I saw an old ad for electric frying pans/electric skillets on social media, and started wondering. Do people still use them? I see them available on Amazon and other sites. But I can’t remember ever seeing a recipe or food column that mentions them. So, does anybody still use them?

Thank you, and have a lovely holiday!

Can homemade French onion soup be frozen? I made way more than we were able to eat for dinner.
Thank you for these chats—a highlight of my week! Happy holidays!

I’ve been trying to get my snickerdoodles to be thinner and crisper. You educated me on the negatives of overbeating the butter sugar mixture and also on the importance of butter being about 65 degrees. So when I watched a gingersnap demonstration recently, in pursuit of thin, crispy gingersnaps, I knew exactly what NOT to do when the cookie baker announced that she likes her gingersnaps just like her grandmother’s—crispy on the edges, gooey in the middle—and proceeded to beat the heck out of the butter. But I also learned this bit: substituting 1/4 cup cornstarch for an equal amount of flour out of the 2 cups in the recipe makes for crispier cookies. I was delighted with the crisp bite of my next batch. And since I firmly believe that gingersnaps should not only “snap” but also taste significantly gingery, next batch I’m going to increase the amount of ginger to at least equal the amount of cinnamon. Maybe decrease the cinnamon, too. My favorite Christmas thing is cookie baking. Thank you for all your help. And recipes.

We'll be hosting about ten people for Christmas dinner, a mix of adults and kids. Previously we've done brisket (a big hit) and lasagna (adults loved it, kids weren't fans). Any suggestions for meals that satisfy both picky kids and adults? I also wanted to thank you for the holiday cookie recipes this year. One of our kids has a nut allergy that I loved that the recipes said if they were nut-free, vegan, etc. It made the entire compilation so much more enjoyable. Thank you for your hard work all year long!

Hi. Half of my family has recently gone from vegetarian to vegan and I’d really appreciate your recommendations for vegan cookbooks, including baking cookbooks, and other reliable recipe sources Thanks!

I use a pumpkin-flavored drop cookie recipe found years ago in the wilds of the internet which has always performed well for me through what I'm sure have been imprecise measurements. They always turn out nice and tender/pillowy.

However, one 15-oz. can of pumpkin puree always leaves me with extra (the recipe calls for 1 cup's worth), and freezing the leftover puree either alters the texture too weirdly (the fibrous materials become denser and the liquid separates) or it just gets forgotten in the freezer for longer than I feel comfortable using.

After making a couple recent cookie batches, I have just over a half-cup of pumpkin puree left (maybe a half tablespoon extra). I am tempted to try halving the recipe -- doable except that it would require half an egg.

I noticed that online recommendations for egg substitutes include, ironically, pumpkin puree. Other subs, like yogurt and applesauce, are acidic while I read that egg is mildly alkaline (at least when fresher). Maybe I'm over-thinking...would that type of sub. matter in this case?

For context, the recipe uses equal amounts of baking powder and baking soda (.5 tsp. ea.), in addition to the typical ingredients of flour (2.5 c), sugar (1.5 c), butter (.5 c), egg, vanilla, spices, and the aforementioned pumpkin.

What do you suggest I try?

A couple questions about the beautiful cookie issue.
1. I’m interested in the cookie sticks for the method but not at all interested in gluten-free or vegan. Do you think a regular recipe that I usually use to chill on a roll and slice off would work? Or do you have another suggestion?
2. The mosaiko seems to me to be more like a fudge so not great for a cookie box?
3. I think a drawing of how to cut the crescents out would be helpful? I just can’t figure it out from her written direction.
Thanks for putting me in the holiday mood and I wish you and all the Food staff a blessed holiday.

I made the New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe. It called for cake flour and bread flour. Some cookies came out hard and some didn’t. What went wrong?

Thank you for sharing all your information and advice, and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! I'm off to start my Christmas baking--I'm tackling stollen for the first time this year.