Thankful for... Family, Friends, and Pie
- Aubrey Johnson
- Nov 29, 2024
- 10 min read
Last week, before the Thanksgiving break, I had my students practice gratitude as part of their “bell work.” They kept a running list of something they were thankful for in their science notebook and added to it daily. Then, when they were called on, they could either share their answer to the science bell work question or share what they were thankful for. I didn’t really expect my 6th graders to be completely transparent in a class of their peers, but it was nice when someone shared something more personal than “food,” “water,” and “my house,” which were frequent responses. Sure, I’m thankful for those, too, and I’m glad they have those things, but those are low-hanging fruit. More revealing responses included the shy student who whispered, “My aunt” when I knew she didn’t have a mother in her life. Another student said, “My brother.” I taught his brother two years ago and see him at church helping with the K-3rd grade kids’ service. And one girl, who doesn’t need to “suck up” so I doubt she was, said, “My teachers who teach me things.” I thanked her and told the class that not every kid around the world gets to go to school, especially not girls. I am fortunate that most of my students this year are fairly self- and socially aware. So, when I got a lot of responses that they were thankful for “family and friends,” I think they meant it. I echoed their sentiments. Except for 2020, I always made it home to my parents’ house for Christmas, but once I moved away at 25, Thanksgiving wasn’t a holiday for which I returned when I lived more than three hours away. Instead, I spent it with family out of state or friends who were like family, for whom I am thankful.
Over the 10 years I lived away from Oklahoma, nine of those Thanksgivings were away from home and eight were without my parents. Thankfully, I was never alone, though. My first three Thanksgivings away were spent with my family in Georgia enjoying Sweet Potato Soufflé. Then the next Thanksgiving I spent at camp in Colorado helping cook 16 turkeys! The next year in Colorado we didn’t have a camp over the holiday so I flew back to Atlanta. The warmer temperature was a welcome relief from Colorado snow! After that year, while at culinary school, I was only two hours from my parents and could spend the holiday week with them. In 2018 I was in Connecticut, and before I flew to Atlanta to drive to Florida with my Georgia family, my roommate and I hosted a “Friendsgiving” for her friends in the area. I fit in because I had two degrees (a Bachelor’s and an Associate's in Baking and Pastry Arts). Still, I was woefully undereducated when compared to her and her friends with Masters and Doctorates from Yale and Harvard! If only I were as learned as Rory Gilmore. It was a fun day with her friends staying into the evening, drinking wine, and telling stories as late 20-somethings do. They all made delicious food, and I contributed roasted veggies and an apple cranberry pie.
Once I moved to Montana, I took each year as it came, enjoying my time in that beautiful, but cold, state. When I came in 2019, I had a good feeling it would be my last move for a while. Life happens and plans change, but the three Thanksgiving holidays I spent there will always be some of my favorites. They each involved my holiday staples - family, friends, and pie.
With just one brother and our two parents, my nuclear family is not a large one. So when we got together with extended family over the holidays when growing up, I always enjoyed having more people around. There were also a few years before my great-grandmother passed in 2002 when my family traveled to her house in Olympia, Washington for a family reunion around her birthday in July. Her house, which she shared with my great aunt, was a large ranch-style with many rooms and a finished basement to explore. They also had a big backyard and landscaped garden, all perfect places for hide-and-seek. It was fun to run around with my first and second cousins who we hadn’t seen for a year or more. When we passed through the backyard where the grownups were hanging out in the nice weather, one of us would yell “Mom!” and see how many of the women turned their heads, not knowing which “Mom” we meant. It was fun to be surrounded by so many people who, for the most part, got along and all cared about one another. That sense of belonging was replicated once I found my place with my Montana family. They hosted many gatherings over the years I lived there. Their house is also sprawling and open with plenty of room in the backyard for kids to run around. The open kitchen and living room with a center island bar offered a convenient location for buffet lines and social time in the center of the cooking action. Depending on the number of friends over, there could be at least 12 kids, 12 years old and under, running around between our backyard, the neighbor’s backyard, and all through the house, forgetting to close the door in their haste to catch up to the others or escape getting tagged. In the summer the party would spill out onto their back patio and their sunroom which had a dining table for a while, but it was later replaced with a pingpong table, still treated as an eating surface when there was not fierce competition taking place. They took any opportunity to get together - holidays, birthdays, going aways, and Fridays. Everyone took turns contributing food - sides, appetizers, game meat, and drinks, and I usually was tasked with (or volunteered for) dessert. Over my time there, I baked 15 cakes and 31 pies (sweet and savory) that were shared with my MT family. Thanksgiving was no exception!
