Sure, sure, down the spuds, gravy and sweet potatoes tomorrow.
It’s all a preamble to the best part of the day — the pie.
Homemade or Costco, mincemeat or huckleberry, topped with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, dessert is as important as the stuffing.
Joyce Delk of Camano Island said her family loves “White Christmas Pie.”
“We usually have it for Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Delk says. “It’s really yummy — coconut, cream and sugar with some almond extract.”
Her son-in-law, David King from Bothell, decided he wanted to make it one year.
“He worked so hard, and the pie looked really pretty,” Delk said, “But we all gagged at the first bite.”
It seems King didn’t know the difference between a small “t” and a capital “T” on the recipe card.
“He put a whole tablespoon of almond extract in the pie.”
Folks at Westgate Chapel in Edmonds, expect more than 1,400 guests for dinner Thursday.
“We love Costco pumpkin pie so much that we buy 152 of them,” said Claire Murphy. “And of course there has to be a dollop of whipped cream — the real stuff — on top.”
The Tesorieri family is very opinionated about food, said Leeann Tesorieri. Pumpkin pie was the family tradition, blackberry was added and key lime came on board 20 years ago.
Tesorieri, manager at Country Village Shops in Bothell, said all pies are made from scratch and topped with real whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
“My youngest daughter is living in Texas and tells me that there they have sweet potato pie, which she claims is delicious, and the next time she is home for Thanksgiving she’ll make that,” Tesorieri said. “So, its just possible we will be adding yet another pie tradition.”
And she offers a hint, saying her mother makes light, flaky pie crust.
Her recipe calls for a little vinegar.
In Index, Joe Day makes pumpkin and pecan pie. One year, to make pumpkin pie from scratch, he paid way too much for a pumpkin at a farm on the outskirts of town, he said.
He carved out the innards, cooked it in a big pot, drained off the water and got it settled in a blender.
“I press the frappe button,” Day said. “Nothing happened. I remove the lid and look at the full blender of piping hot pumpkin and notice that the cord is unplugged.”
Yes, he said, he plugged in the blender.
No, he hadn’t replaced the lid.
“The blender launched the contents over the entirety of the kitchen and no, no one was burned beyond recognition or even blistered.”
He profusely apologized, Day said, then ran to the store, bought pies and the last tub of Cool Whip.
The Thanksgiving pie will be sentimental, said Kristi Cuddy of Stanwood. She had never heard of a huckleberry until she met her husband, Wayne.
“His whole family would go out every season and pick gallon upon gallon of huckleberries,” Cuddy said. “So much so that his dad even built this little picker tool that had tines at the end that would strip the berries from the bush and the berries would fall into a bucket that was attached.”
The berries her father-in-law, Norman Cuddy, picked were frozen and pulled out of the freezer for holiday baking.
“Wayne’s mom is a fantastic baker, and she would make these incredible cream cheese huckleberry pies,” Cuddy said. “To die for.”
Lourdes “Des” Cuddy, Wayne’s mother, lives in Pullman.
Norman Cuddy died several years ago. Now huckleberry holiday pies bring back fond family memories.
“I knew I had been fully accepted as part of the family when Des sent us home after a visit with a cooler full of frozen huckleberries. That was like being given a family heirloom.”
Dessert is aptly named at the Jim Ballew home in Marysville. One Thanksgiving, the family feast included two pumpkin pies, two pecan pies and one mincemeat for the diehards, Ballew said.
After dinner, the family dogs, including Roxanne, a poodle and Labrador mix, were in the house.
“Upon rounding the corner into the kitchen I witnessed Roxanne at the counter finishing off the second of two pumpkin pies,” Ballew said.
She licked the filling and left the crust intact.
The pecan pies appeared to be under consideration, he said, but the mincemeat remained unchallenged.
“So now we refer to the staple dessert as Poodle Pie.”
Connie Lewis of Mill Creek said two years ago, not wanting to bake, her then-88-year-old mother-in-law helped her scour local markets for a good mincemeat pie. Although no longer made with meat and suet, but often dressed with brandy or rum, this pie is a tradition in their Southern family and a favorite of mom’s from her Detroit days, Lewis said.
