It's that time of year again! When that aroma of fresh baked pies fills your home with the perfect smell of Thanksgiving goodness!

One of our favorite food bloggers, Kelsey of The Farmer's Daughter is giving us the inside scoop on not just one, but TWO of her favorite pies! To kick it all off, A Classic Pumpkin Pie is a stable for the holiday season and is the ultimate combination of sweet and spice. All you need is a few ingredients and a handful of minutes to prepare! And for that polished look, add a dollop of whip cream and there you'll have a picture perfect pie. Really simple to make and always a hit! If you're wanting to surprise your guests with something a little unique, give your second pie a little twist and make them an Apple Caramel Crumble Pie! Nothing tastes better than a mouth full of a buttery flaky crust, rich apple filling, topped with the perfect crumble. The best part of it all? You can drizzle as much caramel on top as your heart desires! Keep scrolling and give these fresh baked pies a try! Just follow the step-by-step instructions and let us know what you think!

For more amazing recipe ideas, give Kelsey a follow at @kelsey_thefarmersdaughter 

Want more of a reason to love the holiday season? An excuse to dress up in a brand new outfit. Style one of our Pencil Stripe Cowl-Neck Top with your favorite color jetsetters. Slip into a trendy bodysuit and layer it with an Overall Jumpsuit! Cozy it up in one of our new Rugby Crews. The options are endless! And with how many festivities you'll be attending, it's a good thing you have so many pieces to choose from!

Classic Pumpkin Pie

INGREDIENTS

1  9-inch pie crust (pre-made, or make your own!)

2 cups pureed pumpkin (or one 15oz can)

1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (14oz)

2 large eggs

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  First you'll want to bake and puree your pumpkin if you're making your own.  You'll also want to make your pie crust if you're making your own as well.  Bonus points if you do!

2. Optional:  If you'd like to make some leaf decorations for your cake, roll out some extra pastry dough about 1/4 inch thick and cut out leaves.  Bake at 350 degrees until the tops get slightly brown.  Remove and set aside.

3.  Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

4.  Mix together the pureed pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt in a medium bowl until nice and smooth.

5.  Pour the pumpkin mixture into your pie crust.

6.  Bake your pie at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  After the initial 15 minutes, turn your oven down to 350 degrees and bake for another 35-40 minutes.  Your pie will be done when a knife inserted a few inches from the crust comes out clean.  *If you're not sure, just keep cooking it.  It's better to slightly overcook a pumpkin pie than to have it be gooey!

**Tip: Place some tinfoil or a pie crust shield around the edges of our pie so that the crust doesn't burn!  I did that about halfway through the baking time.

7. Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours for the pie to properly set.  Or even make it the night before you'd like to serve it.  We found ours even better the day after it was made!

Apple Caramel Crumble Pie

INGREDIENTS

Yields: enough for 4 double crust pies

Pie:

5 cups Flour

2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Powder

3 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 lb Lard (or vegetable shortening)

1 Egg

2 tbsp Vinegar

Cold water

Crumbs:

3/4 cup flour 

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon butter, melted

Filling:

6ish medium Elstar apples (or any tart apple of your choice)

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 cup Flour

3/4 cup Sugar

Salted Caramel Filling

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup whipping cream

6 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Pie

1. Mix together flour, salt, baking powder and brown sugar in a large bowl.

2. Cut up lard and add to dry ingredients. 

3. Using a pastry cutter (or a plain old fork works as well), cut in lard until your mixture is crumbly.

4. Break your egg into a liquid measuring cup and beat well.

5. Add vinegar to the measuring cup.

6. Add very cold water to the measuring cup, until the mixture measures to 1 cup.

7. Pour liquid mixture over flour mixture slowly, and stir.

8. Use your hands to work the mixture together until it no longer crumbles apart.  This is where experience will come in, as you don't want to overmix the dough!  Once you make it a couple of times, you'll get the feel of it.

9. Divide into 4 equal parts.  Each part will make one pie, so you can choose to use it all at once, store some of the dough in the fridge* for up to 2 weeks, or pop some of into the freezer for later!

*If you do refrigerate your dough overnight (or for a few days), be sure to take it out at least an hour before you roll out it (maybe less if it's super warm in your house).  Otherwise it will be too stiff!

Assembly of the Crumbs and Fillings

1. Once your pie dough is ready, you can peel and chop apples (the exact number will depend on the size of your apples, and how full you want to make your pie).  We used Elstar apples, which are nice and tart, and are wonderful for baking with!

2. Mix all ingredients in with your diced apples, stir, and let sit for a few minutes.

3. Take approximately an eighth of your dough, and roll it out in a circle.  You want your dough circle to be big enough to cover the bottom of your pie plate, and to cover the outside edge at least a half an inch.

4. Add your apple mixture to the pie plate.

5. For Crumbs:  Mix together flour, brown sugar and salt.  Pour melted butter over and stir together.  Sprinkle crumb mixture evenly over top.

6. Bake at 425 degrees for the first 15 minutes, and then reduce heat to 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until nice and bubbly.  

*Check on your pie while it's baking, and cover with tin foil if your crumbs start to get too dark.

7. I drizzled a generous helping of salted caramel over each piece of pie as I served them!

Salted Caramel Sauce 

1. In a medium saucepan, heat sugar on medium high heat until it starts melting, stirring occasionally.  Once there are no more white bits of sugar, or chunks, stop stirring, and let sugar turn a dark amber.

2. Immediately add in the butter, and stir until incorporated.  Add in the heavy whipping cream and salt, and again stir until incorporated. *Be careful in these steps as the mixture will froth quite violently!

3. Remove from heat, and let the caramel sauce cool and thicken before serving.  Store in the fridge in an airtight container!

SHOP HOLIDAY OUTFIT IDEAS