The Gingerbread Man (Honey stout gingerbread cake, honey glaze)

As the Thanksgiving dust settles, baking cakes may be the last thing on your mind, but as winter drags on, I expect that you (like me) will come creeping back into the kitchen. Call it culinary therapy. Winter demands sturdier, more substantial, more warming foods, and this month's honey stout gingerbread cake fits the bill, perfectly.    A bundt cake, this takes advantage of the pretty, fluted mold and uses a simple glaze you can just pour over the top, rather than fussing with layers and smoothing icing. Triple-spiked with fresh, ground, and crystallized ginger, it's an easy pick-me-up with just the right amount of not-to-sweet gingery fire.

Fyah

Yapple-Dapple (Apple galette, cognac caramel sauce)

We are now in undisputed apple season. In my hometown, September is always marked by the Apple Peach Festival, sadly this year just an apple festival after the late spring frost laid waste to the peach blossoms. Intending to console myself with copious amounts of apples, I had my heart set on tarte Tatin: a pastry crust baked upside-down atop a layer of deeply caramelized apples. This led to my next revelation, however: that recipe seemed somehow intimidating. I feel like "effortless elegance" is more my wheelhouse, so I split the difference: an easy apple galette, gussied up with cognac caramel sauce.

Gastronomically gussied

Holiday Cheer (Cranberry orange spice cheesecake bars)

For me, the holidays mark open season for baking. Cooler weather makes it more comfortable to blast the oven all day and subtly increases the caloric load, or at least I like to tell myself so. "I'm storing up for the long winter" is a frequent excuse I make, while eating a dozen cookies at a time. At first, I wanted to make one of my mother's requisite holiday recipes: Pecan Tassies. Like miniature pecan pies, nestled in a bite-sized tart shell of cream cheese crust, they've always been a favorite in my family. Owing to Aaron's unfortunate upbringing beside several pecan trees, however, he still suffers from perennial pecan fatigue and refuses to eat them. Seeking a different source of holiday cheer, I settled on cranberry orange spice cheesecake bars: rich, sweet-tart and 100% holiday-approved in color and flavor profile, these are an ideal nut-free treat for the bleak midwinter.

Sweet!

Apple-y Dapple-y (Baked apples with walnuts, honey, and spiced mascarpone)

Mono no aware is the Japanese concept of "Awareness of Things." It refers to the poignancy of ephemeral beauty: the single night of the moon at its zenith, spring blossoms that scatter to the winds, autumn leaves changing colors, only to fade, and fall. I fancy I've always had a certain affinity for the melancholy of evanescence. This reached its peak in high school, when I'd craft intricate designs below the tideline, using stones, shells, and beach roses. I knew that, in a few hours, they'd be devoured by the waves, but the action of creating the art, and its destruction, and the pathos of those fleeting moments in between was part of the beauty. As I walk in the park every day, with that welcome new tang of autumn chill to the air, I feel just a little blue as I notice the season turn and sunlight slip away. This is why, in my opinion, the Autumnal Equinox was a festival for ancient Europeans. It doesn't just coincide with the harvest, it also helps to kick away that sense of autumnal doldrums. Like with  honey-baked apples, roasted walnuts, and spiced mascarpone cheese.

Quick pick-me-up

Pastiche of Exoticized "Other" (Moroccan lamb burgers)

The hamburger, despite owing its name to the city of Hamburg, Germany, is considered a quintessentially American food. So as the mercury spikes and grills flare across the land, I wanted in on the action. A food with such cultural iconography (and such simple ingredients) naturally lends itself to extemporization and I opted to enhance my Americana with a trip to the spice market: Moroccan lamb burgers with gingered carrots, lemon-mint goat cheese, and microgreens. The carrot component is an easy make-ahead, but the rest is ready in minutes, leaving you more time to chill in the shade with a tall glass of iced peppermint tea.

Prepare to chill

Waffles 4 lyfe! (Liège-style Belgian waffles)

Over time, the entirety of my immediate family has trickled down to live in Chesapeake, Virginia. While I love the area, the job market has invariably left me further north. As the odd man out, it can sometimes be difficult to make family get-togethers. This was the case this most recent Mother's Day. I was sad to miss spending time with my family, but doubly so when I learned my equally epicurean sister had served gaufres de Liège, Belgian waffles with pearl sugar, as a holiday brunch.

Thus, with a waffle, I die

Pumpkin in the Air (Pumpkin Butterscotch Blondies)

The long-lingering warmth of summer seems to have inspired especially beautiful leaves this season and I've found myself slowly ambling down the backroads around the bakery to soak in the blazing canopies of foliage. Leafer madness is in the air. Also in the air in high concentrations: the sweet, earthy squashiness of pumpkin. I chose to capture the star flavor of the season by tinkering up pumpkin butterscotch ginger blondies: tender treats that highlight the true flavor of pumpkin, while still enthusiastically embracing a curated selection of its aromatic pairings.

Aromatically delicious

Monkeying Around (Monkey Bread, Walnuts, Maple-Cream Cheese Icing)

Once upon a time, all of our family in Montoursville would gather round the table on Sunday mornings for family brunch. Come to think of it, I think that time was so long ago our nephew Dylan wasn't even born, yet, but the point is that it's been a while. I wanted to get everyone back together to spend some quality time, breakfast-style, so monkey bread was definitely in order.

Have a bite