Then he turned and left the kitchen.

  Katie Lynn heard the front door slam.

  For several minutes, no one said anything.

  Then Mrs. Cooke stood up. “I’m not hungry anymore,” she said. She left the kitchen.

  Grandma followed her out.

  Katie Lynn looked at her father. “Now what do we do?” she asked.

  “Come on. Let’s go to Burger-Rama,” Mr. Cooke whispered. “We can pick up Tina and deliver the rest of Mr. Chesterfield’s cookies on the way home.”

  “Great idea, Dad!” Katie Lynn whispered back. She ran to the telephone and called Tina.

  “Is it okay if Gerald comes with us?” Tina asked.

  “Sure,” said Katie Lynn. “Dad’s already read his newspaper today.”

  Animal Cookies

  Katie Lynn, Tina, and Gerald hurried into Chesterfield’s Restaurant.

  Mr. Chesterfield was standing at the cash register.

  “Here are the rest of your cookies, Mr. Chesterfield,” said Katie Lynn.

  “We checked them all for snails,” Tina added. “We didn’t find any.”

  Mr. Chesterfield gasped. “Snails? What? There are snails in my cookies?”

  “No! No!” Katie Lynn said. She gave Tina a dirty look. Suddenly, she remembered what the French Chef had said about using your imagination. “We’re, uh … baking animal cookies for the Zoo Benefit. Isn’t that exciting?”

  “I don’t want any animals in my cookies!” Mr. Chesterfield cried.

  Tina and Gerald giggled.

  “We’re not going to put animals in the cookies, Mr. Chesterfield! They’ll just be shaped like animals!” said Katie Lynn.

  “Oh,” said Mr. Chesterfield. “A cookie zoo! I get it! I love it!”

  Katie Lynn and Tina grinned at each other.

  “But the Zoo Benefit is Sunday afternoon, girls. And everybody in town is invited. So I’ll need lots and lots of animal cookies,” said Mr. Chesterfield. “Do you think you can have them ready by then?”

  “No problem,” said Katie Lynn. “We’ll bake them tomorrow.”

  When they got back home, Katie Lynn told Grandma about the animal cookies.

  “We can use my regular sugar cookie recipe,” said Grandma. “It’ll be perfect.”

  “And we can twist the dough into all kinds of animal shapes,” said Katie Lynn.

  “And we can use chocolate chips for the eyes and mouths,” said Tina.

  “We can put different-colored icing on them, too,” Grandma suggested.

  “Goody! Goody!” Gerald cried.

  Grandma got out the icing recipe and put it on the counter.

  “Tomorrow’s Saturday,” said Katie Lynn. “We’ll start baking bright and early so the cookies will be ready in time for the benefit on Sunday.”

  When Katie Lynn got up the next morning, Tina and Gerald were in the kitchen with Grandma. Grandma had heated the oven to 400° Fahrenheit.

  Katie Lynn and Tina gathered the ingredients for the new cookie:

  ¾ CUP SHORTENING

  1 CUP SUGAR

  2 EGGS

  1 TEASPOON VANILLA

  2½ CUPS ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR (NOT SELF-RISING)

  1 TEASPOON BAKING POWER

  1 TEASPOON SALT

  They thoroughly mixed the shortening, the sugar, the eggs, and the vanilla by hand.

  Then they gradually added the flour, the baking powder, and the salt, and kept mixing until everything was blended.

  They covered the dough with a dish towel and put it in the refrigerator to chill.

  After an hour, they used their hands to roll some of the dough into coils. They wound the coils up to look like snails.

  Then they added chocolate chips for eyes.

  To make a rabbit, they rolled out some of the dough with a rolling pin. Then they cut out two circles with the mouth of a drinking glass. They used one circle for a rabbit’s head. They cut the other circle in half. They shaped the halves to make the rabbit’s ears. They rolled up little pieces of leftover dough to make the whiskers. They added chocolate chips for the eyes and nose.

  Then they rolled up some of the dough into small balls. They flattened each ball slightly to make a frog’s body. They took some of the leftover coils from the snails and bent them to make frog legs. They made smaller balls of dough, put chocolate chips in them, and stuck them on for eyes. They made chocolate chip mouths.

  They made as many kinds of animals as they could think of.

