Pecan Pie for a Pie Social

On Thanksgiving Eve we host a Pie Social (yes, we call it that) for our neighbors and members of our church family. Basically I make a bunch of pies (usually ten), our favorite holiday cider, and ask friends to come help eat it all. The house is loud and full, but in the best possible way as everyone chit chats (and eats pie) with old friends or makes some new ones. If it's not raining we build a fire on the back patio. It's just a wonderful evening of hosting friends (while eating pie) before the flurry of the holidays really kicks off and everyone gets busy.

For our family it marks the start of the holidays. And did I mention there's pie? There is. Usually I make about ten pies, five different kinds, and regret nothing.

The first year that we hosted the Pie Social I only made one pecan pie because it's my husband's favorite. About half the pecan pie was left at the end of the night. Pecan pie isn’t as big of a deal here as it is in the Midwest where I grew up. Still, plenty of people had asked about the "pie with no top that wasn't pumpkin."

The next year I again made just one pecan pie, assuming there would again be one or two pieces left for my husband to have on Thanksgiving Day. However, after one of our guests tried pecan pie for the first time and made a rather huge show about how good it was (it’s full of sugar and nuts, how can it not be great!?), I have since promoted pecan pie to a peer with apple and pumpkin. Now I make the same number of each.

Pecan pie is great not only because it’s delicious (good for the person eating the pie) but also because it’s the easiest pie recipe ever (good for the person making the pie). It takes just one crust and is basically foolproof, as my husband’s aunt told me when she shared this recipe with me the first year I found myself needing to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving. It always seems to turn out perfectly. I do recommend making it with my Perfect Pie Crust because the two paired together will make you the hostess with the mostest (even if that is not the title you are going after this Thanksgiving).

The Last Pecan Pie Recipe You Need

• 1 cup pecan pieces
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• Dash of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• One Recipe of Perfect Pie Crust

Pecan Pie Filling Method + Assembly

Mix flour and sugar. Beat eggs slightly, add butter, salt, sugar mixture, syrup, vanilla, and nuts. Mix well and pour into an unbaked "Perfect Pie Crust" (see recipe above) pie shell. Bake 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Then lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 50 minutes. Enjoy a nice fat slice with homemade whipped cream (which is carb-less, and erases the corn syrup. Ha!).

Note: if you've never made homemade whipped cream, it's literally a snap and makes a huge difference. Here's my recipe.

Easy Hostess Gift for Thanksgiving

I am the queen of letting hostess gifts like this slip my mind until ten minutes before we leave. Good news for me (and you, too?) this hostess gift takes about ninety-seconds to make and is one of my favorites to give around Thanksgiving or Christmas: Rosemary Infused Olive Oil for dipping with bread or as part of an Olive Tapenade.

I like to pair this gift with a pre-made, festive diffuser blend (as pictured) but you could pair it with anything! Some other ideas are: a bottle of Christmas Spirit Foaming Hand Soap, the Holiday Lip Balm Trio or some cute tea towels from Target.

Highlight from My Week

On Saturday Caleb and I hiked a difficult nineteen mile trail with over 5,000 feet of elevation gain from Idlywild, CA to the peak of San Jacinto and back down. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget. Here are a few snapshots from that hike.

We were on the famous Pacific Crest Trail (runs north/south from Mexico all the way to Canada) for a bit. Kind of cool to be on such a famous trail for a few miles! (PCT SIGN)

The last two miles to the top were incredibly challenging, but we made it to the summit!

Looking from the summit down into Palm Springs. Across the Valley is Joshua Tree National Park.

Headed back down, but still seeing stunning views of the Coachella Valley with Palm Springs on the valley floor.

The trail down had stunning views like this (looking Southwest with the Pacific on the horizon) for several miles.

Thanks for reading! Do you have a pie recipe I need to try this year? I’d love to hear about it! Just hit reply if you’d like to respond. (When you hit reply, your message goes directly to my email. It’s a private conversation between just us.) I read all your messages and try to respond, but not always in a timely manner. Sorry! And if you enjoyed this email, you’d be doing me a favor by forwarding it to someone else who might like it.