Thanksgiving Sweet Tooth

The past week or so I've been gathering recipe ideas for Thanksgiving. It is right around the corner. Like so many other holidays, it seems to sneak up on you. It must've been just last week that I was sunbathing on the back lawn, lemonade and magazine in hand...right?

At our Thanksgiving feast, my responsibility is filling the dessert table. I got drafted into this position when I was about 6 years old and brought home a ready-to-bake apple pie from my Brownie Girl Scout meeting in September. It was to be frozen with a do-not-open-until-Thanksgiving message attached.

A labor of love went into making those. Each apple had to be hand-cranked on an old-fashioned apple corer/peeler. It spun the apple into a delightful spiral. Ribbons of apples would collect on the cutting board, many of which ended up in my mouth. There was something rather pleasant about munching on the delicate slices; it didn't cut into your gums when biting into it, nor was it difficult to chew in such a thin state.

I would, then, carefully mix the flour, cinnamon and sugar (simplicity here) into the apples, taking my time to ensure each slice of apple was generously coated. This was not an easy task for one with short, weak arms. But with patience and perseverance, it could be accompished.

The true challenge was fitting every last piece of filling into my pie shell. The store-bought tins were shallow. I stacked my precarious mountain of apples, then flipped the lid onto the top. Hopefully, the crust was no longer frozen or it would crack into pieces.

I was very proud of my pie. I still am. As much as I like to create and try new recipes, that simple apple pie continues to be a staple on the dessert table every Thanksgiving.



The famous Thanksgiving squirrel (napkin holder)



With so many choices, it is difficult to decide what else will grace the dessert table this year:

~ French Pumpkin Pie

~ Maple Buttermilk Pie

~ Cranberry Shortbread Bars

~ Bailey's Irish Cream Cookies

~ Pumpkin Parfaits

~ Maple Pecan Bars

~ Colonial Apple Pie

Please share in the comments, links of recipes you think worth considering! :)