Every year when I was younger my parents, three sisters and I would make the 3-4 hour trip up to Whidbey Island, Wa to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with close family friends. We'd pass the long hours in traffic along with thousands of other travelers singing Disney classics and anticipating the good times ahead. We never traveled light, because well...four daughters and their stuff, but more to blame was my mom. You see, she was the pie lady. Being in the car of the pie lady meant there was an abundance of carefully packed pies all around us, year after year, making the long journey wherever they'd fit...by legs, on laps, carefully placed beside our feet and bags. One car, two parents, four girls, and so many pies.
One year, halfway through our drive my older sister requested the heat be turned down because her feet were getting hot. It wasn't long until it become clear to everyone in the car that it wasn’t a thermostat issue. Her (shoeless) foot had been on a pie the entire drive, and had nestled into the tin foil covering nice and cozy. As if this weren't bad enough, learning that it wasn't just any pie, but the marionberry pie, made a funny situation downright depressing. The marionberry pie was the one everybody fought over in years past, a real family favorite, and now it carried a size 8.5 footprint right in the middle. What did we do about it? We cut around the footprint and ate the damn pie anyways, of course. Sure there were other pies, but nothing compared to mom’s marionberry pie, so we did what we had to do.
Luckily for me, I still get to spend every Thanksgiving with my parents, which means partaking in my mom’s amazing pies year after year. You might not be as fortunate as I am. You might not be the recipient of pies so good you’ll eat them, footprint and all. Or you might actually be the one in charge of the pies. I personally am praying to God it’s years before I have to undertake this responsibility. In the event that your number has already been called, The Modern Proper has spent hours (and I mean hours) searching the web, taking votes and testing recipes to make sure that you are well equipped to live up to your responsibility.
Pies & Pies & Pies, oh my!
We’ve narrowed down the Thanksgiving pie game into six categories; pecan, pumpkin, apple, cream, non-traditional and dairy/gluten free. Trust us when we say, “we’ve got your pie game covered.”
Non-Traditional Holiday Pies
We Tested 5 of These Pies in The Modern Proper test kitchen! Here's what we thought of them!
Salted Caramel Chocolate Pecan Pie
We tested this pie twice. The first time we baked it according to the instructions, for 35-40 minutes. We found that the pie never set completely leaving a gooey center. The second time we baked it, for 35 minutes then covered the entire pie in foil and baked it for and additional 10 minutes. We also put the caramel back onto the heat and cooked it down for 3 minutes longer. We prefer a caramel that is slightly more set. It was perfect.
Chocolate and Whiskey Cream Pie
We used an entire (14 oz) box of chocolate graham crackers in place of the chocolate biscuits. The butter/graham cracker ratio was too dry so we added more butter...14 tablespoons total! We found this to be enough crust for two 9 inch pies. Which worked out in our favor because the filling was also enough to fill 2 pies! The meringue is enough for 3 pies! So maybe save some for your sweet potatoes or add a fancy meringue to another one of your pies.
The Best Apple Pie You’ll Ever Have (with Caramel)
We decided to make this pie in a greased springform pan...If you choose this method, make sure you place a baking sheet under the pie in the oven to catch any drippings. We also added 2 small apples to the recipe to fill the deep dish pie.
The recipe for this pie is flawless! The only thing we want to note is that we grated the fresh ginger with a microplane.
Caramel Pear Pie with Oat Crumble
We have no additional baking notes on this pie.
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