key lime pie with pretzel crust

i made this pie for my friend's birthday. i've never actually had key lime pie, and i didn't get to eat this. so i hope it was good. looked delicious..

momofuku's crack pie

i was invited to a pizza party, and i offered to bring dessert. i was going to stay in the theme of "pie" (pizza PIE), so i decided to go with the momofuku crack pie. la times posted the recipe not too long ago, and i bookmarked it since everyone seems crazy about it. i can see why - it's pretty much a pound of sugar and a pound of butter, baked inside a cookie crust. oh my.

momofuku crack pie recipe can be found here

thanksgiving 2009!

oh my goodness. what a week. i spent all of last week baking for thanksgiving, and then spent about 20 minutes eating it all up. isn't it funny/annoying/sad that so much time goes into planning for thanksgiving dinner, and then you're so excited to eat that you inhale everything and it's over in a flash... at least i can look back on it and think how delicious everything was (oh and ps i totally ate too much this year, had to excuse myself from the table because i thought i was going to puke. that's not normal, right? i have a problem).

anyway, here come the photos.

first, i made an apple crumble pie. you can't have thanksgiving without apple pie. i love making lattice crust tops - people are always so impressed with lattice tops, and they're really not that hard to make. after you've done it once, you'll be able to do it really quickly on all your pies. this pie was good, it gelled really nicely and wasn't runny at all. secret? apple sauce!


next, i had the pecan pie tarts. these are so so so good. and they are so easy to make. the crust is basically just butter and cream cheese, and the pecan filling is nuts, sugar, egg and butter. good, simple ingredients=delicious food. these were the perfect size and a big hit, especially with my brother.


i decided to spice things up by adding a cake to the list of thanksgiving desserts. i found this recipe for a pumpkin sandwich cake on the better homes and gardens website, and i love pumpkin and i love cream cheese frosting, and this recipe combined the two, and then added chocolate (drools). when making the cream cheese frosting, i think it was a little too tart for my taste. but when inside the cake and with the chocolate ganache, the tanginess complimented the rest of the cake (which was all really sweet). cakes are fun to make, but you really have to have the patience.


and of course we can't forget the pumpkin pie. i made a brandy pumpkin pie, and it was some of the best pumpkin pie i've had. there was just enough brandy in the recipe where you couldn't really taste the alcohol, but you knew there was something a little special in there. the custard was so smooth and silky, not too thick like some pumpkin pies. and the crust came out really nice and crispy. this recipe is a keeper!


i also made a vegan pumpkin pie for scott. according to him, it's delicious. i didn't try it - by the time he got to eating it i was done with pie and just looking at sweets made me sick. but he said it was good, so i'm happy about that.


i hope you all had a great and tasty thanksgiving, and didn't eat to the point of nausea (like me). i really enjoyed baking this year, i'll probably tone it down a bit next year, though. four desserts? yeah, a little crazy.

bring on the christmas cookies!