The holidays are a perfect opportunity to show off your culinary expertise to friends, family, and your enemies. After all, what are the holidays, if not an opportunity to show off? One of the best ways to do that is to bring a mouth-watering, delicious pie to the table and put grandma to shame. 

Pie Crust

The crust is the trickiest part of the pie, if you don’t feel confident making one, feel free to just buy a premade one from the store. Don’t forget to lie and say you made it from scratch!

Ingredients

2 ½ C. flour

2 sticks chilled, diced butter

½ t. salt

½ t. sugar

¼ C. ice water

Directions

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in large bowl. Use fork to cut in butter until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add water slowly until mixture can form a ball. You may not need to use all water. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 5 hours. Once it’s chilled, roll dough out on floured surface and place evenly into pie pan, cutting away any excess. For apple pie, prepare a second crust for the top of the pie. 

Apple Pie

Ingredients

2 pie crusts

1 T. lemon juice

6-7 C. sliced apples

½ C. sugar

½ C. brown sugar

½ C. butter

3 T. flour

1 t. cinnamon

¼ t. nutmeg

1 beaten egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. In a large bowl, combine sliced apples, sugars, and lemon juice. Stir until evenly coated. Melt butter in large saucepan and then add in the apple mixture. Cook until simmering with all sugar dissolved. Strain apple mixture as best as possible and pour the liquid back into the pan. Reduce the juice over medium heat until thickened. Combine apples, reduced juice, and the remaining spices in a large bowl and then pour into prepared pie crust. Top with second crust and pinch the edges as desired to seal them. Create slits in the top crust for air to escape. Feel free to decorate with any remaining pie crust. Brush the top crust with the beaten egg and bake for about 50 minutes or until crust is golden. 

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

Pie crust

1 15 oz can pumpkin

1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

2 t. pumpkin pie spice

½ t. salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F. In large bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Pour into prepared pie crust. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° and bake 35-40 minutes longer, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool and serve with whipped cream. For a crispier crust, bake prepared pie crust for 5-10 minutes at 425°F before adding filling.  

French Silk Pie

Ingredients

Pie crust

¾ C. butter

1 C. sugar

1 t. vanilla 

3 oz melted unsweetened chocolate

3 pasteurized eggs

Whipped cream (optional)

Chocolate curls/chips (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F and bake prepared pie crust for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool pie crust completely. In large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mostly cool melted chocolate and then add to the mixture along with the vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time and beat for 3-5 minutes after each one. Pour into cooled pie crust and chill in refrigerator for at least 5 hours. Top with whipped cream and chocolate if desired.