1 and teaspoons baking soda45

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups flour (no need to sift pack it down in the cup when

you measure it)

2 cups finely chopped walnuts or pecans (measure AFTER

chopping)

cup white (granulated) sugar for later Melt the b.u.t.ter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Stir in the sugar, beaten eggs, baking soda, and salt. Choose bananas that have black freckles on the skin so that they're almost overripe. Mash them until they're smooth (you can do this in a food processor or by hand). Add the banana puree to the mixing bowl and combine thoroughly.

Mix in the flour, one cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Then cover your bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 4 hours (overnight is fine, too).

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

Roll the chilled dough into walnut-sized b.a.l.l.s with your hands. (This dough is quite sticky you can wear plastic gloves if you like, or wet your hands slightly so the dough won't stick to them.) Put cup white sugar in a small bowl and roll the b.a.l.l.s in it. Place the dough b.a.l.l.s on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a sheet. Press them down just a little so they won't roll off on the floor when you put them in the oven. Then return your bowl to the refrigerator and let it chill until it's time to roll more.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees F., or until they're lightly golden in color. They'll flatten out, all by themselves. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then move them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

These cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, place the rolls in a freezer bag, and they'll be fine for 3 months or so, if they last that long.

Yield: Approximately 10 dozen, depending on cookie size.

Lisa's cousin Beth says these are great when they're dunked in hot chocolate.

Carrie Rhodes also loves these cookies. She says that middle-aged women should eat bananas every day because they need extra pota.s.sium. (I bit my tongue when she said "middle-aged" - Carrie's at least fifty-five and people don't usually live to be a hundred and ten!) *HEAVENLY EGGNOG COOKIES.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

(Not a misprint that's two hundred seventy-five degrees F.) Hannah's 1st Note: Don't even THINK about making these if it's raining or humid. Meringue does best on very dry days. (Winter in Minnesota is usually dry, so they're perfect for the holiday season.) 3 egg whites (save the yolks to add to scrambled eggs the

next morning)

teaspoon cream of tartar

teaspoon rum extract (you can also use real rum)

teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (if you use jarred

ground nutmeg make sure it's fresh)

teaspoon salt

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

2 Tablespoons flour (that's cup)

cup finely chopped pecans (chopped almonds or walnuts

are also good)

Separate the egg whites and let them come up to room temperature. This will give you more volume when you beat them.

Prepare your baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper (works best) or brand new brown parcel-wrapping paper. Spray the paper with Pam or other nonstick cooking spray and dust it lightly with flour. You can also use baking spray (the kind with flour in it) and eliminate the dustingwith-flour step.

Beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, rum extract, nutmeg, and salt until they are stiff enough to hold a soft peak.

Hannah's 2nd Note: To test for soft peaks, just shut off your mixer and tap the egg white mixture with the flat side of your rubber spatula. If the mixture forms a little peak when you remove the spatula and the tip of the peak bends over like a blade of gra.s.s in the wind, it's ready and you can go on to the next step.

Add the cup of sugar gradually, sprinkling it in by quarter cupfuls and then turning the mixer on HIGH speed. Beat hard for ten seconds or so after each sprinkling.

Shut off the mixer and sprinkle in the flour. Turn on the mixer at LOW speed and mix it in. You can also remove the bowl from the mixer at this point and fold in the flour with a mixing spoon or rubber spatula.

By hand, with a mixing spoon or a rubber spatula, gently fold in the chopped pecans. The object here is not to lose the air you've beaten into the egg whites.

Drop little spoonfuls of dough on your paper-lined cookie sheet with a teaspoon. (Lisa and I use a melon scooper at The Cookie Jar.) If you place four mounds in a row and you have five rows, you'll end up with 20 cookies per sheet.

Bake at 275 degrees F. for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the meringue part of the cookie is firm to the touch and the cookies turn a nice golden color.

Cool the Heavenly Eggnog Cookies on the paper-lined cookie sheet by setting it on a wire rack. When the cookies are completely cool, peel them carefully from the paper and store them in an airtight container in a dry place.

Hannah's 3rd Note: Your refrigerator is NOT a dry place!

Yield: 3 to 4 dozen delicious cookies that have the eggnog taste even though they don't have any egg yolks inside.

*KISS MY GRITS COOKIES.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces, pound) salted b.u.t.ter, softened

2 large eggs

teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon (3 teaspoons) vanilla extract

cup instant grits (I used Quaker Instant Grits Original)

2 cups all-purpose flour (pack it down in the cup when you

measure it)

cup shredded coconut