My first Montana Thanksgiving involved more than pie. I was tasked with a turkey, too.
The local grocery store gives away turkeys during the holidays if a household spends a certain amount of money. With 16 people expected, my family thought two turkeys were warranted. I didn’t spend the right amount of money, but I picked one up for my family with their account, and, since I was pet-sitting at my boss’s house during the week of Thanksgiving, I had a free kitchen to do the cooking. Another family member smoked a second turkey, and I went the traditional roasted route. My only other experience cooking a turkey was when I was one of four cooks in charge of Thanksgiving at the Colorado camp, but with all the help I had there, I felt out of my element on my own. Thankfully, I’ve always been good at following directions, and my mom was ready to answer my questions on the phone. Although there wasn’t a competition between the two turkeys, everyone enjoyed my first solo roasted turkey, and the outcome was delicious! I also made a traditional apple pie. Little did I know how many apple pies I’d make in the next two years!
Ever since culinary school when I took a “Cost Control” and Baking Capstone course where I learned how to price and market items, I considered selling my baked goods.
When I moved to small-town Montana and became enmeshed in the community, both through Farm to School and the network of friends I was connected to, I knew I would have more of a clientele base. In larger communities, it doesn’t matter how delicious your food is if people don’t know you. People like to support those they know. And during cold, snowy fall nights, I was happy to be kept busy with baking. I applied for a Montana business license and started my cottage food business - Nomadic Baker Sweets and Treats, LLC. The application included scaled recipes, labels, and procedures for processing, packaging, and cleaning. While I submitted 15 recipes including breads, candies, cookies, and scones, the pies were the most popular around Thanksgiving. In 2020 I made 14 pie dough discs in one night and baked 10 pies (German Chocolate Pecan, Dutch Apple Cranberry, and Lattice Apple). Then in 2021, while dog-sitting for a co-worker, I had a kitchen to myself to bake 12 pies (apple, apple cranberry, and pear cranberry) - all while binge-watching Netflix Christmas movies, of course!
And for those wondering, both years I took a break from a traditional flavor for my Montana family’s Thanksgiving dessert. In 2020 I made a Chocolate Amaretto Pie, and in 2021 I made an Apple Cider Cream Pie. Although I still offer to bake pies for friends in Oklahoma, the market or need is not the same as when I was in Montana. I don’t do it for the money, although that is a nice perk. It is fun to create something I know others will enjoy, whether it’s because baking isn’t in their wheelhouse, or they want to do something nice by supporting me. Regardless of the motivation for my customers, I am thankful I had them… have them. I’m not in a position to open my own bakery, nor is that a current dream of mine. But I do appreciate having people with who I can share my baking and who appreciate good food that can be works of art, a pie that is either a need or a want, because it’s the holidays, and it’s called for.
This Thanksgiving there are not lots of family members talking around the dinner table or friends’ kids running around. It’s just my parents and me. I did bake four pies for friends and one for my own family. (I gave my mom six options from which to choose, and she picked a somewhat “normal” one - where’s the fun in that? 😀 It was a Marlborough Pie - think shredded apples cooked in brandy and sugar, baked in a custard - from Ken Hadedrich’s book Pie Academy - recipe shared below.) A few other recipes from The Harvest Baker that remind me of Thanksgiving are as follows: Savory Asparagus, Ham, and Brie Pudding; Savory Vegetable Skillet Bread; Honeyed Parsnip Tea Bread; Roasted Carrot Tea Loaf; and Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies. I actually took the savory bread pudding to a Superbowl Party. It wasn’t traditional football food, but it was enjoyed and served as a new contrast to chips and queso and ham and cheese sliders. To me, this would be a good accompaniment to a Friendsgiving Feast or Thanksgiving brunch, especially for those not a fan of turkey.
