Julie, that looks luscious!

Gorgeous pie Julie! I love lemon .

CRenee, Flour Girl and Jenn, thanks so much for the compliments on the Lemon Meringue!

Here are a couple of photos from Thanksgiving pies, the first is Rose’s pecan pie.  This year, I added a teaspoon of bourbon to the pie filling, but I think I’m coming to the conclusion that this pie is best as written, guess there’s no surprise there.  I had loved it the first time I paired it with bourbon whipped cream, hence my desire to fiddle wiith the filling.  Next year, I’ll go back to the original. 

The other pie is concord grape, a personal favorite.  This year I baked the three components separately and assembled them together, because this pie is very liquid-y/juicy and for me often bakes up a bit messy.  I didn’t get a photo of the whole pie, but it had two grape leaves on it, overlapping in the center.

Of the two pies, the pecan was the popular favorite, there wasn’t any left at the end of the meal.  The grape was a favorite of about a fourth of the people there, but they were a very vocal group

Julie, both pies look beautiful. The arrangement of the pecans…Wow! I think the concord grape pie looks deliciously fruity and inviting. Your guests were lucky to have 2 of Rose’s delicious pies to choose from (You mention in another post that there was pumpkin pie as well….. how did it fare in comparison?)

One last entry to the November Pie Bake-Off, the Pumpkin Chiffon.  The flavor of this ethereal pie is perfect- I wondered about it when I saw larger-than-expected proportions of salt and nutmeg, but it is sublime.  I made this one day ahead of serving it and so used 75% of the gelatin/water, as per the instructions in the beginning of the chiffon chapter.  I liked the texture, very light and just barely holding its shape for cutting.  I have a slice in the freezer now to see how it holds up after freezing/thawing- my real reason for making this is to check and see if it might be a make-ahead-and-freeze pie for next Thanksgiving.  I’ll post back with the results in a day or so.

For the crust, I wanted the nice presentation of a pate sucree instead of a crumb crust, so I tried to make a gingersnap pate sucree by using the sweet nut cookie crust recipe using pecans, brown sugar and ginger.  It’s good and goes well with the filling, but on its own it is a bit bland so I think it may need some tweaking to match the flavor of a good gingersnap.

Julie, that is one glorious chiffon pie. I love your crust, the swirls at the top, and the piped whipped cream. PERFECTION!

I’ve never made chiffon pie. Your description of it being ethereal is very tempting!

Beautiful. I’ve never made chiffon anything; maybe it’s time to try it.

Yet another gorgeous pie Julie!

Julie, those pies are simply gorgeous.  I would have loved to try the grape!  All of them, of course, but I’ve never heard of grape!  I’ll bet that piece of pumpkin pie would be really good frozen!  You ought to eat a frozen bite and then let the rest thaw for the test. 

Your deocration—especially on the pumpkin IMHO are so beautiful, as always!

Jenn, Sophia, K1B1 and Anne, thank you very much for your compliments!

Anne, that’s a good thought, to sample it frozen- what if I could make the pie well ahead of time and not even have to worry if it gets completley thawed?  The lime chiffon from this chapter is served frozen.

Jenn, a chiffon pie is a lot like a charlotte filling in a crunchy cookie crust instead of being paired with cake.  If you like charlottes, you’d probably like chiffons.

Sophia, you had asked about how pumpkin compared to some of the other pies- the pumpkin was made by a foodie friend and talented pie baker, it was wonderful.  I do think most pumpkin pies are of a milder sort than either concord grape or pecan, and I had the pumpkin first so it wouldn’t be dominated by stronger flavors.

Julie, thanks for the tasting notes and comparison about chiffon pies. I love charlottes so you’re right I’d probably like chiffon too. Adding it to the list!!!

Just a quick note to report that the pumpkin chiffon did water out ever so slightly after freezing/thawing.  It wasn’t very noticeable, and might not happen with the full amount of gelatin, but it did happen a tiny bit.

I’m glad you tried the pumpkin chiffon.  It’s now my personal favorite pumpkin pie, and pumpkin pie and I go way back…! The ginger snap crust as written is perfect.  The flavor is intense and, in fact, what I most love about this pie is the intensity of the flavors with the sublime and delicate texture of the chiffon. Can’t wait to make the cranberry chiffon!