‘Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond Makes Surprise Retirement Announcement

Ree Drummond is saying goodbye to a major staple in her career: cookbook writing. But fans don’t have to fret just yet.

The Pioneer Woman told PEOPLE on Wednesday that her upcoming ninth cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: The Essential Recipes, was initially going to be her last, but changed her mind somewhere during the process.

“This is my ninth cookbook, and I had decided at a certain point that this would be my final cookbook,” Drummond shared. “I know that sounds sad and crazy, but I feel that I’ve kind of told the stories I want to tell with food, and I’m just going to keep making my favorite things.”

She confirmed that a 10th cookbook is in the works and that it “will definitely be my last.”

Although Drummond, 56, didn’t share many details about her final cookbook, the food blogger did tease The Essential Recipes will feature some of her “greatest hits.”

“I really started examining what I was cooking day in and day out, week in and week out. And even though I would make new things and try new things, I just always kept going back to my go-to classics,” she said. “Naturally, I have refined and tweaked and improved the cooking times, the methods, but I hadn’t ever really gone back to update the original recipes, so I thought, ‘Gosh, why don’t I just tackle all of my essential recipes, which is how I consider these, but incorporate all of these improvements?’ Some of them are small but meaningful tweaks and others are a little bit more considerable.”

Upon her “retirement,” Drummond surely will find ways to keep herself busy, having released a new QVC apparel line this week and launched a new family YouTube series, Drummond Ranch, earlier this year.