Lemon Firecracker cookies and Blue Hawaiians

This week we decided to deal with our election-day anxieties the only way we know how: baked goods and cocktails.

Our drink is the Blue Hawaiian, in honor of another Blue Hawaiian. It’s another tiki drink, though much simpler than the Zombie. Really it’s just a Pina Colada with a liberal (ha!) dose of Blue Curacao.

For the dessert, we thought about a Baked Alaska, but because we didn’t take the time to vet the recipe in advance we decided not to risk it (yes, this metaphor is a stretch). Instead we went for a spicy cookie that might fit better with Fourth of July than earlier November. But hey, sometimes we need a change.

Blue Hawaiian

Mount Gay, Bols, Boing? this drink has a lot of issues to work out.

• 1 oz. Light Rum
• 1 oz Blue Curacao
• 2 oz Pineapple Juice
• 1 oz Cream of Coconut

You can serve it straight up, over ice, or blended. We tried it straight up, which is delicious.

Lemon Firecrackers

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp grated lemon peel
• 1 egg
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1 ts cayenne powder
• 1/4 ts salt
• 1/4 ts baking soda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the lemon juice, lemon peel, and egg; beat well. Sift together the flour, cayenne powder, salt, and baking soda. Beat dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

This is a crumbly, light lemon cookie and the pepper gives a little explosion in the back of your mouth.