Thanksgiving Recap: Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel

I'm pretty darn proud of myself for getting my Thanksgiving recap started only one week after Thanksgiving.  You might think that it's been a week and a half since Thanksgiving but since I hosted turkey day on Saturday it's only been one week.  Your perspective is irrelevant.

We weren't able to make it home to either of our families this year which was kind of sad.  We're big family people and generally never miss a holiday unless we can help it.  This year we couldn't help it but we definitely made the best of it.  Luckily, we have a few dear friends who don't travel far to see their families so they were back in town by the weekend after the big food fest.  Therefore, we hosted Friendsgiving at our house on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  The theme of the evening was "Friends don't let friends have just one Thanksgiving" (complete with souvenir koozies courtesy of my GFF)... although some of our friends were enduring their 4th round of turkey and pie.  They all did a good job suffering through and the clean plates after the second helping convinced me the hardship was not too great.

I was super pumped about the tablescape...

Chevron paper table runner (which I did not buy at Anthropologie but you can find on their website)

Gold Candles, Tray, Napkins Rings & Gold Acorns from Pier 1

2008 Shadrach Chardonnay from one of our favorite Sonoma, CA wineries, Munselle Vineyards (wine counts as part of the tablescape and no, I'm not going to tell you how many bottles we drank).

CA was in charge of the turkey and I was too busy preparing the 10 other foods to pay attention to what he was doing.  However, it was freaking amazing... potentially the best turkey we've he's ever made.  We typically fry our turkeys but CA wanted to try something new.  Putting anything else in the oven was not an option (I already had space issues with the oven as Thanksgiving dinner is very casserole centric) so the grill was the only other cooking vessel available.  What I loved about the turkey was that it really took on the flavor of the brine and the smoke of the grill.  You can find the recipe on the Washington Post website.  You should make it.

CA was also in charge of his family's stuffing recipe, the gravy (I make terrible gravy) and cocktails.  I got everything else. While we'll get to the savory food items over the course of the week, I feel it only appropriate that we start with pie.

I struggle with narrowing down the pie selections for Thanksgiving.  There are so many great ones to choose from... pumpkin, pecan, apple, chocolate, cranberry... and don't even get me started on the options if you include non-pie desserts at Thanksgiving (which I only allow if there are 3 or more desserts available).  I've been making this Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel for years and I love it because it checks two pie boxes... pumpkin & pecan.

The pie starts with your standard pie crust.  It is then filled with a pumpkin custard that is flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves (regular pumpkin pie stuff) and bourbon (extra special pumpkin pie stuff).  The topping is a super yummy strudel made with brown sugar, flour, butter and pecans.

I was reading the recipe too fast when I made the streusel and put way too much sugar in it which isn't a terrible thing, but it meant that the streusel didn't hold up as well as it normally does when it was baked.  This was the first of two kitchen mishaps - but all things considered I didn't drop anything, burn anything (badly) or burn myself so it was pretty successful!

 I promise if you make it according to the directions it will be even prettier than this.  I also promise you that even if you screw it up like I did it will still taste amazing

The pumpkin part of the pie is pretty light because there are whipped egg whites  folded into the custard.  You get a great hint of bourbon flavor without overpowering the pumpkin.  The streusel is sweet and crunchy and the texture is the perfect compliment to the creamy pumpkin filling.  I love this pie.

The recipe for this pie can be found on Food & Wine.  It's a really great one to add to your holiday table... If you make it for Christmas dinner I'll feel less guilty about not telling you about it until after Thanksgiving. 

Enjoy!
Julie