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I’ve been wanting to make my friend Lauren Ko’s geometric spoke pie for a a while now. We first met in 2018 at her spoke pie class in Portland and again for brunch in New York City, where she was very hush hush about her trip (to film an episode of Martha Bakes, NO BIG DEAL). Fast forward to 2020 and her pie creations are now in print, a debut cookbook called Pieometry, with her signature spoke design on the cover.

For this project, I attempted everything without her book, the one thing I forgot when I packed for Thanksgiving, so this recipe pieces together components of different pies I’ve made, with the end goal of making sure that spoke design stays in tact! To do this, I pre-cooked the apple filling so it wouldn’t be too watery. For the dough, I adapted Chef Ashley Christensen’s recipe that I successfully used for blind baking this braid so I felt good about using it for this spoke pie. The addition of cornstarch (Christopher Kimball trick) helps prevent shrinkage. Happy pie making!

Every fall, I mark the start of the season by ordering pumpkin bread at Starbucks. It’s available year-round, but it feels most enjoyable when the weather starts to turn and I start to crave cozy, spiced treats. This year, I tried a few versions from bakeries in San Francisco to see how they differ. Here are tasting notes.

Cake meet pavlova. I first discovered this Nordic cake a couple of years ago and was immediately intrigued. Cake and meringue bake together resulting in a layered treat with lots of texture. You get the fluffiness of the cake, crisp airiness of the meringue and softly whipped cream with juicy macerated berries on top.

I love black sesame flavored treats. Lovely flecks in scoops of ice cream or jet black filling inside mochi or a steamed bun. I’ve been on a cereal kick lately so I thought I’d experiment with them in cereal treats! The classic version is pretty sweet but adding the black sesame changes the flavor to this wonderfully nutty and crave-able treat that is not too sweet and dangerously difficult to stop eating!