Cinnamon and Walnut Povitica
"Like many of us, during the pandemic I turned to baking to soothe myself. I'm a big fan of the Great British Baking Show, so I kept finding the most complicated recipes from the show and making them. I tried them all—Sussex Pond Puddings, Prinsesstarta, Tennis Cake—but there was one that I just couldn't get right. I tried and tried and eventually mastered it, and now it's my favorite special treat: Povitica. It's like a giant cinnamon roll made out of a single, huge sheet of dough. It's so much fun to make and impossible to have one bite of."

Ingredients, dough:
• 2 tablespoons warm water
• 3 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar, divided
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup milk (2% or whole), warm
• 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2–2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Ingredients, filling:
• 1/4 cup milk (2% or whole)
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 3/4 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions, dough
1. In a small bowl, stir 1/2 teaspoons sugar and yeast into warm water. Set aside until foamy (about 5 minutes).
2. Combine warm milk, melted butter, remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, and salt. Add egg, vanilla, and yeast mixture. Stir to combine.
3. Add flour into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook.
4. Pour wet ingredients into the flour and mix the dough with the dough hook until it forms a smooth, elastic ball of dough. (You can also mix and knead by hand). If necessary, add up to two tablespoons more flour until dough is smooth and no longer sticky.
5. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball.
6. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a warm, damp tea towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Directions, filling
1. While the dough is rising, put the milk and butter into the container of a blender or food processor and blend/process until the mixture is warm.
2. Add walnuts, sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Pulse a few times until the ingredients are combined and walnuts are crushed into smaller pieces.
3. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Pulse to combine.
4. Allow mixture to stand at room temperature until dough is ready.

Putting It Together

1. Line a 9 x 5” loaf pan with parchment paper and grease with butter. Set aside.
2. After the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl and place on a well-floured surface.
3. Roll the dough into a rectangle, about 18 x 7” in size. Be sure dough is thin, but not so thin that you can see through it (about 1/4” thick).
4. Spread the filling evenly on the dough, leaving about 1/2” at the edges bare. (If your filling has become too thick to spread, add warm milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until it just reaches spreading consistency).
5. Staring at the edge of your rectangle, roll the dough tightly together making a jelly roll. Be sure to apply pressure and keep rolling tightly until it resembles a rope.
6. Gently stretch out the “rope” and lift it into your prepared loaf pan, making an “S” shape as you put it in. (To do this, fold the dough into thirds in your pan.
7. Cover the pan with a damp towel and let it sit in a warm place for at least 15 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
8. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
9. After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 300 degrees F and bake for an additional 45 minutes (about 1 hour total), or until done (will sound hollow when hit with a wooden spoon). Check your bread after about 30 minutes, and cover with aluminum foil if it is getting too brown.
10. Remove bread from the oven. Cool for 20-30 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pan.
11. Cool completely before cutting and serving!

Ingredients
• 5 Granny Smith apples (the ONLY apple for this #greenthang's pie!)
• 3 pears
• 1 lemon (you'll need 1/4 cup of juice)
• 1/4 cup raw cane sugar
• 3 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 dark brown sugar, packed
• pinch kosher salt (regular table salt or sea salt are also fine)
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter (I prefer salted, but unsalted is also cool). Have another stick on hand
• frozen pie crust (I've found that Trader Joe's works best. Plus, you get two. Double the recipe and you get a pie for you and a pie for the fam. WINNING!)

Directions:
1. Thaw the frozen pie crust.
2. Butter a 9-inch pie plate, and lay the thawed crust in it. Put aside in the fridge until the filling is ready.
3. Peel, core, and slice all the apples and pears approximate 1/4 inch thick, and combine in a large bowl.
4. Half and deseed the lemon. Squeeze until you get 1/4 cup of juice.
5. Add lemon juice, 2.5 teaspoons of cinnamon, raw cane sugar, and pumpkin pie spice to the bowl of fruit. Gently toss.
6. As fruit sits, remove crust from the fridge and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Combine the flour, dark brown sugar, remaining 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt in a food processor. And the butter and pulse to form a medium-sized crumble.
8. Pour fruit filling mixture into the pie crust. Cover filling completely with crumbles. This can be messy. Take your time. Maybe line your workspace with foil, so you can reuse any crumbles that fall.
9. Bake for an hour, or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit is tender.

Yankee Sweet Tea
"Kitchens on the road are a luxury, but this New Yorker's take on that irresistibly sweet southern drink can be made anywhere you have access to hot water. With my mother's iced tea recipe as the foundation for this one, this beverage is family friendly (to make and to drink), and is great to drink during the holidays and all year round."

