Friends! Hi hello – can you even believe we’re looking staring down the very end of 2023?  I don’t even know. I think mentally I’m still somewhere in mid-June at best.

BUT here we are – hopefully with our butter at room temperature and our ovens preheating. I love the days after Thanksgiving for all of its cozy bakes that usually turn into my whole holiday gifting personality. I love a well crafted cookie tin.  

Continue reading Here’s What You Should Bake This December at Joy the Baker.

Friends, welcome a special installment of our Sunday posts.  Cliff Notes is a new series on Joy the Baker, authored by, my favorite baker and my favorite Cliff – MY DAD! Dad is the inspiration behind so many of the classics here on the blog.  You know him and love him for his Chocolate Chip Cookies, Buttermilk Pancakes and of course the best Sweet Potato Pie on the planet. 

Continue reading Cliff Notes: Cordellia Ann’s Potato Rolls at Joy the Baker.

We’re casually elevating our holiday gatherings and dinner parties with these easy Sausage-Stuffed Dates – a delightful, stress-free appetizer.  With a burst of sweet and savory flavors in every bite, these are the perfect little party snack. Here’s how!

Every holiday season I like to put together a uniform.  I’ve got two options for holiday sweaters – one being Santa on a motorcycle so… I’m obviously leaning all the way in. 

Continue reading My Favorite Holiday Appetizer? The Incredibly Easy Sausage-Stuffed Dates at Joy the Baker.

Friends! Hi-hello-how are you?  I hope you’re settled in to your Sunday morning with the last of the Thanksgiving pie.  Welcome.  I’m glad we’re here.

I’ve spent the last few weeks settling into Texas full time.  It’s funny, I didn’t realize how much I straddled the fence between New Orleans and Texas.  Even though I was spending most of my days and weeks in Houston, in my mind – New Orleans was home. 

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 444! at Joy the Baker.

Friends, hi!  Reporting live from Inside – frankly, where I belong this Cozy Season.  I know it’s Cozy Season because I’ve unearthed my favorite sweater dress from behind the linen dresses and beachy throws.  I’m coveting these sherpa clogs, of all things.  I’m daydreaming my future dinner party menus come December and January.  I just… want to be inside with the oven on, a bottle of wine open, and friends around the table.

Continue reading The Easiest Dinner Party Dessert: Tiramisu Affogato at Joy the Baker.

Welcome to the second installment of Cliff Notes, authored by my favorite baker and my favorite Cliff – MY DAD! Dad is the inspiration behind the classics here on the blog.  You know him and love him for his Chocolate Chip Cookies, his Buttermilk Pancakes, and he’s also baker of Buttermilk Biscuits that disappear so fast at the dinner table, it’ll make your head spin. 

Continue reading Cliff Notes: Dad’s Buttermilk Biscuits at Joy the Baker.

Hi friends.

My mom and I talk and text multiple times a day. Maybe that’s sweet. Maybe that’s codependent. I’ve never had the need to dig into it. Anyway. The other day she goes, “You sound stressed. Why are you so stressed?” And I was like, “. . .Uh, I dunno, Mom….LiFe??!” Then we both had a long, loopy laugh. Honestly, though, if you’re not stressed right now, tell me all your secrets.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 443! at Joy the Baker.

Let me put this year’s Pumpkin Pie at the top of your inbox.  This Cajun variation of Thanksgiving’s most tried-and-true dessert is a show stopper! Made with a buttery, sugar cookie crust, and a silky light pumpkin cream filling – this Tarte a la Bouillie is the perfect end the the most epic meal of the year!

It only took me over six years of Louisiana living to make a proper Cajun sweet dough and pudding pie but friends, here we are!

Continue reading Pumpkin Tarte à la Bouillie at Joy the Baker.

Friends, hi good morning! I can’t thank you enough for all of your generous words on my move from The Bakehouse and New Orleans.  I’m overwhelmed by your kindness!  We’ve like…really been in this together for a long time.  I’m so thankful that you’re here for the Texas chapter.  Let’s see what we can do with it!

We’re a few weeks away, but can we talk about Thanksgiving? I know I broached the subject back in August when most of you reasonable people were on vacation but, I feel like it’s officially time to start working on an organized shopping list and daydreaming the dessert table.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 442! at Joy the Baker.

It’s nearly time to raid the post-Thanksgiving fridge, babes! While you’re pulling out containers of leftover turkey and stuffing, reach for Duke’s Mayo too, because honestly – is it even a sandwich without the tang of Duke’s mayo?  (Honestly, not really.)

Uncontroversial opinion:  the BEST part of Thanksgiving dinner is the leftover sandwich we’ll eat for lunch on Friday.

Sure, sitting down to the whole pomp and circumstance of a tablescape, carved turkey, and piles of fixins is a wonder. 

Continue reading The Mega Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich at Joy the Baker.