An All-Time Favorite

December 23rd: Today I realized that my baking adventure has been sorely lacking in one particular area. That area, as I'm sure you've guessed, is pies. I have yet to make a single pie. Well, that changes today, my friends! And what better pie to start with than one of my (if not my #1) all-time favorites . . . drum roll, please . . . Pumpkin Pie! Seriously, I wait all year for Fall just for the pumpkin pie. Okay, and the pumpkin bread and the pumpkin muffins and the pumpkin cookies . . . And I found an amazing one on allrecipes.com, which was not only delicious, but really easy. Actually, the trouble came with the crust.

I'd decided I wanted to make my own crust, but then, upon looking at the recipe I was going to use, I realized it would need to be refrigerated for a while before I could roll it out and use it. If I'd started this at a reasonable hour, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. But, of course, I hadn't. I'd started it at close to 9pm. Oops.

My husband, wonderful man that he is, ventured out into the night to buy me a pre-made one. As you can imagine, given that it's Christmas Eve Eve, he ended up on his own little hero journey in search of a crust for my pie. He started at one grocery store, but they were already closed by the time he got there. So he went to another store that he knew would be open, but they only had Oreo crusts (which maybe could've worked, but wasn't what I was going for). So off he went across the street to another store, but they'd already closed too. So then he trekked 20 minutes out of his way to go to yet another store. Thankfully this one had what I needed, but they were closing as he arrived so he had to run in, grab it, and run out. (After paying, of course.) He was gone so long I actually called him to make sure he was okay.

I was all worth it in the end, though, (I know I feel that way, and I'm pretty sure he does) because this pie is so delicious. It's the first homemade pumpkin pie I've actually actually liked. It was smooth and creamy, without the pumpkin-puree-edge that some homemade pies can have. I wholeheartedly recommend this recipe. I know I'll be using it again.