The pie party takes a lot of planning and a lot of work. Luckily, I’m an organized person who likes writing lists. Also, I can look at a recipe and know what I can do ahead and what has to be done at the last minute (why don’t more food writers put that sort of information into their recipes? I do!) Even with the prep that I had done all week, there was still a lot of cooking to do on Sunday. Just the Banana Cream Pie required several steps. The pudding filling was made on Saturday, so to have time to set. But, on Sunday I had to make a crust, (I was short crusts, how did that happen?) make the meringue, top the pie

and then pull out my blow torch to brown it!

The crust for the Almond-Chocolate-Pear Tart was done the day before, but the rest of the pie had to be assembled and baked on Sunday. While still warm, I brushed on an apricot jelly glaze.

I’d cooked the chicken up a week earlier, picked the meat off the bones, and chopped and froze it, but I still had to make the rest of the filling for the Pot Pie, (which entails sauteing the vegetables, adding flour to make a roux, and tossing in homegrown rosemary) roll out the puff pastry (the only dough I don’t make) and do a little decorating. I don’t often get to use this tool, but it was perfect for this job!

Doesn’t this look delicious?

The Sweet Potato Pie recipe was surprisingly complicated. I had to make caramel to sweeten the batter. The caramel provides a depth of flavor that straight sugar can’t do. It was worth it, as several people said that this pie was their favorite. This last piece was soon gone.

Here is part of the spread before the guests arrived. (That’s homemade, unsweetened whipped cream in the bottom right corner.)

And here it is later.

I was happy.

But tired.

Some of my guests, though, seemed to have unlimited appetites and energy.

Thanks to Steve Golson and Spencer Webb for the photos!

Twenty-five adults and four smallish children arrived yesterday afternoon. Most came at 3 pm. They know that for the best selection you arrive right on time. They left about three hours later. Of the 16 pies that made it onto the buffet table, the leftovers added up to only 2 pies. That means that 14 were consumed, so this year’s crowd managed to eat more than half a pie per person.

I made 3 savory pies: Chicken Pot Pie, Butternut Squash and Spinach Tart (baked in a custard with feta and heavy cream), and a Classic Bacon Quiche (the bacon sourced from a local farm which raises pigs on pasture.)

I most enjoy making the apple and fruit pies. This year I baked: Apple with a Cheddar Crumble Topping, Peach and Apple Spiked with Ginger, Apple and Cranberry, and a Peach and Pear Pie with Almond Custard.

There’s always chocolate. The most complicated pie was an Almond and Chocolate Tart topped with pears and an apricot jelly glaze. I also served a classic dense Chocolate Tart, and a Tollhouse Cookie Pie (consumed by kids and adults alike with vanilla ice cream).

Also on the buffet table were a Lemon Tart, a Sweet Potato Pie in a Gingersnap Crust, and a Banana Cream Pie in a billowy Meringue (had to do something with all of those excess egg whites!)

I had the last slice of the Cranberry and Apple Pie for breakfast. There’s never enough leftovers.

Photos are on Steve’s camera – I’ll post them when he downloads them to my computer!

There will be thirty people here for pie tomorrow and I felt the need to decorate. Something sparkly and happy. But not expensive.

There’s a bush in the goat pasture that I’ve been meaning to cut down. The branches would be just right for twinkly lights.

Do you know how top-heavy and awkward those twigs are? I didn’t have a large and heavy enough vase to contain them, so I used (don’t tell my guests) a toilet paper holder, and hid that with a vintage grain sack from my collection.

More branches are in the stairwell. I did splurge on the pussy willow lights, but those can be used all year. Notice the table that the vase is on – it’s an old chicken crate.

The bannister is the perfect place for a garland and lights. I’ve had this paper-mache gourd garland for years.

It needed lights, so I pulled these out of my collection (this was an eBay find). Look close, they’re hens and eggs.

I’m careful not to overdo the chicken decor. I like a touch of whimsy; I like it to be small little surprises, not an an overwhelming theme. There won’t be anything poultry related on the buffet, well, except for the chicken pot pie. I’ll have photos of that for you next week.

The girls have their “pie”.

Warmest Thanksgiving wishes from all of us at HenCam.

Some of you have been concerned  that the goats don’t have hay in their hay rack. Poor starving goaties.

Right. Not exactly.

If I kept hay in front of them all the time, they’d never step outside of the stall. As it is, fed just one nice big, leafy, second-cutting hay flake a day, there’s a lot of resting and cud chewing going on.

Pip and Caper don’t get any grain at all. They are wethers – neutered males – and are very prone to dangerous bloat and urinary tract issues if they eat too much rich food. They complain. I ignore them. But, I am happy to take them out to the margins of the meadow, where their most favorite foods grow. Fortunately, what they want, I don’t. They eat brambles and white pine saplings.

Today, while the goats grazed, I let the Gems out. They, too, love the food in the woods, and all of the hens were busy, heads down and bottoms up.

That is, all but Agatha. She, of course was following me and looking at the camera.

Go eat, Agatha!

Speaking of eating – I’ll be making 14 butter pie crusts this weekend. By Monday I’ll have a pie crust-making tutorial up on this blog. I’ll also be posting a Luscious Chocolate Pie recipe. Stay tuned!