Good morning, and happy Monday!
I’m sitting here with a slice of leftover pie and a hot cup of chai tea. The Christmas tree is decorated, and my favorite Christmas radio station is playing on Apple Music. I’m still burning through a few pumpkin fall candles before I make my way to the Christmas ones (cinnamon, fir, etc.), but they all smell festive and make me excited for this season!
Today I’m sharing a little bit about our pie tradition. I shared an insta story on Thanksgiving of all 12 of our pies, and I got a few requests to share about this wacky little tradition I have in my family.
For starters, I have a big family. I have seven siblings, and so there are 10 people in my immediate family alone. Once you add to that my husband, in-laws, and some extended family members, Thanksgiving dinner has to feed about 15 people. So we’ve always made at least 4-5 pies, ever since I was a little girl.
But several years ago (I think it was 2010 or 2011) as we all got curious about baking new and different types of pies (but not wanting to let go of any of the classics, like apple, pumpkin, pecan, coconut cream, etc), the pie game got bigger and better.
The first year we hit double digits and made 10 pies, we were all like, “this is ridiculous, but we’re just gonna roll with it.” Every year, we make somewhere between 12 and 18 pies, and they’re all consumed by my family.
We eat them for dessert after Thanksgiving dinner, and then we eat them for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving. And when it comes time for everyone to head home after the holiday, everyone takes a pie tin and fill it with slices of their favorites. Pies for days!!
^ This was in 2011, and it’s the oldest picture I can find of our pies. I think this is the year we realized things were getting out of hand, but we had no intentions of stopping!
^ This is a a photo from 2015 in my parent’s old house in Dallas. Note the cheesecake on the left (my little sister Kylee started making those to add to the pie stash.) We don’t discriminate. All circular desserts are welcome in our home.
This year (2018), Nate and I volunteered to host and we had sooo much fun! The family collectively made 12 pies, which are all pictured above. Here’s what we made:
French Silk with Pretzel Crust
Crack Pie
Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake
Oreo Pie
Apple Pie
Cranberry Pie with Lattice Crust
Chocolate Pecan
Butterscotch Pecan
Coconut Cream
Banana Chocolate with Graham Cracker Crust
Pumpkin
Pumpkin with Graham Cracker Crust
Pumpkin with Gingersnap Crust
There are a few slices missing from the Oreo and banana chocolate pies. Those are the pies that the youngest family members made, and they just couldn’t wait for the photo before tasting a slice of their pies.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Other than the massive amount of pies we consumed, my family enjoyed a turkey from Dai Due that Nate put on the smoker (holy yum!!), tons and tons of sides (sweet potatoes are always my favorite!), and lots of cups of coffee in the morning and wine at night. We all ran the 5 mile Turkey Trot in the morning; it was my first time running this race, and I had a blast! It was a beautiful sunny day, and it always feels nice to burn a few calories before stuffing my face with a Thanksgiving feat.
Any quirky traditions you want to share? I’d love to hear about them!