Pie Night

It's tradition in my family to have what we call Pie Night the night before Thanksgiving. Mostly it's because everyone is so full from Thanksgiving dinner that no one is interested in the pie afterward anyways, so we get it out of the way and have it the night before. You know, the whole "dessert first" mentality.

Another reason we started this tradition because there are several family members that sometimes have other obligations on Thanksgiving, such as having to work or not being able to travel or being with their spouse's family. That last one applies mostly to my husband and I. Having Pie Night the night before Thanksgiving means no one has to feel like they need to cram two different dinners into one day in order to see everyone that they want to, nor do they have to feel guilty for hurting the feelings of those they weren't able to be with. It's basically a win-win to have an extra day of celebration.

Anyways, this year it was decided that everyone who attended would make a pie and bring it to share. This was so the responsibility didn't fall completely on my mom, and also because it's so much more satisfying to eat homemade pie than one bought from the store. Plus, we decided it might be fun to have a competition of sorts and vote for the one that we liked the best.

I'm pretty sure this was the pie my dad made, and I believe it was Apple. I don't remember for sure because I didn't get around to trying all of them, and unfortunately the picture doesn't really do it justice.

This is called Innkeeper pie. It's kind of soft and almost spongy, like chocolate cake, and it's super delicious. You can't really see it because of the whipped cream, but the top of this pie has a cool marbled sort of texture.

The pie on the left is another Apple, and my 13 year old sister made the cherry pie on the right. She made the crust from scratch and latticed it herself and everything! 
Can you believe it?? 
Everyone was so impressed.

 

This is a Reese's pie. The overall structure made it look similar to a cheesecake because it had to be made in a springform pan, but it still counted as a pie.

This happens to be the pie that I made.


Oh, and it's also the pie that won. Yay!

Pie "C" is a Cherry pie that my 10 year old brother made, crust and all. The awesome part is that it was actually really good. I am NOT a fan of Cherry pie, but he did a wonderful job.
Pie "B" was pie #2 for my 13 year old sister (over-achieving little cheater). It looked identical to her Cherry pie, but it was Raspberry.

The pie in the foreground is homemade Banana Cream, courtesy of my mother, and totally delicious. 

The pie behind it is another Innkeeper pie, sans whipped topping.

Close up of the Innkeeper to give you an idea of the marbling/cracked effect.


Oh, and just let it be known that my mother is also a member of the over-achieving cheaters club, because three of the ten pies that we had belonged to her. ;)

My grandma brought this divine Pumpkin Cheesecake dessert. 

My aunt also takes partial credit for it.


YUM!

And last but not least, our neighbor and her kids brought brownies. A very nice change of pace from all the pie. :)

I forgot to get a picture of the chicken pot pie, but it wasn't part of the judging anyways, it was just made for relief from the sugar overload.

The girl in the left in the white shirt and scarf is my 13 year old sister, and the boy on the right in the green sweatshirt is my 10 year old brother. Such talented little pie makers, I'm so proud of them.

Sadly, I forgot to bring my camera with us to Thanksgiving dinner because we were in a little bit of a hurry. I was in charge of the rolls and I had batches in the oven up until the very last minute. Sleeping in may or may not have been my priority this morning...

Perhaps I will leave space in this post for pictures that I am able to steal from those who didn't forget their cameras. Perhaps check back in the future.

Happy Holidays to you all, I hope the memories that you make are worth keeping for a lifetime. I know mine are. I am so grateful for all of my wonderful friends and family and all of the many things that I have been blessed with. It's a good life.