There's usually just the four of us for Thanksgiving so, several years ago, I pared way back on how much I cook. Everyone here loves pecan pies and pumpkin would go uneaten so I make only pecan pie most years. I'll make a pumpkin pie sometime during the holiday season because DH & I like them...or, maybe just make the filling & bake it in custard cups to save on the calories.

For me it is "Black Hound Chocolate Pecan Tart". Friends get grumpy if they come for a holiday dinner and don't get this. It keeps well for a day or too before serving, and never lasts long after it's cut. It's very rich - 1/12 is more than some people can take, even though DH usually goes back for seconds. :)

It's a number of steps, but not all the hard. And it's OMG worth it!

Black Hound Chocolate Pecan Tart
Tart Shell
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
8 TBSP (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large egg
2 TBSP iced water, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade, combine the flour and salt. Pulse on and off 3 to 4 times, until blended. Evenly distribute the butter cubes in a circle around the chopping blade. In a small cup, combine the egg, 1 tablespoon of the water and vanilla until blended. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the butter. Process for 15 to 20 seconds, until the mixture starts to pull away from the side of the container. ( If after 20 seconds, the mixture is still crumbly, add the remaining tablespoon of water 1 teaspoon at a time and process for 5 second intervals, until the mixture starts to pull away from the side of the container).

Scrape the dough out into a smooth surface and using the heel of your hand, smear half the dough at a time about 3 inches across the work surface until blended. Gather the dough into a ball and flatten into a 5 inch disk. Lightly sprinkle the disk with flour and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about 1 hour until firm enough to roll.

Remove the chilled disk from the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap from the dough, place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and roll the dough into a circle, using a lightly floured rolling pin. Lift and rotate the dough 1/4 turn after each roll, dusting underneath the dough with more flour if necessary. Continue rolling until the circle measures approximately 14 inches in diameter and is about 1/8 inch thick.

Carefully roll the dough around the rolling pin and transfer it to a dark metal 11 inch round fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Unroll the dough without stretching it. Lift the edge of the dough and gently press it down into the bottom and against the side of the pan. Rotating the pan as you work, press the overhanging edge of the dough firmly against the rim of the pan to trim off any excess dough. Refrigerate the lined tart pan while you prepare the pecan filling.

Pecan Filling
10 TBSP unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
1 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 TBPS vanilla extract
3 TBSP heavy whipping cream
4 cups pecan halves

Position one rack in the upper level and another rack in the bottom level of the oven and preheat to 350 F. ( if using a tart pan with a light, shiny finish, preheat to 375 F.)

In a heavy medium saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey and granulated sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth and comes to a boil. reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the cream and vanilla until blended. Stir in the pecans until well coated with the mixture.

Put the chilled tart shell on a large rimmed baking sheet. Scrape the hot pecan filling into the tart shell and place the baking sheet on the lower rack of the oven. Bake the tart for 25 mnutes. Move the tart to the upper rack and bake for 5 to 10 minutes longer, or until the filling is bubbling all over and the pastry is golden brown. Place the tart on a wire rack and cool completely.

Chocolate glaze

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 TBSP light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl. In a small saucepan, combine the cream and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a gentle boil. Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and let the mixture stand for 30 seconds to melt the chocolate. Gently whisk until smooth. Stir in the vanilla.

Pour the glaze over the cooled pecan tart. Using a small offset metal cake spatula, spread the glaze in an even layer over the filling. Refrigerate the tart for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the glaze is set.

Remvoe the tart from the pan by placing it on top of a can. Pull down the side of the tart pan to remove it. If necessary, use a thin bladed knife to loosen the side of the pan from any spots where it sticks to the tart shell.

Transfer the tart to a smooth work surface and slide a metal cake spatula under the tart to loosen it from the bottom of the pan. Slide two metal cake spatulas underneath the tart and transfer it to a serving plate. Garnish the tart with pecan halves.

Store, covered, at room temperature, until ready to serve.

