It’s Pie Season

My husband is a pie person, and I find this very curious.

While most folks expect a birthday cake with candles and frosting, my husband, Gene, would rather have a pie. I like pie just fine, don’t get me wrong, but I’m a cake person through and through, and the sweeter, the better. Still, because I love my husband, on the occasional birthday or Valentine’s Day, I give in and bake him a pie instead of the traditional cake. Sometimes I get fancy and put a lattice top on it, while other times I keep it simple. Either way, he’s happy as a clam.

Now that the holidays are upon us, it’s officially pie season. The mere mention of the word “pie” conjures up images of grandmothers in full bib aprons rolling out doughy concoctions of flour, water, salt, and Crisco on kitchen countertops and families gathered around tables holding hands while blessings are delivered.

Like other Southern families, we feast on pumpkin pie at both Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I buy Mrs. Smith’s frozen pumpkin pie from the grocery store. That’s right. I slip it out of the box when nobody’s looking, pop it in the oven, and bring it out like I’ve been slaving away in the kitchen all day. A generous dollop of whipped cream on top, and nobody knows the difference.

Indeed, Mrs. Smith’s pies have a big blue ribbon right there on the packaging. They are flavorful and easy, and I just don’t have time to make pies all the way from scratch these days. Maybe one day I will, but for now, I stock up when they go on sale and keep one in the freezer for festive occasions.

But Pecan pie? Well, that’s a different story. I do make those from scratch—sort of. I buy those premade pie crusts, but I mix up the filling myself, with my own muscles, using Karo syrup, Watkins pure vanilla extract (not the imitation stuff), and South Georgia pecans that I purchase from my Jarriel girl cousins in Tattnall County. Their pecans are the absolute best, by the way—you haven’t lived until you’ve tasted their Elliots and Oconees. I use a pecan pie recipe that’s been passed down from generation to generation on the Jarriel side of the family, and let me tell you, it’s so sweet and decadent that one bite and you’re head-over-heels in love. That’s not bragging— that’s just a fact. Gene and I both love pumpkin and pecan, but I think his true favorite is apple pie. Living here in North Georgia, we’re blessed with apple orchards all around us. We’ve gone apple picking on occasion, and I’ve made apple pie from the fruits we picked with our own hands (again, full disclaimer here: I use frozen pie crusts). There’s nothing quite like the intoxicating smell of an apple pie baking in the oven during fall and winter. continued from page

I’m also partial to Key Lime pie. I like tangy things, and Key Lime is tangy and delicious with all that meringue piled high on top. Lime is a severely underrated flavor, if you ask me. People don’t give it enough credit.

A few years back, while sorting through some old recipes my mother had collected in a wooden recipe box, we stumbled upon a faded recipe for Sweet Potato Pie. It was my Grandmother Jarriel’s recipe, written in her own cursive handwriting. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t tried making it yet, but this year is the year. Every year, I try to make a few of the older recipes that have been passed down in our family, keeping those traditions alive. I’m sure it’ll be wonderful, because everything my grandmother made was mouth-watering good. That woman could flat-out cook!

So here’s to pie season, to shortcuts that save our sanity, to family recipes that connect us to those who came before, and to husbands who prefer pie to cake. May your crusts be flaky, your fillings be sweet, and your holidays be full of love and laughter.

From the PorchBy Amber Nagle