cheese galore

• Divide the two tablespoons of butter in half, separating them to soften at room temperature.
• In a stand mixer with a bread hook attachment, stir together the flour, yeast, and salt. Follow up with 1 tablespoon of softened butter, honey, and beer. Mix on low speed for 4 minutes, scraping the bowl as needed. Increase the speed to medium for another 2 minutes, pulling the dough from the hook a few times. Add about half the cheese, reserving the rest to go on top later. Mix the cheese until it's distributed through the dough.
• Lightly grease a large bowl. Transfer the dough there and cover with plastic wrap or a towel to let it rise until it's about doubled in size, about an hour.
• Grease the two cake pans. Prepare a lightly floured surface and tip the dough onto it. Pat the dough out into a thick, even layer. Use the cutter to slice out rolls. Place them not quite touching in the pans. Reform scraps as much as possible to shape into more rolls. The rolls likely won't quite fill both pans.
• Cover pans with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise again for 35 to 45 minutes. They may not increase a lot in size, but they should look puffy.
• Preheat oven at 400-degrees.
• Pull out remaining pat of butter and cheese. Brush the soft butter over the rolls, and follow up with a sprinkling of cheese. Try to keep the cheese from touching the edge of the pan, where it could burn.
• Place both pans in the oven and bake until the rolls are browned and cheese is melted, 15 to 20 minutes. A digital thermometer in a center roll should read 190-degrees at minimum.
• Let cool for at least 10 minutes before (carefully) pulling apart and serving.
• Rolls can keep in a sealed bag at room temperature for up to 2 days. They can also be frozen and thawed for later enjoyment. They taste best hot. For best results, wrap them in foil and bake at 400 for about 10 minutes to warm them through.

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• In a large food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Add the butter pieces. Pulse until they are almond-sized, then add the ice water. Pulse until mixture can form a ball, adding a touch more water if needed to make it cohesive.
• Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently knead to shape into a disk. Tightly encase in plastic wrap and let chill in fridge for at least an hour, or up to a few days. Dough can also be frozen for up to two months.

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• Preheat oven at 400-degrees

Prepare pie crust

• Let pie dough soften at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. Lightly flour a surface and roll out dough to a 12-inch circle and transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate. Press into plate to shape, crimping edges as desired. Freeze crust until firm, about 15 minutes.
• Drape a large piece of parchment paper over pie crust. Fill to the top with pie weights.
• Bake crust until edges are turning golden, about 10 to 15 minutes. Carefully remove weights and parchment paper.
• Bake crust an additional 10 minutes to set. Cover the edges with foil if it is getting brown too quickly. Set aside on rack to cool while the filling is assembled.

Prepare filling

• Reduce oven temperature to 350-degrees.
• Line a rimmed baking pan with parchment paper. Place oats in pan.
• Bake them until they are lightly toasted, about 10 minutes, giving them a stir or two during. Set them aside to cool.
• Lower oven temperature again, this time to 325-degrees. Move the oven rack to the lower third of the oven.
• In a big bowl, mix together the brown sugar, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Add the corn syrup, melted butter, honey, whiskey and vanilla, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition, and end by incorporating the oats until they are coated. Pour everything into the parbaked crust.
• Bake until the filling is set and slightly puffed, about 40 minutes. Check on the pie about halfway and cover the edges the foil if they are getting too brown. The done pie will register at 200-degrees if checked with an instant thermometer.
• Let pie cool completely on rack before slicing in. Store covered by foil in the fridge or at room temperature. Keeps for several days.

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• Place the water, olive oil, and sugar in a big mixing bowl, stand mixer, or food processor. Add the flour, salt, and seasoning, if using. Start mixing together, then sprinkle in the yeast. Mix until just combined.
• Keep in same bowl, if desired, or transfer to another bowl that is greased. Loosely cover top with plastic wrap or towel and let dough rise at room temperature until it flattens out on top, about two hours.
• Dough can be used now but is much easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a non-airtight container and use within two weeks. Dough can also be frozen in freezer bags, for up to a month, and defrosted later in the fridge.

