Tomorrow is the anniversary of the first episode of Murder, She Wrote hitting TV screens in 1984 so this is a perfect recipe to celebrate! The Murder, She Wrote Cookalong is happening in the next few days so be prepared for much madness here on the blog…

The first time I went to the AMAZING Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote event

I made some of these Kookies to give to Tim Benzie who is the genius behind this hilarious night out.

I was thrilled to be invited up on stage (me, onstage at the legendary Royal Vauxhall Tavern, imagine!) to meet Tim

We chatted about the Murder, She Wrote Cookalong and I invited folks to join in. Michael Funtime Livingstone-Woo was there, and he stepped up to the plate to test the Kabot Kove Kookies, doing an amazing job. He even translated American cup measurements into grams – which saved me the work – hoorah!

Michael is obviously a huge fan of Murder, She Wrote as he send me some fantastic photos of his birthday bash which was a Murder, She Wrote Murder Mystery Party (how jealous am I of this?!)

Check out the CAKE!

Ah, Murder, She Wrote spreading joy all around the world at all times!

The full name of this recipe is Kay’s Kabot Kove Kookies and comes from the kitchen of Ron Masak, who will always be Sherrif Metzger to me…

his wife is called Kay and it is her very own recipe. Although in the book the recipe appeared in, Kaye had an extra e added to her name, I am pretty sure it’s Kay without.

Kay’s recipe is a riff on the legendary Carol Channing’s Hello Dolly Cookies recipe which I have written about before. This gives me a chance to do two things. One, is to repost one of my favourite photos. Me and my beloved Caroline Frick with Carol Channing who has just told us a very rude joke involving Tallulah Bankhead…

The second is to plug the fabulous new cookbook by my bosom buddy Catherine Sloman, aka Battenburgbelle.

Cathy asked me to contribute the Carol Channing recipe to the book, which was originally conceived as a cookbook for my goddaughter Jessie to take to Uni.

It grew into the kind of book that EVERYONE needs, whether they are confident in the kitchen or not! Skip over to Cathy’s website to nab yourself a copy! Loads and loads of great recipes.

The night before Cathy’s daughter Jessie left for Uni I gave her a cake tin and all the wherewithal to make Carol’s Hello Dolly Cookies. If I had thrown in some butterscotch chips she’d have been able to make Kay’s Kabot Kove Kookies too!

You want the Kabot Kove Kookies recipe don’t you? Here it is – sooooo simple to make, tips from me and the lovely Michael at the bottom.

Kay’s Kabot Kove Kookies

1/4 lb / 120g butter

1 and 1/2 cups / 120g graham cracker crumbs (non USA based cooks see note below)

1 cup / 100g semisweet/dark chocolate chips

1 cup / 100g butterscotch chips

1 and 1/2 cups  / 150g grated coconut

1 and 1/2 cups / 150g chopped nuts

1 can (14 oz / 397g) sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F / 175 degrees C / gas mark 4.

Melt the butter in a 9×13 inch pan.  Sprinkle the cracker crumbs over the butter.  Add the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut and nuts.  Press down with hands.  Pour the condensed milk over all.  Bake for 25 minutes to half an hour or until lightly browned.  Let cool.  Do not cut while hot.  Cut into squares and serve.

Makes one dozen cookies

Tips from me and Michael...

As we can’t get Graham Crackers here in the UK, I used Hobnobs for the base, Michael used digestive biscuits with some cinnamon added. Perfect. Whizz them up in a food processor or put in a bag and whack with a rolling pin to make crumbs.

Michael lined his tray with baking paper which makes the cookies easier to remove. We both found that we needed to mix the biscuit crumbs with the butter a little bit. Michael mixed all his other ingredients together before adding them in so they were evenly mixed. I’m copying him next time as I think his Kookies look very nice with the choc chips mixed up with the butterscotch ones.

My main tip is to make these the day before you want to eat them so that they are good and cold and solidified before you cut them.

Oh, and when I made these for the Solve-Along-A-Murder-She-Wrote event I had to buy FOUR MILLION butterscotch chips via eBay (no kidding) as I’d never seen them here in the UK.

On the evening I was headed home from work to make them I spotted these in the baking aisle – DOH!

These cookies are SO EASY and SO GOOD. It made me chuckle that Michael made these for a Great British Bake Off Sweepstake Challenge and one of his work colleagues said, “It must have taken you ages to make something so delicious, really only 30 minutes? Now I feel robbed in liking it so much!”