Bready or Not

• 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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• Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or use a silicone mat.
• Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add two egg yolks and vanilla extract. Add flour until just incorporated.
• Lightly flour work surface and hands. Using rolling pin or hands, press dough to about 1/4-inch thickness.
• Use a small round cookie cutter on dough. Transfer rounds to cookie sheet, spaced out a bit. Use a fork to scratch a crosshatch pattern in the top, like a hashtag with more lines.
• Beat remaining egg yolk in a small bowl. Brush tops of cookies with yolk.
• Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until cookies are a consistent golden color. Transfer to a rack to completely cool.
• Store in a sealed container.
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• On the stove top or in a microwave, melt 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, warming until smooth. Set aside to cool.
• In another bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
• In a big bowl, beat together the butter and two sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, scraping bowl to make sure everything is combined. Follow up with espresso powder and vanilla, then the melted chocolate. Stir in flour mixture. Fold in the remaining chocolate chips.
• Cover mixing bowl and let dough stand for about 30 minutes so that the chocolate can set.
• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Use a teaspoon scoop to place dough spaced out on parchment-covered cookie sheet or seasoned stoneware.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven and let set on stove about 10 minutes before moving cookies to a rack to completely cool.
• Store in sealed containers at room temperature. Cookies may crisp up more after 1 day, but keep quite well.
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• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line pan with aluminum foil and apply grease or nonstick spray. Set aside.
• In a large saucepan, gently heat the butter, corn syrup, and sugar until everything is melted together with the sugar dissolved. Stir in oats to completely coat.
• Scoop everything into the prepared pan. Use an uneven spatula to spread out evenly.
• Bake for 30 minutes.
• Let cool for about 5 minutes. Leaving contents in pan, slice into thin rectangular bars. Let completely cool.
• Use foil to lift contents onto cutting board. Slice again to separate.
• In a microwave-safe bowl, heat up chocolate chips with shortening, cooking in 20 second bursts and stirring well between each time, until chocolate smoothly stirs together. Use a fork to drizzle over flapjacks.
• Store in sealed container at room temperature.

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• Grease a large container with some olive oil. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a mixer with a dough hook (or with a dough whisk and arm muscle), combine the bread flour and sea salt. Add yeast, followed by the measured olive oil and most of the warm water. Mix on low speed. As the dough comes together, slowly add the rest of the water. Continue to mix on medium speed for about 7 or 8 minutes. Add the herbs and make sure they are evenly distributed. Dough should be quite elastic and easy to work with.
• Dump the dough into the oiled container. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until at least doubled, about an hour. Dough should be bouncy and shiny.
• Dust a work surface with extra flour and cornmeal (or semolina). Tip the dough onto the surface. It should be loose and flowing. Divide dough in half.
• Place each piece of dough on the prepared parchment. Spread into a flat oval, then use a pizza cutter to slice twice down the middle (to make a stem) with six cuts on the side of each leaf (see photograph for example). Gently stretch out the dough to emphasize the holes.
• Cover both loaves with plastic wrap and allow to set for 20 minutes as the oven preheats to 430-degrees.
• Brush or spray additional olive oil atop each leaf, then sprinkle on the dried oregano.
• Bake for about 7 minutes, then switch positions of bread on the oven racks. Continue baking another 8 minutes or so (15 to 20 minutes total) until each fougasse is golden and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from oven. Immediately brush more olive oil on top, followed by a sprinkling of sea salt.
• Bread is delicious fresh or at room temperature. Loaves can be well-wrapped and frozen for later enjoyment.

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Shortbread base

• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 baking pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
• In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Follow up with the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Scrape bottom of bowl to make sure everything is incorporated.
• Gradually work in flour along with the salt. Don't overmix. It should still be crumbly. Drop dough into prepared pan and compress into an even layer. (A piece of waxed paper and a heavy glass make this easier.)
• Bake shortbread layer for 20 to 25 minutes, until edges are turning golden brown. Set pan aside to cool while the next layer is made.

Caramel

• In a large saucepan at medium heat, stir together the condensed milk, butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Stir constantly as it rises to a boil. Immediately drop heat to low, and continue to stir nonstop for about 10 to 15 minutes, until mixture turns a deep caramel color and thickens up; watch out, the caramel can spit out of the pan at times!
• Remove pot from heat and promptly stir in vanilla extract and salt.
• Pour caramel over the shortbread, using an uneven spatula or knife if needed to smooth it into an even layer. Cool pan for several hours until it reaches room temperature, or set in fridge to chill.

Ganache topping

• In a microwave-safe bowl (or, alternatively, on the stove top in a pot) melt together the chocolate chips and butter. Once it can be stirred smooth, pour over the caramel. Spread out into an even layer. If desired, sprinkle Maldon sea salt flakes over the top.
• Chill in fridge to let chocolate harden for at least 30 minutes. Use foil to lift contents of pan onto a cutting board. Let chocolate warm again, just a touch, perhaps for 5 or 10 minutes, before slicing into bars (otherwise, the chocolate will crack rather than be sliced through).
• Store bars in fridge with waxed paper between layers. Keeps for days.

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