Favorite Thanksgiving Dessert

[ednbarby]

When it's made well, there's nothing like a Southern-style pecan pie.  If it's done right, it's so rich when you bite into it you just about see stars.

Second to that for me would be pumpkin pie.  I like the traditional stuff, and I'm not much of a fruit pie fan.

[moremojo]

I am too much of a chocoholic not to vote for the chocolate pie--though pumpkin pie is a tried and true classic.

[ednbarby]

I am too much of a chocoholic not to vote for the chocolate pie--though pumpkin pie is a tried and true classic.

I'm actually making something this year called a "Chocolate Dream Pie" - I found the recipe in Real Simple magazine.  I'm always the only one who ever eats my pecan pie (unless my extended family is celebrating with us, and it's been a while since that was the case).

I'm just gonna try to keep it simple and roast a turkey, make homemade stuffing and homemade mashed potatoes (if only I had Jack here to peel them for me) and gravy from the turkey drippings, steam some corn, and whip up some cranberry sauce from another recipe I came across that's really easy.  Our friends we invited over are bringing a green bean casserole and the beer and I'm making that chocolate pie.  As it is, it's gonna take 3 hours for Will's mama to fix that one.

[Lynne]

I have a terrific pumpkin pie recipe that calls for real pumpkin - it's from one of the Moosewood cookbooks and is just fabulous.  It's a real pain to make, but worth it once or twice a year. 

I'll probably still bake one, but these days it's usually just Mom and me, so I'm thinking Cracker Barrel - sounds lazy, I know, but that way I get more quality time with her - if she's feeling up for it and weather depending, we can get out in nature and just enjoy each other, not to mention much less work on my part.   

[nakymaton]

Blueberry pie.

Wild Maine blueberries. Don't fall for the flavorless domesticated varieties. Tiny little purple flavor bombs, grown in the thin acidic granite soil of coastal Maine... nothing like them. Nothing can replace them.

[delalluvia]

Way too many to pick just one.

On a recent episode of 'Barefoot Contessa' cooking show, she made a pumpkin/banana custard that looked to die for.

[ednbarby]

I will now let you all in on my pecan pie secret.  Be warned that your arteries may harden just from reading the ingredients.  Ed calls it "sugar and fat in all their various forms."  It's more of the former than the latter.

Anna Mae's (Killer) Bourbon Pecan Pie

1 deep-dish pie shell, thawed if frozen (I like Grandma's brand), or if you're a real hero, make your own (I don't know how to do that, so you're on your own, there)
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup *dark* Karo corn syrup
1/2 cup salted butter, melted
1/4 cup Bourbon of your choosing (you can just forego the Bourbon if you don't want any alcohol in it)
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, broken into very small pieces

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Mix the sugar, syrup, butter, Bourbon, vanilla and eggs together by hand or on low speed with a blender.  Pour into pie shell.  Sprinkle with the pecans.  Place the pie directly on the center rack and bake it for 50-60 minutes, until a butter knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out *almost* clean.  This is very important - if it comes out wet, let it go another few minutes.  If it comes out dry, you've already wrecked it.  It needs to be just barely discernibly - glistening.  How long you bake it is an art form.  It's almost better to underbake it so it ends up just a little bit messy than to overbake it and lose all the flavor.  Cool it on a pie rack if you can.  Refrigerate it after a half hour or so.  Really yummy with homemade whipped cream or Cool Whip.  You need something to smooth out its richness.  Anna Mae was my Mom, and this was the recipe she devised after years of experimentation with the basic how-to on the back of a Karo bottle.

[serious crayons]

I voted for pumpkin because I couldn't figure out a way to vote for what is actually my favorite and annual Thanksgiving dessert: sweet-potato pie.

I make a great one, with fresh sweet potatoes and -- the secret ingredient -- whiskey. Jack and Ennis would love it!

[ednbarby]

I voted for pumpkin because I couldn't figure out a way to vote for what is actually my favorite and annual Thanksgiving dessert: sweet-potato pie.

I make a great one, with fresh sweet potatoes and -- the secret ingredient -- whiskey. Jack and Ennis would love it!

Ah, yes.  So few people appreciate the pure, unadulterated joy of whiskey in a pie.  Then there's my step-mother's Holiday Rum Cake.  I'll have to pass that one on at Christmas time.
 

[Jeff Wrangler]

Had to go with pumpkin pie, here, as it's traditional.  My altogether favorite holiday pie, however, which we actually usually don't get till Christmas, is mince pie. Made with real mince meat--which is made with real meat.

Secret ingredient there, too, is a little whiskey--poured in through slits in the top crust, just before you heat the pie before serving it.

It helps to add a scoop of vanilla ice cream, too.

Though I would be mighty tempted to split that pecan pie with you, Barb. Pecan pie is good eatin'. 

[Meryl]

Oh, yum, all these pie descriptions are making me hungry!  I answered pumpkin, not because it's my favorite (that would be a juicy apple pie with flaky, homemade crust), but because it just is the perfect end to a Thanksgiving feast. 

[MaineWriter]

Oh, yum, all these pie descriptions are making me hungry!  I answered pumpkin, not because it's my favorite (that would be a juicy apple pie with flaky, homemade crust), but because it just is the perfect end to a Thanksgiving feast. 

What she said.

Leslie

[Jeff Wrangler]

Oh, yum, all these pie descriptions are making me hungry!  I answered pumpkin, not because it's my favorite (that would be a juicy apple pie with flaky, homemade crust), but because it just is the perfect end to a Thanksgiving feast. 

Especially with whipped cream on top. 

[ednbarby]

Everything sweet is better with whipped cream on top. 

(Dammit, David, you're *such* a bad influence...)

[Sheriff Roland]

I think it's sad that this wonderful desert is not easily accessible throughout the year.

I DO love ma punkin' pie!

[Lynne]

For the other pumpkin/squash/sweet potato pie fans:

I just posted my recipe over in the holiday recipes thread:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=5268.msg115380#msg115380

Enjoy!

[JT]

I choose pumpkin pie.  I like mine with a couple scoops of ice cream and some whip cream.

Pecan pie comes in second.

Thanks for the recipe Lynne.  Sound good!  (stomach growlin')  I'll try that.

[Ellemeno]

What you all said about pumpkin. 

Maybe Leslie could pick us all some of them teeny tiny blueberries and make us all pies?

Oh, and Lynne, there probably isn't a Cracker Barrel within a thousand miles of here, but I love going there.  Some years are Cracker Barrel years, ya know?  I wish you and your mom could come here. 

I'm having ten (total) for Thanksgiving.  I feel very lazy, and not into effort this year, and am thinking about serving it buffet-style, and having people sit around the living room, sans table.  I do feel like part of the beauty of a real Thanksgiving is the recreation of that Norman Rockwell painting, all close around the table, passing each other mashed potatoes, but I don't know if I have it in me to rearange the furniture, to add the card tables to our dining table to make it one big table big enough for ten. 

Anyway, some years are sit around the living room eating off your knees years, some years are use the good table linen from my grandmother years, and some are Cracker Barrel years.  It's all good.