• For the gingersnap cookie pie dough:
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 4 to 5 tablespoons ice water
• 2 ounces gingersnap cookies, about 10 small cookies, or enough to yield ½ cup of fine crumbs
• For the filling:
• One 12-oz bag fresh or frozen cranberries (about 3 cups)
• 3/4 cup turbinado sugar (or more to taste)
• 1/2 cup juice and rind from 1 large orange (rind removed in long strips using a sharp vegetable peeler)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced ginger, no need to peel but scrub well
• 3 leafy rosemary sprigs, each about 7 or 8 inches long
• 3 large firm-ripe pears (about 2 pounds total), stems removed, cored and thinly sliced about ¼” thick (no need to peel)
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1. To make the gingersnap cookie pie crust: In a food processor, blitz your gingersnap cookies using the pulse function until they’re finely and uniformly ground. Remove, set aside, and wipe clean the bowl of your food processor. (Cookie crumbs can be prepped several days in advance; store in an air-tight container.)
2. Next, pulse flour, salt, and brown sugar to combine about 3 times. Scatter butter pieces over the flour mixture, then pulse until the butter is about the size of peas, about 8 to 10 short pulses. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of water over mixture and pulse a few times, then repeat with 1 tablespoon of water at a time, or just until small curds start to form and the dough holds together when pinched with your fingers. (Alternatively, you can do this by hand.) Form dough into a 4-inch disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (Dough can be refrigerated up to 3 days in advance; allow to soften on the counter before rolling it out.)
3. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Spread gingersnap crumbs on a clean work surface (I like using a sheet of parchment paper). Roll out dough on top of crumbs, coating both sides, into a 11-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Smooth out crumbs from time to time to distribute evenly. Gently fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate, and crimp edges as desired. Freeze shell at least 30 minutes before baking, or thoroughly chill in the refrigerator.
4. Preheat oven to 400° F. Line shell with parchment or foil, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Remove pie weights and parchment. Let cool completely.
5. TO MAKE FILLING AND ASSEMBLE PIE: Set aside 1/2 cup of cranberries. Bring remaining cranberries, turbinado sugar, and orange juice to a simmer in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently to dissolve sugar. Cook, stirring, just until cranberries begin to pop and release their juice, about 3 minutes. This is the time to taste for sweetness. Add more sugar if you prefer a less tart filling. Drain cranberries in a sieve set over a bowl to catch the juice; you should have about 1 cup. Place cranberries in a small bowl, and stir in your reserved 1/2 cup of cranberries. Set aside.
6. Return strained cranberry juice to a saucepan and add ginger, orange rind, and rosemary. Simmer liquid over medium-low heat until thickened and reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool before removing the ginger, orange, and rosemary to impart more flavor. Using a fine-mesh strainer, pour syrup over cranberries. Discard solids.
7. Heat oven to 350° F. Brush a par-baked pie crust with the egg white to prevent sogginess. Evenly layer the crust with thinly sliced pears, starting around the outer edge and working your way to the middle; once done, your pears should be 3 to 4 layers deep. Top with your cranberry mixture, spreading it to the edges and making sure it’s evenly distributed. Bake until syrup has thickened, berries begin to brown, and pears are tender (check with tip of a knife), about 45 to 50 minutes. If pastry edges brown too quickly, cover with a band of foil.
8. Let pie cool on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream
   

Serves 4

For the chicken

• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half lengthwise and pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup shelled pistachios, pulsed in a food processor until finely chopped
• Nonstick cooking spray

For the avocado sauce and tortas

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and mashed
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 4 hoagie or torta buns
• One 15-ounce can black beans, liquid included, roughly mashed
• 1/3 cup pickled jalapeños
• 2 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
• 2 cups lettuce, shredded

1. To prepare the chicken: Preheat oven to 425º F. In small bowl, stir together cumin, salt, paprika, cayenne, and cinnamon. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken pieces with the spice mixture. Place flour in shallow dish. In a second shallow dish, lightly whisk the eggs. In a third shallow dish, combine breadcrumbs and chopped pistachios.
2. Spray a rimmed baking pan with cooking spray. Working with one piece at a time, dip the chicken into the flour, shaking off any excess, then into the egg and breadcrumb mixtures. Place on a prepared baking pan. Bake for 15 minutes, turning once, or until the pieces are lightly browned and their internal temperature reaches 165º F.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the avocado sauce: In a small bowl, stir together the avocado, lime juice, and sour cream.
4. To make the tortas: Spread one side of each bun with mashed black beans. Over the beans, place the chicken, jalapeños, tomatoes, lettuce, and avocado sauce. Place hoagie bun tops over the tortas.

For the brownies:

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 3/4 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour

For the frosting:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 to 4 cups confectioners' sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9- by 13-inch baking pan with foil and grease with butter or baking spray.
2. In a large glass bowl, microwave the chocolate and the butter on high, checking and stirring after each 30-second interval, until the butter melts (about 2 minutes). Stir until the chocolate is fully melted.
3. Add the sugar and mix well. Add in the eggs and vanilla and stir until combined. Add the flour and mix until well-incorporated.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes. The top should be crackly and a tester inserted into the middle should come out clean. Do not overbake! Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan.
5. To make the frosting, add the butter, buttermilk, and cocoa powder to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, whisking until smooth, and then remove from the heat. Transfer to a stand mixer (or large bowl) and add in the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla. Beat the mixture until fluffy and thick. **You might need less or more sugar, depending. Start with 2 cups, and add more if the frosting looks too thin. Also, if it isn't getting fluffy, try refrigerating the frosting for 20 minutes, and then beating it again.**
6. Spread the frosting over the brownies. Let the frosting set (it is helpful to chill them for a little while in the refrigerator), and then slice and serve.

