Hi Reader,

In our house, butter is both sacrament and argument fodder. The moment I drop a few knobs in a skillet, The One deftly fishes them out when I turn my back. Whenever he tries to be virtuous and make mashed potatoes with (blech) CHICKEN STOCK AND HERBS, I drop a whole stick into the pot while he's setting the table. He even proclaimed one night that his potato travesty was every bit as good as my beurre-soaked taters. I just politely nodded as I sniggered to myself.
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But the chill of autumn always brings about a warming of our culinary partisanship, and, for a few months at least, we enter into the Great Detente.

Suddenly, both of us are reaching for butter with abandon—softening it for cookies, cutting it into flour for biscuits, melting it into rivers for cinnamon rolls that waft through the whole house while baking. We stand there, foreheads against the oven door, peering through the window like two kids who’ve just discovered Santa’s stash.
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Butter isn’t just an ingredient in fall baking. It’s our shared history. It’s the thread that ties together 32 years of apple pies cooling on the counter, loaves of bread tearing apart at the table, and sticky-fingered man-boys licking beaters clean. Diet trends and waistlines come and go, but in October, butter rules—and frankly, long may its ever-loving fat globules reign.

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Butter Rules of Fall Baking

1. Room Temp is Gold: For cookies and cakes, let butter soften—but not melt—for perfect creaming.
2. Cold Butter = Flaky Magic: Keep it icy cold when making biscuits, pie crusts, or scones. Flakes for days.
3. Brown It for Depth: Nutty, toasty brown butter makes everything from blondies to banana bread taste luxurious. My general rule of thumb: If a recipe calls for brown butter or warm spices, it needs brown butter.
4. Don’t Skimp: Substitute at your peril. If the recipe calls for butter, use the real thing. Margarine, what?
5. Finish with Flair: A pat of salted butter on warm bread or muffins is not an afterthought—it’s a small step towards world peace.

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WHAT'S INSIDE...

• ​Scottish Shortbread​
• ​No-Knead Artisan Bread​
• ​Banana Bread by Cook's illustrated​
• ​Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake​
• ​Drunken Apple Cake ~ Kuchen Borracho​
• ​Monkey Bread from Zoë François​
• ​Cheese Danish​
• ​Cinnamon Rolls​
• ​Grape Focaccia​
• ​Southern Buttermilk Biscuits​

​Scottish Shortbread​

This authentic Scottish shortbread cookie recipe, made with only butter, sugar, flour, and salt, produces a tender, buttery, just-sweet-enough cookie destined to be the star of your holiday cookie platter.

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​No-Knead Artisan Bread​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.91 from 122 votes

This no-knead 5-minute artisan bread show you how to make homemade bread in just minutes a day without fuss. Quick, easy, rustic, entirely doable even by novices, and the best loaf you'll ever bake.

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​Banana Bread by Cook's Illustrated​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.89 from 93 votes

This banana bread from Cook's Illustrated includes yogurt and walnuts for a scrumptiously moist, easy, classic, nutty quick bread. We consider it the best we've ever had.

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​Brown Butter Snickerdoodle Cake​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.60 from 5 votes

A beautiful brown butter snickerdoodle cake might be the best snacking cake we've tried in a while. Full of nutty brown butter, sweet cinnamon sugar, tangy buttermilk, and perhaps the tastiest frosting yet, it's going to knock your socks off.

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​Drunken Apple Cake ~ Kuchen Borracho​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.84 from 12 votes

This drunken apple cake, also known as kuchen borracho, is a unique dessert made with layers of creamy apple filling nestled between bands of tender, rum-spiked cake that has an almost custardy texture.

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​Monkey Bread from Zoë François​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.7 from 10 votes

This caramel monkey bread is a gooey sweet pull-apart cake made from blobs of brioche dough coated in a caramel sauce made with cinnamon, butter, and brown sugar. It's easy as can be to make from scratch in a loaf pan—and fun as heck to tease apart with your hands. It makes a great breakfast treat, snack, dessert, or even Christmas morning surprise.

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​Cheese Danish​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.94 from 16 votes

This cheese Danish is made from store-bought puff pastry and a filling of cream cheese, sugar, egg, vanilla, and lemon zest. It's easy and perfect for Hanukkah and Christmas and Easter and weekends and, okay, any time.

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​Cinnamon Rolls​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 from 13 votes

These homemade cinnamon rolls are filled with cinnamon and sweet honey butter and topped with cream-cheese icing (not shown in our photo). Here's how to make them.

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​Grape Focaccia​

Grape focaccia, or Schiacciata All'uva, is a magnificent Tuscan tradition sometimes known as winemakers' focaccia that's homemade flatbread with a smattering of black grapes that's roasted until it creates a wondrously jammy sweetness. Here's how to make it.

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​Southern Buttermilk Biscuits​

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.86 from 34 votes

These Southern buttermilk biscuits are easy as heck to toss together from just three ingredients—self-rising flour, buttermilk, and butter—and turn out flaky and fluffy and just like grandma's. Maybe even better. Here's how to make them.

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