Pies for Christmas and Thanksgiving Family Dinners

One problem is space for warming the dishes.  Ovens can hold only so much, and if several people add a dish to it for warming there is likely to be a problem fitting things in.  Yet all dishes served at the same time must be heated over the same time.  Pies are eaten as dessert, so even if a pie is preferred to be served warm there is time after the other dishes are removed to place them in the oven.

Another problem is food can spoil if left at the wrong temperature too long.  This is a concern in transporting many dishes.  But, pies can be eaten warm, cooled in a refrigerator until needed, or even eaten, and for many pies left at room temperature for the day.  So safely transporting most types of pies is easier in the safety sense.

Pies are easy to transport, with less danger of spillage.  There are not small bits of food to fall from a dish as it bounces along a highway.

And, pies can be placed in throw away aluminum pie pans for the meal.  With other dishes there are often leftovers, and that either means leaving a bowl or tray behind, or wasting food that exceeds the storage containers available or the capacity of the refrigerator.  If the pie pan is a throw away it will store leftover pie just fine, and will not cause a problem of later retrieval of it.

So, if you do not have a special dish that everyone waits for, and no one else has claimed pies as what they are bringing, pie is an excellent option.   And, if there are leftovers, it is something the host and hostess are more likely to be able to finish before it goes bad.

Baking your own pies does require a pie pan.  I would recommend a non-stick pan.  Of course every oven is different, and different pans work better for electric ovens, gas ovens, and even convection ovens.  So, some people will prefer a glass pie pan or a ceramic pie pan.  What works best in your oven is what you should choose.  Of course you can bake in the aluminum pie pan, but I would think the aluminum is the most likely to heat fast and possibly burn the bottom of the pie.

Pie weights reduce the problem of having bubbles form in the crust.  The ones shown are ceramic balls.

For this you will want a recipe for each type you will bake, unless you are already a skilled pie baker.  What you should not do is find frozen pies at the supermarket.  That simply will not do.  And, you must decide whether or not you will prepare the crust from scratch, which is the best option. 

Pie recipes are easily found online.  Look at the website here and find a multitude of pie recipes.  

There are pies by type.  You probably would want the fruit pies or the vintage pies, but custard pies and others are also shown, just watch if refrigeration is needed.  The fruit pies covered include well over one hundred recipes. 

Or, you can get a cookbook that is concentrated on pies.

It is best to use fresh ingredients, but during the fall and early winter many types of fruit can be found.  Perhaps apple and cheery would make nice pies.  But, pumpkin is another nice choice.  

The warm pie exudes an aroma that is part of the experience of partaking of it.  So, if the pie can arrive and still be warm when taken out the aroma will spread throughout the room.  To transport a pie while it is warm requires a special insulated carrier.  And, if the pie has been transferred to an aluminum pan, it will have also been loosened from the pan in which it was baked, making serving easier.

A pan that is too warm might harm the furniture, so if the pie is to be served warm bring a trivet for each pie.  These can be taken home when you leave, along with your pie carrier.

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