Ingredients:
• 8 Lipton tea bags (caffeinated)
• 1 1/2 cups raw cane sugar
• 5 lemons
• 8 cups water

Directions:
1. Bring water to a boil. If you have access to a kitchen, use a saucepan on the stove. If you're on the road, an electric kettle will do, though you may need to adjust the recipe based on kettle capacity.
2. Half and deseed the lemons. Put them aside.
3. Turn off the heat and add the tea bags to the hot water. Steep for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the tea bags, squeezing any liquid out before removing them.
5. Heat the tea until you see some steam, then turn the heat off. Do not boil the tea.
6. Add the sugar and stir until combined.
7. Add the juice of 4.5 lemons. (There will be pulp. Sorry not sorry.) Remove any seeds you may have missed.
8. Stir to combine, then allow tea to sit/cool for at least 2 hours. Once cool enough to handle, transfer tea to the empty pitcher/gallon container/bottle. (If you're making this on the road, you may also want a large heat-safe bowl or a 2-liter saucepan to assemble everything in while it's hot.)
9. Cool overnight.
10. ENJOY! Best served cool, but NOT over ice.

Mushroom Tetrazzini
"Every holiday season, I long for this creamy, delicious linguine. This recipe is so popular in my family, it has become a holiday staple. It’s vegetarian and full of wintery herbs and spices such as rosemary, thyme, and nutmeg. Enjoy this yummy dish with your loved ones!"

Ingredients:
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound white mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup dry sherry or marsala
• 1 cup cream (light or heavy)
• freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, plus some to pass at table
• 1 pound egg linguine
• 1 cup frozen organic peas, defrosted (optional)
• finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish

Directions:
1. Sauté mushrooms in butter and olive oil.
2. When it’s sautéed well, add salt, pepper, shallots, and thyme.
3. While it cooks, add the marsala or dry sherry. You have the option to add peas at this point!
4. Once that cooks, add the cream
5. Once it’s boiled, and add grated nutmeg.
6. Meanwhile cook fresh egg linguine pasta. Save some liquid before draining.
7. Pour the sauce over the pasta.
8. Add some parsley, Parmigiano Reggiano, and a bit of that starchy water from earlier. Enjoy!

Raspberry Jam Shortbread Cookies
"My mom has been making them ever since I was born. They are one of the biggest holiday traditions in our family and I have continued to bake these little Christmas delights with my son every Christmas Eve."

Ingredients:
• 1 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons milk (I use eggnog!)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• raspberry jam

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream shortening and sugars in upright mixer.
3. Beat in egg yolks, milk (or eggnog), and vanilla extract.
4. Sift together dry ingredients and gradually add it to the creamed mixture.
5. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and let chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.
6. Take half the dough and roll out on a floured surface. You want the dough to be about 1/8-inch thick.
7. Cut with a 2-inch star shaped cookie cutter. (Or whatever design you like!)
8. Place on cookie sheet. Place 1/2 teaspoon of raspberry jam in the center of each cookie. 9. Roll out other half of dough and repeat cut outs.
10. This time, punch out a 1/2-inch circle in the center of each cookie. (The cap of the vanilla extract works perfectly for this.)
11. Place these cookies on top of the cookies with jam. Seal all edges together by gently pressing down with fingers.
12. Bake for 10–12 minutes.

Sweet Potatoes
"This is actually my mother’s recipe for glazed sweet potatoes. She prepares it by feel and taste, so my queries as to specific amounts were met with sighs. So, this recipe might be called: Tasty and Full of Feeling Sweet Potatoes."

Ingredients:
• 6 medium sweet potatoes
• 2 cups water
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1 stick butter
• ground cinnamon, to taste
• 1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring

Directions:
1. Bake the sweet potatoes in their skins at 350 degrees, or until fork tender.
2. While baking, simmer 2 cups of water, sugar, butter, and vanilla.
3. Peel cooked potatoes.
4. Put whole hot potatoes in a Pyrex, halve them with a knife, pour liquid over potatoes, and sprinkle with cinnamon.
5. Bake at 350 degrees. For how long? Sigh. Til it’s yummy.

Grandma Tootsie’s Pizzelle
"Grandma made a gazillion of these every Christmas. Since she passed, my cousin Mark has taken over the tradition and still uses her original pizzelle iron! Pizzelle irons are easy enough to find (Bed Bath and Beyond even has them) and not too expensive."

Ingredients:
• 6 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup margarine
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 4 tablespoons vanilla

Directions:
1. Beat eggs, adding sugar gradually. Beat until smooth.
2. Melt the margarine (in the microwave is fine). Let cool.
3. Add cooled melted margarine and vanilla.
4. Sift flour and baking powder
5. Add egg mixture to the sifted flour and baking powder. Mix.
6. Dough should be sticky enough to be dropped by spoon into the pizzelle iron.
7. Serve plain or dusted with powdered sugar.