Thanksgiving Pies

I don't make pies unless they are frozen pie shell and pour kind of things. However this year my good friend gave me a great cookbook with an amazingly easy pie crust recipe and this monster apple pie recipe. I did it. I made the pie dough, I rolled it out, I peeled and sliced the apples, I crimped, egg-washed...and we have pie. Barefoot Contessa is her name and her pie crust just works. I changed the inside a little. I omitted allspice, only because I did not have any and when I went to get it everyone else apparently needed it too because the store was out! I like my apple pie tart, crisp, not too sweet, not to spiced up, and buttery; this pie delivered just that. Oh I added a little butter as well. I guess you could say I made it my own but I followed the recipe for the most part, in baking you can't mess with the science! My husband likes his apple pie, super sweet, gooey and tender so this was not his favorite. More for me!

Now the pumpkin pie he was all over. Again I used a recipe (baking), thank you Sandra Lee, not my favorite food network personality but this pumpkin pie RULES! It's her pumpkin cream pie. It's just different from regular pumpkin pie that you notice how much better it is but it still looks and tastes like the old standard enough so you don't feel like you are missing out on the tradition. A little cream cheese, heavy cream and we are in Thanksgiving nirvana. The trick is to make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature or it won't incorporate and you will have little white lumps. I did not have pumpkin pie spice so I used separate spice and again no allspice! My two year old ate most of the pie! She did not like the crust so I ate her crusts and gained a few...thanks ladies! Good pies!