Answering your cookbook qs, and a sneak peek cookie recipe!

Pumpkin Miso Caramel HELLO

Good morning! And thank you for sending in all your questions this week! I’m sorry my instructions were a bit confusing, but I received both comment replies to last week’s newsletter and email replies, and I’ll try to answer a good amount of both!

Placing this cookie photo here to keep your interest

ICYMI, last week I opened up a Q&A about my upcoming cookbook, which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT. I’m going to answer a few questions here, but after that, we’re *going dark* until the book is officially ready to show! This is because my PR strategy is: spill the secrets, do the reveal later. Highly ill-advised, I know. But fun!

So with that, let us begin:

PLEASE let us know a tentative date for preorder because I need to own this book. Also, can you tell us your favorite recipe on it?

First, THANK YOU, I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! The official pub date is in October 2024 (*cries into a year*), and the preorder date is still TBD. But believe me, I will be shouting about it on every platform when it’s available!

My favorite recipe: Boyfriend Salmon. And that’s all you’ll get to hear about that.

What is the seasonal vibe of the book?

From the proposal stage of the book, I knew I didn’t want it to be categorized by seasons. There was a small seasonal aspect, but my editor wisely advised that seasons vary so heavily across the United States (not to mention the world!), so we opted to organize the book in a more classic way. The last thing I want is for someone in a warmer climate to flip to a winter section and feel utterly ignored!

How are you thinking of structuring the chapters? Will it be classic Starters, Mains, Sides, Breakfast, Dessert? Or other themes like Grains, Beans, Meat, etc/or Seasonal/ or something more unique?

My favorite part of the book was getting to structure it exactly how I wanted - it felt like building from the ground up! The book has twelve chapters, and it follows a pretty straightforward format of staple recipes, breakfasts, vegetables, breads, etc. but with a few fun titles for each one. Think: “Beans, a Full Sentence.”

What has been your biggest challenge in creating your cookbook? And, what has been your favorite thing about creating it?

The biggest challenge was that it was alllll mine. As someone who is notoriously hard on herself, it was nearly impossible to feel like things were finally “good enough” or “finished” for the book. I made changes up to the very end! The beauty of my publisher is that they really value their authors’ work and input, so I felt like I had full ownership of the project. But that’s also scary! It was a challenge every day to feel confident that this book would live on people’s kitchen shelves and never let them down.

But my favorite thing about creating it? It is alllll mine. I’ve never made something so personal and all-encompassing of my work. It feels like me on a page, even if it’s just 110 recipes and a strong passion for salads.

What are you the most excited about for this cookbook?

To get this beautiful book in your beautiful hands!! And to see the photos on paper. UGH I can’t wait for the visuals.

Do you have a general color scheme in mind for the book? Will there be lots and LOTS of pictures?

We start shooting this week, and I can say this because I don’t *think* they subscribe to this newsletter, but I am unhealthily obsessed with my photography team. They are all so incredibly talented, and I know the photos are going to be phenomenal. So yes, LOTS AND LOTS of photos! As for the color scheme….sneaky peak:

Will the recipes be allergy-friendly/any gluten-free or nut-free options?

I was frothing to answer this question because I had a dinner party last night where I served only book recipes (all the way from appetizers to dessert! It was my dream), and everything was 100% gluten-free.

While the book isn’t labeled with gluten-free/dairy-free/vegan markers, every recipe is highly adaptable to be allergen-friendly and plant-based!

Are any of your current recipes going to be in the cookbook or are all of the recipes new? Will it be focused on techniques, ingredients, pairings, etc? What percent is on appetizers/snacks, entrees, sides, desserts, etc?

The book is 90% new recipes, with a few of my most viral and loved recipes included (like the OG Baked Salad, the Cabbage that Broke TikTok, Sourdough!) Fortunately, no butter boards ;)

There will be a small technique section at the beginning of the book, but the book is meant for learning by cooking. New and varied techniques are sprinkled throughout the recipes, and I’ve designed it to be more “show” than “tell,” so if you try a recipe, you might learn something new along with it!

