John Cox

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Food & Wine

The Secret to These Golden, Crispy-Edged Biscuits Is a Pool of Melted Butter

This is a Food & Wine recipe for "butter swim" biscuits, which skip the rolling, folding, and cutting. You grate a little cold butter into a wet one-bowl dough, spread it into a baking dish of melted butter, and cut it into squares in the pan. The butter pooling around the dough gives crisp, deeply golden edges and soft, fluffy centers, and a spoonful of sugar balances the buttermilk tang and helps browning. It also covers freezing (up to three months), a whole-milk-plus-lemon-juice substitute for buttermilk, and test kitchen tips: chill the butter before grating, keep the buttermilk cold, and don't add flour to the intentionally sticky dough.

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Allrecipes

The 21 Recipes We Can’t Wait To Make This November

A November recipe roundup from Allrecipes that deliberately skips Thanksgiving centerpieces to cover the other 29 days of the month, with about twenty easy ideas for busy, dark-evening cooking. It mixes weeknight dinners (baked Dijon salmon in under 30 minutes, skillet French onion chicken, Turkish turkey chili pasta, slow cooker busy day soup), sides (honey balsamic carrots, Parmesan sweet potatoes, smashed Brussels sprouts, big-batch slow cooker mac and cheese), and fall treats like pumpkin cream cheese bread, no-bake pretzel bars, cardamom-espresso cookies, and an apple cider spritz. It also includes a few leftover-minded ideas, such as cranberry sauce muffins, for after the holiday.

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Bon Appétit

Bourbon Caramel Apple Pie Recipe | Bon Appétit

A caramel apple pie recipe with a lattice top, built on a cream cheese and butter dough that gets two rounds of rolling and folding for flakiness and can be frozen a month ahead. The filling is Honeycrisp apples cooked down in a deep amber caramel spiked with bourbon, lemon zest, and cinnamon, then thickened with cornstarch and cream and chilled before assembly. The lattice strips are coated in sugar before cutting, and the pie bakes in two stages (375° then 350°) and must cool at least four hours before slicing.

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Allrecipes

Pumpkin Chocolate Dessert Cake Recipe

A pumpkin chocolate bundt cake recipe from a reader-submitted collection, built on cocoa, pumpkin purée, pumpkin pie spice, and applesauce for moisture, then baked about 40 minutes in a 9-inch fluted pan. What sets it apart from other pumpkin-chocolate cakes is the glaze: a boiled brown sugar, butter, and heavy cream mixture whisked with confectioners' sugar and poured over the warm, unmolded cake, where it sets into a firm, sweet coating. It yields 12 servings at about 613 calories each, and it has 136 reviews and 226 home cooks who have made it.

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NYT Cooking

Pumpkin Crumb Cake Recipe

This is a recipe page for a pumpkin streusel cake: a brown-sugar, pumpkin-spice batter topped with crumbly streusel and an optional milk glaze, with a homemade spice blend included. What sets it apart is the reader comments below the recipe, which debate doneness (one cook swaps the toothpick test for an instant thermometer, pulling the cake at 205°F), suggest adjusting the pumpkin and oil for more flavor, and note how it behaves in a 9x13 pan.

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www.homedit.com

I Left Baking Soda on Tile Grout Overnight and Didn’t Expect This

Baking soda works on grout not through scrubbing force but through overnight chemical action that neutralizes trapped oils, soaps, and acids causing discoloration and odor. Applied as a paste and left untouched until morning, it draws residue from pores so it releases with a single wipe, and the grout then resists moisture absorption and dirt accumulation in ways that previous scrubbing methods never achieved. The key insight is that time, not friction, allows baking soda to alter the grout's surface environment permanently rather than just masking stains temporarily.

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Epicurious

Raised Waffles

This is a make-ahead waffle recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook that uses yeast and an overnight rest to develop flavor and texture, with eggs and baking soda stirred in just before cooking to create waffles that are crisp outside and delicate within. The batter rises significantly overnight, so a large bowl is essential, and the finished batter keeps well in the refrigerator for several days.

