Newsletter: 🎃 Have a spooktacular Halloween + November baking with Zingerman’s!

Our favorite pumpkin spice recipes 🎃

Trick or Treat?

There are only treats on the menu with ckbk at your fingertips. If you are getting ready to celebrate Halloween, we’ve got all the recipes you could need for spooky sweets and party fuel, to hit the kitchen with confidence. So, don that costume, and prepare to enjoy a night of all things ghostly and ghastly.

Sweets are of course essential. Make a batch of Gingerbread Pumpkin Seed Brittle, or if you are cooking with the little ones, try these Mini Monster Fridge Cakes.

For a magnificent seasonal centerpiece bake a Pumpkin Cake with Burnt Orange Silk Meringue Buttercream.

But of course, party guests cannot live on sweets alone – no matter how much they might want to. A bowl of Pumpkin and Corn Chowder will warm everyone up if the jack-o’-lantern-lit streets are chilly. And if you are serving a crowd, Japanese Pumpkin Nimono is a supercharged seasonal side dish.

For the adults in the house, get the party started with a dark and delicious Negroni Cativo.

For all the above recipes and more, explore our collection of Savory & Sweet Eats for Halloween.

Pictured above: Hallowe’en Gingerbread Mummies and Skeletons from Real Food Kids Will Love by Annabel Karmel

Explore our Savory & Sweet Eats for Halloween

Have a delicious Diwali

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, runs this year from October 31 to November 3. And millions of houses and outdoor gatherings will be bedecked with the customary lamps and lanterns, symbolizing the triumph of light over dark, of good over evil. And of course, there will be feasting.

The exchange of sweets is important – we have a clutch of ideas in our collection of Sweet Treats for Diwali. Find classic such as Gulab Jamun and Carrot Halwa. Or make a batch of Millionaire’s Burfi – irresistible.

To keep the party going, and for the less sweet-toothed, try some of our Savory Snacks for Diwali. Fry up some Sweet Potato and Onion Pakoras, or serve up cult favorite Yoghurt Chat Bombs. Happy Diwali all!

What to cook for The Day of the Dead

Originating in Mexico, the Day of the Dead – or Dia de Muertos – is an annual holiday to pay respects and remembrance to our dear departed – this year celebrated from November 1 - 3. We have a whole (g)host of Dishes and Drinks for Day of the Dead Celebrations. Get creative with Leo’s Classic Sugar Cookies, and welcome friends past and present with a cup of spiced Chocolate Atole.

Gather round the bonfire

Bonfire Night is celebrated in the UK on November 5, the anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ failed 1605 plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London.

It is now a rather happier occasion, one of outdoor parties and faces rosy from roaring fires and lots of good things to eat. Look no further for your party food than these Warming Recipes for Bonfire Night. A big pot of Chilli con Carne is a great idea, or Chilli con Veggie for the plant-based among us.

And it wouldn’t be Bonfire Night without Toffee Apples.

Not one, but two cookbooks of the month

We have a double treat with our cookbooks of the month for November. If you’ve not joined in before, here is the heads-up – we have Facebook group called #ckbkclub, a place to chat about what you’ve made from the cookbooks on ckbk, or ask for help in the Kitchen SOS chat. Each month we choose a cookbook for the group to focus on, encouraging members to cook from it, chat about it, and share any photos, tips or questions they have about the recipes.

For November there will be plenty of spoon-licking, as we get cooking with Zingerman’s Bakehouse. Opened in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1992 this pioneering artisan bread bakery soon diversified into pastry and cakes. In 2006 they opened their cookery school Bake!. As a business built on quality and community, they have experience bringing a wonderful range of baked goods and baking knowledge to their fans.

Their books Zingerman’s Bakehouse and Zingerman’s Bakehouse Celebrate Every Day: A Year’s Worth of Favorite Recipes for Festive Occasions, Big and Small embody this experience, and are a veritable Hansel and Gretel’s house of recipes for you to dive into.

We can’t decide whether to start with a Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza, some Sugar Crisp Muffins, a Transylvanian Cinnamon Swirl Bread, or a Caramel Apple Cake.

And we can’t wait to see what you make, so get baking and send us your pictures!

Join our #ckbkclub on Facebook

Ingredient focus: pumpkin pie spice

Pumpkin pie spice, that blend of cinnamon, cloves, allspice, ginger and nutmeg, is such an evocative and comforting combination that its popularity now extends far beyond an actual Pumpkin Pie.

There is a whole pumpkin patch full of yummy recipes to harvest when you are Cooking with Pumpkin Pie Spice. Try Pumpkin Cranberry Bagels, or some Mini Pumpkin Bundt Cakes with Lemon Glaze.

6 of the very best sandwiches

World Sandwich Day is November 3, and given how many sandwich lunches we’ve eaten in our time we thought it was only right to give you some fresh ideas. Here are six of the very best.