Dear Fellow Bakers and Friends,

Welcome to the November 2025 issue of Betterbaking.com! I trust this finds you well.

Like many of you, I’ve been busy soup-making, ‘stocking up’ if you pardon the pun and I have the worn-out Sketchers to prove it. Nothing makes me happier (although many things make me as happy) than putting in a storehouse of soups as well as bone broth or as the occasion calls for it, vegan bone broth (which I suppose misses the whole point which is why I don’t make vegan bone broth per se but I do make a lot of soups that are vegetable-based). Seeing an army of soup in my freezer makes me feel taken care of and I share the bounty with family and tango friends some of whom ‘soup me’ back.

My initial soup spree includes Restaurant Style Chicken Soup, a quick Minestrone aka The Best Soup I Ever Made, Country Pea Soup (vegetarian but still heart-warming), Squash and Leek and Potato. Next will be something in lentil I guess and there’s still a few containers of Beef and Barley as well as Turkey Frame Soup courtesy of Canadian Thanksgiving leftovers. For my American friends, this is a great soup to remember post your own Thanksgiving celebrations.

Once I have some classics made, I move to things like Italian Wedding Soup, Tortilla Soup and other more exotic assemblies. Speaking of my freezer, it’s relatively new and it’s an upright one. For decades I railed against upright freezers thinking they didn’t offer as much room. How stubborn I was! Now if you asked me if I have any regrets about my life, it’s simply that I didn’t get an upright freezer ages ago. An upright freezer is far more organized, neat and accessible, especially as mine mostly filled with soups, frozen butter, pastry and cookie doughs. Most of these soup recipes are on this website but they are also all in my cookbook When Bakers Cook.

When my energies are not soup-centric then I’ve been busy making cookies and various pie, tart and pastry doughs. I’ve long had this fantasy that if I just make enough of the basics (soups, cookie doughs, butter chicken, Irish stew, chicken pot pies), I’ll be free to experiment with all sorts of new things. I do manage that in baking but in cooking, I’m still on the quest of FMT (Finding More Time) and no one minds the basics in cooking whereas a better Tollhouse cookie or confetti cake remains baking Everest.

Speaking of time, November features our favorite sort of time, the 4 hour day aka  Daylight Savings Time. This heralds in me driving to tango in the pitch black of night when I sooner be home watching Chad Powers or reading but that’s the challenge of autumn dance class.

I wish I could properly share all the recipes in the BB Recipe Archives – it’s a bit like buried treasure but sometimes when I myself browse through Betterbaking, I’ve really delighted to see such a broad spectrum of unique baking, especially for Thanksgiving. Years of contributing to American food magazines and newspapers honed my talents  vis a vis pecans, pumpkin, apples, and spice and there are extraordinary recipes on the site that aren’t in my cookbooks. So if you have the time…..

On this first of November, I wish you cozy times, a season of wellness and slow breathing. Remember luck has a way of visiting where gratitude resides more often thatn when it doesn’t and in the meanwhile, gratitude can be solace. Stock up on flour and sugar, give your oven a big hug and tuck in for the onslaught of happy, better  baking ahead. (Go Jays)

Warm wishes from my kitchen to yours,

Marcy Goldman
Author, Master Baker, Publisher
www.Betterbaking.com
Est. 1997

November 2025 Recipes Collection

Free Recipe Pumpkin Bourbon Tart
https://betterbaking.com/free-recipe-2025-pumpkin-pie-tollhouse-cookies-from-betterbaking-com/
This is one of those recipes that becomes an instant classic the moment you make it. It’s the best of both worlds of pumpkin cheesecake and pumpkin pie and is laced with the warmth of caramel and bourbon and a final decadence of candied walnuts. True, it is a few steps: crust, filling, caramel and some oven-candied walnuts, but oh – what a sensation this is!

Crusty Cranberry No Knead Bread
https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/no-knead-cranberry-walnut-bread/
A rustic, no-effort bread that sings in the season.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Buns
https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/harvest-pumpkin-sticky-buns/
Your favorite thing (cinnamon buns) collides with your other favorite thing (pumpkin and spice)

Apple Crostata
https://betterbaking.com/recipe-items/shofar-apple-crostata/

This beautiful classic apple crostata is an all season delight but it's a beauty when the new fall apples drop. I use combinations of apples - often Cortland and Yellow Delicious but try your own local apples. This is French pastry shop gorgeous but easy!