Looking Closely at the Feast

By popular demand I’m posting a little food porn. The Thanksgiving feast is pending today and the food has not all arrived. However the pies are looking delicious.
   
I have to say that my pumpkin pie is very creamy. I played with the recipe and it uses 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves. It is one of Sparky’s favorite pies. The apple pie is son#1’s favorite. He is an apple snob. I can only blame myself for creating a monster. I try to use a variety of apples in my pie and this one is no exception. It calls for 6 apples and I used 2 Macintosh, 2 Empire, 1 Gala, and 1 Fuji. The only thing that could possible make this better would be to use Mutsu apples in place of the Gala and Fuji. My secret ingredient is ground Cardamom. I sneak in 1/4 teaspoon and it really makes the apple flavor pop!

This is the new entry into the pie rotation – a Fig-Cranberry pie. I got this recipe on Sheryl’s WP site and it is definitely a keeper. I was a little skeptical that a mere 8 ounces of dried figs would be enough. But they cooked up beautifully. The addition of the lemon juice with the cranberries made me question my sanity (only one cup of sugar to 2 cups of cranberries, I was sure it would be too tart to eat) but I followed the recipe and after pouring the filling into the pie crust, I licked the spoon. It was perfect and so good! I can’t wait to cut this pie and dig in!
The Sweet Potato Casserole is Son#1’s recipe that he modified from several he found on line. For those with an appreciation of this pretty root vegetable I give you his version:
4 cups cubed sweet potatoes                         1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs                                                             1/2 stick butter melted
1/2 teaspoon salt                                            1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract                            2 tablespoons bourbon
1/2 cup brown sugar                                       1/2 cup pecan pieces
3 tablespoons melted butter                           1/3 cup flour
Peel, cube and boil the sweet potatoes in water. Drain and mash. Mix the potatoes with the white sugar, eggs, salt, melted butter, milk, vanilla and bourbon. Mix until smooth. Pour into a greased baking dish. Combine brown sugar and flour. Stir in melted butter. Add pecans. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle topping over potato mixture. Bake for 30 min at 350°F

A double batch just before going into the oven! It smells so good even before baking!
I’d post a photo of the turkey but it is too big to pull out of the oven just for a photo op and once it is done it is a choreographed dance to get it carved and the gravy made and everything onto the table. Because I’m headed to “crunch time” I need to post this now or never!
Happy Thanksgiving!