Pie, Pie, My oh My!

My mother is the pie queen. Her crust's are infamous in our family...and before I left home I can't ever remember having a store bought pie. Forbidden!

She made it look so easy so I never could understood why people didn't make their own crusts/fillings etc...My mom could do it in a half hour. Then she taught me, and although i still refuse to buy a pie I definitely give myself longer than a 1/2 hour!!

It's hard work. frustrating. maddening even! But making your own pie can also be extremely rewarding, for both your palate and your pride :). I will admit that whenever I make pies with my mom I have her do the rolling of the crust. She says it just takes practice, but mine have yet to turn out like hers do here:

Another shocker may be that I also use Crisco in my crust. I know...this is totally against my prior blogging but this is my MOM's recipe...I just couldn't substitute. I mean look at that flakiness...And i really only make pies a few times a year! Holiday's are always an exception to the rule.

We had three pies for Thanksgiving, apple, pecan and Gingered Pumpkin (my pick and make). This was super simple to make. I made the crust (with mom rolling it out) and then let it sit in the freezer for thirty mins. while I made the filling. I used my fresh pumpkin puree!! YUM. sadly I had to run to work before it was ready for the topping, so I trusted my favorite Sous Chef and food photographer (erin) to finish it off. i think she did a great job.

when we sliced into it you could see the different colors and the taste was Delicious as well. I think the pumpkin filling had more texture due to the fact that it was fresh, but if you like that smooth no texture taste make sure to really really puree that pumpkin (or use canned of course).

My mom's apple is right out of the Betty Crocker Cookbook and the Pecan is my Aunt Carolyn's (who passed away from Cancer a few years ago) famous recipe that she passed along to my Mom. I normally have a piece of apple and a piece of pumpkin but in honor of my Aunt I nibbled off some of the pecan top as well! I think my mom may have had to slap my hand away...desert it all a blur :).

We served the pies with fat free cool whip (come on it totally tastes the same), and then for leftovers, later that weekend, I had my apple pie with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese . Seriously if you have never tried apple pie with cheese it's amazing! erin did comment that ice cream would have really made it complete!