  Then they put the animals on an ungreased baking sheet and baked them until they were golden brown—between seven and ten minutes.

  After they finished several batches, Grandma said, “We’ll cover them with wax paper, and we can put the icing on them tomorrow.”

  Katie Lynn and Tina gave each other a high-five.

  “We did it!” Katie Lynn cried. “The cookies are almost ready, and now nothing can go wrong!”

  This Place Is a Zoo!

  On Sunday morning, Katie Lynn tried to watch the French Chef with her mother. But her mother kept asking Katie Lynn to French-braid her hair.

  “I think I’ll be a better French cook if I look more French,” her mother said. “Don’t you?”

  “It might help, Mom,” said Katie Lynn.

  When a commercial came on, she snuck into the kitchen. Grandma and Tina and Gerald were sitting at the table.

  “It looks like we’re safe for today,” she said. “The French Chef hasn’t said anything about snails or frogs’ legs.”

  “Thank goodness,” said Tina. She bit off the ear of a rabbit cookie. “I don’t think I could stand any more animals in this kitchen.”

  Katie Lynn sat down with them. “Have you made the icing yet?” she asked.

  Grandma and Tina just looked at each other.

  “Zut alors!” said Gerald. He laughed. “Zut alors!”

  “What’s Gerald saying?” asked Katie Lynn.

  “He’s saying, ‘Oh, no!’ in French,” explained Grandma.

  “We think he’s picking it up from the French Chef,” said Tina.

  “Why’s he saying, ‘Oh, no!’?” asked Katie Lynn.

  “We can’t find the icing recipe,” Grandma said.

  “What?” Katie Lynn cried.

  “We think Gerald ate it,” added Tina.

  Katie Lynn gasped. “Oh, no! Do you remember what was in it, Grandma?”

  “Just bits and pieces,” said Grandma. “But Tina and I have tried all kinds of combinations, and nothing works. At least, according to Gerald.”

  “Gerald!” Katie Lynn said. “What do you mean?”

  “We let him taste each new icing,” Tina explained. “If he spits it out, then it isn’t any good.” With a sigh, she added, “So far, he’s spit out everything we’ve given him.”

  Gerald laughed. “Zut alors! Zut alors!” he said again.

  “Zut alors is right,” said Katie Lynn. “I can’t believe the new Ape House depends on Gerald. What does he know? He’s the reason we’re in this mess.”

  “He knows cookie icings,” said Tina.

  “Well, we’ll just have to keep trying,” said Katie Lynn. “The Zoo Benefit is this afternoon.”

  Just then, Mrs. Cooke came into the kitchen. “The French Chef showed us how to make a very simple sauce,” she announced. “That’s what we’re going to have for dinner tonight.”

  “That’s wonderful, Kathy,” Grandma said. She sounded tired. “What are we going to put it on?”

  Mrs. Cooke got a puzzled look on her face. “We’re not going to put it on anything, Mother. We’re going to eat it like a soup.”

  Tina made a gagging sound.

  Katie Lynn bit her lip to keep from giggling.

  “Well, that’s nice, dear,” Grandma said. “I’m sure it’ll be an interesting experience for all of us.”

  “Oui! Oui! Oui!” said Mrs. Cooke in her best French accent. She grinned. “The French Chef always says that to people.”

  While Mrs. Cooke made her sauce, Katie Lynn, Grandma, and Tina kept trying to make a cookie icing.

  “Please like this, Gerald,” said Katie Lynn. She gave him a bite of icing number ten.

  “Yech!” said Gerald. He stuck out his tongue at them.

  Suddenly, Mrs. Cooke sighed.

  “What’s wrong, Mom?” Katie Lynn asked.

  “This just doesn’t taste like a sauce,” Mrs. Cooke said. “I don’t know what happened.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it, Mom,” said Katie Lynn. She gave her mother a big hug.

  “I don’t know where I went wrong,” Mrs. Cooke said. “I must have misunderstood the French Chef’s accent.”

  “Stop that, Gerald!” Tina cried.

  Everyone turned to look at Gerald. He was licking his fingers.

  “What’s he doing?” asked Katie Lynn.

  “He’s eating your mother’s sauce!” said Tina.

  Suddenly, Katie Lynn gasped. “But look at him! He didn’t spit it out!”

