This week, we’re getting ready for Thanksgiving with some help from our friends. Cheryl Day joins us to answer your holiday baking questions, Sam Fore cooks Thanksgiving with a Sri Lankan take, J. Kenji López-Alt explains why he eats lobster for Thanksgiving, Dan Pashman tells us how to eat pie the right way, and we learn to make Yogurt-Roasted Carrots with Warm Spices.

This episode is brought to you by This Is Fine Cheese, Matter of Fact, and All-Clad.

Questions in this episode:

"I have a question about sending baked goods out to people for Thanksgiving. Do you have any tips or recipes for sending a package of goodies to friends and family across the country?"

"It’s a running joke in my family that I’m a terrible baker. I tend to forgo recipes with dairy as I usually don’t keep milk or buttermilk in the fridge. Is it okay to use powdered or shelf-stable substitutes for these ingredients?"

"I have a tres leches cake problem. I make it for the holidays every year, and it always has a sad, sinking center. How can I fix this issue for this year’s gathering?"

"I’m a big bread baker, but I’m trying to learn more about sweet baking. While researching recipes, I noticed that most vanilla and chocolate cake recipes are the same. I also noticed that every chocolate cake recipe called for vegetable oil, while the vanilla cakes called for butter. Why is that?"

"My grandmother always had a very heavy hand with cinnamon and over the years I’ve come to dislike the flavor. How can I evoke the taste and smell of the holidays without it?"