Friday Showcase: Homemade Pies and Birthday Cake

I know I've mentioned before that I really enjoy baking. Well, this week I've had lots of bonding time with my oven! On Wednesday I made 4 pies. Two pumpkin, one shoefly, and one crunchy caramel apple pie. I was able to bake them and then give them away which is even better so I'm not tempted to eat them all myself. I have a sweet tooth that I have trouble ignoring when delicious confections are sitting around my house.

Here is the recipe for the Crunchy Caramel Apple Pie.  It is quite literally the BEST apple pie ever!

I used Libby's Classic Pumpkin Pie recipe here. Which is very easy, and my personal favorite as far as pumpkin pie recipes go.

And this is the recipe that I used for the Shoefly.  It's a recipe that my mom has made since I was just a little girl.  I think it is absolutely wonderful, but I do believe shoefly is one of those pies that you either like or you don't.  If you like molasses desserts you'll probably like this pie.

Shoefly Pie
Crumb mixture
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar

Liquid mixture
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup hot water
3/4 cup molasses
pinch of ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.

In unbaked piecrust layer liquid and crumb alternately starting with liquid layer and ending with crumb layer.  Bake for 15 minutes at 450 and 20 minutes at 350.  Makes one 9" pie.

Tomorrow we are have a little party with Tom's family, so today I baked and decorated Kyle's birthday cake.    I just used a boxed cake mix and icing.  I always like to decorate a special cake for my kids birthdays.  I'm not the greatest decorater.  They definitely don't look professional, but I really enjoy planning what I'm going to do and then trying to do it.  Kyle requested the monster truck birthday cake decal thing that he had seen in a birthday party catalog a while back, so I ordered it and just added some fun blue icing to make it a little more festive.  I think it turned out cute.  Kyle LOVES it, and Megan keeps saying "That's so cool!" So I think it was a success. :)

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