Bee's Sneeze Nuggets

Bee's Sneeze Nuggets are from the Cocktail Cookies section of Dorie's Cookies.  There are lots of interesting looking recipes in this chapter that I am looking forward to baking.

I needed to find a substitute for the gin in the recipe.  Gin is flavored with juniper berries, so at first I was considering some juniper tea that I have.  Then I was reading about substitutes for juniper and saw rosemary suggested.  I went with the rosemary and it worked well.

It was too snowy and cold to go to the store to buy lemons, so I relied on bottled lemon juice and lemon extract for the lemon flavor.  I wish that I had added lemon zest.  The rosemary overpowered the lemon, pepper, and ginger, at least for me.  My taster referred to the nuggets as being ginger flavored, but I couldn't taste the ginger.

These little biscuits were easy and quick to make, and tasty.

Sebastian's Remarkably Wonderful Brownies

Sebastian's Remarkably Wonder Brownies are the first ones in the Brownies, Bars, Break-ups and Biscotti chapter of Dorie's Cookies.  Everything we've made so far from this chapter has been great, and this recipe is no exception.

These brownies are made with cocoa powder.  Preparing the batter involves involves a lot of beating, and I was glad that I have a stand mixer.  As Dorie says in her headnote, the texture of the baked brownies is "neither cakey nor fudgy, but creamy, slightly chewy at the center and slightly crunchy at the edges" - just wonderful.

Cabin-Fever Caramel Banana Bars

I haven't spent much time in the kitchen recently, but a birthday this month led me to baking the banana bars from Dorie's Cookies.

This is a great recipe to use up one ripe banana.  It's like a banana bread, made special with the addition of cardamon and peanuts.

Although we enjoyed the peanuts, I think it would be even better made with walnuts.