With a few weeks remaining until Thanksgiving dinner, you still have time to get in a practice run of your favorite Thanksgiving recipes.  Pumpkin pie is always a favorite, and it isn’t hard to make.  Here is a classic pumpkin pie recipe.

Classic Pumpkin Pie

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 1 can solid pack pumpkin, 16 ounces
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
• 1 unbaked, deep dish pie crust (9 inches), or 2 shallow crusts

Blend all ingredients with a hand mixer.  Mixture will be thin.  If using a homemade pie crust, place crust in a deep dish pie pan.  Pour pumpkin mixture into crust.  Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Then reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and bake for an additional 45 minutes.  Pie is done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.   Shallow crust pies will require only 20-30 minutes of baking after reducing temperature to 350.

Pumpkin Pie Tips:

Pretty Pies: Pumpkin pie “batter” is very runny, and when it gets spilled on the edges of your crust it turns very dark.  For prettier pies, pour the “batter” into a pitcher or large measuring cup, and fill pie plates after placing them on a cookie sheet in your oven.

Substitute Pumpkin Pie Spice:  You can use pumpkin pie spice instead of the individual spices listed above.  1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice equates to 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of clove, and 1/4 teaspoon of ginger, so the recipe above would require 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin and apple recipes seem to naturally come to mind in the fall.  I always like to make apple pie in a deep dish pie pan so you can squeeze a little extra fruit inside. Here’s an old-fashioned and very simple apple pie recipe:

• 6 cups apples (peeled, cored, and thinly sliced)
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 batch (for a 9 inch pie) of your favorite pie crust recipe

Prepare your favorite pie crust recipe and place the bottom crust in your pie pan.  Core, peel, and slice apples using an apple corer, and a paring knife or a mandolin slicer.  Mix cinnamon and sugar together and layer with the apples in the pie plate.  If your apples are too tart, just add a little more sugar.  Dot the top of the apples with butter, cover with top crust, pinch the edges of the crusts together, and make 3-4 tiny slits in the dough for venting.

If you have the extra time, and want to get fancy about it, you can also follow these directions for lattice top crust.

Bake at 450 F on the lowest rack of your oven for 10 minutes.  Then reduce temperature to 350 F and bake for an additional 35 minutes.

If you’re like me, you stress out every time you get the rolling pin out.  Here’s a  helpful video for rolling out pie crust.