My Husband is not one to request many things, but this year when I made the first pumpkin pie of the season he said “Know what I want this year?”

“What would that be?”

“A real pumpkin pie made from an actual pumpkin.”

Ask and you shall receive, I’m thinking this will be a good bribe for the iPad I want for Christmas I bought a pie pumpkin right after Thanksgiving when they were on clearance. I never realize how much water pumpkin held until I came across this recipe that had you drain it. I bet I ended up with a cup or more of liquid after letting it sit for about 36 hours. That would of really watered down the pie. I also decided since I was going for it to really go and make homemade crust too. Me and Pillsbury are friends when it comes to that. I followed this recipe for the crust.

Since I don’t eat pumpkin I don’t know how the crust tastes, Adam didn’t comment on that. It wasn’t a lot harder to make and I will try it again in the future to taste for myself. As for the pumpkin he couldn’t stop raving about this. He said it had such a deeper and richer flavor then any other pie I have made. SUCCESS Next year I will make pumpkin in “bulk” and freeze it so that I don’t have to go through the process every time I make one.

Best Ever Pumpkin Pie (From: De Nueva)

• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1 2/3 cup milk
• 1/8-1/4 cup maple syrup

If you’re starting from a pumpkin: Carefully cut the pumpkin in half. Scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Lightly drizzle the flesh with olive oil. Place cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about an hour at 350 degrees. When the pumpkin is finished, the flesh should be easily pierced with a fork and the skin should be soft.

Let the pumpkin cool until it’s easy to handle. Scoop out the flesh and place in a bowl. Once all the flesh has been removed, you can smooth it out a number of ways, blender, food processor, or immersion blender. I suppose you could hand mash it as well. Once the pumpkin is smooth and pureed, place a few layers of cheesecloth in a colander over a pot. Add the puree on top of the cheese cloth and let it sit covered for a few hours or overnight to drain the excess water. (You could probably use it right away, but your recipe might have a bit extra moisture.)

For the pie:

Mix all the ingredients together. Pour into a 9 inch pie crust. Bake at 350 until the pie is set, around 40-45 minutes.

As soon as we went strawberry picking Adam requested strawberry pie, along with a whole big list. But this was the first I made for him, actually the only as of now, I have strawberries set aside to make ice cream for him too.

The theme for Whats Baking this month is Bake Local. To me strawberries don’t get much more local, the farm we go to pick them from is about 7 minutes from our house. That is local.

He really enjoyed this, and I liked how simple and quick it was to whip together. My mixture thickened really quick, I went about 3 minutes and it was really really thick. I am not sure if this was an error on my part of the recipe. But make sure you are watching it.

Strawberry Pie (From: Allrecipes)

Another recipe I found from the wonderful pinterest. This sounded like the perfect dessert to make for our guests on Friday night. It had been a week, I had to work that morning and wasn’t interested in spending tons of time in the kitchen. It took longer for the cool whip to thaw then it did to mix this together.

The recipe originally said you could serve frozen or chilled. I much preferred it just chilled. It was creamy tasty goodness. I went with strawberry but any flavor would be good. I think some fruit mixed or served on top would really add to it.

Yogurt Berry Pie (From: Time for Supper!)

I am not a huge fan of pie, as most are fruit pies and they are not my thing. I will occasionally do apple but again not my favorite. Give me a cream pie and I am all over it. I also love the flavor butterscotch so as soon as I saw this recipe in my reader I knew I had too make it. I figured it would go perfect with the pecan pie I was bringing.

This pie was delicious. Everyone loved it. I liked that you could make it the night before. Saved the hassle day of.

Butterscotch Pie (From: Brownies and Blondies)

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. cornstarch
• 1/4 c. dark brown sugar
• 3/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 c. milk
• 1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces and softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 Tbl. butterscotch Schnapps

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and egg together until well-beaten. Mix in the cornstarch until thoroughly incorporated.

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugars, salt, and milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until bubbles appear. Temper the egg mixture by slowly stirring in 1 c. of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly. Once the eggs have been tempered, add them back into the saucepan of milk, again stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens considerably.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the butter, one piece at a time. Once all the butter has been incorporated, mix in the vanilla and butterscotch Schnapps. Strain the custard through a fine-meshed sieve into the cooled pie crust, and spread evenly. Lay a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the pie to keep out air, and refrigerate overnight. To serve, top with whipped cream, if desired.

We have our last of our Christmas celebrations today. While talking with my sister-in-law asking what to bring, I hear my brother very quietly say in the background “pecan pie.” I am known to my family as the dessert maker. Almost ALWAYS in charge of dessert… And personally I love it. I always have a million baked good recipes stockpiled up but don’t want to make them just for Adam and I. So this is a good way to taste test my recipe.

I still had some cinnamon sugar pecans and decided to use those for this pie, it was rather simple to throw together. I also used a refrigerated crust as I had some I needed to use up. I am not normally a big fan of pecan pie, but I loved this one. The maple whip cream really went with it.

