Pumpkin Pie

This is another pie I made during Thanksgiving.  I usually make a pumpkin pie using the recipe from the canned pumpkin which is pretty good in my opinion.  This year I wanted to try another recipe and this Perfect Pumpkin Pie was better than the one I have made.  I followed her recipe exactly as is and want to be sure I have it on hand at all times for future Pumpkin Pies!

Ingredients
1 unbaked pie crust
2 cups pumpkin puree, fresh or canned
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
pinch of ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
1/2 cup evaporated cane juice or sweetener of choice (this is a bag of granulated cane juice)




Preheat oven to 425 degrees
1) Roll out your pie crust and place it in a 9-inch pie pan. Crimp the edges or decorate as desired. Place in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

2) Place all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and whisk until nice and smooth. Pour into the prepared pie crust and slip into your preheated oven.

3) Bake for 15 minutes at 425, then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 C). Bake for an additional 40-50 minutes, or until the filling isn't wet, but still moves a bit in the middle when jiggled. If the crust is getting too brown for your liking you can always cover it with tin foil or a crust shield. 

4) Cool the pie and serve cold or at room temperature, whichever you prefer. Whipped cream is a MUST. 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

I have been wanting to make this pie since last Thanksgiving after picking up a cooking magazine that featured this recipe on the front page.  So this was one of the pies I made this year.  I actually messed up on baking it, not realizing I was suppose to cover with foil half way through.  I ended up taking it out about 10 minutes sooner because the top was getting so dark, and in doing this it caused the inside of pie to be kinda runny.  It was still pretty good!  I definitely will be making this again and look forward to it tasting better when I follow the instructions correctly.

Ingredients
1 refrigerated pie crust
2 4oz. bars bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups chopped pecans

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2)  Lightly flour both sides of pie crust and place in pie dish.  Crimp edges if desired.  Line crust with parchment or wax paper and cover bottom with pie weights (I used rice).  Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove paper and weights.
3)  In a small saucepan, combine chocolate and cream.  Cook over medium-low heat, stirring until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.  Pour into prepared pie crust and chill for 30 minutes.
4)  In a medium bowl, combine corn syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and butter mixing until smooth.  Stir in pecans.  Spoon batter over chocolate layer in pie crust.
5)  Bake for 30 minutes.  Cover top with foil to prevent excess burning, and continue baking another 30 minutes.  Cool completely before serving.
 

Striped Delight

This is another all time favorite in our house!  I got this recipe from my mother as this is something she always made around Thanksgiving and Christmas and everyone loved it.  We were able to spend Thanksgiving with our friends this year and only needed to bring a dessert, and one that wasn't a pie as they already had those taken care of.  I chose this dessert because it is so easy and fast to make.  I think everyone loved it especially the kids!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1 pkg 8oz. cream cheese softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
2 8oz. cool whip
2 pkg instant chocolate pudding
3 1/2 cup milk

Spray 9x13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Combine graham cracker crumbs, 1/4 sugar and butter for crust, and press into baking dish.  Beat cream cheese, 2 Tbsp milk, and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth.  Fold in on 8oz. tub of cool whip and spread over crust.  Mix milk and pudding together and pour over cream cheese layer.  Refrigerate for two hours.  Spread 8oz. cool whip over top of pudding layer and top with nuts or chocolate shavings if desired.  Serve cold.

Sweet Potato Pecan Casserole

I have always loved Sweet Potato Casserole since I was a little girl!  My husband on the other hand had not cared for it much until I started making this recipe.  He loves the pecan topping on this one!  I don't remember where I got this recipe from but have been making it for about five years.  It doesn't matter if we stay home for Thanksgiving or travel back to our parents I usually end up making this every year.  This year we stayed home and I only cooked a few things with this being one of them! 

Filling
4 lg. sweet potatoes
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into slightly big chunks.  Place in pot and boil until fork inserts smoothly, making some chunks fall apart.  Drain off water and add remaining ingredients mixing together well.  Pour into a casserole dish.

Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup flour
1 to 2 cups pecans, chopped

Mix all ingredients together well and place on top of sweet potatoes filling.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Coconut Pie

This has been an all time favorite of mine since I was a little girl!  I always loved my moms' coconut pie and now I have her recipe.  I've made it about 3 times since I've been married and it still never seems to turn out like my moms, but it's still good!

Ingredients for filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 Tbsp flour
• 3 eggs (yolks separated)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup coconut

Meringue Topping:

• 3 egg whites
• 1/3-1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp cream of tarter 

Separate egg whites.  Place yolks in pot you'll be cooking them in, and beat them up really good.  Then add 1/4 cup milk, mixing well.  In a separate bowl combine sugar and flour.  Add this a little at a time to yolk mixture until all mixed up smoothly, not clumpy.  Next pour in rest of milk, and add vanilla.  It will be runny at this point.  Cook on 4/5, or medium low heat, stirring constantly, about 15-20 minutes, until the filling thickens up.  Remove from heat, add coconut and pour into pie crust.

For the meringue, beat egg whites until they are peaky.  Add sugar, and cream of tarter.  Beat until meringue thickens up, taking about 5-10 minutes.  Once thick and peaks will stay up, add to top of pie and spread all the way to edge of pie crust.  It tends to separate at edge after setting so be sure and get a good spread to the edge.  Sprinkle top with coconut.

Bake @ 350 degrees until top is lightly brown.  About 10-15 minutes.