Favorite Thanksgiving Recipes

[Prunepicker]

I just noticed this forum hiding in the rabble!

I'm a kitchen kook and and thought it'd be fun to trade our favorite Thanksgiving recipes.

At the moment it's time to get ready for church so I'll post my Bourbon Pecan and
Mince Meat pie recipes later. In the mean time, how about somebody start the
trading?

[Prunepicker]

Bourbon Pecan Pie

This is easy. Follow the instructions on the Karo Syrup bottle.
Use Dark Karo
Add 1/3 cup of good bourbon to the mix and bake as suggested.

Do the same thing with Mince Meat. Crosse & Blackwell is very good Mince Meat
as is Nonesuch.
Add 1/3 cup of good bourbon to the mix and bake as suggested.

Maker's Mark is great but you can use your favorite or other popular brands.

WARNING
Alcohol DOES NOT cook away. After cooking for 55 minutes the content will still
be 25-30%. The evaporation thing is a wives tale.

[sooners83]

Anyone have any great kid friendly Pecan Pie Recipes? I love pecan pie, but I am the only one in my family that "loves" it. Every year they pick up one from Sam's or a place like that and they are not very good. I would like to make one this year, just have not made one before.

[Prunepicker]

Anyone have any great kid friendly Pecan Pie Recipes?

The Karo Syrup recipe is kid friendly and awesome. I prefer the
dark syrup, but you can't go wrong with either. It's a very easy
recipe, too. Total time for preparing to finish is about 1 hr 20 mins.

I only added the bourbon because I really like the taste.

[sooners83]

I assume Karo Syrup is something I find with the other syrups?

[Karried]

This is a family favorite:

Awesome Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing

• 1 1/2 cups cubed whole wheat bread
• 3 3/4 cups cubed white bread
• 1 pound ground turkey sausage
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 cooked turkey liver, finely chopped
• 3/4 cup turkey stock
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F (175 degree C). Spread the white and whole wheat bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.
2. In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring and breaking up the lumps until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
3. Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples, dried cranberries, parsley, and liver. Drizzle with turkey stock and melted butter, and mix lightly. Spoon into turkey to loosely fill.

[Prunepicker]

I assume Karo Syrup is something I find with the other syrups?

Whoa! You are a rookie

Yes, Karo is with the other syrups or in the baking goods section of the grocery.
You'll also need a ready made deep dish pie crust. Those are found in the frozen
foods, normally 2 per package.

Tip, after the cooking time, @55minutes, the pie filling will still be very runny. Just
take it out and let it cool. The toothpick test doesn't work. Be careful!

I cook the pie on a sturdy cookie sheet. This makes it easier to remove from the
oven and it catches the filling if it spills over during the cooking process.

[RSA]

My favorite is a smoked turkey stuffed with sweet onion, green apples and garlic. Be sure to keep the temp low. Around 225 degrees is were I keep it. Stays nice and moist. Lately I have been using the birds with the pop indicator so it is easy to tell when done.

[Prunepicker]

My favorite is a smoked turkey stuffed with sweet onion, green apples and garlic.
Be sure to keep the temp low. Around 225 degrees is were I keep it. Stays nice
and moist. Lately I have been using the birds with the pop indicator so it is easy
to tell when done.

How long does it take to cook an 18lb bird? Do you do any basting?

[RSA]

I do baste and also I forgot to mention to quarter the apples and onions. An 18 pound bird stuffed with all the goodies would be about and hour a pound at 225 degrees. Low and Slow is the way to Go

You can cook at 325 degrees and it will take about 4 -4.75 hours. This method will still be quite tasty but will not have all the tender smokey goodness.

[jsibelius]

I'm all about the chocolate merengue pie and the Praters giblet gravy. But y'all probably wouldn't know about Praters. They make the best holiday food ever. If I didn't have a knack for mashed potatoes, I'd order theirs. I'm bringing back a bunch of uber-good gravy on dry ice, but I'd be ordering it for delivery if I weren't passing through town and able to just pick it up for myself.

As for chocolate meringue pie, well, that's pretty much just chocolate pudding, merengue, and a pre-made freezer pie crust. A bunch of shortcuts, but still really good. I only get it twice a year - Christmas and Thanksgiving. SLURP!

[Prunepicker]

As for chocolate meringue pie, well, that's pretty much just chocolate pudding,
merengue, and a pre-made freezer pie crust. A bunch of shortcuts, but still really
good. I only get it twice a year - Christmas and Thanksgiving. SLURP!

There's a Chocolate pie recipe in the old Sunbeam mixer manual from the 50's.
It's incredible. Mom made it often. I'll see if I can find it and post it.

[angel27]

That certain homemade chocolate pie recipe is sooo much better than the pudding one. I hope you can find it Prunepicker because I can't find mine.

A twist on traditional chocolate pie is to add a cream cheese layer:

mix softened 8 oz cream cheese, 1 cup confectioners sugar and 1/2 container 16 oz whipped topping until creamy. Spoon onto baked, cooled crust. Refrigerate one hour before adding a layer of cooled chocolate pie filling (preferrably Prunepicker's recipe but can use chocolate pudding). Top with remaining whipped topping and sprinkle with toasted pecans.

[Prunepicker]

That certain homemade chocolate pie recipe is sooo much better than the pudding
one. I hope you can find it Prunepicker because I can't find mine.

I can't find the recipe. I tried searching for it. It was Chocolate Meringue and
there was a Lemon Meringue in the same book.

[southernskye]

This one is from a chocolate cookbook I have.
Chocolate Meringue Pie

1 9-inch baked shell
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

Prepare pie shell, cool. In medium saucepan, combine sugar, flour, cocoa, and salt. stir in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils, remove from heat. Stir half of mixture into beaten egg yolks; return mixture to saucepan. Continue cooking and stirring over medium heat until mixture boils; boil and stir for 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Press plastic wrap directly into pie shell. heat oven to 350 degrees.
Meanwhile prepare Meringue topping ; spread on warm filling, carefully sealing to edges of crust. Bake 8-10 min or just until meringue is lightly browned. cool to room temp. Refrigerate leftovers.

Meringue topping
In small mixing bowl beat 4 egg whites and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add 6 tablespoons sugar; beat until stiff peaks form.

[angel27]

That sounds like the one, Skye.

[NativeOkie]

Mom used to make Buttermilk pie.
The only stuffing for an Okie is Cornbread, my wife added dried cranberries to it and it is WOW!