Bready or Not

Filling

• In a heatproof bowl, soak dates in boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain, reserving liquid. Purée dates in a food processor with enough of soaking liquid (about 1/2 cup) to make a spreadable paste; this can also be done with an immersion blender, but be cautious in case it spits. (You should have about 1 1/4 cups of date paste.) Let mixture completely cool in fridge.

Crust

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides, and use nonstick spray or butter to coat the interior.
• In a bowl, whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt. Work in butter with your fingertips or a fork until it's combined and mixture holds together when pinched. Press crust evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Freeze 15 minutes so it will set. Bake the crust until light golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
• While the crust is baking, whisk together the granulated sugar, flour, and salt. Whisk in eggs one at a time, followed by the lemon zest and juice.
• Spread the cooled date paste evenly over baked crust; an uneven spatula is handy for this.
• Bake at 350-degrees for 4 minutes. Reduce heat to 325-degrees and pour lemon filling over date layer. Bake about 10 minutes and rotate pan in oven, then cook for another 10 minutes. The top will be evenly set when it is done.
• Let cool on a wire rack. Store in fridge. Lift out the bars by the foil or parchment to cut them. Right before serving, sprinkle confectioners' sugar all over top (it'll absorb in a short time, but you can always add more).
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• Preheat oven at 325-degrees. Line a rimmed baking pan with sturdy aluminum foil. In the pan, toss the two cups of nuts with maple syrup until they are coated. Toast for about 15 minutes, checking about every 5 minutes to toss the nuts around. Let the nuts cool for 30 minutes or so.
• Add the nuts to a food processor. (Note that you'll need to pry some off the foil.) Put the lid on and start processing. Run for 2 to 3 minutes then scrape down sides. The mix will look coarse and gritty.
• Continue processing, pausing every 1 or 2 minutes to scrape sides of bowl. Mixture will start to clump together.
• Continue grinding. The nuts will release more oil and start to smooth out more. Continue to stop and scrape the sides every 2 minutes or so to give the machine a break. After about 10 total minutes, it will look like nut butter but it won't be done yet!
• Continue processing. It will smooth out and finally evolve to a liquid-like form that snakes across the blades. This will be at about the 15 to 20 minute point. Add the rest of the ingredients and process another minute or so to blend together. Taste test to see if you need to tweak things.
• Transfer the nut butter to mason jars to store in the fridge for up to four weeks. If it seems especially dry, mix in a drizzle of oil.
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• Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Beat the butter into the dry mix until it looks crumbly. Toss in the cream cheese and vanilla and blend. The dough should form a large cohesive clump. (If you live in a dry locale, add a teeny bit of water, if need be, so it comes together.)
• Lightly flour a surface. Roll out the dough as evenly as you can. Use a pizza slicer to cut the dough into cookie-sized rectangles. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper and set the cookies on it; if you stack them, put wax paper between the layers, or they will stick. Stash the cookies in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will keep them from spreading in weird ways when they bake.
• Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. In a microwave-safe saucer or bowl, melt the two tablespoons of butter. In another bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the topping.
• Bring out the cookies and transfer them to a new cookie sheet. They shouldn't spread much so they don't need a lot of space between them. Use a chopstick or something similar to gently form ridges in the tops of the cookies; the chilled dough might crack, but just mush it together again if that happens. Use a pastry brush to apply the melted butter and then sprinkle on the topping as evenly as you can.
• Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately use your chosen tool to gently indent the tops of the cookies again. Let them cool another ten minutes and then transfer to a rack.
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• Prepare the loaf pan by coating with nonstick spray, then cutting a sling of parchment paper to fit the width of the pan that can stick up on either side. Apply nonstick spray on that as well.
• Preheat oven at 325-degrees.
• In a mixing bowl, beat butter until it's creamy. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat 4 or 5 minutes, or until it's light and fluffy. Stop and scrape the bowl a few times.
• While that is beating, in a separate small bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the Baileys and sour cream. It's okay if it's a bit lumpy.
• In the butter-sugar bowl, add the eggs one at a time and mix well in between. Pour in the dry mix and the Baileys mix a bit at a time, going back and forth, until everything is just combined. Stir in the mini chocolate chips. Pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.
• Bake for 65-75 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test in the middle of the loaf.
• Cool on a rack for 20 minutes then use the paper sling to lift it up to cool completely. Store in layered plastic wrap at room temperature. Keeps well for at least 5 days.
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• Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Generously grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan. Sprinkle pecans all the way around the bottom.
• In a large bowl, mix together the yellow cake mix, vanilla instant pudding mix, eggs, water, oil and coffee creamer. Pour the batter over the pecans in pan.
• Bake for 60 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Let it cool for about 15 minutes then flip the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
• When the cake is cool, make the glaze. In a small saucepan, combine the butter, water, and sugar. Bring it to a boil and keep it there for 5 minutes, stirring all the while. Remove it from heat and add the Baileys.
• Poke the cake all over with a skewer of chopstick. Slowly drizzle the glaze over the cake so that the sweetness can soak into the puncture points; a brush is useful here, too. Gradually work all of the glaze inside and over the cake; note that it will soak in more over the next hours and the cake will look moist rather than iced. Store covered in the fridge.
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• Prep your mini muffin pans(s) by placing liners and dousing with nonstick spray. Note that the recipe makes about 70 mini muffins. Preheat the oven at 350-degrees.
• In a large bowl, mix together the cake mix, eggs, oil, and Baileys Creamer. Once that's mixed to show no clumps, add the chocolate chips. The batter will be a little runny.
• A teaspoon scoop makes it easy to dole out batter into the liners--but don't fill to the top! They will grow as they bake. Top with a few extra chocolate chips, if desired.
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops are springy and the innermost muffins pass the toothpick test. Use a fork to pop them out and onto a rack to cool.
• Store in a sealed container in the fridge or at room temperature.
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