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.

Desert Roses

Desert Roses, unbaked candies, are like many other melt and stir recipes that I used to make in December with my children.

The main ingredients are butter, chocolate, and cornflakes, with various add-ins (coconut, dried fruit, nuts).

These candies have a more sophisticated taste than those confections from the past because the chocolate is bittersweet.  Though the recipe calls for sweetened coconut I used unsweetened because that is what I had, and I regretted that.  My candies could have been a little sweeter.

Unable to find dried cherries I used dried cranberries, which I was unable to taste in the finished candy.  The dried apricots were lovely.  I wished I had left the walnuts in larger pieces so that I could taste them.

I brought the Desert Roses to a gathering where they were all eaten and the recipe requested.  This is a recipe I will make again.

Kerrin's Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies made with oatmeal, nuts, and other interesting additions are one of my favorite things to bake and to eat.  I was keen to try Kerrin's Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies from Dorie Greenspan's Dorie's Cookies.

These cookies use a mixture of white, whole wheat, and buckwheat flour, as well as kasha.  Dorie specifies Wolff's granulated kasha, which I was unable to find.  I substituted finely chopped walnuts, which seemed to disappear on the dough.  The baked cookies were missing the crunchy, satisfying texture that I was anticipating.

I've never baked with buckwheat flour before and look forward to trying other recipes to use up what I bought for the cookies.  I will try this recipe again if I am able to find the kasha.

Classic Jammers

Jammers, cookies that Dorie dreamed of and then baked when she awoke, are indeed special.

The cookies have a shortbread base and a jam center surrounded by streusel.  They are baked in muffin tins which give them a nicely finished round shape.  I was impressed at how good they looked and tasted. 

Unfortunately all the cookies were eaten before I grabbed a photo.  This is a recipe I will make again when I want something that looks like it came from a bakery.

Moka Dupont

"An icebox cake constructed of store-bought cookies, dunked in sweetened espresso and layered with a quickly made buttercream."  That's how Dorie Greenspan describes Moka Dupont.

This easy to make treat is an icebox cake, something I've never eaten or made before.

I was surprised and pleased to find the Petit Beurre cookies at my supermarket.  I soaked the cookies quickly in hot coffee and laid them two by four on the serving plate.

The buttercream recipe includes a raw egg which I left out, adding a bit of extra butter and chocolate in an effort to add volume.

As described in the recipe I built the cake with three layers of cookies with buttercream in between.

The cake was not very tall but looked festive and tasted great.