5 spicy candy recipes

Traditional Welsh currant bread (Bara Brith) with sultanas, candied peel, brown sugar, and pudding spice. A slow-risen fruit loaf that bakes into a dense, richly spiced slice.

Vegan fruit cake packed with dried fruit, candied peel, orange rind, and almonds, leavened with a soy milk and vinegar reaction instead of eggs. A dense, dairy-free holiday cake baked low and slow.

Fresh ginger cheesecake with a ground pecan crust, featuring three forms of ginger: preserves, ground, and fresh grated. A rich, spicy cheesecake baked low and slow, garnished with candied ginger.

Plum relish slow-cooks plums with apples, onions, vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, and cloves into a thick sweet-spicy condiment. Big-batch chutney for cheese boards and roasts.

Lester's fruitcake is a heirloom holiday loaf: pounds of candied fruits, figs, dates, raisins, pecans, and walnuts bound in spiced molasses batter. Slow-baked, brandy-soaked, aged a month.