I like my baked goods the same way I like my winter coats: positively giant. I want them oversize in a way that invites you to snuggle into them, buttoning up the exterior so that you’re fully encased in sweet warmth.
Find me tucked into the crispy, marzipan-mattressed layers of this giant almond croissant. Watch me dive into this giant chocolate and peanut butter cookie. And now, allow me to burrow into the thick, buttery swirls of this giant jam bun.
Melissa Clark’s new recipe looks impressive, but it’s entirely doable — you can make it with Melissa, step by step, by following this video. The scone-like dough requires only minimal kneading before you press it into a rough rectangle and spread with your favorite jam or marmalade. (Just don’t use jelly; it’s too runny and will leak out when baking.) After cutting your jam-topped rectangle into four long pieces, wrap them around one another until you have a big spiraled bun. Bake, cool, glaze, eat. And then maybe nap on the couch, enveloped by the warm, citrusy scent of the giant jam bun.
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Giant Jam Bun
Roasting a chicken, for me, is a twofer: Yes, there’s the wonderful roast chicken dinner itself, but there’s also the stock I get from simmering the bones and the carcass after the meal’s done. (Actually, a threefer: The dog gets the little bits of meat I pull off the bones when the stock’s finished as a special treat. Everybody wins!) So I’m eyeing this curried roast chicken with grapefruit, honey and thyme from Colu Henry not just for the delicious chicken but also for the supremely flavorful stock I’ll get from it. Though let’s not discount that chicken. Owen, a reader, writes: “I make a lot of roasted chickens. I love them. But I’ve never loved one as much as this.”
Maybe, after a long week of work and to-dos and emergency Halloween costume fixes, you need something soothing and spoonable. Melissa’s beef barley soup with lemon is decidedly brothy, with plenty of fresh baby spinach to make her version lighter than other beef barleys.
Not soupy — but also sigh-inducing — is Zainab Shah’s butter paneer, which uses creamy cashew butter to give body to the gingery, spicy tomato base. (You might recognize this clever trick from Zainab’s mattar paneer, a New York Times Cooking go-to.)
Or maybe you want something zingy and bright, a dish that’ll zap your taste buds after you have gone hard on the season’s sweet squashes and apples. For that, look to larb. Colu’s herby pork larb with chile can also be made with ground turkey or chicken; if you’d like to use extra-firm tofu, here’s Hetty Lui McKinnon’s recipe. However you make it, don’t skip the toasted rice powder and be generous with those lime wedges.
Lastly, as we have firmly entered Having People Over Season, I feel a duty to share two very party-friendly recipes, one savory, one sweet. For cocktail hour: Nargisse Benkabbou’s bissara, a creamy fava bean purée that turns dried split favas (or dried split green peas) into a lush dip that begs to be swooped up with bread.
And for dessert time, cream cheese brownies. Samantha Seneviratne’s new recipe is easy and, for those star bakers out there, comes with a fun bonus challenge: “If you want to take these brownies to another level, dollop a bit of your favorite jam or preserves on top of the cream cheese batter before swirling everything together.” There’s no such thing as too many jam swirls.
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