Enjoy!
Kathy

If I have to take a dessert, or feed a large crowd, I'll make this recipe that is a cross between a pecan and pumpkin pie, but a lot easier than making pies. It's always a hit. -Grainlady

PUMPKIN PIE SQUARES

1 c. flour (I use wholegrain - wheat or spelt)
1/2 c. brown sugar (you can cut this to 1/4 c.)
1/2 c. butter
Mix until crumbly and press into a 13x9x2-inch pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350-degrees F.

In a large bowl combine:
1 - 15-oz. can pumpkin
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 can (13-1/2-oz.) can evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ginger
1/4 t. cloves
Beat well and pour mixture over baked crust. Bake 20 minutes at 350-degrees F.

In a small bowl combine:
1 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 T. butter
Sprinkle over pumpkin filling and bake 15-20 minutes more. Cool in pan on rack. Cut into 2-inch squares. Yield - 2 dozen.

For Thanksgiving, our family is very traditional so I make pumpkin pie, a must have, and then depending on the number of people probably apple & chocolate pecan.

At Christmas, we're not so traditional & I like to try new recipes. It's often a buffet with several desserts so it's easy to sneak a new one in there. :)

/tricia

I always fix a pumpkin and pecan pie and a cake. This year DDIL is making italian cream cake and I will make the pies.
This is our favorite pecan pie!

Buttermilk Pecan Pie

1/2 c. butter
2 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
3 eggs
3 T. flour
1/4 t. salt
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. pecans

Preheat oven to 300. Cream butter and sugar, adding sugar 1/2 c. at a
time. Blend in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time. Combine flour and
salt, add small amount at a time. Add buttermilk. Sprinkle pecans on
bottom of crust. Pour custard mix over pecans. Bake 1 1/2 hours.

Best served at room temp.

I make pumpkin, apple and pecan pies with a bowl of whipped cream. I also make all the pies because if I don't a Mrs. Smith or Edward or Ritz will be involved.

Grainlady, I'm going to try your Pumpkin Squares this weekend. They sound good and pretty easy too (always a plus). I'll report back on how they came out.

Our family is not much on dessert these days, and the rest of the meal is the drawing card for us. My mom usually makes a pie of some type, but this time she wants to make an orange cake she saw Giada make recently, so that is what we will have for dessert.

Those pumpkin squares do sound good!

Teresa

We don't have traditions. I experiment on my family with recipes. This year they are getting pumpkin angel food cake. Someone recommended it and it sounds good. It is boxed cake mix with a can of pumpkin and some spices. They say to serve it with cool whip but I will probably make the cinnamon whipped cream that I saw the Nealys make today. They are also getting mini gingerbread cup cakes.

My Dad and my other Mom moved to Fl this year so I get a homemade apple pie for the first time in many years. That was traditional when I was growing up.

Hubs chose the dessert. He knows I don't like pumpkin, and I offered to make apple or pecan pie. He wanted frozen key lime pie (with whipped cream on top), so that's what we are doing. It will have a fresh tart taste after the Thanksgiving meal.

We are having pie. I am making a pumpkin, strawberry rhubarb and an apple pie. We usually have some kind of pie but occasionally have some other dessert. One year I made a cranberry upside down cake and one year my son made pumpkin cheese cake but mostly we have pie!
Joann

We are pretty much traditionalists here, I think.
Apple pie and pumpkin pie for sure.
A Pecan pie if enough of the Grandkids
Will be here for it to get eaten up.
(Pecan pie is wa-a-a-a-a-aay too rich for my blood).

There would probably be an all out riot
If I tried to change that on Thanksgiving!

Rusty

I am making two pumpkin pies from my pumpkin puree, currently waiting in the wings in the freezer. I believe another family is bringing a pie as well. I suggested apple or pecan. As the folks I know are not really cooks I assigned duties. I don't the other family so I have no idea of their cooking skill or interest level. Could be homemade, could be a grocery store pie. The charm of potluck. :)

I'm making apple and pecan.
The pecan recipe I'm using this year is in the new "Cooking Light" Magazine
Maple-Bourbon Pecan Pie

