Thankful, in no particular order: Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style; a husband who is more patient, better-mannered and looks better in jeans than I do (and who will no doubt snerk because I mentioned Tim Gunn first); a sunny apartment; all 273 comments on my mom’s apple cake; a family that laughs their faces off when I tell them about our late night underbed horror story; the Flying Spaghetti Monster; in-laws that fulfill not a single in-law cliche; artichokes; that I get to do work I like, for people I like; a passport with a lot of stamps on it; bourbon; a new neighbor around the corner I can actually borrow a tart pan from in a pinch; Google Docs; this new print we are framing that makes me giggle every time I see it; January 20th; a coffee shop steps away that neither burns the coffee nor considers a 16-ounce tanker a “small”; the two slices of Poilane bread left in the freezer from our house guests; that I get to call editing photos of apple peels “work”; the scent of mingling of tree vendors and roasted cashews in New York right now; the relief realizing that I haven’t grown “out of” liking to crunch leaves and cut paper snowflakes; the RUB t-shirts that say “Best butt in town!”. And you.
BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for all the pie advice :) Can’t wait to hear about all those up there. Happy Thanksgiving!
Deb, among many other things, I am so thankful for this site! You are hilarious and clearly very talented, and I think there are a lot of people out there who, like me, really look forward to whatever’s coming next from the smitten kitchen. So thanks for the laughs, thanks for the inspiration, and thanks for all the little treasures now tucked into my recipe file!
Great post. THIS is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.
Ooh, those apples. So shiny and pretty. I find myself looking up so many last minute recipes and tips on Thanksgiving day. Smart post. I am grateful for Smitten Kitchen!
Angie (from over at http://www.HalfAssedKitchen.com)
Happy Thanksgiving Deb.
Mmmmmm…..what kind of apples are those? Looks like a mix of Granny Smith and maybe Rome? I live in the mountains of western Virginia (not WV) and there are an astounding number of apples sold by the side of the road in autumn (not in the grocery stores, of course). I will NEVER eat a Red Delicious again.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Today I baked my first apple pie for the season (it’s actually still in the oven). (Not so much a Thanksgiving thing, since I’m in Italy, rather an urge I get any time I watch an episode of Pushing Daisies.)
I found your website months ago, while I was searching the net for the perfect pie crust. So today I decided to use yours, from 102. I was particularly careful with keeping the ingredients and the dough cold, and I followed your suggestion of using plenty of flour while rolling. It was actually the first time the dough didn’t break – hence the lack of 4-letter words on my part. Thanks. I’ll keep coming back.
We’ll see how it came out. I will have pictures.
—Tony
Hi, Deb. I just wanted to let you know I’m making your pumpkin bread pudding for the second Thanksgiving in a row. It is delicious and everyone loves it! Happy Thanksgiving.
What a beautiful list. I’m inspired.
You are seriously talented! To be honest, I’m not terribly good in the kitchen (I do try), but SK gives me inspiration to keep trying! Artichokes have always been my favorite food, but I never really knew what else to do with them besides stick them in a pressure cooker. Thanks for all your incredible recipes and ideas!
wow – you’ve been busy! How many desserts are you making for today, that’s what I want to know! I bet your husband is one happy man! :)
Happy Thanksgiving!
I am thankful for the Internet and sites like yours. Your mom’s apple cake is going to one of the feasts today.
These pictures are beautiful, as always.
And I think I can speak for all of your readers when I say that we are awfully thankful for YOU!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks for all the wonderful posts and pictures. I hope that the pie tastes at least as awesome as it looks!
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Here’s to good eats, tasty treats, and another year of Smitten Kitchen!
I found your site like a month ago and I love it!
I make the pie dough yesterday, look great… waiting for the rest of the people to try it.
Thanks! and Happy Thanksgiving!
right this moment, i’m thankful that someone else is doing the cooking this year. and for my husband, who dutifully makes the coffee every morning. and for living close to my family this year, and that i won’t be a stranger to my niece and nephew when i see them later. aw, now i’m getting mushy.
We will hear about the desserts behind those pictures, especially that chocolate tart thing?
I’m thankful for Smitten Kitchen, and for my Alex who will go “Yes, make that,” when I say “Come look at these pictures Deb just put up!”