  Katie Lynn stuck her finger in the mixing bowl. She scooped out some of her mother’s sauce and then licked it off. She was absolutely amazed. The sauce was delicious.

  “This is it! This is it!” she cried. “This is the icing we need!”

  “It’s not an icing, Katie Lynn,” said Mrs. Cooke. “It’s a sauce.”

  “I don’t care, Mom! It’s wonderful,” said Katie Lynn. “You’ve done what we couldn’t do. You’ve come up with an icing we can put on our animal cookies.”

  “But what about dinner tonight?” Mrs. Cooke said.

  “Don’t worry about that, Mom,” said Katie Lynn. “If you can show us how to make this, dinner tonight will be on the Katie Lynn Cookie Company.”

  Grandma tasted the sauce and cried, “Oh, Kathy! Katie Lynn’s right! This is incredible!”

  “What’s in it, Mrs. Cooke?” asked Tina.

  Mrs. Cooke got a funny look on her face. “I’m not sure,” she said.

  The Secret’s in the Sauce

  Katie Lynn looked at the kitchen clock. There were only a couple of hours before the Zoo Benefit.

  “What do you mean, Mom?” she said.

  “I didn’t write down the recipe,” said Mrs. Cooke. “It was so simple, I didn’t think I’d forget the ingredients.”

  “Do you remember any of them?” asked Tina.

  “Well, sort of,” said Mrs. Cooke.

  “Then let’s just mix those together,” said Grandma.

  “But I also added other things,” said Mrs. Cooke.

  “Why?” asked Katie Lynn.

  “It wasn’t looking like the sauce on television. But then I remembered something the French Chef always says,” said Mrs. Cooke. “All good cooks add their own personal touches.”

  “So what was your personal touch?” asked Tina.

  “I don’t remember,” said Mrs. Cooke.

  “Oh, this is terrible!” said Katie Lynn. “We have the perfect icing for our animal cookies, and we don’t even know what’s in it.”

  “Well, we just all need to relax and take this one step at a time,” said Grandma.

  Everyone took a deep breath and sat down at the kitchen table.

  “I think the first thing I put in the bowl was flour,” Mrs. Cooke finally said. She pointed to a blue canister on the counter. “I got it out of that.”

  “Oh!” said Katie Lynn. “That’s powdered sugar!”

  “How much did you use?” asked Grandma.

  “Three cups,” said Mrs. Cooke. “I sifted it first.”

  Katie Lynn wrote down what her mother said.

  “What next?” asked Grandma.

  Slowly but surely, Mrs. Cooke remembered what she had put in the mixing bowl.

  In addition to three cups of sifted powdered sugar, she used:

  6 TABLESPOONS SOFTENED BUTTER

  4 TABLESPOONS MILK

  ¼ TEASPOON PEPPERMINT EXTRACT (which Mrs. Cooke thought was vinegar)

  4 DROPS RED FOOD COLORING (which Mrs. Cooke thought was beet juice)

  Grandma looked over at Katie Lynn. “Did you get all that?”

  Katie Lynn nodded.

  When they were sure they had all the ingredients Mrs. Cooke used, they mixed some of the “sauce” by hand.

  “It tastes just like Mom’s!” cried Katie Lynn. “We have the icing for the new cookie! Now all we have to do is mix up different colors for the different animals.” She gave her mother a big hug and added, “You’ve saved the Katie Lynn Cookie Company.”

  “Come on, girls! There’s no time to waste!” said Grandma. “Let’s get started.”

  They made blue icing for the snails.

  They made green icing for the frogs.

  They made white icing for the rabbits.

  They made other colors for other animals.

  Soon, all the animal cookies looked like real animals.

  Finally, they were finished.

  “Do you think Mr. Chesterfield will like them?” asked Katie Lynn.

  “Well, there’s only one way to find out,” said Grandma. “Let’s take these cookies to the Zoo Benefit!”

  Everyone Goes Ape!

  Everyone piled into the car, and Mr. Cooke drove to the zoo.

  Tina gasped. “Where’d all these people come from?” she said.

  “Mr. Chesterfield said everyone in town would be at the Zoo Benefit,” said Katie Lynn. “He was right.”

  “I’m sure they all came to buy your animal cookies,” Mr. Cooke said.

