cheese galore

• Hours or days before baking day: Sprinkle flour on a flat, clean surface. Roll out the puff pastry to make a 12-inch square. Cut in half. Sprinkle cheese over both halves. Place prosciutto slices to completely cover cheese; if there is extra meat, layer on the additional pieces. Roll the short sides of each piece of pastry together to meet in the middle–from the end, it will look rather like a number 3. Repeat this with the other half.
• Encase both logs in plastic wrap and freeze until firm, at least an hour, but as long as several days.
• Preheat oven at 400-degrees. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Pull out frozen logs to thaw for just a few minutes. While it is still mostly frozen, slice into 1/4-inch pieces and place spaced out on parchment. (Note that the end pieces may be sparse on filling and not presentable for company, but still worth baking up for private enjoyment.)
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until palmiers are golden brown and puffed. They are best eaten fresh, but leftovers can be refrigerated. They are okay cold, but better toasted briefly again in the oven.

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• Move rack to top third of oven and start to preheat at 425-degrees. Rub or brush a 9×13 casserole pan or rimmed baking sheet with oil.
• In a large bowl, use a big spoon to mash together the 2 Tablespoons oil, eggs, panko, liquid, salt, pepper, seasoning, garlic powder, and cheese. The goal is to create a smooth paste. Add a handful of meat. Mix in, and gradually drop in the rest of the meat to thoroughly combine.
• Use a food scale to weigh the meat, then divide that total by 8 (or any other desired increment). With oiled hands, press together meatballs, weighing each to create ones of equal size.
• Bake meatballs for 20 minutes. Use a metal spatula to carefully flip over each for the browned-bottom is on top. Bake for another 6 to 10 minutes, until meatballs are fully browned. An instant read thermometer plunged into one should read over 160-degrees.
• Serve as desired. Leftovers are great to refrigerate or freeze.

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• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Cut a parchment round to fit the bottom of the springform pan. Apply nonstick spray or butter on bottom of sides of pan, add the parchment, then grease it as well.
• In a big bowl, mix flour with 3/4 cup of sugar. Cut in butter until it is crumbly. Measure out 1/2 cup crumb mixture for topping; set aside.
• To the bulk of the flour mix, add baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in yogurt, 1 egg, and almond extract, until blended. Spread batter onto bottom of the springform pan.
• In a small bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and egg, to make it as smooth as possible. It's okay if it still has some clumps. Pour it onto the pan and smooth out. Spoon the preserves all across the top. Sprinkle with the reserved crumb topping and the sliced almonds.
• Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. The middle should no longer be jiggly, the top a nice golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for 10 to 15 minutes then unlatch and life away the pan's ring to let the cake cool for another hour. Then place cake in fridge to complete set and cool for a few hours.
• Cake can be eaten cold or after slices are brought to room temperature after about 30 to 45 minutes. Do remember to store cake in the fridge, as it does contain cream cheese! Slices can also be individually wrapped and frozen, and will thaw in the fridge with no issue.

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• In a large stock pot, cook the pancetta for 10 to 12 minutes, until it starts to turn brown and crispy. At the same time, on another stove burner, use a medium sauce pan to bring the chicken broth to a very low simmer.
• Use a slotted spoon to transfer pancetta to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside. Add dry shallots and garlic to the fat in the big pot. Sauté for two minutes. Add the Arborio rice and a pinch of salt. Sauté another 2 minutes, until the rice looks glossy with translucent edges.
• Add the white wine and stir until it is absorbed. Add chicken broth in 1/2 cup increments, stirring well after each addition until it is absorbed. After about 12 to 15 minutes, when most of the broth has been added, begin to taste the rice. The goal is a chewy, al dente consistency. Add more broth as needed, and remember to turn off the burner for the broth pot when it is empty.
• When the rice is creamy and al dente, stir in the pancetta and cheese. Taste the risotto again, adding more salt and pepper as needed. Serve with the remaining white wine.

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• 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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