I’ve been reading your blog since the summer and I love it. Have never commented but figured today was a great day to show my appreciation. you are the first thing I read every morning and it adds so much to my day. Thank you so much!
I made my first apple pie today from scratch (well, I’ve made the apple part before from scratch, but the closest I came to dough was the crumbly kind you just press into the pan). When I first opened the post just now, I thought perhaps you’d been in my kitchen, as those first few shots were looking awful familiar! Anyway, I followed your instructions and now I’m wondering what all the fuss has been about. So easy! OK, so I haven’t tried the pie yet, so I don’t know if it’s perfectly flaky and yummy. Unfortunately we must wait until AFTER dinner for that. But it looks divine, even though I made the mistake of making the bottom part of the crust all crimped and perfect before putting on the top part of the crust … which left me with little to nothing to crimp the top to. But I made it work and nothing overflowed off the side. So, thank you for your site, for your humor, for making me realize that I don’t have to be perfect in the kitchen (my husband commented on the lack of four+-letter words today), and for inspiring so many of us to try so many delicious recipes! Happy Thanksgiving!
Wonderful post, last weekend i made those world peace cookies they were excellent!
Happy Thanksgiving those in America, with love from Scotland:)
A Thanks Giving from an Irish poet, John O’Donohue, from To Bless the Space Between Us, A Book of Blessings:
We end this meal with grace
For the joy and nourishment of food,
The slowed time away from the world
To come into presence with each other
And sense the subtle lives behind our faces,
The different colors of our voices,
The edges of hungers we keep private,
The circle of love that unites us.
We pray the wise spirit who keep us
To change the structures that make others hunger
And that after such grace we might now go forth
And impart dignity wherever we partake.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I’ve been lurking about since this summer and your site inspires me everyday. Thank you from SoCal!!! <3
Just pulled my apple pie (my filling, your crust) out of the oven and WOW! I have never had a crust look that beautiful. Happy Thanksgiving!
Great post. Happy Thanksgiving. The photo of the apple peels is perfect! It’s art, seriously I’d hang that in my kitchen.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the US, hope you have all had a wonderful day. Oh and your pie looks amazing and I now want that print too!
I baked your (mom’s) apple cake this year. Everybody[i] lurves[/i] it. Please thank your mom for me.
I’m thankful for my best friend and my husband this year, who surprised me with a Thanksgiving dinner fit for royalty yesterday! I’m an American that lives in Australia, they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here. I’ve missed it terribly, it’s my favorite holiday and because my mom is having a hard time this year being without my dad (he died in March), I feel such a sadness for her. Words hardly express my gratitude for these two people who obviously care enough about me to do research and spend hours cooking… just for me!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
I’ve baked your mom’s apple cake a few times in addition to baking it tonight for dinner. It’s always a smash hit and everyone wonders who I stole the recipe from! Thank you!! Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks to you for your blog. Checking to see if you have posted is one of my favorite parts of the day. You inspire me!
I made your Winter Fruit Salad (and am making it again for Christmas) and the Acorn Squash with Chile-Lime Vinaigrette for Thanksgiving. They were beyond delicious! And how could I forget? I made your Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake for Thanksgiving part II tomorrow. I can’t wait. Thanks for bringing Smitten Kitchen and so many wonderful recipes into our lives!
You have a nice list of things to be thankful for. I agree. It’s always wonderful to be doing work you enjoy.
Thanks to you, I have become more brave in the kitchen since finding your site this summer. You’ve given me the confidence to try new things, like the CI pumpkin pie which I baked this morning (using the not-so-fine strainer). Thanks your mom’s apple cake, a new permanent addition to our Rosh Hashanah dinner. And thanks for making NYC seem a little closer for those of us so far away. Happy Thanksgiving from Dallas!
SmittenKitchen certainly makes my list, so thank you, Deb, for this site!
Have a happy thanksgiving!(though it’s almost over) Ps where’s the pumpkin pie/cheesecake?
Happy Thanksgiving! I really enjoy this blog – thank you, Deb! But I missed something. Would someone please tell me what NaBloPoMo is?
Other Jessica – NaBloPoMo is short for National Blog Posting Month, a challenge in which bloggers post on their blogs every day during the month of November. It is a spin off of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, also November, where writers shoot to write a novel in thirty days.
