What happens when you assign me "pie"

The husband and I went to my parents' for Thanksgiving this year, and I was requested to "bring pie."

 And I did. With a vengeance.

I just kept finding recipes to try . . .

Daddy measured the final height of the apple pie, and we found that it had undergone a 50% volume reduction. When I put it into the oven it was 6 inches high; by the time it was served, only 3 inches. Marvelous.

So what did I make? A classic apple pie and one with cranberries, using Smitten Kitchen's butter crust and my own crumb topping. Then pumpkin spice and maple meringue, both with Joy the Baker's easy no-roll crust.* The crusts turned out shockingly well, for me, and we enjoyed the fillings very much. The cranberry apple was pronounced "a bit too tart" by some but this would be remedied by increasing the sugar in the cranberry sauce.

Next year: walnut maple, sweet potato, and chocolate pudding.

*Changes I made: only 1/3 cup sugar in the apple mixture for each apple pie, added lemon zest and cardamom to the cranberry sauce, reduced sugar in pumpkin pie to 2/3 cup total, and used 2/3 cup maple syrup and 1/3 cup honey in the meringue pie.

{photos courtesy of father dearest}