smitten kitchen keepers is here + my favorite thanksgiving pies

plus: green angel hair with garlic butter

Nov 22, 2022

Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Greetings from Toronto! And Happy Thanksgiving week, my favorite cooking holiday of the year.

Last week my third cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Keepers, came out and thank goodness, because it was impossibly hard to keep it from you for so long. There are so many recipes in there that I worked at for years to get exactly right and I cannot wait for you to make them all — like thick, tender molasses spice cookies you can make in one bowl, no handmixer required, the kind that make your whole home smell like the holidays. There are braised winter squash wedges angling to make an appearance on your holiday table this week and a butterscotch apple crisp that you’ll never be able to show up again without. There’s a pumpkin snacking cake that nobody will guess is dairy- and egg-free, but I know there is always someone at the table so grateful you thought of them, too. And when you’re all turkey-ed out, there’s a warm hoagie that's practically a vegetarian cheesesteak and my favorite pot roast is in there too.

They're all, to me, keepers -- the kind of recipes that you make and know instantly that you'll want them to be part of your repertoires forever. In each recipe, I’ve tried to apply everything I've learned over the years on smittenkitchen.com about how to make shopping easier, cooking more doable and enjoyable, and outcomes more reliably delicious. Because if you hate making the recipe -- if the process was persnickety and you dirtied every bowl in your kitchen -- it barely matters if the result was otherworldly, you're going to avoid it. And I want these to be recipes you, above all, love to make.

I hope you’ll find a few new recipes worth tucking away in your own forever files. I hope you’ll have as much fun eating these dishes as I did getting them right.

Cheers,

Deb

P.S. A few somewhat crazy book-related things that happened this past week: Good Morning America, NPR’s Morning Edition, and Amazon chose Smitten Kitchen Keepers as their best cookbook of the year.

The Smitten Kitchen Keepers Fall Book Tour kicked off last week, with events in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Atlanta. I’m in Toronto today (the event begins at 5pm), Minneapolis, Chiaco, and Connecticut next. I hope we get to hang out! I’ve just added a few additional signings: An additional daytime signing in Boston on 12/9 and Short Hills, NJ on 12/10. Ticket links are now up for Austin and two Seattle events in January. All of the locations, dates, and details are on the Events page.

green angel hair with garlic butter

The Smitten Kitchen Keepers cover dish is as dreamy and unfussy as all weeknight meals should be: I bet you’ll make it once and memorize it forever.

Five favorite Thanksgiving pies for people who make pie at the last minute, like me.

classic pumpkin pie + pecan praline sauce

When one classic (old-school pumpkin pie) loves another classic (pecan pie) very much, everyone wins.

pecan pie

Six simple tips to send your (corn syrup-free) pecan pie game into the stratosphere, because just-good-enough pecan pie would never cut it around here.

cranberry pie with thick pecan crumble

My very favorite reason to buy too many cranberries, this pie is an unexpected showstopper.

apple slab pie

Slab pie feeds a crowd and this one tastes like old-fashioned apple pie meets a giant flaky, buttery pop tart. Trust me, it’s a very good idea.

nutmeg maple cream pie

A luxe longtime favorite, this is a sleeper recipe for a gloriously rich, deeply maple-y pie, creamy baked pie. I've toned down the nutmeg over the years so it doesn't blot out the other flavors, but mostly left everything as perfect as it's always been.

shop my favorites

Ever wonder where I get my cutting boards, paring knives, offset spatulas and more than you see when I cook? I've created a page on Smitten Kitchen with links to some of my favorite kitchen items, the ones I'm asked about the most. For each item, I've attempted to provide a range of shopping links so we're not just focusing on one giant retailer. Recent additions: The glass pot you might have seen in some recipe demos, and my go-to nonstick crepe pan. Let me know if there’s anything I’ve left off that you need!

one year ago: cranberry pecan bread

two years ago: sour cream and chive fantails

three years ago: challah stuffing

four years ago: drop cornbread biscuits

See you next week!