As usual, beautiful photography and scrumptious looking food! I hope we get that chocolate tart recipe!
Long time reader, never commented. Happy Thanksgiving! I love your site and your pictures, humor, wit. I love “fearless” cooks and you are one of them. And I like to think your recipes I’ve tried have made me a more fearless cook too. Thank you!
First, I’m so thankful for you and all the work you put into this site. It’s the first place I visit everyday and I’ve never been disappointed. Your food choices are excellent and my family and I have really enjoyed all the new foods I’ve learned to prepare through your fun to read presentation.
Last, I made your pie crust. it handled beautifully as I noted on the rolling tutorial, and it looked and tasted fabulous. I won’t be hatin pie dough any more!
your blog is one of the things i’m thankful for! thank you :)
I am English and don’t celebrate thanksgiving, but I am so grateful for your incredible blog and the sheer dedication and skill you have bucketfuls of. I have endless respect and envy for your beautiful cooking and the fact that you share it with all of us! Have an awesome thanksgiving :)
MAGNIFICENT!!!!!!
I look forward to your blog every morning, I’m grateful that i found you!!
Hey, my kitchen turns into a bakery on Thanksgiving day too. I’m the one in charge of the pies and rolls; there is no air freshener like a batch of rolls or a pie baking in the oven.
Deb,
Thank you for making me want to cook again. I’m not a big chef, as I have a husband who is a wonderful cook and really loves it, so I generally leave most of the cooking to him (Yes, I’m lucky, I know!). But reading about your recipes not only makes my mouth water, it also makes me want to try every single thing you write about. I made my own pie crust yesterday for the first time, and I had so much fun and everyone raved about it–all thanks to your blog.
Thanks for making my kitchen fun!
Erica
AS always, I love reading your blog and seeing the beautiful pictures. I am thankful for the epi of Martha Stewart that led me to you and so many other wonderful blogs. You are an incredible blogger! Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!
A very nice list.
What did we make from SK this Thanksgiving in addition to our regular pie madness, you ask? Mustard roasted”sweet” potatoes, chocolate pumpkin layer cake, chocolate toffee cookies, maple cream pie and apple cranberry crisp. We also had pecan pie, sweet potato pie, pear cranberry pumpkin pie, pumpkin cheesecake, pineapple angel food cake, and raisin cranberry tart. Oh yes, turkey, trimmings, veggies and lots to drink. I am thankful to be able to be with family and friends, that my children and their friends find this a Thanksgiving destination and that my kitchen is somewhat clean the morning after. Thanks for your inspiration!
Happy Pie-for-Breakfast Day, people! And thanks for all the sweet and thankful wishes.
To the person who left the “snerk/steambath facial comment: So sorry! I am out of town and reading comments on my iPhone this morning and in the WP comment menu the delete button is right under where you scroll, gah, so annoying. I will make every affort not to delete it if you leave it again. ;)
Deb, I’m thankful for all the work you put into this website and recipes you share .. have made our kitchen shine with so many of your delicious recipes! And double thanks for your pie crust posts, I made a few very delicious all-butter pie crusts fr Thanksgiving using your posts as guidance. :)
Deb I am thankful for you and all the work you do. Last year I said to my pastry obsessed boyfriend – I wish SmittenKitchen would do a pie 102 about rolling & finishing the dough – and YOU DID! I learn so much from you, thank you.
ps – I made your mom’s apple cake the day you posted it, and have made it twice since. The site/recipe has also been passed on to about 3 of my friends who now get office/family regular requests for the cake.
Here in Northern Ontario, Canada – my family still celebrates Thanksgiving even though we have lived here for over 25 years. Our US family is too far away to travel to visit for this holiday – but we have the turkey and ALL the trimmings each year. Deb – Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Your site is an inspiration for us who still find certain challenges in the kitchen. I love to cook and bake as well, and still need help sometimes. With your tips, we all can do it!!! Your site is awesome. Keep it coming!! Love it all.
Hello from Montreal. Our Thanksgiving was in October but being thanikful is year round. I am thankful for the good recipes you show us and how easy they are. I have made many of them and yes they all turned out delicious. Love when I recieve your newsletters. Thank you and continue your good work. Peace on earth for all.
those apple peels are gorgeous. That’s one of my favorite photos.