As for percentages, I’d say it’s evenly spread out between all categories. Although, I did give a lot of love to the dessert section. And they are all bangers.

And also, will it be a little bit like a memoir?

I love to tell stories on my social feed, but WOW, does a 55,000 word count fly by when you actually write it! For my first book, I want to focus on recipes that you can use, adapt, repeat, and make your own. This book is more about you, the reader, and less about me. Maybe there will be a memoir one day, but for now, my debut book is packed with delicious recipes and a few personal, small stories sprinkled throughout.

Approximately how long does it take you to develop a recipe? Including research, testing, re-testing, and eventually staging for photos. 

Phew - if I had an exact answer, I’d tell you. But it totally depends! I’d say each recipe gets about 3-5 days of dedicated *thinking and testing* time, which is why cookbooks usually take over a year to produce! But I can also say there are a few recipes in the book that have taken six months of haunting me to get right. It’s normal for biscuits to keep you up at night, right?

As for staging of the photos - the whole book will be shot in 14 days, which is WILD to me!

Are you all done with recipe testing for the new cookbook?

Done and dusted! Although I keep cooking book recipes for my own dinners at home, so I guess they’ll have been overly tested by the time the book is in your hands :)

But wait, the weekly round-up!

Enough about the book, how about recipes we can cook right this second:

Cheesy Butternut Squash Orzo - like my Trader Joe’s Butternut Mac n’ Cheese, but a little risotto-ier!

White Wine Beans with Sage & Sweet Potato - like fall in a bowl. Honestly, I wish my video for these was better, because I truly want more people to make them!

And the recipe you get before everyone else: Pumpkin Miso Caramel Cookies!

These are loosely inspired by Eric Kim’s Gochujang Caramel Cookies for the NYT, but I swapped their cookie base for my own brown butter cookie base, and swapped the gochujang for a pumpkin miso caramel mixture. The final result? Sticky, chewy, heavenly. Perfect to impress at your fall dinner parties.

INGREDIENTS

• 113 grams salted butter, 1/2 cup

• 70 grams dark brown sugar,1/3 cup, packed

• 110 grams granulated sugar, 1/2 cup

• 1 large egg

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 teaspoon each of nutmeg, cloves, allspice and cinnamon)

• 150 grams of all-purpose flour, 1 cup and 1 tablespoon

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt

FOR THE PUMPKIN MISO CARAMEL

• 1 tablespoon softened salted butter

• 2 teaspoons red miso

• 1 tablespoon pumpkin purée

• 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, lightly packed

INSTRUCTIONS

• Begin with the cookie dough. In a small saucepan over medium heat, add the butter and let it melt. Let it begin to fizz and foam, and stir occasionally for 3-4 minutes, until the milk solids from the butter separate and begin to brown. When this reaches a deep brown color, remove the butter from the heat and transfer to a small bowl.

• Fill a large bowl with ice water, place the small bowl with the brown butter within the ice water bowl and whisk for 3-5 minutes or until the brown butter has cooled into a paste of sorts.

• Either using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat the brown butter with the sugars for 1-2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

• Add the egg, vanilla and pumpkin pie spice and beat until the batter lightens by one shade and is very fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

• Add in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix on the lowest setting until a dough forms. This should take less than 30 seconds.

• Move the dough to the fridge to chill while you preheat the oven to 375°F.

• In a small bowl, mash together the softened butter, miso, pumpkin and brown sugar into a smooth paste. Set this in the fridge alongside the dough.

• When the oven has preheated, portion the cookie dough into 7 equal-sized balls, around 80 grams each.

• Place these balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press them down into bigger circles, around 1 inch tall.

• Dollop 3-4 dots of caramel on top of every cookie. Use a toothpick to swirl the caramel all over. The cookies will spread significantly, so feel free to really get the caramel everywhere.

• Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until the cookies are golden around the edges. Let cool and enjoy!

And phew, did this long newsletter make up for last week? I hope so. ‘Twas a novella!

Until next week, xoxo,

Book_Snacks