Thanksgiving = PIE

It's PIE TIME! Hey guys! Hey guys! It's PIE TIME! I mean, I know you can make pie all year long, and I did make a couple of pies this year. And if you ask my friend Haya at The Calculated Kitchen, you should really make a pie every day. However, for me Thanksgiving is at least 75% about the pie. I loooove fall pies, especially the quintessential pumpkin. My boyfriend loves Pecan pie most, so Thanksgiving brings our pie loves together and we rejoice with mouthfuls of holiday goodness.

In past years, I have most often been in charge of the whole Thanksgiving dinner, so I kind of cheap out on the pies, and get store bought. It's a little overwhelming to do the whole dinner AND the pies. And I really just don't have the time or the hands. Last year Kris and I went down to LA to spend the holiday with his sister and brother, so I got out of dinner duty and had the opportunity to JUST do pies!

This year I am yet again getting out of cooking the dinner, and only have to provide the pies. Woo! I'm especially excited because this year I have MASTERED pie crust. It's true, people. Pie crust aint no thang for me anymore. I used to be terrified of crust. For some reason it was so intimidating and I always felt like my crusts were lame. But TIS NO MORE! I have made pie crust my bitch, and it's mainly been with the help of Joy the Baker (this chick is awesome and I feel like if we ever met we'd totally be friends. Can we be friends, Joy??). Her method for pie crust is pretty much the bomb. Do people still say the bomb? I'm pulling that out special for this because it really is the bomb. Try it. It will change your life. Never have you had anything as flaky and delicious.

Photo from Joy the Baker

So now that I am a pie crust whiz, I am super pumped about this year's Thanksgiving pies. I'm torn between going extremely classic with just regular ol' pumpkin pie and regular ol' pecan pie, or if I should jazz it up some... There are some pretty great Thanksgiving inspired pie recipes out there and I'm so tempted to get crazy and try something different. Sorry family, you're coming with me on this pie adventure!

These Cream Cheese and Butterscotch Pumpkin Pies by Chef in Training sounds so amazing, but should I go non-pumpkin and try Alton Brown's Sweet Potato Pie?

Photo from Chef in Training

And for the pecan pie, I looooove Trisha Yearwood's classic pecan pie recipe, but I know there are a lot of good pecan pies with CHOCOLATE! How can that be bad? Or this "Mystery" Pecan Pie by Paula Deen has cream cheese as a bottom layer and to me that sounds like something to be thankful for.

 Photo from Foodnetwork.com

What are your favorite holiday pies? Do you change it up every year or stick with tried and true classics?

Fall Flavor Macarons! (With a recipe for Italian Meringue)

I LOVE Autumn. It is my favorite season, with Winter being a close second. There's just something about cold weather that makes me feel so snuggly and happy. I love everything about it, the colors, the fashion, the food, the hot drinks. And Halloween! Nothing gets me in the mood for fall like the movie Hocus Pocus! So this weekend I got into the fall spirit and put together a couple of new macaron flavors to celebrate the season!

Pumpkin Spice and Apple Spice! I know everyone goes ga-ga over pumpkin when September rolls around (thank you for the Pumpkin Spice latte, Starbucks), but I don't want to forget the amazing apple! I love apples, apple cider, and APPLE BUTTER! Delicious! These flavors of macarons are now available for purchase in my Etsy Shop!

When coming up for the fillings for my various macarons, I often use Italian Meringue (sometimes called Italian Buttercream, but there is no butter in this recipe). For both of these new flavors, I mixed in Italian meringue to give it texture and sweetness.

I find that this recipe is fairly simple, and makes a cream/meringue that you will not be able to stop sampling. I think I went through at least five spoons in the process of making my last batch because I couldn't stop taking taster bites.

Ingredients
8 oz sugar
2 oz water
4 oz egg whites

Directions
Heat the sugar and water mixture, make sure you brush the pan with water to make sure there are no dry sugar crystals. When the syrup reaches 220, start beating your egg whites. Once the syrup reaches 240, your egg whites should be at stiff peak stage. CAREFULLY pour the syrup into the egg whites, as they are still beating. I can not stress enough how careful you need to be with this syrup. It is lava! Pour all of the syrup in and keep beating until the mixing bowl reaches room temperature. I'd guess this takes about eight minutes, but I'm terrible at time estimation (I know, terrible affliction for a baker, but that's why I use my trusty phone timer when things are in the oven), so just mix until the bowl is room temp and you're good.

The finished product is going to be thick and glossy and delicious and amazing and addicting. And and and. You can use it to frost a cake, make meringue cookies, top a pie, or make macaron fillings!

Image from Classy Catering Creations because I fail at remembering to take pictures

If your meringue starts to separate after a couple of days, just throw it back into the mixing bowl and mix it until it becomes fluffy again. All good!

Happy Autumn, everyone!