Housewifery and Pie Baking

This last Thanksgiving also happen to be the first Thanksgiving that my husband and I had together, and also our first as husband and wife, so I wanted it to be as special as possible. We were invited to my sister's house for dinner with the family, so I was off the hook for cooking the turkey. (I've still yet to cook one on my own, and quite frankly I'm a little intimidated by the idea.)
 A tradition on my side of the family is a pineapple pie and it's not Thanksgiving for my husband without a pumpkin pie, so that's what I set off to make. I had never made a pie before, and I wanted to try some fun decorative things on them that I had found on Pinterest (of course), and I was so nervous about how they would turn out. And as much as I really wanted to attempt making the crusts from scratch, after much debate and conversations with others, I concluded that whatever I made was not going to be as tasty as a pre-made dough.

Pumpkin Pie:

Ingredients

• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• 15 ounces canned pure pumpkin

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

• 12 ounces evaporated milk

• 1 9-inch unbaked pie shell (Pillsbury ready made)
• Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Combine the sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves in a bowl and mix well. Set aside.
3. Combine the pumpkin and eggs in a bowl and mix well. Add to the sugar mixture and mix well. Add the evaporated milk gradually, stirring constantly. Pour into the pie shell.
4. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another 35 to 40 minutes or until the pie tests done.

The extra step that I added to this was that about 15-20 minutes before it was done I pulled it out of the oven and placed on the leaf cut outs (made out of the second pie shell in the pack) and then brushed them with egg yolk that was combined with food coloring. And the final product:

And the most important thing was that my husband LOVED it!! (Also, since he's on a very short list of family members that even like pumpkin pie, he got most of it to himself!)

As for the pineapple pie:

1 (20 oz.) can DOLE Crushed Pineapple
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon lemon juice 
Pastry for 9-inch double-crust pie (Pillsbury ready made crust again)
Instructions:
Combine crushed pineapple, sugar, cornstarch and salt in saucepan. Cook, stirring, until thickened and clear. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Cool slightly.
Pour filling into unbaked 9-inch pastry shell. Top with second crust and flute edges, cut slits in several places. Bake at 400^⁰F., 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

This recipe should be doubled. I made it the way it said and it only filled the pie crust about halfway. I realized this once my filling was completed and in the cooling down process and so I made the decision to add a little design to the edges. I knew that I would be adding leaf cutouts across the entire top of the pie, and so I took a different leaf cookie cutter and made the impressions all the way around and folded over the top of the filling. The leaf cutouts were just placed over the whole thing and cooked at the same time and temperature. A really simple addition to any pie!

For my first pies they both turned out surprisingly well and tasted delicious. We had a great time with the family and my fear of baking pies is gone. That is until I attempt my own crust . . . . .