A Small December Reset

Stocking the fridge, selling out the Bakehouse (!), and the recipes you’re loving right now.

Friends, hi!

Let’s use this week to take stock, shall we? December is already trying to sprint ahead without us, but I always feel this little pause — this inhale — right about now. A brief moment in an otherwise bustling month to look around, reset a few corners, and take note of what’s beginning and what’s ending.

Last month, I wrote the final post in a ten-year run of Let It Be Sunday. Ten years! For the past few weeks, I’ve been quietly brainstorming what comes next, letting ideas simmer. I’m working on a monthly almanac series to launch in January, and we’ll see how it feels. I’m going for something thoughtful, seasonal, a little magical. That’s one thing I’m taking stock of.

In the more mundane corners of life: this is an excellent week to reassess the refrigerator. If you’re anything like me, a few remnants of Thanksgiving are… lingering, and I need to clear space for several pounds of butter, the next Bakehouse Texas bake, and the cookie tins I keep promising myself I’ll assemble early this year.

I hope this finds you well, taking a breath in the middle of it all. Let’s keep it steady out there — and keep something warm in our mugs (Highly recommend Chai-Spiced Hot Chocolate).

Let’s get into it.

The Bakehouse Texas December Bakery Box

Friends, I have news - our December Bakery Box sold out over the weekend (!!!). Bellville, you showed up with so much enthusiasm that I had to pinch myself. And because I never want to leave sweet people out in the cold, we’ve opened up a few more orders for the December 20th bake.

This month’s box feels like a little bundle of holiday cheer:
🍪 The Bakehouse Texas Chocolate Chip Cookie
🍒 Fresh Cranberry Crumble Galette
🧀 Cheddar Chive Scone with Whipped Hot Honey Butter
⭐️ Extra-Large Cornmeal Linzer Cookie

If you’ve been meaning to make a little trip out to beautiful Bellville, Texas, consider this your invitation. Pickups are cozy, friendly, and smell exactly like butter and cranberries should in December. And mark your calendars for the January 3rd Bakery Box (featuring bagels and schmears!)

Order here: A few boxes remain — and then we bake! 💛

What You’re Baking from Joy the Baker This Week

One of my little joys is checking the live analytics on the blog and imagining what’s happening in your kitchens. When I see a spike in banana bread at 10 p.m., I know someone out there needed a little late-night comfort baking (respect). When cinnamon rolls take over on a Sunday morning, I can practically smell the butter from here. It’s my favorite way of feeling connected; like we’re all baking side by side, one page view at a time. Here’s what you’re baking this week:

• Sweater weather means all the Swifties are baking Taylor Swift’s Chai Sugar Cookies. I feel like the nutmeg glaze really seals the deal.

• So you’re telling me it’s bundt cake season. The Perfect Chocolate Bundt Cake, simply dusted with powdered sugar, is giving total snowfall energy. If you want to really show off, finish it with a handful of sugared cranberries and suddenly it’s the centerpiece of the whole dessert table. You’re also baking my mom’s Cinnamon Streusel Bundt Cake (yes, the secretly-cake-mix one), and I get it — it’s an absolute classic. Mom knew what she was doing.

• There is a Christmas cookie pulling ahead of the rest and it’s these yes, there are peanut butter cups involved.

• And in the savory corner of things, I see you making Buttermilk-Marinated Chicken and Cream-Boiled Dauphinoise Potatoes - a power duo if ever there was one. My sister Launa taught me the buttermilk trick for chicken thighs, and truly… I’m never going back. As for the potatoes, their quiet decadence makes all the sense in the world this time of year. If there were ever a season for cream-soaked anything, it’s right now.

Six+ Links I Loved This Week

• The “culinary churn” is real for recipe developers and food internet folks like myself , but I love the idea of The Comfort of Bringing the Same Dish Every Time. I’m not sure I have a signature offering? Is it the cookies? (NY Times)

• This essay gets to the heart of it: When Hard Work Stops Working. Also highly recommend giving Kristin Diable’s Your Heart It Is the Ocean a listen. (Substack)

• 33 (more!) Brilliant Life Hacks from our friends at Platonic Love (Substack)

• A reminder that from Rosie MacKean of The Dinner Party that you should make this little Chocolate Basque Cheesecake

• There’s an interesting conversation being had here on Substack and on TikTok about morality plays and weaponized accountability that I find interesting. Thankfully (?) my nearly two decades on the internet has left me with a very thick skin. Reading this rings a bell in the chaos of today’s internet: Maybe We’re All so Worried about Getting in Trouble Because We Keep Trying to Get Each Other in Trouble. (Substack)

• Noah Galuten on The Best Roman Pasta has me sourcing the best oxtails I can get my hands on. (Substack)

More from me soon, friends!

xo Joy