Pie Dough for 1 9-inch pie
3/4 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
3 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp bourbon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp kosher salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 350o
Roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Fit dough into a 9-inchpie plate coated with cooking spray, draping excess dough over edges.
Fold edges under, and flute.
Chill in freezer 15 minutes.
Combine pecans and remaining ingredients in a bow., stirring well to combine.
Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake at 350o for 38 minutes or until center of pie is almost set (shield edges of pie crust with foil if crust gets too brown).
Cool on wire rack.
10 Servings
308 Calories

Dessert? Each (grown) child, each in-law, and each grand child seems to have a different favorite. We all love to cook, too, so we like our traditional favorites as well as at least one something new. Don't laugh, but this year, our dessert table will contain the following: Pies--coconut cream, pumpkin, apple, cherry, lemon meringue, pecan and cheesecake (exact flavor is yet to be determined). We'll also likely have banana pudding and at lest one cake, but, again, we're still looking at recipes.

I could have written Lindac's post. Pies! I am the main pie baker in my extended family. We will be at my sister's house, and there will be 30-40 people, depending on which nieces and nephews decide to drop in. I will make 7 or 8 pies, probably more, depending how my day goes. Always 2 pumpkin, 1 pecan, 1 apple, then whatever strikes me after that. This year that will include a Dutch apple, a mincemeat, a cherry, and probably my grandmother's peanut butter cream pie or my brother's favorite pineapple sour cream pie.

For many years I have scheduled Wednesday as a vacation day from work so I can bake my pies. I love to get up that morning, line up all my canisters, jars, containers of this and that, stack my recipes, rolling pin and bowls in front of me, open the house, and mix and stir and peel and slice and bake all day.

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is always one thing I am grateful for! A whole day baking pies. My husband and I don't usually have dessert, so I don't bake nearly often enough to make me happy. AND there are all those pies to taste the next day. LOL

We are a large group when my family gets together. So there this a multitude of desserts. I gorge myself on my sister's Ambrosia. Apple, pumpkin, sweet potato and my special Cran-orange-maple pie. Raspberry and apricot bars. Date nut, blueberry, and cranberry tea breads with cream cheese spreads. Pumpkin cheesecake, assorted cookies and cupcakes made by the cousins and the most sought after dessert...mincemeat pies made by my mom from the recipe that has been handed down to her from her mom that received it from her mom. Baked in the small pie tins brought over from England when they first came to America. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am not a big fan of pumpkin pie, but I love Libby's Pumpkin Roll. My DH loves Pumpkin pie, and apple, and cherry. LOL I am a fan of coconut cream and pecan.

We always had pumpkin pie, but what I really loved was the mincemeat or apple/walnut/raisin pie. (It is in the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook.) I use to make it after I got married, but DH and son would only eat one piece. That is a lot of pie for one person to eat so stopped making it. Maybe I will make one in my mini pie pan this year.
Clare

The 'ultimate' pumpkin pie is aptly named with its rich creamy texture and shortbread-like crust. A dessert table centerpiece.

Crust
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup (1 stick) chilled butter, cut into pieces
½ teaspoon nutmeg
3 tablespoons whipping cream

Filling
¾ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon packed golden brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon (generous) salt
1 16-ounce can solid pack pumpkin
¾ cup whipping cream
½ cup sour cream
3 large eggs, beaten to blend

¼ cup apricot preserves

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 4 ingredients in processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cream and process until moist clumps form. Gather dough into ball, flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 15 minutes.
Roll out dough on floured surface to 14-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1 inch. Fold overhang under. Make cut in crust edge at 1/2 inch intervals. Bend alternate edge pieces inward. Freeze 15 minutes.
Line crust with foil, pressing firmly. Bake until sides are set, about 10 minutes. Remove foil. Bake crust until pale brown, about 10 minutes more. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
For filling:
Using whisk, mix first 7 ingredients in bowl until no lumps remain. Blend in pumpkin, whipping cream, sour cream and eggs.
Spread preserves over crust; pour in filling. Bake until filling puffs at edges and center is almost set, about 55 minutes. Cool on rack. Cover; chill until cold. (Can be made 1 day ahead.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Confessions of an Aspiring Food Snob