They could not find a mincemeat pie.
“Every store manager we asked looked at us askance — ‘minced MEAT?’ they seemed to say, eyes wide,” Lewis said. “Only the rare, bakery old-timer knew what we were asking about.”
They gave up and had pumpkin and cherry pie that year.
Last year, lo and behold, they found frozen mincemeat pies and bought two, one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.
Lewis stuck the precious dessert in her freezer.
When Thanksgiving came, she proudly revealed she found the treasure and they were serving mincemeat pie.
Sadie Lewis of Everett, then 89, simply stated, “I don’t want mincemeat pie this year. Just pumpkin. That’s enough.”
And Thursday?
Her mother-in-law, now 90, gets two-year-old mincemeat pie, fresh from the freezer, unless Lewis discovers it’s no good anymore.
“I prefer to call this year’s dessert ‘aged mincemeat pie with vanilla ice cream’ and maybe we’ll need a little extra spiced rum on the side.”
When she was 12, Sally Buckingham of Whidbey Island and her twin sister, Nancy, learned to make pies at Thanksgiving.
“Our mother and grandmother were busy making crust, filling and crimping edges with a fork,” Sally Buckingham said. “Nancy and I were happy rolling the dough, adding ingredients and singing along with Nana.”
After dinner, when they tasted the pies, they found out no sugar was added to the filling.
“Nana, 90, said break out the Cool Whip and let’s just drown the pies,” Buckingham said. “We laughed and laughed.”
Now when she bakes pies, Buckingham said, sugar is the first thing to go on the counter.
Of course she buys pies from Costco, said Cathy Nairn.
Her husband, Robert Nairn, is a retired baker from Costco, she said.
She prefers anything but pumpkin, so it’s a good thing Thursday is a daughter’s birthday and cake is on the menu.
Her mother used to complain about how much time it took to make and cook pies, especially pumpkin pies, said Candy Thoreson from Arlington.
“I make my crusts in October, and freeze them,” she said. “Then I cook the pies really slow underneath the turkey in the oven for several hours on Thanksgiving morning. Saves energy and sure makes the kitchen smell good.”
Lois Robertson of Everett will bake pumpkin and pecan pies, buy an apple pie at Costco, and cook turkey and side dishes, all to take to Victoria, B.C., to share with family.
His mom’s pumpkin pie has a frosty twist, said David Chrisman of Everett.
“The pie is made with the bottom third of the fresh shell filled with vanilla ice cream, then the top two-thirds is pumpkin and ice cream blended. Served frozen with a dollop of real whip cream.”
The family asks Karen Chrisman of Bothell to also make “pie pan” where flat dough is laid out on a cookie sheet with sugar and cinnamon.
“A real treat,” David Chrisman said.
His mother’s pumpkin pies are filled with ingredients that were “good” for us 100 years ago — butter, white flour, eggs, sugar, etc., said Gary Pankow from Mill Creek.
Her buttery, flaky crust makes your mouth water, he said.
The filling history has changed through the generations.
“What once was an all-day process of pulp puree from home-grown sugar pumpkins has given way to opening a can of Libby’s pumpkin pie filling,” Pankow said. “This has just made things easier. On occasion, my mother will still purchase a sugar pumpkin or two from the store and do a filling that is half puree and half canned filling.”
He takes issue with folks who only add cinnamon and pumpkin spice.
“I honestly pity these people and the injustice they’re serving their taste buds. You should include ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom. Some people will tell you to add lemon zest, or to cut out the ginger. When these people speak, be polite, but understand they just didn’t have what you had growing up.”
Homemade whipping cream is a must. He can’t share measurements, it is all based on years of being a witness to the splashing cream and clouds of sugar that puff out from the mixing bowl.
You know it’s ready, he said, when the peaks stay up and anyone in the vicinity of the mixer has a thin layer of powdered sugar dusting their upper body.
“After that, you sit down and enjoy your slice of pumpkin pie with homemade whipped cream,” Pankow said. “You enjoy the company around you, the laughter, the smiles, the toothy grins of children taking bites that are too big, and you give thanks again for all that you have.”
Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
