Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie

Our young Miss C was here this morning before 10:30 and we got to preparing and baking the two pies for Thanksgiving. We were chopping and slicing and mixing and baking for more than three and a half hours, with only a very short break inbetween the first pie and the second. I don't think C realized just how long making pies from scratch can take, but she seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

The only thing I didn't do from scratch were the pie crusts, I must confess. I bought the Pillsbury crusts that are in the refrigerated section of the supermarket... them come two to a box, all rolled up and ready to put into your pie pans, and they're just delicious. I used to make perfect pie crusts years ago, thanks to a baking class that my friend F and I had taken at one of the local schools. But my pie crust skills aren't up to par these days, and I didn't want to mess up good fillings with not-so-good crusts, especially on Thanksgiving. The ingredients for a pie crusts are so simple, but the method is what can turn a flaky crust into a rock. I'll have to practice making pie crusts, so I can get them to come out tender and flaky again.

C and I made the pumpkin pie first, and we did something different with that crust. I showed C how to use our nut grinder and she crushed up pecans and cashews... then she pressed them down onto the bottom crust before she poured in the pumpkin pie filling. I thought that would make an interesting taste and texture with the pumpkin. I have a quiche pan that my friend F up in NY had given to me as a Christmas gift more than thirty years ago. We had learned how to make Quiche Lorraine in that baking class we took, and F gave me the perfect quiche pan for our recipe. I've been using it ever since, for every quiche I've made all these years, and for every pumpkin pie as well because it's the right size for the recipe I use for those pies. I told C the story behind that quiche pan and she loved hearing it. I let C do everything with that pie.... she cracked and beat the eggs, poured in the pumpkin and the evaporated milk, and then we added the spices, a bit at a time, till we both agreed that we had enough of this and enough of that and just a pinch of the other. For the center of the pumpkin pie, I gave C a silk leaf to trace onto a piece of dough... she put that in the middle of the pie and it puffed up a little during the baking and we have one glorious leaf-decorated pumpkin pie.

While the pumpkin pie was baking, we started on the apple pie. C had a hard time peeling the apples.... she couldn't do it with a knife and the vegetable peeler didn't do such a good job. So we set up a two-person assembly line..... I peeled and quartered the apples and C sliced them all. When we were done with that, I told her how much brown sugar to mix in, then the nutmeg and cinnamon, then a touch of flour. We used about fifteen apples and the bowl was filled... she used her hands to mix everything together, then we each tasted one slice of apple. More cinnamon.... a touch more brown sugar. Another taste... perfect. Into the bottom crust went all those apple slices--- one by one. C decided that if she arranged the apple slices, rather than just dump them all into the crust, the pie would have a more even consistency. So that's what she did.... it was a very artistic-looking apple pie filling.

On went the top crust for the apple pie, and I showed her how to crimp the edges to seal it, then we brushed the crust with egg yolk. On the center of that pie, we used some leftover pastry to cut out an apple shape. Then C made a stem for the apple, and two little leaves. We brushed our little apple shape with egg, and into the oven that pie went.

We still had just a little bit of pastry left over.... and I had a tiny personal-sized pie plate. We cut up two more apples, added the spices to that, and C mixed in some dried blueberries. Into the bottom crust went that combination. I didn't have any more pastry left for a top crust, so I used granola and pineapple juice to make sort of a strussel topping for that cute little pie. When that tiny pie was baked, I divided it into thirds... for C, my husband, and myself. Delicious... the combination of blueberries and apples was great, and we may just make that pie for next Thanksgiving. Unless, of course, we set aside a day for National Pie Day and bake it sooner, which was C's suggestion.

We had so much fun with the pies..... and C was very impressed when the pies came out of the oven and looked so perfect. Except for peeling the apples, and giving her instructions for the sugar and spices, and showing her how to do the edges of the pies, C did everything herself. She was having so much fun in the kitchen that she didn't even realize that she was following my instructions the whole time and doing everything by herself. When her mom came to pick her up this afternoon, she was totally overwhelmed with both of the pies.

Tomorrow is cleaning day.... I'll be busy with that for part of the day. Then I'll do the sweet potatoes and get them ready in the casserole. I'm trying a new recipe for them that I found in the Thanksgiving cookbook that I gave everyone who came to our house for Thanksgiving dinner last year. It's a baked casserole of mashed sweet potatoes, topped with crushed pecans. I can get it all ready, then just bake it on Thursday.

The temperature has warmed up some, and I'm thrilled about that because the cats will have to stay out on the screen-porch starting tomorrow, not coming back into the house till after everyone leaves on Thanksgiving night. Tomorrow is expected to be warmer than today, and Thursday will be warmer still. Thankfully, the cold snap is all snapped-out.