How to Eat Like a Gilmore This Fall: Autumn Recipes and Snacks
Cozy recipes to enjoy during your rewatch!
As Lauren Graham said at the Emmys, “25 years ago a show called Gilmore Girls premiered and apparently took the season of fall hostage.” It’s true! The autumnal season belongs to Gilmore and Gilmore fans. But in general, the love for the season–specifically the food–is beloved by many. As soon as late August, we start seeing pumpkin spice flavored everything in coffee shops and grocery stores. You might develop an out of the blue craving for apple pie. And even if it’s still warm where you live, we know you’re thinking about autumnal squash soups.
The Gilmore fandom wouldn’t be complete without digging in (see what we did there?) to all of the food mentioned in the series. You could say the whole show revolves around food: Rory and Lorelai love to eat, Sookie and Jackson cook and grow food, respectively, the townies all eat at Luke’s Diner every day, Emily Gilmore’s dinners are always perfection…we could go on. If you want to know which character’s food profile fits your own, there’s even a quiz for you–that’s how prevalent food is in the show!
There are several cookbooks on the market that lead fans through the many recipes that you would find in Stars Hollow. Kristi Carlson’s Eat Like a Gilmore series is composed of both Eat Like a Gilmore and Eat Like a Gilmore: Seasons. There is also an official franchise cookbook series by Elena Craig and Kristen Mulrooney titled Gilmore Girls: The Official Cookbook and Sookie’s Recipe Book.
But as summer turns to fall, Gilmore fans especially want seasonal Gilmore-inspired food. And we’re sure you’re kicking off your rewatch this month and might need some snacks for the journey. For inspiration, we looked no further than Eating Gilmore, an extraordinary blog and recipe project by Gilmore enthusiast Larisa Kliman. Larisa cooked her way through all seven seasons of the show (that’s 153 episodes!) plus the four-episode revival, Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, eventually creating 185 recipes! The result is an index of recipes for every mood, every meal, and every season.
Larisa put together her own Autumn Collection on the blog, but we put together our own favorite autumn foods from Gilmore Girls episodes that you can make to go with your binge watching and fall activities!
But first, coffee. At Eating Gilmore, Larisa took some liberties when it comes to coffee and invented her own fun recipe inspired by Season 3, Episode 12: A Salted Caramel Bourbon Coffee Cocktail. This is the episode where Lorelai goes on the greatest date of all time with Alex: a coffee tasting for his new business! This one is iced, so it’s perfect for September days when it’s still rather warm out but you’re craving that fall flavor profile. If you live for a PSL, Larisa concocted this original recipe for a Pumpkin Spice Milkshake With Homemade Pumpkin Ice Cream. If cold coffee or cocktails aren't your thing, you can make this Chai Latte. In Season 2, Episode 6, Christopher takes some heat from Lorelai for ordering a snobby caffeinated drink, but something tells us that by now, Stars Hollow might have a cute little shop selling all kinds of coffee and tea specialties to the tourists who come to stroll in the idyllic town square. Luke is likely annoyed by it.
For breakfast, we’d be excited for Luke’s Pumpkin Pancakes from Season 4, Episode 9. In a rare good mood, Luke tells the girls that he’s whipping up these special pancakes with homemade cinnamon butter. In the Eating Gilmore recipe, you’ll find a step-by-step process to making your own butter and buttermilk! (And if you want to make this recipe with Larisa herself, she’s offering a live cooking class on October 5, the 25th anniversary of the premiere of Gilmore Girls!)
One thing we love about fall is that you can’t pass a farmer’s market or a grocery store bakery without spotting some seasonal treats, specifically: apple cider and Apple Cider Donuts. There’s a mention of apple cider in Season 5, Episode 2, so naturally donuts are the next logical step. This recipe is a two-for-one on Eating Gilmore, as Larisa first teaches how to make apple cider. You can keep cider around for drinking as well–hot, cold or fun flask-spiked–so we will definitely be making this one.
After a stroll through autumn leaves, especially on a crisp day, we recommend coming inside to enjoy a seasonal Butternut Squash Soup. This dish is part of the Bracebridge Dinner in Season 2, Episode 10. Deceptively easy to make, this dish just takes some time and patience–the result is absolutely delicious and your whole house will smell like fall. Looking for more soup ideas? Sookie’s Mushroom Soup from Season 2, Episode 17 is a fantastic addition to autumn meal planning.
We don’t know about you, but crisp evenings make us crave cozy autumn dinners full of classic homestyle comfort food. Enter Luke’s Mac and Cheese from Season 2, Episode 16. This is the episode where Rory is home alone, only to be interrupted twice: first, Paris shows up, and then, Jess appears at her door with a care package of food from Luke’s. The three have dinner together even though technically, Paris isn’t allowed to eat mac and cheese.
For fall dessert ideas, look no further than Apple Cider Ice Cream. In Season 2, Episode 9, Lorelai is gifted an ice cream maker as a wedding present from an anonymous sender, and insists it has to be returned. But not before Sookie teases both Rory and the audience with mention of making apple cider ice cream! A perfect sweet treat for the season, Larisa makes this recipe extremely accessible. You can make ice cream with just a few ingredients, with or without an ice cream maker: all you need is a freezer and patience (Lorelai might be lacking in this area, but we can wait.) And the results are delicious.
If you’re looking to make something Gilmore-inspired that isn’t necessarily in the show, you can impress your friends with this original from Larisa: Pumpkin Pop Tarts. You can see a live demo of Larisa making these along with fellow Gilmore enthusiast A Vintage Joy!
What are your favorite Gilmore-inspired fall dishes and beverages? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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Definitely going to make the butternut squash soup! Great article