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• Preheat oven at 450-degrees. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to a cast iron skillet and place the pan in the oven to heat up.
• Grab a good handful of pizza dough, or as much as desired to bake today. Oil a small space of counter or table as well as hands, and gently stretch and press out the dough to a rough circle. If it tears, patch with other pieces of dough as best possible. Let dough rest for about 20 minutes.
• By this time, the oven should have preheated. Use a potholder to pull out the skillet. Carefully swirl the hot oil in the pan to coat the bottom and set pan down on a safe surface. Carefully, again, place the dough in the pan.
• Bake crust for 6 to 10 minutes, until it is set. Pull out of oven and add desired toppings.
• Put pizza in oven for another 6 to 10 minutes, until crust is golden and toppings are cooked to desired level. Let pizza cool for about 10 minutes, then slide onto a plate or other surface to slice and eat.
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• Preheat oven at 425-degrees.
• In the container of a blender, place milk, eggs, 1 tablespoon melted butter, flour, and salt; process just until smooth. Let rest for 10 minutes.
• In a small bowl, toss together grated cheese and chives.
• Place a 12-cup muffin pan in oven for 5 minutes to preheat.
• Remove muffin pan from oven, and quickly spoon the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter into the 6 muffin cups that are being used. Return pan to oven for 2 minutes.
• Remove pan from oven. Working fast, spoon or pour batter into buttered muffin cups, dividing as evenly as possible. Top each with a spoonful of cheese mixture.
• Bake until puffed and golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Garnish with more chives, if desired. Serve immediately. Yorkshires are best fresh as they deflate after baking.

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• Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
• In a big bowl, beat together pumpkin puree, sugar, and oil. Beat in eggs one at a time.
• In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Gradually blend into the pumpkin mix.
• In a small microwave-safe bowl, carefully warm the cream cheese a touch, just to make it soft enough to mash. Stir in the white sugar and egg until it is cohesive; it's okay if there are still some small chunks of cream cheese.
• Place paper liners in the muffin pan (or two pans, if available). Apply nonstick spray in each liner. Add pumpkin to fill each liner about 1/3; a teaspoon scoop is useful for this. Add some dollops of cream cheese into each. Add layers of pumpkin batter to cover.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a middle cupcake passes the toothpick test. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then gingerly use two forks to pry out each cupcake to set on a rack to cool more. Place in sealed container in fridge to store.

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• Place the butter, cheese, salt, white pepper, and cayenne (if using) in the food processor. Pulse until the butter is broken into uneven pieces and the mixture begins to form small curds. Add the flour and mix until it looks like larger curds. If the dough is stubborn, pulse a bit more to distribute ingredients.
• Dump dough onto a flat surface and gently knead with hands to make cohesive. Divvy dough in half, forming each piece into a flat disk, and wrap in plastic. Tuck into fridge to chill for at least an hour or a couple days; it can also be frozen at this stage.
• When time to bake, preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or nonstick mats.
• Pull out a dough disk. Use two sheets of parchment to roll dough to about 1/4 inch thickness; if the dough is too hard to roll, let it rest at room temperature for a few minutes before trying again. Use a small cookie cutter (about 1-inch) to cut dough into crackers. Place them spaced out on parchment on pan. Gather the scraps to form more crackers, using a touch of water, if needed, to make it cohesive again.
• If desired, sprinkle some Maldon sea salt atop crackers; only a few flakes are needed to add extra flavor.
• Bake for about 10 minutes. Rotate pan. Bake for another 4 to 7 minutes, until crackers are lightly golden and firm to the touch. Let cool on pan or on a rack.
• Crackers are great warm or at room temperature. They are best eaten within 3 days. After that, they soften and become more crumbly, but they are still tasty.

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