No, Martha Stewart didn’t cancel Thanksgiving. Here’s what her menu looks like

‘I am busy preparing to bake thirty pies,’ Stewart says

Martha Stewart has made some candid clarifications about her Thanksgiving plans.

The 82-year-old chef shared the message on Instagram on 21 November about how she was preparing for Thanksgiving. Her post came days after she appeared on The Kelly Clarkson Show and said that she “gave up on Thanksgiving,” revealing that she cancelled the usual dinner party host on the annual holiday.

In her post, which she called her “heartfelt Thanksgiving message to everyone this year,” Stewart clarified that she wasn’t giving up on Thanksgiving entirely. She also revealed that she’s doing a lot of her own cooking for the holiday.

“It’s not true that I gave up Thanksgiving! What I cancelled was the planned gathering at my house due to guest cancellations and new travel plans!” she wrote. “Instead, I am busy preparing to bake thirty pies - and I promised to bring a stuffed and roasted 20-pound organic, heritage birt to my friend Stephen Sill’s home to supplement the rest of his buffet.”

She continued to describe the desserts she was bringing, including a picture of a multicoloured chart, which was called “Pie Pie Chart - Thanksgiving 2023”. The different colours in the diagram also indicate the flavours of pie that people wanted at the party.

“I am baking lemon tarts, cranberry tarts, chocolate pecan pies, pecan pies, and pumpkin pieces,” Stewart continued.

In another message in the post, she clarified that leading up to the holidays, she was working on her garden, as she planned to “plant 74 new peonies, dig up hundreds of other peonies for relocation, move dozens of hostas, and finish planting the Spring flowering bulbs.”

“Leaves are systematically being blown and composted, compost is being spread atop all the flower beds, and burlap coats are being made to cover the hundreds of boxwood shrubs for the cold winter ahead,” she explained.

She also specified that her daughter, Alexis Stewart, and grandchildren, Jude, 12, and Truman, 11, “will be flying off to California to visit as many of the giant redwoods and metasequoias as possible for three days”. She then shared that while one of her chocolate creations for the holiday didn’t turn out as planned, she’ll still be making use of the sweet treat.

“And sadly, my colossal chocolate turkey, crafted using my giant antique turkey mould, did not survive storage since October, crumbling into itself. I am melting the chocolate and using it for the chocolate pecan pies,” she wrote, while including a photo of a chocolate turkey.

She concluded her message by asking her fans to send photos of their Thanksgiving meals and tables, so she could include the images in her blog. She also shared her hope for peace in the world, amid the Israel-Hamas war and the Russia-Ukraine war.

“I hope that soon we will see an improvement in our world’s affairs and that there will be some resolution regarding the Ukraine-Russian conflict and the Israeli-Palestinian war that is harming so many. Our world needs some good news — its people need respite from political, environmental, and social conflicts. Let’s hope and pray for peace!”

The following day, Stewart took to Instagram to share a photo of all the pies that she made for the party she was attending on Thanksgiving Day. She specified that she made more than two dozen pies of different flavours.

“Finally finished two-day pie marathon!!!” she wrote. “Baked thirty pies Lemon curd, pecan, chocolate pecan, pumpkin and cranberry I haven’t tasted any of them yet but tomorrow I will report on taste and texture and appearance. Hope you like the photos. The pies are all spoken for - gifts for my employees and their families for Thanksgiving.”

The cookbook author’s clarifications about celebrating Thanksgiving came after she first revealed that she cancelled her usual holiday plan. “Nine guests cancelled because somebody got sick. So…I called up my chef friend and I said: ‘We’re not doing Thanksgiving,’” she said, during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

She had initially said that she wasn’t necessarily up for cooking on Thanksgiving, since she already had opportunities to make a turkey. “I’ve also cooked 14 turkeys already for my TV show,” she said. “And I still have to [cook] one more turkey on the Today show. So forget it.”

After telling Kelly Clarkson that she’s “turkey-ed out”, Stewart then shared the fun plans she had for Thanksgiving. “Friends, of course, invited me to their home, so I’m going to about five different homes to taste different courses,” she explained.