This roast pork came about by accident. I found a beautiful pork butt at the farmers’ market on a Sunday morning and set my sights on pork tacos. I didn’t realize until I got home that the roast was frozen solid. After thirty hours in the fridge, it had finally thawed, but by then it was Monday night and I didn’t have time to make the taco filling before bed. I’d heard that you can cook a pork roast overnight, and a quick Google search told me that Jamie Oliver is a believer. If he’s on board, that’s good enough for me. I made a quick paste of garlic, brown sugar, mustard, thyme, and spices and slathered the pork with it. I gave it a quick blast in a scorching oven to get some caramelization going, then turned the oven down as low as it would go, and went upstairs to bed. The next morning, we woke in a cloud of garlic, sugar, and pork aroma—like bacon on steroids. The surface of the roast was burnished and crisp, and when I went at it with two forks, the meat virtually fell apart. Every accident should be this happy. 

Buying Pork: Pork has changed a lot over the years. Commercial pork is leaner than it used to be, making it less flavorful and prone to dryness. I typically don’t buy it a lot, except for the occasional sausage. Instead, I seek out local pork from small farms whenever possible. It may be a bit more expensive, but the taste is far superior. When you’re buying pork shoulder, look for a piece of meat with good marbling and a generous fat cap. You’ll taste the difference.

How Amanda Riffs: “I make this pork shoulder as often as possible, and when I do, I sometimes change up the seasoning. I capitalize the spices and lowercase the sweetness by adding a tablespoon of smoked paprika in place of the chipotle and a large pinch of red pepper flakes, and omitting the maple syrup and brown sugar.”

During the holiday season we can barely keep packages of these  ginger cookies on our shelves, and they remain  a favourite throughout  the year. In fact, one of our parents  keeps their bag in the freezer in an attempt  to eat only one cookie at a time, a tactic that more often than not fails miserably. What makes this a particularly delicious ginger cookie is the balance of spices and the slightly chewy texture. While ginger is the predominant spice, the addition of cinnamon and cloves results in a more complex and robust flavour, while the molasses adds sweetness and chewy texture.

Chocolate, chocolate cheesecake, and chocolate chip cookie dough all together in one square pretty much confirms my chocolate addiction.

I might be a brownie snob, there’s just no getting around it. In my very humble opinion, brownies need to be chewy, fudgy bites of chocolate bliss, with absolutely no trace of cakeyness to be found. If I wanted chocolate cake, I’d go ahead and bake that instead. The best brownie recipe has no leavening agents, to eliminate airiness, and must observe the best unkept secret of all: just barely stirring in the flour. I’ve been using this recipe for years without deviating from it, and it’s the base for every brownie creation I’ve ever made. The other secret to amazing brownies? Underbake them slightly. You will achieve chewy brownie nirvana.

I associate glazed ham with Easter after years of my family ordering honey hams wrapped in gold tinfoil that we picked up from the local store. If your family usually enjoys ham on Thanksgiving or Christmas, this recipe will work wonderfully for those holidays, as well. My favorite part about a large glazed ham is using it for leftovers throughout the rest of the week, so this recipe intentionally yields more than 8 servings.

When I was developing this recipe, I started with my mom’s “one-bowl vanilla cake,” which she baked often on the farm. I remember it being really good, but when I tested it for the store, it seemed heavy—at which point I remembered that Mom usually used it as the base for strawberry short- cake, in which all sins are drenched in cream and juice! Luckily, the baking team figured out a less “eggy” variation, and we were off to the races.

My favorite chocolate cake is the one my mom used to make from her old Robin Hood Cookbook, so I used that for inspiration when we created our chocolate cupcake at the bakery. Both Mom’s recipe and the one we now use at Prairie Girl are dark and delicious. And did I mention this recipe is easy?! When we’re having an unexpectedly busy day at the bakery, the bakers can whip up 10 dozen minis in under an hour, but don’t try that at home!

These coffee glazed cookies can be paired perfectly with your afternoon tea.