked. If you want to make several different types of oatmeal cookies, you can divide the dough into several parts and knead something different into each part.

Mich.e.l.le's Note: Mixing up these cookies is bound to relax you. I copied the recipe to use at Macalester for the times I study all night for a midterm and then find out that not one single thing I studied was on the test.

Yield: 12 dozen tasty cookies, depending on cookie size.

Hannah's 3rd Note: You can cut this recipe in half, if you wish. You can also make it in an electric mixer if you're not particularly mad at anyone.

Chapter Thirteen.

The Chocolate Marshmallow Cookie Bars were cooling in the refrigerator and Hannah was just removing the last pan of Aggression Cookies from the oven when the doorbell rang. As Mich.e.l.le went to answer the door, Hannah glanced at the clock on her kitchen wall. Only two hours had pa.s.sed since they'd walked in the door. Mike was a lot earlier than she'd expected.

But it wasn't Mike. Hannah was in a position to see both cats sit up and stare at the doorway. Then Moishe's hair began to bristle, and he arched his back like the ill.u.s.tration of a Halloween cat. He gave a low growl, deep in his throat, and then there was a thump as Moishe, closely followed by Cuddles, jumped to the floor and made a beeline for her bedroom.

”h.e.l.lo, Mother!” Hannah called out before Delores even stepped inside the door.

”h.e.l.lo, dear.” Delores followed Mich.e.l.le to the kitchen. ”How did you know it was me?”

”Just a lucky guess,” Hannah answered, avoiding the cruel truth. It wouldn't be good for her mother's ego to know that Moishe disliked her so much, he'd taken his best kitty friend with him and they'd gone to hide under her bed.

”I came to see how you were,” Delores explained, glancing pointedly at the coffee pot. ”What smells so divine? Don't tell me that despite everything you've gone through tonight, you girls have been baking!”

”We've been baking,” Hannah said.

”That's right.” Mich.e.l.le went straight to the coffee pot to pour her mother a cup. ”It's like this, Mother. Some people cry when they're upset, and some people yell and throw things. Hannah and I bake.”

”Well, that's certainly a lot more constructive.” Delores sat down at the kitchen table and waited for Mich.e.l.le to deliver her coffee. ”But you still haven't answered my first question. What smells so divine?”

”I'm not sure. We made Chocolate Marshmallow Cookie Bars first, and then we made Aggression Cookies. And right now, we're mixing up a cake...” Hannah went to the refrigerator to take out the pan with the cookie bars. ”Would you like a cookie bar, Mother?”

”Yes, thank you, dear. And I'll try the cookies, too. Bud and I met for dinner, but we were running late and we didn't want to take time for dessert.”

”You went out with Bud Hauge on a dinner date?” Hannah asked, wondering if Andrea was right and their mother was showing an interest in dating again.

”I certainly wouldn't call it a dinner date, dear. We had patty melts at the cafe, and then we went over to the school for the talent show. Bud's niece plays with Kenny Kowalski's All-Girl Accordion Band.”

Mich.e.l.le delivered two cookies to their mother, one with chocolate chips and the other with golden raisins.