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www.chowhound.com

The Cornstarch Alternative That's Perfect For Thickening Simmered Sauces

Arrowroot powder gets a case made for it as a superior gluten-free thickener over cornstarch or flour: it works faster, keeps acidic sauces like marinara or cranberry sauce clear and glossy instead of cloudy, and holds up remarkably well through freezing and thawing, making it especially useful for meal prep and pie fillings. Its one real weakness is dairy-based dishes—mixed with milk or cream it turns slimy, so chowders, alfredo, and milk gravies are better off using flour, cornstarch, potato starch, or pureed white beans instead.

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www.allrecipes.com

15 Greek Recipes So Good They'll Make Your Yiayia Swell with Pride

Yiayia’s Favorite Greek Recipes gathers a selection of comforting, home-cooked dishes inspired by family kitchens and traditional flavors, spotlighting time-honored preparations like [[moussaka]], [[spanakopita]], [[tzatziki]] and [[baklava]]. The gallery emphasizes fresh, straightforward ingredients — abundant [[olive oil]] and tangy [[feta]] — and recipes for soups, salads and pastries that travel easily from weekday suppers to festive tables. Readers find classics such as [[Greek salad]], lemony [[avgolemono soup]] and stuffed vine leaves like [[dolmades]], alongside tips for flaky phyllo and balanced seasoning. Photographs and short recipe notes make each entry approachable, encouraging cooks to recreate these Mediterranean flavors while honoring the warmth and practicality of a yiayia’s kitchen. Suggestions for ingredient substitutions, make-ahead strategies and pairing ideas with wine or simple sides help modern cooks adapt recipes to dietary preferences while preserving authentic flavor.

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www.esquire.com

30 Best Gifts for Anyone Who Loves to Cook

This roundup from [[Esquire]] showcases curated gift ideas for home cooks, focusing on tools, appliances, and ingredients that actually get used. Highlights range from outdoor gear like the [[Ooni Koda 16 Pizza Oven]] and the cult-status [[Yeti 45 Hard Cooler]] to countertop helpers such as the [[GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker]] and the [[Whynter Compact Upright Automatic Ice Cream Maker]]. Practical picks include precision items like the [[Meater Pro wireless meat thermometer]] and magnetic knife storage, alongside pantry upgrades like premium [[Brightland olive oil]] and [[Kosterina balsamic vinegar]]. The guide balances splurge-worthy splurges and small stocking stuffers—herb garden kits, spatulas, spice sets, and elegant servingware—so you can match gifts to skill level, kitchen space, and personality, ensuring memorable, usable presents rather than clutter.

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psyche.co

If you don’t fancy mindfulness, then try cooking instead

A freelance writer who dislikes conventional anxiety fixes like meditation makes the case for cooking, especially baking, as an alternative mindfulness practice that engages the senses and induces a flow-like, childlike playfulness. Drawing on her own habits plus insights from psychoanalyst Todd Essig and cooking coach Emmanuelle Turquet, she argues cooking uniquely bridges past (memory), present (sensory grounding), and future (nourishment), making it a legitimate, individualized alternative to sitting-still relaxation techniques.

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userealbutter.com

espresso chocolate chip shortbread cookie recipe | use real butter

This is a recipe for espresso chocolate chip shortbread cookies from Smitten Kitchen, featuring instant espresso powder dissolved in water mixed into a butter-and-sugar base with chocolate chips, rolled thin and cut into squares before baking at low temperature. The author shares that she makes double batches regularly because the cookies are universally beloved by everyone from her oncologist to postal workers, and she's bringing some to the kennel as a thank-you bribe for boarding her dog while she travels.

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101 Cookbooks

Triple Chocolate Espresso Bean Cookies

Heidi Swanson's recipe for triple chocolate espresso bean cookies uses whole wheat pastry flour and combines dark chocolate with chocolate-covered espresso beans for a sophisticated, crunchy-textured cookie with a dense, cakey crumb. She emphasizes the benefits of whole wheat pastry flour for tender results and offers practical baking tips, including the option to freeze dough for later baking and a suggestion to add semi-sweet chocolate chips for extra richness.

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