Bailey's peppermint chocolate cheesecake

based on this, makes one 9" springform and one 9" pie pan

crust:
2.5 c crumbs from cookie parts of 1 box TJ's peppermint Jo-Jos (insides saved)
3 T sugar
1 stick butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F. Crush cookie crumbs in small batches in the food processor. Stir in sugar, then stir in melted butter. Press into bottom and sides of pans. Bake for 8 min, and cool before filling with cheesecake.

filling:
5 8-oz packs cream cheese
1.5 c sugar
2 t vanilla
5 eggs
1/2 t salt
1.5 c sour cream
3/4 c Bailey's

Preheat oven to 325F. Put the whisk attachment on the Kitchenaid. Beat cream cheese until smooth, then beat in other ingredients one at a time (eggs a couple at a time). This pretty much fills up the Kitchenaid, so be careful, and scrape down the sides from time to time. When the crusts are cool, divide cheesecake between the pans; both will be very full! Place in the oven on a baking sheet and bake for a good long while (about 1 hr for pie pan, 1 hr 20 min for springform) until browning on top and reasonably set. They will rise tremendously while baking and crack a bit, and some pieces may even fall off the sides---it's quite a sight! Cool on the counter for half an hour, during which time the cheesecakes should collapse back on themselves somewhat, then cover with buttered foil and stick in the fridge to set (overnight if it's bedtime, or presumably one could chill for just an hour or two before topping with ganache).

ganache:
8 oz dark chocolate from TJ's Pound Plus bar
6 cookie insides
1/2 stick butter
1 c cream

Get the cheesecakes out of the fridge and set them on the counter. Chop up chocolate, butter, and minty insides into cubes and put in a large bowl. Bring cream to boil, pour over chocolate, and stir until melted and smooth. Let stand for a few minutes if it seems too hot, then pour over the cheesecakes. Stick in the fridge until serving time. Decorate with more cookie insides and serve for Christmas dessert.

Dad's salmon mousse

from the Silver Palate cookbook

1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/4 c cold water
1/2 c boiling water
1/2 c mayonnaise
1 T lemon juice
1 finely minced shallot (1 T)
1/4 t chili powder
1/4 t sweet paprika
1 t salt
2 T finely chopped dill
2 c finely flaked canned salmon, skins and bones removed (one 15 oz can with bones + one 6 oz can without bones)
1 c heavy cream

Soften the gelatin in the cold water in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the boiling water slowly until the gelatin dissolves. Cool to room temperature but un-gelled. Whisk in the mayonnaise, lemon juice, shallot, chili powder, paprika, salt, and dill. If it's still not gelling, refrigerate for a few minutes until the mixture begins to thicken slightly. Fold in the salmon. In a separate bowl, whip the cream, and fold it gently into salmon mixture. Transfer the mixture to a 6- to 8-cup bowl or decorative mold. Cover and put in the fridge overnight. Serve with ciabatta and crackers as an appetizer on Christmas.

Sourdough rye pancakes

1 c rye starter
1 egg
1 T sugar
1/2 c flour
1.5 t baking powder

Mix starter, egg, and sugar well. Mix in flour and baking powder until just combined. Fry in butter until browned and a little crispy. A quick and easy way to use up starter, with the added bonus of having pancakes when you're done.

Fruit and nut rye bread

After dinner, put in your Kitchenaid:

1 c rye starter
1 1/4 c warm water
1 T barley malt syrup
3 c white bread flour
1 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c wheat bran
2 t cherry brandy
1 T salt

Mix together with the dough hook on low or medium-low for 6-8 minutes, then mix in:

zest of one large orange
2 c pecan halves, broken up a bit
3/4 c currants
1 c raisins
1 c craisins

Knead on a floured surface for a few minutes. Put in a greased bowl, cover with a cloth, and put in the oven with a pan of boiling water and the pilot light on overnight.

The next morning, lift the dough onto a floured surface. Cut in half, then cut one half into 16 little pieces for rolls and leave the other half intact for a boule (or whatever combination of loaf sizes you desire). Press the big dough piece into a rectangle, fold in thirds like a letter, press out, then fold in thirds like a letter the other way, to get a cubic loaf. Roll around a bit to round out the corners, then place in a floured metal cake pan. Roll each little dough piece into a little ball, and place on floured parchment paper on a cookie sheet or two. Put pans in the oven, cover with a cloth, and let rise for 6-8 hours.

