Ingredients

for the dough

• 255g salted butter, cold, cut into small pieces (or unsalted butter plus 3/4 tsp kosher salt, ish)
• 100g sugar
• 50g dark brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 295g flour
• 170g dark chocolate chunks (I usually use scharffen berger bittersweet)
• 2 tbsp instant espresso powder (note that this is not the same as just espresso grinds) (optional, I guess? but it’s really good)

for rolling

• 1 large egg
• turbinado sugar (or demerara, or raw, something big and crunchy)
• Flaky sea salt (we use Maldon)

Directions

1. Beat the butter, regular and brown sugars, and vanilla with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Add flour, and mix just until combined.

3. Add chocolate chunks and espresso powder, mix just until incorporated. (It’ll look crumbly. This is fine.)

4. Split the dough into halves, and shape each half into a log about 2-2.25” in diameter. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill until totally firm, about 2 hours (overnight or even freezing is fine).

5. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 350° F and line two baking sheets.

6. Lightly beat the egg (like, fork in a bowl, be chill). Set up some of the turbinado sugar in another bowl, this’ll get a bit messy.

7. Working with your logs of dough one at a time: unwrap the dough (leaving the plastic wrap under it like a plate), brush egg all over the log, and sprinkle the crunchy turbinado sugar generously all over the egg-washed log. Rewrap the log briefly and roll it around, basically just to press the sugar in a bit and encourage more of it to really stick.

8. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut logs into 1/2-inch thick rounds.

9. Arrange cookie slices on the prepared baking sheets 1” apart (they don’t spread much) and sprinkle each with a few flakes of salt.

10. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to get golden brown.

Notes

1. Yeah these are basically the Alison Roman cookies, except I added espresso powder and always use dark brown sugar instead of light.

2. I love storing these in my freezer and just eating them frozen.

3. These are basically the perfect cookie.

Ingredients

for the cake

• 95g flour (the original recipe calls for cake flour, but all-purpose works fine)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 5 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 200g almond paste (43-50% almonds by weight), at room temperature and cut into small chunks (this is not the same as marzipan, but it’s sold in similar packaging)
• 200g sugar
• 225g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds

for the glaze

• 45g lemon juice
• 45g orange juice
• 150g sugar

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Set up two 8x3” or one 9x5” loaf pan, by spraying and lining it with parchment cut to fit.

2. In one small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In another small bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla just to combine.

4. In a stand mixer, beat the almond paste on low speed until broken down, then add the sugar gradually while still mixing and beat until well-combined. Get this as evenly textures and broken down as you can, it may affect the texture of the cake.

5. Cut the butter up into smallish pieces and add them slowly to the mixer while it’s running. Beat for about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until light and fluffy.

6. Add the eggs slowly to the mixer while it’s running.

7. Again, stop to scrape as needed, then add the zests and beat for another 30 seconds or so.

8. Add the flour mixture and stir briefly, just until incorporated.

9. Add poppy seeds and again, just fold in until they’re reasonably well distributed.

10. Pour into the prepared pans and smooth the surface(s).

11. Bake for 40-50 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes while you make the glaze. NOTE: The cake has to be glazed while still warm.

12. Make the glaze by stirring all glaze ingredients together in a small bowl. It doesn’t really have to perfectly dissolved, it’ll be okay.

13. Carefully lift the cakes out of the pans using the parchment (they will be very delicate and might break, so take care), and put them on a wire rack over something to catch the drips of the glaze.

14. Brush the cakes with the glaze, paying attention to the sides and edges as well as the center. Use all the glaze. It will seem sopping-wet, and that’s okay. If it seems too wet to take any more, just pause for a moment and then resume. It’ll be fine once it cools.

15. When the cakes have cooled, you can lift them back into the pans again using the parchment and store in the fridge well-wrapped. I like eating slices cold.

Notes

Mostly from here, which in turn got it from the Tartine cookbook. I just use all-purpose flour if it’s what I have around. I’ve made this a zillion times and it’s always a hit.

A

• 2 eggs
• 1 C sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat together in a big bowl or stand mixer.

B

• 1/2 C margarine
• 1/4 C crisco

Melt together.

C

• 1 C flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt

Mix together.

D

• 12 oz raw fresh cranberries (fresh sour cherries work okay too, but cranberries are better)
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1/2 C chopped nuts (I strongly prefer pecans)

Mix nuts and sugar and spread on the bottom of a 10 inch greased cake or pie pan. Cover with cranberries.

Remaining directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.

2. Add B and C alternately to A and stir together.

3. Pour batter over the cranberries in the cake pan you prepped in part D.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

Ingredients

• 6 large eggs (optionally pasteurized but we almost never bother)
• 6 oz booze (I like rum but anything tasty will do)
• 3/8 C sugar
• 12 oz dark chocolate (we typically use 70% scharffen berger)

Directions

1. Beat eggs and sugar at high speed to soft peaks.

2. Melt chocolate with booze and whisk until smooth. Temperature should be about 110 F.

3. Fold about a quarter of the egg mixture into the chocolate. Then fold in the rest.

4. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Notes

This is basically Alice Medrich’s Albert’s Mousse, except we always make at least a double recipe and use more booze and no coffee. It’s INTENSE.

Ingredients

for the cake

• 2 C flour
• 2 C sugar
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 C cooking oil
• 4 eggs
• 3 1/2 C grated raw carrots

for the frosting

• 3 oz. cream cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 1/4 C powdered sugar
• 6 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2. Sift the dry ingredients together, then mix in the oil, and then the eggs, one at a time, and lastly the carrots.

3. Pour into a buttered and floured bundt pan.

4. Bake for an hour or so, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

5. Let it cool for about ten minutes before trying to get it out of the bundt pan. At that point, turning the pan upside down on a plate and giving the bottom a few good whacks with a wooden spoon oughta do the trick.

6. Make the frosting: cream together the butter and cream cheese, then add everything else and mix well.

7. Frost the cake. Theoretically after it has cooled, but honestly I never manage to wait that long. I like my carrot cake hot and my cream cheese frosting molten.

Notes

Josh once told me that my carrot cake is like Arlo Guthrie’s Alice’s Restaurant – it’s simple, it’s good, I make it every year (well, usually more often than that!), and it never fails to get applause.