More Pumpkin and Some Toffee Pudding

Hello peeps. I am writing this letter to you from - wait for it - Paris! My brother and I have taken my mom here for the week, as it is one of her favorite cities and she has not been back since my dad died, about a year and a half ago. We actually celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary here about 11 years ago and it is really special being back. We’ve just arrived and although we will be eating lots of delicious food each and every day, so far I have only had (“only,” she says . . .) an exquisite croissant (and my mother and brother have each had a pain au chocolat):

And a few bites of the creamiest, most perfect quiche ever. The custard was literally ethereal.

But I digress, as what I really want to share with you is that I am finally home from my book tour and I couldn’t be happier about it. Although I loved (almost) every minute of the tour, I am, in the end, an introverted extrovert, who is at her happiest eating popcorn (with Graza olive oil oil and salt) alone in front of the TV. And as such, I am okay with the fact that for the foreseeable future, my Salty Cheesy events are all mostly in NYC and its surrounding areas. And speaking of said events, want to hang out with me and NYT Cooking’s Melissa Clark (yes: THE Melissa Clark) on Tuesday November 19th at 6:30pm ET? We’re going to chat, I am going to demo and there will be treats. You can get info and register here.

Or, if you’d rather hang out with me from the comfort of your own home while wearing your PJs, I’m teaching a virtual class with Milk Street on Thursday November 21st at 6:00pm ET, at which I’ll be demo’ing a whole bunch of yummy Salty Cheesy treats for holiday entertaining. Info can be found here. 

Finally, if you really just want to make and eat pie in November (and who can blame you, if you do) please join me at the James Beard Foundation’s Platform on Tuesday November 26th at 6pm ET. I will be making two pies (and you will be making one of them along with me!) and we will be eating pie and drinking something tasty and chatting and it will be a grand old time, I promise. Info is here. 

Okay, enough about that. Now, I want to share some recipes with you. First up, are my pumpkin donut holes, which are really just pumpkin muffins, assembled in a mini-muffin tin and dunked in butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar post-bake. But you would never know they were muffins because said butter-dunking and sugar rolling transforms these cuties into donuts - no joke. The recipe can be found here. 

Next up is the pumpkin chiffon pie that I asked you about in my last letter. I wondered (in case you forgot) if anyone would like to see the recipe and guess what? Peeps said they would, indeed, be interested and so here it is. I am not a pumpkin pie fan, but a pumpkin chiffon pie (particularly one like this, in a gingersnap crust) is light and airy and delightful and the textural opposite to a traditional pie of the pumpkin variety. The filling is like mousse, not custard, and I think you will dig it. Moreover, although the filling is 100% pumpkin flavored, it’s more subtle (in a good way) than its brethren. The recipe is here (and I wish I had a better photo for you than the one below . . . but please do not judge this delicious book by its sub-par cover . . .). 

Finally, I made sticky toffee pudding with prunes rather than dates and it blew my mind. I also turned the pudding into a snacking cake which was a very good move, if I do say so myself. And, who knew, but sticky toffee pudding is crazy - like crazy - easy to make and incredibly tasty; with a soft, almost chewy texture and a caramel/toffee flavor. The recipe is here. 

On this week’s episode of She’s My Cherry Pie . . . 

I am thrilled to share that my guest this week on She’s My Cherry Pie (the #1 baking podcast in the US, thank you very much) is Dame Prue Leith! I had the absolute best time talking with her as she is brilliant and funny and has had the most exciting of careers (restaurants, cooking schools, novels, cookbooks, a memoir and now - judging on both the Great British Bake Off and the Great American Baking Show!).  Hope you will give our chat a listen right here. 

Have you watched?

Alright, so because I am watching the Good Wife, and it has 6 seasons of like 23 episodes each, it is going to take me a very long time to get through it and share something new with you. And so in honor of being in Paris, I thought I’d mention Emily in Paris. So, here’s the thing with this show: I am not even sure I like it and have had a tough time starting season 4 (aka I am currently not watching it). BUT I may give it another go (in 2026 when I finally finish the Good Wife, ha ha) now that I am in Paris, as the city is as much a character in the show (along with Emily’s wardrobe) as are those that the actual actors play. For many the show may be be just a little too fluffy and silly, a young American woman, living in Paris and finding her way through life and love and work. But I did find myself pretty into at moments. So might just find myself going back at some point . . . 

Have you read? 

I just read The Fraud by Zadie Smith and I loved it. I’m not sure I have read anything of hers since White Teeth, and I honestly don’t remember it all that well (okay, not at all) but I really enjoyed her latest. The book (about feminism, slavery and truth - you know, the small stuff) requires you to pay attention, as I read in one review, as the story moves around from decade to decade, but the characters (including Charles Dickens!) and story are really engaging.

Have you listened?

Sadly, I have no new podcasts to tell you about, as I am finding it really hard to find anything I want to listen to. I am a true crime kind of listener, as I have said before, so if anyone hs any recs, please send them my way. When I don’t listen to my fave scary, creepy genre, I listen to food podcasts - and even though food is my everything, I’m desperate to get back to something with a little more mystery (at least for me). 

Alrighty, thanks as always for subscribing and reading, my snackable friends, and see you in two weeks.