Pie

Two classic fall pies: apple and pumpkin, to get you in the mood for Thanksgiving.

The apple pie was made with Honey Crisp apples from Michigan, a handful (well, several) from the third of a bushel I ended up with after a botched order.  The crust uses butter for shortening (two sticks total) and also has about a cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  Otherwise, it's a conventional crust, striking a balance between the sugar heavy recipe in New Basics and Mark Bittman's saltier version.

The filling is mostly apple, peeled, cored and sliced, plus a bit more than a cup of sugar and half a stick of melted butter.  It's seasoned with vanilla extract, some cinnamon, a few cardamom pods, some nutmeg and zest of one lemon.

It deserved three pictures.

The pumpkin pie got a lot less attention.  It's basically Mark Bittman's recipe, which treats the pie as a custard, with a lot of cream and eggs plus sugar and the usual spices.  The first picture shows the mixture heating on the stove before being added to the pre-baked crust.  The apple was better, but I do love pumpkin pie, and this one grew on me after an initial impression of excessive egginess.