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Holiday Hotlines Offer Baking Help

Crisco Pie HotlineWhen the holidays come around, many people start to do more entertaining than usual. When problems arise in the kitchen, it is easy to pick up the phone and call your mom, mother in law, grandmother, father, or any other member of your family who can cook to give you some last minute advice. But it’s good to have a backup plan in place if family can’t help you out – or if you’re simply too embarrassed to ask! One solution is to browse through your favorite food blog for holiday tips. A better solution if you don’t have a specific question in mind is to call a holiday hotline to take to a live person. There are two big ones that should be pretty helpful: the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line and the Crisco Pie Hotline.

The Turkey Talk Line is staffed with turkey-cooking experts who can help you on everything from brining time to roasting temperature. The number is 1-800-BUTTERBALL. Here you’ll reach more than 50 experts who have made more turkeys than most of us will ever see. You can also find tips on their website that will help you cook, slice and serve a turkey like a pro. They’re on throughout November and December, with extended hours aroung Thanksgiving: Nov. 27 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.; Thanksgiving 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Nov. 29–Dec. 23 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m,; and Christmas Eve 8:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. You can also live chat with a representative from the company on their site.

The Crisco Pie hotline is designed to help you out with pie crust and pie making. The number is 1-877-FOR-PIE-TIPS (1-877-367-7438). Unlike the turkey hotline, which is only available in November and December, it is actually available year-round, but as Thanksgiving approaches and pie season kicks into higher gear, they extend the hours. They are available Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET year round, and are on-call Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET from November 18 – 27, and 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET from December 16 – 23.

And if you don’t want to make any phone calls, I also have a few videos on YouTube that can give you a little last minute holiday help, including demos on How to Roll Out A Pie Crust and How to Make a Pie Crust in a Food Processor. My Tips for Troubleshooting Pie Crusts will also help with any last minute pie crust- making questions as you head down the home stretch in your Thanksgiving prep.

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3 Comments
  • Nutmeg Nanny
    November 19, 2009

    How helpful! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  • Frank
    January 15, 2010

    This is a very interesting business idea. I wonder how many people phoned them up in the end. Perhaps more companies like this will pop up offering all sorts of other cooking advice.

  • Laura
    November 27, 2013

    My first call is always to King Arthur Flour’s Baking hotline – 855-371-2253. It’s not 24/7, but they have some really good advice!

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