breakfast

• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Zest and juice lemon. Set aside zest, and soak cranberries in juice.
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat eggs with white sugar. Add oil, vanilla extract, lemon extract, and zest. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients.
• Drain lemon juice out of cranberries; discard juice. Fold cranberries into dough to equally distribute.
• Divide dough in half. Place each piece spaced out on parchment. Dough will be very sticky, so shape with plastic spatula or greased or floured hands into 1-inch high flat rectangular logs.
• Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let set for 5 minutes. Use a long bread knife and slice down--don't saw--into long, even cookies. Space out cookies upright, if possible, or lay on sides.
• Bake for another 20 to 25 minutes; if cookies are laying on sides, flip them to other side halfway through. Biscotti should be golden and somewhat crisp.
• Let biscotti sit out for anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours so that they can cool off and dry out even more.
• If adding white chocolate on top, melt chocolate in microwave or on stovetop (keep in mind, white chocolate can burn fast!). Use a fork to drizzle chocolate, or dip an end of each biscotti into the chocolate. Let set again for an hour or so, then pack into sealed bags or plastic containers.
• Biscotti can keep in sealed containers for as long as a month.

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• Preheat the oven at 350-degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and brown sugar until they are light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
• In another bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and nutmeg; gradually add this dry mix to the creamed mix. Stir in oats. If you're using a stand mixer, you'll probably need to stir the last of the oats in by hand. This is a lot of dough!
• Use a tablespoon scoop to dole out the dough onto a cookie sheet, keeping two inches between each spoonful. These will spread.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes; they brown very fast, so keep an eye on them at the end. Remove them when they are turning golden brown. Let sit on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transitioning them to a rack to cool.
• To make the filling, start by sifting the confectioners' sugar into a large bowl. Add the shortening and marshmallow crème. Add a tablespoon of milk and gradually add more as needed to get it to spreadable consistency. Use a heaping teaspoon to dollop filling onto the base of a cookie. Spread it with a knife, top with another cookie, and press together to get cream to the edges.
• End result: about 30 large sandwich cookies.
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• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Grease a bundt pan and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the lemon juice, then mix in the eggs one at a time. Stir in half the flour mix. Add the sour cream, then follow up with the rest of the dry ingredients. Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test. Cool for twenty minutes in the pan, then invert onto a wire rack to completely cool.
• Store covered at room temperature.

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• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line pan with heavy foil to fully covers bottom and sides; apply butter or nonstick spray.
• In a large bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, salt, ground ginger, cloves, and pepper.
• Into the middle of the dry ingredients, pour in the oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs. Mix in the pineapple, shredded carrot, raisins, and candied ginger. Pour batter into prepared pan.
• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes, then use foil to lift it onto a rack. Continue to cool to room temperature, or place in fridge to completely chill.
• Once cake is cool, combine the confectioners' sugar and cream to form a glaze. Drizzle over cake. Sprinkle extra candied ginger over the top. Slice and enjoy!

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Make the crust:

• Cut parchment paper to fit inside springform pan. Apply nonstick spray; place parchment circle inside, then spray again to coat the entire inside of pan.
• Melt butter in microwave or on stovetop.
• In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and salt. Pour in the butter. Use hands to knead ingredients together until they can form a ball. Flatten out handfuls and place in prepared pan, forming an even layer across the bottom and up about 2/3 of the height of the pan walls. Cover with plastic wrap and chill about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
• Take pan out of fridge. Use a fork to prick bottom and sides of crust all over. Bake for 10 minutes, then set aside to prepare filling.

Make the pudding:

• Place the egg whites in a bowl that can accommodate a hand mixer. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and beat until fluffy. Add lemon zest, juice, and lemon extract. Beat until smooth; add flour, and mix until just blended. Pour in milk and incorporate. Batter will look thin with bubbles at the edges of the bowl.
• Return to the egg white bowl. Use a hand mixer to beat until stiff peaks form.
• Fold whites until batter without losing too much volume. It's okay if there are still some lumps. Pour batter into crust.
• Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until middle is set and passes toothpick test. Let cool completely.
• Unlock sides of springform pan. Store on base disc of pan, or move to another dish, if desired. Keep draped by foil in fridge for up to a week. Serve cold or slightly warmed.

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• Drain juice from cherries into another bowl; reserve 1/2 cup of juice. Remove stems from cherries and roughly chop up the fruit. Set aside.
• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Grease and flour a large bundt pan.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time. Pour in the cherry juice, water, and almond extract. Start adding the flour mix and the sour cream in small amounts, going back and forth until everything is just incorporated. Fold the cherries into the batter.
• In a microwave safe dish, heat the chocolate chips in short bursts until they can be stirred smooth.
• Spoon some cherry batter into the base of the bundt pan. Add dollops of chocolate, then more batter. Keep going back and forth until all of the batter and chocolate is in the pan. Drag a butter knife through--without touching the metal--to swirl everything together a bit more, then smooth the top.
• Bake for about 1 hour, until an inserted knife comes out clean. Set on a rack to cool for 20 minutes, then invert the cake and remove the pan so it can completely cool.
• Store covered at room temperature. Slices can also be frozen for later enjoyment.
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