Happy thanks giving and thank you for your efforts to satisfy us.
Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for SK and for NaBloPoMo!! Seeing your new recipe is often the highlight of my day. Thanks for the crust tips– I made two pumpkin, one dutch apple (for my hubby who “doesn’t like crust” WTF), and one mincemeat pie this year. The crust (the CI recipe from your Pie Crust 101) got rave reviews, and everyone loved that it had vodka in it. Bunch of alcoholics.
This year, I am thankful for SK!
Happy Thanksgiving. I just wanted to let you know that I followed your Tuesday & Wednesday pie-making guides to a T and, as a result, turned out the best, easiest, most delicious Thanksgiving pie crust I’ve ever made… there was no sticking, no breaking, no need for unsightly patches and I did not curse, not even once. Thank you!
Thankful…..for people, like you, who love food as much as I.For families who will come (one side 65 miles one way) to spend Thanksgiving at my home, because it’s the only way I get to see them and my in-laws on a holiday. For best friends who spend 8 hours on their day off drinking wine and cooking with you on Wednesday, loaning you their big roasting pan, and coming back Thursday to share the meal. For leftovers the next day, especially cold stuffing and a glass of milk! For SmittenKitchen and cranberry pecan frangipane tart…oh my God it was wonderful!For the plenty we enjoy. The security we take for granted. For the clean air we breathe and the water we drink. And the privilege to choose the way we live.
I made Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies, Winter Squash Soup & Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake this Thanksgiving all from your website. All were a success! I have passed your blog onto all people who inquired about the fabulous food. I am thankful for these wonderful recipes you post and many other things in my life…too many to list. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
Right back at ya.
Nice list! And good looking desserts, too. Love the leaf garnish on your double crust pie.
You dictated (in a good way) my Thanksgiving menu–Onion Tart, Apple PIe, Cranberry-Caramel Tart, so I have to say that I am thankful for YOU!!
Love your blog and look forward to going backwards and forwards trying new recipes from it in the coming new year. My only regret is that I cannot experience the smells from the mix of tree vendors and roasted cashew vendors (and chestnut vendors, and soft pretzel vendors). As a relocated New Yorker I MISS THEM!!
Thanks again for all the good times and wonderful feelings your blog invokes.
Deb,
Yesterday was my first time over my future in-laws house for a big family Thanksgiving. I got there early and got to help cook thanksgiving, and also teach how to make pie crusts/your pumpkin pie [with the laptop perched right on the counter ;)]! The desserts were such a hit, and there were only a few slices left over for breakfast today, but BOY were they good. I’m so thankful for you and your site. Hope you’re having a great weekend, and that you know that you touch so many people’s lives in so many ways. :)
Deb
I had to make two pies over Thanksgiving, much to the puzzled joy of my husband and guests. I had started with a shortening pie crust for your silken pumpkin pie, not having read your op-ed on shortening crust and being a little intimidated by the butter crust. But quickly went with the butter crust for your post in cinnamon sigh. Well suffice to say, I LOVE the butter crust hands down and feel like I can master that dough.The husband says it was one of the best pies he has ever had and this man has eaten his share of pie! Maybe yet another pie this weekend. In any case, thank you again and again for being such a resource for me and inspiring me to do things and think about cooking in such an encouraging way.
I love the list. And I’m pumped about the pie crust tutorials. It’s fun to sneak a peak at your site during the Thanksgiving holidays and see new posts that make me smile like all the rest always do. And my husband looks better in jeans than I do, too.
I read your blog every day….you are amazing! Thanks for all that YOU do! :-)
They all look amazing! I love the leaves you put on your crust – what a great touch!
Better make that 462 comments on your mum’s applecake, and counting. That cake looks absolutely amazing! It’s winter over here in NZ, and I can’t think of anything nicer right now than a slice of warm apple cake with a hot cuppa to cheer up a bleak wet afternoon.
Love your blog, but today it’s making my whole Weight Watchers struggle double its usual degree of difficulty. Pfft weight schmeight… I love your blog anyway!
Yum, look at that huge pile of apples! What pie recipe did you use?
I try this but I’m not put too much sugar but its ok delicious. Thanks
It’s 2021 and your archives are the best occasional escape–and yes, that Jan 20th was the best, wasn’t it?