I have three sisters, and we are all lucky to have a mother who regularly cooked and baked for us as kids. We came together for family dinners every night, regardless of soccer practices or homework or bad moods. Sometimes dinner was simple: brown rice and sliced green beans, sautéed chicken and pasta, or spaghetti with broccoli. Sometimes it was fancier. Regardless of the meal, there was always dessert. My mother excels at dessert. She makes the perfect oatmeal cookie (packed with chocolate chips and raisins and Grape-Nuts cereal). She can make a flawless peach pie, the most ethereal angel food cake, and a chocolate pudding you'd want to bathe in. She makes homemade vanilla ice cream, brownies that teeter between fudgy and cake-like, and an apple cake that would make anyone want to eat an apple a day.

But one of her best recipes is one that rarely made an appearance in our kitchen: Orange Sweet Rolls. Loosely tied to special occasions or long weekends, but sometimes just by surprise, these rolls are exceptional—and as an avid baker, I do not say that lightly. Their rarity rendered them famous (with me and my sisters).
They have all the sophistication and decadence of a cinnamon roll, along with the fun swirled shape, but none of the fuss. Instead of making a yeasted dough, you make a quick, one-bowl biscuit dough. You pat the dough out into a rectangle and spread it with a layer of orange filling.
The filling is even simpler than the dough: Just cook together butter, flour, orange zest, orange juice, and sugar for a few minutes until it thickens slightly. It's very sweet, but the biscuit dough itself has no sugar, so it balances out perfectly. When the filling bakes, it thickens even further into wonderfully jammy, marmalade-like swirls within the buttery dough.
My mom used to bake these rolls in a 9" x 13" glass pan, nestling the rolls up against one another. If you do that, they'll be softer and doughier, which I personally love. If you choose to make them in a muffin tin like I did here, though, they'll get crispy, buttery edges with a sticky, jammy base where the filling pools. I recommend the muffin tin if you're planning to transport them, but the one-pan approach is better if you're serving them at a brunch or breakfast table.


This is an excellent recipe for any novice bread baker. It turns out perfectly every time without any fancy technique, but it looks complicated and tastes like you spent years in a French bakery honing your skills. Be sure to reserve some extra filling to brush over the tops of the rolls once they're baked. If you want to up the citrus factor, you could add some lemon or lime zest to the filling as you cook it.
I won't be with my mom on Mother's Day, but if I could make her a batch of these to thank her for all the times she baked, cooked, and nourished us with such love and enthusiasm and good food, I would.




source:
FOOD52

For the jam:

• 1 pound dried figs
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar

1. Cut the stems off of the figs and discard. Combine figs and all other ingredients in a saucepan, and stir well. Add water just to cover.
2. Bring pot to a simmer over medium heat, then lower heat and cook slowly, stirring regularly to prevent sticking. Add water as necessary to keep the jam from sticking or burning. Cook until figs have broken down somewhat (an hour or so). Purée gently with immersion blender or in a food processor, so that jam has a sticky but spreadable consistency.

For the biscuits and assembly:

• 3 1/4 cups (1 pound) pastry flour
• 2 cups (10 ounces) bleached all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 6 ounces cold butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 1/2 cups sour milk (add 2 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar 2 3/8 cups milk)
• 12 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus 2 tablespoons (divided)
• 8 ounces country ham (prepared according to the producer's instructions); see headnote for substitutes
• Fig jam (recipe above)
• 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1. Important note! Keep all ingredients for the biscuits cold throughout the process.
2. Heat the oven to 500° F. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar and blend well.
3. Toss the 12 tablespoons of butter pieces into the flour and blend well with your fingers—you’ll squeeze and pinch the butter into the flour until it’s well-mixed and no piece of butter is larger than the fingernail on your smallest finger. The flour should resemble cornmeal. You want to do this step as quickly as possible so the butter does not begin to melt, but be thorough: getting the butter right is your best hedge against tough biscuits.
4. Add milk to the flour and butter. Working quickly, mix the milk in with a rubber spatula, mixing only until the dough begins to hold together.
5. Dump the dough onto floured work surface. Gather it together and pat briefly to flatten. Fold the dough over on itself 3 or 4 times, then pat into a rough rectangle about 3/4- to 1-inch thick. Use a bench scraper to ensure dough isn’t sticking to table.
6. Use 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter to cut biscuits from dough. Do not twist cutter as you cut the biscuits. If the biscuits stick to the cutter, dip it in a little flour before cutting. Place the biscuits onto a well-buttered baking sheet. They should be almost touching. Brush tops lightly with buttermilk.
7. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the biscuits are golden, well-risen and light; if they feel wet or heavy, bake them longer.
8. Lower the oven to 450° F. Split 4 of the biscuits (save the rest for another use!) and place on a baking sheet. Put a piece of the remaining 2 tablespoons butter on each side of each biscuit.
9. Next to the biscuits on the same baking sheet, divide the ham into 4 piles and cover with cheddar. Put the biscuits and ham into the oven and cook until the cheese and butter have melted.
10. To assemble, put a pile of cheese and ham on the bottom half of each biscuit. Add 2 teaspoons of fig jam to the top half, close, and serve.