Celebrating Holiday Cookies with Dan Pelosi

‘Tis the season to bake as many cookies as you can!

We kick off the show by unveiling King Arthur’s 2025 holiday cookie lineup before being joined by Dan Pelosi, a baker known for his annual holiday cookie party. He chats with Jessica about the keys to successfully throwing a cookie party, including his holiday cookie philosophy, then David and Jessica answer your burning baking questions with their advice for avoiding cakey cookies and making cutout cookies that actually keep their shape. In this week’s Jess-opinion, Jessica gives her thoughts on the controversial inclusion of chocolate chip cookies in the holiday cookie landscape, and we close the show with the best cookies she and David are baking this season.

Introducing our 2025 holiday cookie platter

Find our list of all the classic holiday and Christmas cookies you should bake

Level up your cookies with our scoop set

Learn more about Dan and his recent cookbook, Let’s Party, on his website

Blog: Why you should always bake a few test cookies

Find our Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies recipe

We like decorating with this Simple Cookie Glaze

What David’s baking this week: Rugelach and Piped Vanilla Shortbread Cookies

What Jessica’s baking this week: Whipped Lemon Shortbread

Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

This episode is sponsored by Plugra. Learn more about their premium European-style butter at plugra.com.

We have a very special episode today. Ahead of the busiest baking season of the year, we’ve got an entire show dedicated to answering your biggest holiday baking questions! And we’ve invited some friends to help us. We’ve assembled an all-star collection of our King Arthur colleagues, including Molly Marzalek-Kelly and Sarah Jampel from our Test Kitchen, Amber Eisler from our Baking School, Martin Philip from our YouTube channel, and Melanie Wanders from our R&D team. Together, we tackle pressing questions like how to make holiday cookies ahead of time, what to do if your cream puffs keep deflating, and the best way to make whole grain dinner rolls that are still light and fluffy. Let’s get baking!

Take Mel’s Cookie Decorating Essentials On Demand class

Find Martin (and more King Arthur bakers!) on our YouTube channel

Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

This episode is sponsored by Plugra. Learn more about their premium European-style butter at plugra.com.

The recipes mentioned in this episode include:

Latke Focaccia recipe

Everyday Olive Oil Cake recipe

Gingerbread Biscotti recipe

Fluffy Frosted Orange Rolls recipe

Buckwheat-Cardamom Chocolate Chunk Cookies recipe

Olive Oil Sufganiyot recipe

Jelly Doughnut Cake recipe

Chocolate Bûche de Noël with Cookie Butter Whipped Ganache recipe

It’s high time for pie, and we couldn’t be more excited!

David and Jessica kick off the show by sharing some of their best pie tips and tricks, before bringing in a real pie expert — Stacey Mei Yan Fong, author of the award-winning cookbook 50 Pies, 50 States — to offer her advice. We’ve got some great Thanksgiving pie questions to answer, from the best way to prebake your crust to advice for preventing a runny apple pie filling, before closing the show with a Jess-opinion about the other dessert you should make for Thanksgiving and the pies Jessica and David are making this year.

Read David’s article: How My Brother-in-Law Stole Thanksgiving—and How I Got it Back

Find our Pies On-Demand Baking Class

Check out all our pie resources: How to Bake Pie

Learn more about Stacey and her book, and tune in to her Instagram page for her virtual pie hotline

Find everything you need for your holiday pies in our Pie shop

Mix it up this year with Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie

Read PJ’s blog about baking pie crust upside down

Find our Pie Thickener chart

What David’s baking this week: Cranberry Chiffon Pie

What Jessica’s baking this week: Classic Apple Tarte Tatin

Record your question for our Ask the Bakers segment here!

This episode is sponsored by Plugra. Learn more about their premium European-style butter at plugra.com.