Chockablock Cookies

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie pick is a recipe for Chockablock Cookies. I've made these in the past, but Dorie gives you a lot of leeway on the kinds of nuts, dried fruit and chocolate to use so I decided to experiment. I used a combination of diced dried pineapple and raisins, a mix of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate, and I chose peanuts instead of walnuts or pecans. My son suggested I was making pina colada cookies, what with the pineapple and coconut!

I've long preferred cookies which are butter + brown sugar + good chocolate + pecans. And I've long thought that raisins are best enjoyed by themselves, not jammed into otherwise perfect cookie dough. But I have to admit that these cookies, chock full of yummy things, including oatmeal and coconut, are pretty darn good. Luckily, son Pete has band practice tonight and I can send them as treats for the band members. Otherwise, I just might be forced to continue to taste test these cookies.

Sweet Cream Biscuits

Sweet Cream Biscuits are this week's pick. Quick and easy to make, they were delightful with our home made soup. But I can also see that if I made them larger, sliced them in half, and spooned on strawberries, they would be equally delightful.

Dorie suggests a 2" biscuit cutter. I have a set of three round cutters and I always use the middle one which it turns out is almost 3". The smallest one is actually 2" and I think the biscuits were just the right size--it was easy to convince myself to have more than one since they were so small!

Bourbon Bread Pudding

This month's Book Club selection was Reading the Man by Elizabeth Brown Pryor. It is a wonderful book about Robert E. Lee based on his personal letters. It really helped me look at the South from a different perspective.

As hostess, I made Bourbon Bread Pudding, which was as close as I could come to a Southern-style dessert! It was easy to make, smelled delicious, and had a nice homey taste and texture. Rich thinks that it would benefit from more bourbon, but I was quite happy with it.

Swedish Visiting Cake

This cake is wonderful! It is quick and easy to make, looks beautiful, and is moist in the center but crispy on the top. I took this to Tom's for brunch and it was very much enjoyed.

Bittersweet Brownies

I made these a couple of weeks ago and they were super moist. Rich says they are excellent with a fine Bordeaux wine!

Mocha Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake

I made this a couple of months ago but it was so yummy that it was not a hardship to make it again this week as the Tuesdays with Dorie pick.! As it happens, I volunteered to bring refreshments to the local contra dance last night and I planned to bring a variety of goodies. I had Dorie's Walnut Glazed Tea Cakes in the freezer as well as some of the Dulce de Leche Duos. The Bundt Cake was a perfect addition.

I put the chocolate batter on top and did a very minimal amount of swirling which resulted in a heart-shaped chocolate center. As I was preparing to take it to the dance, my son Pete looked rather plaintively at the cake and then at me so I cut a slice for him and was able to get the picture.

All the treats--including two plates of orange slices--were consumed by the hungry dancers. I didn't even get a taste of the Bundt cake this time.