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.

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.

We had a bunch of family over today for a ham dinner and I decided to spoil him and make his first pumpkin pie of the season. He enjoyed it.

Pumpkin Pie (From: Pillsbury Thanksgiving Book Nov. 2008)

• 1 refrigerated pie crust
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
• 1 can (12oz) evaporated milk
• 2 eggs, beaten

Heat oven to 425. Place pie crust in 9 inch glass pie plate.

In large bowl, beat remaining ingredients with hand beater o wire whisk until well blended. Pour into crust lined plate. Cover crust edge with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.

Baked 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake 40 to 50 minutes longer or until knife inserted near center comes out clean, removing foil for last 5 minutes of baking. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Serve pie topped with whip cream. Store covered in refrigerator.

Adam loves pie, I am not so much a fan of fruit pie, dutch apple with a big old scoop of ice cream is about the only one I will do. So I knew that was what I wanted to make. This one was excellent and wasn’t over the top with apples.

Dutch Apple Pie (Adapted From: Taste of Home)

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream
• 2 cups chopped peeled tart apples (about 3 medium)
• 1 unbaked pie shell (9 inches)

STREUSEL TOPPING:

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

In a large bowl, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir in the egg, vanilla and sour cream; stir until smooth. Add apples; mix well. Pour into pie crust. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325° and bake for 30 minutes more.

For topping, combine flour and sugar in a small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over pie; bake 20 minutes longer or until filling is bubbly and topping is browned. Cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or chilled. Store in the refrigerator.

Although I did not have any of this, Adam and I his co-workers raved about it. They said the base was nice and creamy and the strawberrys had the perfect flavor. This was simple to whip up too.

Strawberries and Cream Pie (From: The Way the Cookie Crumbles, Orginally From:Pillsbury’s Complete Cookbook)

• 1 cup cold heavy cream, divided
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup (2.33 ounces) sugar
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 pie crust for a 1-crust pie, completely baked and cooled
• 2 pints fresh whole strawberries, hulled
• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

In a medium bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment), beat 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon of the cream on medium speed. When the cream is frothy, increase the speed to high and whip until the cream holds firm peaks.

In a separate large bowl (or the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), beat the cream cheese on medium speed until it’s soft and creamy. Add the sugar and extract and continue beating until combined.

Fold about 1/3 of the whipped cream into the cream cheese to lighten the mixture, then add the remaining cream and continue folding until it’s incorporated. Evenly spread the cream mixture in the pie crust. Arrange the strawberries, pointed side up, over the filling.

Melt the chocolate with the remaining 1 tablespoon cream over very low heat, stirring constantly, or in the microwave on medium power, or in a double boiler. Drizzle the chocolate over the strawberries. Refrigerate the pie until set, about 1 hour.

My dad said this pie was better then the purchased pie. Everyone else really raved about it too. I put the pie in when we sat down for dinner and pulled it out as it was time for dessert. PERFECT timing and we got to eat delicious FRESH pie.

Carmel-Apple Crumb Pie (Found On: Erin’s Food Files Adapted From: Cooking Light)

• Frozen pie crust
• 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 8 apples sliced (I used apples that I froze last fall that already had lemon juice on them, if you use fresh apples add 1-2 T. lemon juice)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup carmel chips

Topping

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
• 2 T. carmel sauce

Preheat oven to 375°.

Melt, 1 tablespoon butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and cinnamon. Add sugar mixture and apples to skillet; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in 3 tablespoons flour. Spoon into prepared crust. Top with carmel chips on top of apples.

To prepare topping, lightly spoon 1/4 cup flour into a dry measuring cup. Combine flour and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl; cut in 2 tablespoons butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in carmel sauce to give it a nice brownish color. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the apples. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until apples are tender. Cool on a wire rack.

I decided to make some of these for Adam and I to have around the house. I made vanilla for me and vanilla for him. These are SO simple to make and very tasty for what they are.

Mini Pudding Pies (From: My Mom)

• 6 mini graham cracker crusts
• 1 box of instant pudding whatever flavor you like
• 2 cups cold milk

Mix pudding as stated on the directions on the back of the box. Let sit in bowl to thicken for a few minutes. Once it starts thickening pour into crusts.

Put in refrigerator until set. Once set cover individually with plastic wrap.

This cheesecake was awesome, so light and creamy!! Everyone who tried this enjoyed it. Personally I though the crust was a little bland and could use a little more flavor, maybe more sugar or even some cinnamon. The waterbath was a lot easier then I thought it would be good.

Tall and Creamy Cheesecake (From Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan)

For the crust:

• 1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:

• 2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream or heavy cream, or a combination of the two

To make the crust:

Butter a 9-inch springform pan—choose one that has sides that are 2 3/4 inches high (if the sides are lower, you will have cheesecake batter leftover)—and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.

Stir the crumbs, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Don’t worry if the sides are not perfectly even or if the crumbs reach above or below the midway mark on the sides—this doesn’t have to be a precision job. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven.

Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

To make the cheesecake:
Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition—you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the sour cream and/or heavy cream.

Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in the roaster pan.

Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter will reach the brim of the pan. (If you have a pan with lower sides and have leftover batter, you can bake the batter in a buttered ramekin or small soufflé mold.) Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven’s heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.

Serving:
Remove the sides of the springform pan— I use a hairdryer to do this (use the dryer to warm the sides of the pan and ever so slightly melt the edges of the cake)—and set the cake, still on the pan’s base, on a serving platter. The easiest way to cut cheesecake is to use a long, thin knife that has been run under hot water and lightly wiped. Keep warming the knife as you cut slices of the cake.

Storing:
Wrapped well, the cake will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or for up to 2 months in the freezer. It’s best to defrost the still-wrapped cheesecake overnight in the refrigerator.

I think I did pretty good, it tasted pretty much the same just didn’t have the red and green chips. The silk recipe was inspired from Baking Delights but I adapted it to get what I was looking for out of it.

Candy Cane Pie (From: Myself)

• 1 chocolate crumb crust
• 1/2 c. melted chocolate
• 1 c unsalted butter
• 3/4 c sugar
• 6 ozs good quality white chocolate melted in 1/3 c heavy cream and cooled to room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla flavor
• 1/2 tsp almond flavor
• 1 lg. cool whip
• 2 eggs
• 1 bag andes mints

Pour melted chocolate into crust and set.

Beat butter and sugar until no longer grainy. This can take several minutes.

Add melted chocolate and beat in.

Continue beating while adding flavorings and 1 cup cool whip.

Add eggs, one at a time. Beat for several minutes after each addition.

Mix in a cup of andes mints.

Pour into crust, top with cool whip and garnish with andes mints.

Chill for atleast 4 hours.

I found this recipe when searching for something to make for my work, it looked very yummy, and very simple. Sadly I didn’t get a piece but the batter tasted amazing. Adam said it tasted as good as it looked, I am going to make this again so I can taste it myself.

Turtle Pumpkin Pie (From: Pillsbury)

• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. caramel ice cream topping, divided
• 1  Graham Cracker Pie Crust
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. Pecan Pieces, divided
• 1 cup cold milk
• 2 pkg. (3.4 oz. each) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tub (8 oz.) Cool Whip Whipped Topping, thawed, divided 

Pour 1/4 cup caramel topping into crust; sprinkle with 1/2 cup pecans.

Beat milk, pudding mixes, pumpkin and spices with whisk until blended. Stir in 1-1/2 cups COOL WHIP. Spread into crust.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Top with remaining Cool Whip, caramel topping and pecans just before serving.