Cooking Up Some Pie

So, for Thanksgiving this year, I was in charge of pie and I maybe went a little overboard...I made 3 pumpkin pies, 2 strawberry cream pies, 1 apple pie, and 1 caramel apple pie. They were all a pretty big hit, so I was happy with my work. Especially since I've never made apple pie before (but it's Tommy's favorite, so I had to). This is the second year in a row that I've made the pumpkin pie with a pecan crust and I'm a big fan, so I thought I'd share the recipe...

Pecan Pie Crust

Ingredients

1 cup pecans
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 1.4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 stick cold, unsalted butter cut into bits
1/2 tsp. salt
raw rice for weighting the shell

Instructions

1. In food processor, coarsely grind pecans with sugar; transfer to a bowl. In food processor, blend together flour, butter, and salt until coarse like meal; add to pecan mixture.
2. Add 3 tablespoons ice water, toss until mixed and press dough onto bottom and up the side of a 9-inch pie plate. Crimp edge; prick with fork and chill 30 minutes.
3. Line crust with foil, fill foil with rice, and bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 7 minutes. Remove rice and foil carefully and bake crust 5 more minutes; cool.

And here are some pie pictures for you to enjoy...though I did forget to take pictures of my last 3 pies.