  He grinned at Katie Lynn and Tina.

  “I hope so,” said Katie Lynn. “We want to make enough money to build a new Ape House.”

  Gerald made ape noises in the back seat.

  “We need to hurry. Mr. Chesterfield is probably wondering where we are,” Grandma said. “Everyone grab a container of cookies.”

  They rushed to the main entrance. Mr. Chesterfield was waiting for them.

  “There you are!” he said. He got a big smile on his face when Katie Lynn showed him the animal cookies. “Perfect! Perfect! I knew I could count on the Katie Lynn Cookie Company!”

  “Of course!” said Katie Lynn.

  She and Tina grinned at each other.

  Then they all followed Mr. Chesterfield to a big blue tent. On the way, they passed the apes.

  “It won’t be long now,” Katie Lynn shouted to them. “You’ll soon have a new home!”

  Jonathan Wilbarger ran up to them. He had a frog in his hands. “I found Burt. He was in our backyard the whole time.” He looked at Mrs. Cooke. “I’m sorry I said you fried his legs.”

  “That’s okay, Jonathan,” said Mrs. Cooke. “I’m just glad you found him.”

  Katie Lynn and Tina put the animal cookies on big silver trays. Then Mr. Chesterfield auctioned them off. Jonathan Wilbarger bought a whole batch of frog cookies. He even gave one to Gerald for a pet. Within minutes, the cookies were all gone.

  “What a success!” Mr. Chesterfield exclaimed. “We made a lot of money for the new Ape House.”

  Katie Lynn thought it was a success, too. “Three cheers for Mom and her French cooking!”

  “Thanks, but I’ve decided to give that up,” said Mrs. Cooke. “I’ve learned all the French Chef has to teach.”

  Katie Lynn looked at Grandma and Mr. Cooke. She was sure they were thinking the same thing. What a relief!

  “Really?” said Tina.

  “Yes,” said Mrs. Cooke. “Tonight I’m watching a show about Italian cooking. Tomorrow we’re going to have octopus for dinner.” She kissed the tips of her fingers. “Delizioso!”

  Katie Lynn almost choked on the cookie she was eating. Then she laughed. “Okay, Mom,” she said. “And we’ll make octopus cookies for dessert!”

  TO MAKE KATIE LYNN’S

  OCTOPUS COOKIES:

  Roll out sugar cookie dough on a floured board or counter.

  Cut out circles with the mouth of a drinking glass to make the body of the octopuses.

  Put some flour on your hands to keep dough from sticking. Roll some of the leftover dough between your hands to make the tentacles.

  Attach four or five tentacles to the bottom of each circle.

  Use chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth.

  GRANDMA’S BASIC SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE

  ¾ CUP SHORTENING

  1 CUP SUGAR

  2 EGGS

  1 TEASPOON VANILLA

  2½ CUPS ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR (NOT SELF-RISING)

  1 TEASPOON BAKING POWDER

  1 TEASPOON SALT

  Ask an adult to preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

  By hand, mix together the shortening, the sugar, the eggs, and the vanilla.

  Then gradually add the flour, the baking powder, and the salt and keep mixing until it’s all blended.

  Cover the dough with a dish towel and put it in the refrigerator to chill for one hour.

  Roll it out on a floured board or counter. Use the mouth of a glass to cut out regular sugar cookies. Or use your hands to make them into animal shapes.

  Put the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Ask an adult to put the baking sheet into the oven.

  Bake the cookies for 7 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden brown.

  Ask an adult to take the baking sheet out of the oven.

  Let cookies cool before icing.

  MRS. COOKE’S

  COOKIE “SAUCE” RECIPE

  3 CUPS SIFTED POWDERED SUGAR

  6 TABLESPOONS SOFTENED BUTTER

  4 TABLESPOONS MILK

  ¼ TEASPOON PEPPERMINT EXTRACT

  4 DROPS (MORE OR LESS) OF FOOD COLORING

  Mix by hand until thoroughly blended.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  G. E. STANLEY is the author of more than fifty books for young people, many of them award winners. He and his wife, Gwen, live in Lawton, Oklahoma. They have two sons, Charles and James, a daughter-in-law, Tambye, and a family dog, a Labrador retriever named Daisy.

 

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