When you come back from a short day at work, remove loaves from the oven and preheat to 450F. If the bread looks dangerously dry, brush with a bit of oil. When the oven is nice and hot, put in the loaves, lower heat to 400F, and bake for 40 min until top is brown and bottom is not burnt. Mine came out drier than I'd prefer, so adding some oil or butter to the dough would be a good choice in the future.

Sharon's peanut butter slice

These are bar cookies, but a bar cookie is called a "slice" in New Zealand from whence this recipe came, so slice it is. This is technically a half batch, which is far more manageable than a full batch because these are pretty rich. For full batch authenticity, just double everything and put it in a 9x13" pan.

1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c brown sugar
1/3 c corn syrup (Karo)
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
1 c flour (can be half whole wheat) (can also add an extra 1/2 c oats)
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 c chocolate chips (optional: reserve 1/4 c)

Preheat oven to 350F. Make like cookies: cream together wet ingredients (everything up to vanilla), stir in dry ingredients until just combined, stir in chocolate chips. Spread batter in an ungreased 8x8" square pan and bake for 20-25 min until golden. Optional: only add 3/4 of the chocolate chips to the batter, and melt the rest to drizzle on top of baked slice. Cut into little squares and give to a very happy Pat.

Persimmon cake bars

based on this

2 squishy Hachiya persimmons
1.5 t lemon juice (will need 2 T more later, together this was about half a lemon for me)
1 t baking soda

1 egg
1/2 c melted butter
1/2 c sugar
1 T molasses
1 3/4 c flour
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t cloves
1/2 c currants
1 c pecans, chopped
5 cubes crystallized ginger, chopped

1 c powdered sugar
2 T lemon juice
zest from one lemon

Preheat oven to 350F and butter and flour a 9x13" pan.

Cut persimmons in half, scoop out the goopy insides into a small bowl, and mush up with a potato masher. Whisk in 1.5 t lemon and baking soda as it foams up. Let sit for a bit; it will gel up and be pretty cool.

Stir together egg, butter, sugar, and molasses in a large bowl, and combine flour and spices in a pyrex. Add dry ingredients in batches to the wet ingredients, alternating with the persimmon gel. Stir in currants, pecans, and ginger. Spread evenly in the pan and bake for 20 min.

For glaze, stir together powdered sugar, 2 T lemon, and zest. Drizzle or spread on cooled cake.

Eggplant pastitsio

A veggi-fied version of this. Takes as long as two normal dinners, but makes as much food as two normal dinners!

2 T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 t cinnamon
2 t spicy Italian mix
1 medium-large eggplant, in 1 cm dice
1 t salt
2 14-oz cans diced tomatoes, not drained
1/4 c red wine
pepper to taste

1 T olive oil
6 oz crimini mushrooms, sliced
2 arugula, packed

3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T butter
2 T flour
2 c 1% milk (more fat probably equals better)
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 - 3/4 c each small-curd cottage cheese and grated Toscano cheese (1 - 1.5 c crumbled feta would be more authentic)
pepper to taste
2 eggs

16-oz pack fusilli

In a large pot, saute onion with spices until soft. Stir in eggplant and salt and saute for a couple minutes, then stir in tomatoes and wine. Cover and simmer for 45 min, stirring every 5-10 min, then simmer uncovered for another 15 min. Salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, saute mushrooms in oil until cooked through, then stir in arugula and cook until wilted.

Also meanwhile, melt butter in a saucepan and saute garlic for a couple minutes. Add flour and whisk for a couple minutes. Whisk in milk and cloves until smooth, then whisk constantly while bringing to a boil. Turn down heat to simmer and cook for 7 min, stirring occasionally (mine never really came back to a simmer and didn't thicken much). Whisk in cheese(s) and pepper until relatively smooth and turn off heat. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, then slowly drizzle in cheese sauce while whisking constantly to prevent cooking the eggs.

Preheat oven to 400F. Boil water and cook pasta to al dente. Drain, then add half to the eggplant sauce and half to the cheese sauce. Spread eggplant pasta in the bottom of a 9x13" pan, then distribute mushrooms+arugula over that, then pour cheese pasta over that. Bake for 15 min uncovered, then 15 min covered, then 8 min uncovered, until bubbling and fairly set (the covered time wouldn't be necessary if it wasn't browning too much early on). Serve with the rest of the bottle of red wine.