Rosie Makes A Pumpkin Pie And An Apple Pie For Middle Hawthorne's Birthday.

It's December 1, 2010. It's Wednesday. Tomorrow is Middle Hawthorne's birthday. Middle Hawthorne always wants pie, not cake, for his birthday. I asked him what kind. "mmmm ... pumpkin ... ... and apple." Done Deal. I worked on these two-NAY-THREE pies all.day.long. I was multi-tasking, so that's why it took me all day. (After I finished the first two, Youngest Hawthorne came home and expected a pie for him even though it wasn't his birthday.)

I present the first. Pumpkin:

Punkin' Pie 'gredients: 1 1/2 cups punkin' 1 TB flour 1/3 cup sugah 2 TB dark brown sugah 2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/4 tsp allspice 1 cup heavy cream 2/3 cup skim milk (The cream and the skim are what I have on hand. If you have whole milk, you could use that. I like the richness of the cream.) 1/2 tsp salt 2 eggs, beaten Mix all ingredients besides eggs. Allow the filling, without eggs, to rest for at least an hour so that the punkin' is absorbed into the liquid mixture. Add the eggs later. This avoids their coagulation during the rest period and permits them to better bind and provide body for the filling during baking.

I Semi-Ho'd it. Sandra-Lee'd it. Totally. Buy the Pillsbury rolled pie doughs. Never buy the pie dough in the aluminimum pan.

Add in the flour to the can of punkin'.

Put in the sugah.

Do the brown.

The spice mixture. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. You know, a teaspoon of ginger wouldn't have hurt.

Skim/cream mix goes in.

And let the mixture rest for an hour before you add in the eggs.

I filled my two pie pans with beans and put them into a 425 degree oven and partially baked for 15 - 20 minutes.

After the pumpkin mixture has rested for an hour, beat the eggs and ...

... add them to the pumpkin.

Pour in half of the pumpkin mixture in the pie pan and bake for 5-7 minutes ...

... then add in the rest of the pumpkin mixture and bake for 15 minutes. This allows for a better bake and eliminates curdling and separation. After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue baking an additional 40-45 minutes.

Pretty pumpkin pie.

Now for the apple pie.

Apple pie ingredients: 5 apples (I used five but my pan was a deep dish and could have used more.) 3/4 cup sugar 2 TB cornstarch 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp cinnamon juice of one lemon zest of one lemon butter to dot the top with 2 TB cream, to brush 2 TB sugar, to sprinkle

Peel, core, and slice apples into a medium bowl with the lemon juice and zest. If you do a lot of apples, this little gadget is a must-have.

It gives you perfect slices.

Stir in sugar ...

... cinnamon and salt ...

... and cornstarch.

Stir to coat and let mixture stand for 15 minutes.

Here are my pre-baked shells ready for filling. Weight the shells with beans and bake in a 425 oven for 15-20 minutes before adding the filling.

Arrange the apple slices in the pie dish but try to be neater than I was. My nice, pretty slices broke up when I was coating them with the sugar/cornstarch/sugar mixture. Build the center higher than the edges and pour the remaining mixture over top of the slices.

Dot liberally with butter slices and brush the crust with the cream.

Add the rest of the cream to the pie.

Sprinkle with the sugar. Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue baking for another 35-40 minutes.

Now here's where my little pie-baking experience went awry. These two pies were sitting on the counter, cooling, and Youngest Hawthorne walked in. His eyes grew big as he surveyed the pies. He was ready to cut himself a slice when I told him no, they were for Middle Hawthorne. Youngest Hawthorne got all pouty and hang-dog and pitiful, so I went ahead and made him his very own pumpkin pie. And I set it out on the table on the deck to cool. And forgot about it. I found it out there the next morning, but unfortunately it seems that Junior had found it before I did. Junior likes pumpkin pie! He'd eaten half of it save for the crust. Youngest Hawthorne was not happy about this turn of events, even though I'd cut off the uneaten half of crust. That morning, Thursday, I was in a rush to pack the truck so Mr. Hawthorne and I could head off to Greensboro for Middle Hawthorne's birthday. About two hours into the trip, Mr. Hawthorne turned to me and asked, "Did you pack the pies?" I'd forgotten the pies.