With Thanksgiving only a couple days away, no dessert is more coveted than the perfect pie. Whether you prefer apple or pumpkin, hot or cold, homemade or store-bought, The Kirkwood Call has you covered.

Classic Apple Pie
From allrecipes.com. Serves eight.

Ingredients
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
8 Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored and sliced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and
let simmer.

3. Place the bottom crust in the pan. Fill with apples.

4. Slice pie crust into 12 one-inch wide strips. Arrange six strips across the top of pie, then interlace the other six strips perpendicularly, going under and
over the existing six strips to form top lattice of pie crust.

5. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it
does not run off.

6. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F.
Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft. Best served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Pumpkin Pie
From Cook’s Illustrated. Serves eight. Pumpkin Pie Filling

Ingredients
2 cups (16 ounces) plain pumpkin puree, canned or fresh

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup heavy cream

2/3 cup milk
4 large eggs

Directions

1. Process the first seven ingredients in a food processor fitted with a steel blade for one minute. Transfer pumpkin mixture to a three quart heavy-bottomed saucepan; bring it to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cook pumpkin, stirring constantly, until thick and shiny, about five minutes.

2. Whisk heavy cream and milk into pumpkin and bring to a simmer.

3. Process eggs in food processor until whites and yolks are mixed, about five seconds.

4. With motor running, slowly pour about half of hot pumpkin mixture through feed tube. Stop machine and scrape in remaining pumpkin. Process 30 seconds longer.

5. Immediately pour warm filling into pie shell. Bake until filling is puffed, dry-looking, and lightly cracked around edges and center wiggles like jello when pie is gently shaken, about 25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least one hour. Best served at room temperature and topped with whipped cream.

Perfect pie crust to use with either pie
From Pioneer Women. Makes one 9-inch pie crust, top and bottom.

Ingredients

1 cup Crisco (vegetable shortening)
3 cups all-purpose flour

1 whole egg

5 tablespoons cold water

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, with a pastry cutter, gradually work the Crisco into the flour for about three or four minutes until it resembles a coarse meal.

2. In a small bowl, beat an egg with a fork and then pour it into the flour/shortening mixture. Add 5 table- spoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt.

3. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

4. Separate the dough into thirds. Form three evenly sized balls of dough and place each dough into a large Ziploc bag. Seal the bags and place them in the freezer for about 15 to 20 minutes to chill.

5. Remove from the freezer. On a floured surface roll the dough, starting at the center and working out- wards. Continue rolling until it’s about one half an inch larger in diameter than the pie pan.

6. With a spatula, lift the dough carefully from the sur- face of the counter into the pie pan. Gently press the dough against the corner of the pan. Go around the pie pan pinching and tucking the dough to make a clean edge.

Too tired from all your other Thanksgiving cooking? Pick up a pie from one of these locations:
Daily Bread Bakery and Cafe – 11719 Manchester Rd., Des Peres; 314-909-0010
Lubeley’s Bakery & Deli – 7815 Watson Rd., Webster Groves; 314-961-7160
McArthur’s Bakery – 113 North Kirkwood Rd., Kirkwood; 314-894-0900