To use immediately:

1. Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface to roughly 1/8 inch thickness.
2. Sprinkle a wooden pizza peel or large cardboard square with coarse cornmeal. This will prevent your dough from sticking to the peel/square and allow you to transfer the topped dough to the pizza stone. Place the dough on the prepared peel/square.
3. Spread your choice of sauce on the dough and add your desired toppings. Be careful to not overly wet the dough as it will begin to stick to the peel/square. Use diced, sliced, or otherwise light weight toppings for best results.
4. Adjust the oven temperature to a low or standard broil.
5. Open the oven, pull out the top rack with the pizza stone on it, and in one vigorous push then pull gesture, transfer the dough from the peel/square to the pizza stone. Return the rack to its place, close the oven and cook the pizza from 3 – 5 minutes.
6. To remove the pizza, slide your peel/square under the lip of the pizza and use a set of tongs or a fork to assist the maneuvering of the pizza onto the peel/square.
7. Add salt and ground pepper and finish with a drizzle of olive oil over the top.

Note: The peel/square to pizza transfer may take a few tries to perfect. Don’t worry. Any cheese or toppings that slide off the pizza and onto your stone will crisp up and burn away over time, helping to “season” the stone. If your pizza gets stuck on the stone, pull the rack out, stone and all, and use a metal spatula to work the pizza free of the stone.

Adapted from The Silver Spoon‘s “Impasto per la Pizza” by Anna David.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp finely minced ginger
• a pinch of salt
• 3/4 lbs of salmon

Directions

1. Melt brown sugar, honey, and butter together. Remove from heat and add dijon mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, ginger and salt.
2. Place the salmon fillet, skin side down on aluminum foil and spread glaze atop fillet.
3. Broil or barbecue for approximately 12 to 15 minutes (according to thickness).

Ingredients

for the crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

for the lemon topping:

• 1 lemon, organic or unsprayed
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 4 tsp corn starch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp melted unsalted butter
• powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Overturn an 8-inch square pan on the counter and wrap the outside snugly with foil, shiny side up. Remove the foil, turn the pan over, and fit the foil into the pan, pressing to nudge the foil into the corners, smoothing the foil as you go.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 8 tbsp melted butter, and vanilla, stirring just until smooth.
4. Press the batter into the bottom of the pan, using your hands or a small offset spatula to get it as level as possible.
5. Bake the crust for 25 minutes, or until it’s deep-golden brown in color.
6. While the crust is cooking, cut the lemon in half, remove the seeds, and cut the lemon into chunks.
7. Put the chunks of lemon in a food processor or blender along with the sugar and lemon juice, and let it run until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the eggs, corn starch, 1/4 tsp of salt, and 3 tbsp melted butter, and blend until almost smooth. The extra chunks of lemon bits will give your bars character.
8. When the crust comes out of the oven, reduce the heat of the oven to 300 degrees. Pour the lemon filling over the hot crust and bake for 25 minutes or just until the filling stops jiggling and is barely set.
9. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Once cool, carefully lift out the bars grasping the foil. Cut the bars into squares or rectangles. Sift powdered sugar over the top just before serving, if desired.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12-ounce package) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans*
• 1/2 cup golden raisins*
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut*

alternate ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup other sweet delicious treats you’ve got in your pantry

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars and vanilla with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips, walnuts/pecans, raisins and coconut (or alternate ingredients).
5. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing with a spatula to wire racks to cool completely. This recipe makes about 45 cookies.