Free The Boozy Baker: 75 Recipes for Spirited Sweets by Lucy Baker

with a bologna and cheese sandwich (sans crusts), a small bag of Cape Cod potato chips, a Capri Sun juice pack, and two Fig Newtons. I haven’t had bologna in years, but I still love figs: green, black, dried, and fresh. This rustic, homey galette is bursting with the delicate juicy fresh fruits. And I’ve traded the Capri Sun for sophisticated Sauternes, a sweet French dessert wine.
    FOR THE CRUST:
    1¼ cups all-purpose flour
    ¼ cup fine yellow cornmeal
    ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
    ¼ teaspoon salt
    ¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced into ½-inch pieces and chilled
    2 to 4 tablespoons ice water
    FOR THE FILLING:
    ¼ cup Sauternes
    2 pounds ripe fresh figs
    TO MAKE THE CRUST , combine the flour, cornmeal, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse to blend. Add the butter, a few pieces at a time, and pulse to blend. Drizzle in the water, one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture comes together in large clumps. Turn out the dough onto a clean work surface. Form it into a ball, flatten it slightly, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Transfer the dough to the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
    Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface into a 14-inch circle. Carefully transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate, leaving at least a 1-inch overhang. Freeze the crust for 30 minutes.
    Preheat the oven to 375°F and position a rack in the lower third.
    TO MAKE THE FILLING , in a small saucepan, combine the Sauternes and the remaining ¼ cup sugar. Heat over medium heat until it is reduced and syrupy, about 5 to 7 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool while you assemble the rest of the galette.
    Trim the figs and cut them into ½-inch wedges. Spoon the figs into the crust and pour the cooled Sauternes syrup over them. Fold the edges of the dough up over the figs (it won’t cover them completely).
    Bake the galette for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and allow the galette to cool for 15 minutes.
    SHAKE IT UP: Substitute Riesling or another sweet white wine for the Sauternes.

RAIDING THE BAR AND THE COOKIE JAR
    What is more irresistible than a warm chocolate chip cookie, or a gooey cream cheese brownie? How about a filled-to-the-brim Cosmopolitan made with white cranberry juice, or an icy glass of Dark and Stormy punch made with fresh ginger? Everyone knows that the pairing of cookies and milk is a match made in heaven, but I think cookies and booze are an equally delicious—and far more devilish—combination.
    The recipes in this chapter are simple and whimsical. There’s not a plain gingersnap or boring shortbread in the bunch. Instead, I’ve transformed traditional bake sale treats with funky ingredients like poppy seeds, banana chips, and marshmallow cream. While some names may sound familiar (hermits, black and whites), you can rest assured that these aren’t your grandmother’s snickerdoodles.
    Baking cookies is one of my favorite activities on a lazy afternoon. Here are a few helpful hints for success. Know your oven. While best-quality professional ovens heat evenly, most home ovens are a bit uneven. Because of this, it’s best to rotate sheets of cookies from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time. If you are worried about cookies sticking to your baking sheet, use parchment paper. Nothing—not foil, not silicone mats—works better. Sometimes I only want a cookie ortwo, or I’m afraid if I bake a whole batch I’ll eat a whole batch. It’s easy to freeze cookie dough. Simply form the dough into balls and freeze them on a baking sheet. Once they’re solid, transfer the frozen balls to a zip-top plastic bag. There is no need to thaw them before baking, just pop them in the oven and add an extra minute or two to the baking time. The frozen cookie dough will last up to three months.
    As kids, lots of us came