Pecan Pie (From: Joy of Baking)

• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• 1 cup (215 grams) dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) Lyle’s Golden Syrup (or dark corn syrup)
• 1 tablespoon rum or bourbon
• 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) cream
• 1/4 salt tsp.
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups (150 – 200 grams) pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Maple Whipped Cream

• 1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Place the oven rack in the bottom third of the oven.Roll crust into pie pan and place in fridge to chill.

In a large saucepan, heat the brown sugar , Lyle’s Golden Syrup, rum, and butter until boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and let cool until tepid. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk the eggs. When the boiled syrup has cooled, beat in the eggs, salt, and cream.

Remove the chilled pastry crust from the refrigerator and evenly distribute the chopped pecans over the bottom of the crust.  Then pour the filling evenly over the nuts. Bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until the filling is just set (a toothpick inserted into the center of the pie will come out clean. (If you find the edges of the pie crust are over browning during baking, cover with foil.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipping cream.

My husband could eat pumpkin pie every meal of his life, I am sure of it. He is known for getting his own pumpkin pie at the holidays because hell eat the whole thing. I haven’t made any this season so I decided to make some mini ones so they were easier to take to work or breakfast, or bedtime snack… or just every meal

I cut the pie crust in rounds, put in a muffin tin and baked 10 min at 400, and then about 25 at 350.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie (From: Taste of Home)

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1 cup milk
• 1 unbaked pastry shell (9 inches)
• Whipped cream in a can, optional

In a small bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Stir in pumpkin and sugar mixture. Gradually stir in milk. Pour into pastry shell.
Bake at 400° for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°; bake 45-50 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Top with whipped cream if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

Growing up I spent my fair share at my best friends house. Her Mom always made this cheesecake and it’s like heaven! It’s not your “normal” cheesecake recipe, but a nice rich creamy cheesecake.

DELICIOUS and simple to through together and requires no baking.

Creamy Cheesecake (From: Rose)

• 1 graham cracker crust
• 1 pkg. cream cheese
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 8 oz. cool whip

Whip all ingredients until smooth.

Spoon into crust

Chill at least 4 hours before serving.

This popped into my google reader late last week, it just so happened that I had a dinner party planned for Saturday. I knew I HAD to make this.

This was SOOO simple to through together which I loved as it allowed me to spend more time with our guests, and it had excellent flavor. I with the help of my mom made some vanilla bean whip cream to top it. It was SOOO good.

I can’t say I am sad I have one more pie crust and will just **have** to make it again Perfect for fall.

Chocolate and Carmel Apple Pie Galette (From: Picky Palate)

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 2 apples of choice peeled and diced
• 3 Tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 roll Pillsbury pie dough
• 5 Rolo chocolate caramels, unwrapped and quartered
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place butter into a medium saucepan over medium heat.  When melted add diced apples, brown sugar and cinnamon.  Cook and stir for 5 minutes or until softened.

Roll out pie dough then pour cooked apples in center of dough leaving a 1 1/2 inch border around edges.  Top with quartered Rolo’s then take edges of pie dough and fold over to create a pleated edge.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until pie edges are golden brown.  Remove and let cool completely.  Before serving dust with powdered sugar.

I have decided Adam is a pumpkin pie addict, this is the third pumpkin pie I have made him, that is not counting the pieces he has eaten else where. Guess what he had Black Friday for breakfast… yep pumpkin pie… Crazy man I tell ya.

I had a package of pie crust sitting in the fridge because I had bought it to make it for our early Thanksgiving dinner, but instead our daughter arrived, I think that’s better then ANY Thanksgiving dinner!! Since this is his first week back to work after she was born and he had a 13 hour day on Monday I decided I would surprise him with pie tonight.

Both Adam and My mom enjoyed this pie, they said it tasted different then normal pumpkin pie but was delicious.

Pumpkin Pie (From: Paula Deen)

• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional
• 1 piece pre-made pie dough
• Whipped cream, for topping

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

Since I made pumpkin I had to make a pie that I would like as well. Since I was making the pumpkin pie from this book I decided I would do the apple pie too.

Sadly I was less then impressed with this recipe, it just wasn’t as good as the other dutch apple pies I have made. Adam said it was much better cold then it was warm. I can’t really say what we didn’t like about this, just wasn’t a favorite.

Sour Cream Apple Pie (From: Pillsbury Thanksgiving Book Nov. 2008)

• 1 regriderated pie crust
• 1 1/4 cups sour cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 egg
• 6 cups sliced peeled baking apples (6 medium)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Topping

• 3 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• dash of salt

Heat oven to 400. Place pie crust in a 9 inch glass pie plate.

In large bowl, beat all filling ingredients except apples with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in apples. Pour into crust-lined plate. Cover crust edge with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.

Bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350and bake 30 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix all topping ingredients except butter. Cut in butter, using pastry blender or ford, until mixture looks like coarse crumbs refrigerate until ready to use.

Sprinkle topping over pie; bake 20 to 25 minutes long or until topping is golden brown cool completely on cooling rack, about 2 hours, before serving. Store covered in refrigerator.