Ken described the Savory Vegetable Skillet Bread as “leftover Thanksgiving stuffing baked up as a big skillet pancake.” I agree with that summary, but the oatmeal and potato give it a more complex texture, reminding me of a Thanksgiving hashbrown - another delicious brunch item with eggs or alongside soup.
Both tea breads - carrot and parsnip - remind me of my Friendsgiving with roasted veggies. I can’t say I use parsnips that often, but they are just as easy to use as carrots. That bread was actually easier since it didn’t include the extra step of puréeing that that carrot loaf did.
Lastly, as a Thanksgiving-eve dessert, I made the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies again. (The first reason was because Thanksgiving requires pumpkin of some sort, and the second is because I forgot to share about it in my other pumpkin post.) This is probably my most-baked recipe in the whole book, and by reducing the sugar a little but still adding in all the mix-ins of oats, pumpkin, coconut, nuts, and chocolate chips, I like to pretend they’re healthy!
I can’t say what Thanksgiving will look like next year or the year after that. I’m not one to try to predict the future since plans usually change, whether it’s up to us or not. I will continue to be thankful for what I have had and currently have, though. And I hope you celebrate all for which you are thankful - alone or with family, friends, and pie … or food of your choice.
Early in my blogging endeavor, I contacted Storey Publishing to let them know about my self-appointed challenge to bake and blog all of Ken Haedrich’s recipes from The Harvest Baker. While they only granted me permission to share 10% of the recipes on my site, they did mail me a copy of another book of his - Pie Academy - from which I could share another 10% of the recipes included. This beautiful book is a pie-maker’s dream with 25 dough recipes and “255 amazing fillings with fruits, nuts, creams, custards, ice creams, and more.” I’m not sure if or when I will bake all the recipes, but I know I am looking forward to trying them out at the right time! Several are unique combinations I’ve never heard of before. Another green tomato pie or a jalapeño jelly apple or pear pie may be next, but first was the Marlborough Pie for Thanksgiving. Let me know if you try it at home!
Marlborough Pie
(introduction by Ken Haedrich)
“Marlborough pie is an old British recipe that’s also known as Deerfield pie in New England. I’ve seen a number of such recipes in cookbooks and, save for some minor differences, it’s always an apple custard pie usually served for Thanksgiving. Typically, the apples are grated and then cooked, which yields a pie with a fine custard filling with just a bit of apple texture. I use Grand Marnier or triple sec to cook the apples. This isn’t traditional: brandy and applejack are more common. I just like the orange flavoring. This pie is best served chilled.”
Yield: 8-10 servings
Ingredients:
Good Basic Pie Dough or your favorite recipe
4 large apples, peeled (McIntosh or another soft-cooking apple will work)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup Grand Marnier, triple sec, or brandy
½ cup plus ¼ cup sugar
Big pinch of salt
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Several pinches of ground nutmeg, for garnish
Directions:
Prepare and refrigerate the pie dough. You can either halve the recipe to make one crust or freeze the second crust for later use. Roll the dough into a 12-inch circle and line a 9- to 9½-inch standard pie pan with it, shaping the edge into an upstanding ridge. Flute or crimp the edge, chill the shell, and partially prebake it.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grate the apples down to their cores on the large holes of a box grater. Melt the butter in a large nonreactive skillet - nonstick is best. Add the apples, Grand Marnier, the ¼ cup sugar, and salt. Bring the apple mixture to a boil, stirring often. Reduce the heat slightly and continue to simmer actively until the apples are very soft and much of the liquid has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool briefly.
Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until frothy. Whisk in the cream, flour, vanilla, and the ⅓ cup sugar. Stir the apples, about one-third at a time, into the custard.
Put the pie shell on a baking sheet, near the oven, and slowly pour the filling into the shell; smooth the filling with a spoon. Bake the pie, on the sheet, on the center oven rack for 35 to 40 minutes. When the pie is done, the center will be set, not runny, and the pie may puff slightly. The custard isn’t likely to brown, so don’t wait for that or you may overcook the filling.
Transfer the pie to a rack and dust with nutmeg. Eat warm, or cool thoroughly and refrigerate for several hours before slicing. Refrigerate leftovers loosely covered with aluminum foil.
Pie Academy (c) by Ken Haedrich, recipe excerpted with permission from Storey Publishing.
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