As I write this, a loaf of pumpkin bread is baking in my toaster oven. This isn’t a white lie, the kind writers might conjure to set a scene. For real, just moments ago I took some leftover canned pumpkin I had after making a Pumpkin Cheesecake recently that was screaming for use and now it’s as though I’m living life inside a novelty seasonal candle. Why the toaster oven, you ask? Short answer, too depressing to string into sentences: broken oven + supply chain issues. This alternate plane of existence I find myself in as a baker without an oven has forced experimentation in my wee tabletop toaster oven and thus gifted me with an appreciation for small-batch baking like the recipe that I’m gifting to paid subscribers as thanks this month. I’ve embraced it, because after all – small-batch baking is only practical, as many of you reading this will offer your oven as residence to a very large bird (lucky you!) for much of a day this month. Who knows, you might find yourself as I am, baking things in surprising appliances and emerge similarly changed.
This heady bread-baking scent and small-batch talk compels me to share my other favorite quick breads, like my The Best Zucchini Bread, or my absolute favorite Burgundian Spice Bread that tastes like culinary school, Pain d’Epices (Paleo adaptation here that I will be making sometime very soon), or the beyond classic Banana Walnut Bread. The Wright Recipes also holds muffin recipes galore, from fresh Summer Fruit Muffins, ones boasting Peaches and Cream, or the exotic Muscadine variety. Maybe it’s savory stuff you’re after, like cornbread (the best with corn and the best without, my Skillet Supper Bread). Or the cousin to the quick bread or muffin – the biscuit – with two seasonal favorites: here, of buckwheat and sweet potato, or here of Butternut Squash (with handy directions to freeze, ready to pop in the oven for a fresh batch at a moment’s notice).
Are you pulling at your hair, already stressed on this first of November about your Thanksgiving menu and wondering why this cookbook author friend of yours is not talking about turkey, pies and sides like everyone else is right now?! To quote the lyrical genius of Walker Hayes, “girl, I got you”: breathe, and check out my tips for 4-ingredient sides and twisted but simple pies. Or maybe my mention of small batch muffins makes you want to make a tiny turkey dinner. (Or skip all the fuss and make the feast ahead, tomorrow if you must, to get it out of the way! Then go get a massage.) I’ve gathered all the Thanksgiving recipes together in one place on the site, so have at it, my timer is ringing…
I have warm pumpkin bread coming out of the oven now so I’ll leave you to it. Happy November, lovelies, and I’ll see you back here in a month! For paid subscribers, hang back for a love letter to my toaster oven in Small Batch Banana-Millet Muffin form. To all, please feel free to respond to this message with food questions, Thanksgiving-themed or otherwise, and have a wonderful month and holiday ahead!
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