Bready or Not

• In a large saucepan on medium-heat, stir together brown sugar, butter, and molasses until the butter is melted and everything is mixed. Remove from heat to cool for 30 minutes.
• Whisk eggs into the cooled mixture.
• In a big bowl, combined flour, fresh ginger, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, salt, and nutmeg. Pour in the sugar from the saucepan, stirring until just combined. Fold in the chocolate.
• Encase dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
• Pull out dough to soften slightly, about 10 or 15 minutes. Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Measure out the turbinado sugar into a small bowl. Use a tablespoon scoop to dole our dough, rolling each ball in sugar before setting spaced-out on baking sheet.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until cookies are set. Cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
• Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Cookies keep for at least 3 days.

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• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Heavily grease or use nonstick spray in a large bundt pan.
• In a mixer, blend together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Follow up with the flour, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and rum.
• Pour batter into pan. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the middle passes the toothpick test. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then invert cake onto a cooling rack. Don’t wash the pan!
• After the cake is completely cool, tip it back into the pan. Stab the top (the future base) all over with a chopstick or similar tool. Drizzle 2 Tablespoons of rum over the surface. Let it sit a few minutes. Invert the cake onto a plate. Again, stab the surface all over with something like a chopstick. Brush the remaining 2 Tablespoons rum over the top and sides, mopping up any droplets to brush on again. Let set a few minutes.
• Before serving, sprinkle on confectioners’ sugar. Slice and enjoy! Keep covered in fridge or at room temperature. Cake can be frozen in individual slices for later enjoyment, too.

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• In a mixer, beat brown sugar, butter, and white sugar until combined. Add eggs one at a time followed by the extracts.
• In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Fold in the two chocolates and candy cane bits. Cover top of dough with plastic wrap and chill it for 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Use a tablespoon scoop to parcel out dough, spaced out, on baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until cookies are set and just turning golden. Keep on sheet for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
• Store cookies in seal containers at room temperature. Keeps for at least 3 days.

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• Prepare a large cookie sheet, or several sheets, with waxed paper. In a bowl, stir together the pecans and coconut.
• In a saucepan on medium-high heat, stir together the sugar, milk, corn syrup, and butter. Continue to stir while bringing the mixture to a rolling boil. Stabilize the heat so that it continues to boil for 3 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat. Pour in the vanilla. Follow up with the pecans and coconut, stirring well to coat everything in goopy hot sugar.
• Use a tablespoon scoop to dole out cookies on the waxed paper. If they fall apart a bit, carefully use a spoon or the scoop to shape them again. Let cookies set, at least 15 minutes. Carefully peel them away from the waxed paper; note that the first scoops may be more prone to stick.
• Store cookies in a sealed container.

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• Beat cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy. Add white sugar to fully incorporate. Mix in egg and peppermint extract. Stir in droplets of food color to reach desired tint. Set bowl aside.
• Prepare a 9×9 pan by lining it with foil and applying nonstick spray or butter to grease it. Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
• Using a microwave-safe bowl, in brief bursts heat the butter and dark chocolate, stirring well between each pass, until both are melted and smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
• In the large bowl of a stand mixer, use the whisk attachment to beat together both sugars, the vanilla, and salt. Add the eggs one at a time, and continue to beat at a high speed for 10 minutes. With the mixer on low, pour in the butter-chocolate. Use a spatula to fold in the flour and cocoa until just combined. Batter will be thick.
• Pour half the brownie batter into the prepared pan; use an offset spatula to even it out. Add about half the cheesecake mix in dollops. Repeat twice more, adding brownie and cheesecake in alternate dolloped layers. Use a butter knife to swirl everything together to create a marbled effect.
• Bake for about 45 minutes, until the middle passes the toothpick test. Cool to room temperature then cut into pieces.

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• Preheat oven at 375-degrees; set a baking sheet in the oven to heat up as well (this will reduce the likelihood of a pie with a soggy bottom). Press the pie dough into a deep dish pie pan, if not already formed. Stash it in the fridge while the filling is being prepared.
• Peel and core apples and slice into thin wedges. Toss them with the 2 Tablespoons flour to coat. Set aside.
• In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Dice up the butter and toss it in the mix. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to mash up the butter to make pea-sized and smaller pieces of various shapes. Set bowl in fridge briefly, and bring out the pie shell.
• Pour the apple slices into the pie shell and distribute them to make a nice mound. Drizzle jarred caramel over the top, to personal preference. Use a spoon to distribute crumb topping to cover apples, using butter lumps and powder to fill the nooks and crannies.
• Set pie on hot baking sheet. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until apples are tender when pierced by fork. Cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting in.
• Store pie covered by foil in fridge. Will keep for as long as a week. Great eaten cold or warmed up!

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