Has anyone ever prepared pies in advance and froze them?? Not freezing them after being baked, but freezing them right after preparation THEN freezing them????? I need a plan for Thanksgiving.. I always get caught up doing things the night before dinner and get no sleep..
TIA

my grand mother use to freeze the apple pies before she baked them so that they would be hot at desert time. she got everything ready and then froze them until thaksgiving morning took it out to thaw a little and then when everyone sat down to eat she poped it in the oven. Not sure about the other pies. hope that helps at least a little.

Susan

I make homemade pies every year for thanksgiving. We always make them then bake them fully and then freeze. When we needed them, I would take them out to thaw well before eatting time and put them back in a warm oven to heat through. Same theory as the pies you buy at the grocery store.

I'm actually holding "pie making class" at my house this year for some friends who have never made pies on their own. This will be a trick for them to learn too.

They always come out delicious.

I have rolled out the dough, put it in pan, and then frozen it -- it actually makes the pie very flacky (a good thing!) b/c when the butter hits the 400 degree oven, it bursts, causing the flakiness. Maye you can freeze up the crusts and just make the fillings closer to bake time. You can do pumpkin fill and refrigerate it for a few days...

I haven't tried freezing an already baked pie though. (My fiance eats them like its going out of style - they hardly make it out of the oven before he dives in. LOL. He's "sick of cake".).

..haven't tried that but it sounds like a great idea. I just bake my pies and then freeze them.

What kind of pies are you going to try this with Briansbaker?

My Mom used to make around 35 apple pies in August, and freeze them raw. In the winter, it was always a treat to get a nice piece of warm pie. They were always delicious and flaky. Yum.

Thanks soooooo much.. I need a head start..

susanmm23L: I never doubt a grandma!!! so this I will try!

Barefoot_Contessa: Homemade is the only way I will go!!!

PerryStCakes: LOL I know what you mean about the fiance thing.. Hubby asked me the other day if I could make a practice pumpkin pie.. Ha Ha I got offended and told him I don't need practice!!!! Although I knew that was his way of saying he can't wait for Thanksgiving to have pie.. I made him one anyway!

I CANNOT be tired day after Thanskgiving!!! Have to go to the After Thanksgiving Sales!!! Thank you again!!

Mrs.. Missey.. this is on my Holiday List..

5 Pumpkin Pies
5 Pecan Pies
3 chocolate pies
3 cheesecakes
2 batches of 7 layer cookie
3 pumpkin cheesecake pies
Plus all the fixings!! whew I look forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas.. I love making dinners and I love having family and friends over.. It puts everyone in a beautfiul mood.. Watching the kids giggling at each other when we do the prayer circle.. That is the cutest part.. I think out 2 or 3 out of the 16 kids are the only ones prepared with a speech.. The others are just thankful for a pie or their playstation... LOL gotta love them!!

wow is that all for thanksgiving?????? and i thought i made alot of pie lol

LOL yes! We have a big family!!!

ok i went looking on the web and this is what i have found

http://www.bettycrocker.com/baking/basics/tips_and_techniques.aspx?gid=41130

http://www.pillsbury.com/Learn/showTip.asp?tip_nbr=55

http://www.cdkitchen.com/features/showtip.php?idx=305

hope this helps

I do it both ways depending on what I need the pies for. Either way works out fine. I always make pastry from scratch - never use the store bought except for puff pastry sometimes for my sausage rolls (bit like pigs in blankets only with British sausages).

OMG...holy crap......I am coming to your house for the holidays Briansbaker!!!!!

I have a really big family and each year, we take turns hosting Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is basically the only time that we do the big dinner thing because everyone wants to be home for Christmas...thank goodness.lol

Every year I always have to help with the cooking...this is the only time I enjoy cooking because we have so much fun laughing about the good old days while we are cooking.

We usually have anywhere from 30 to 35 people.

BritBB..... Do you mean Bangers? My family loves bangers and mash (my husband and son are the only ones who like the beans that is traditionally served with it, though). Where do you buy your bangers? I live in the south bay and we go to the British Connection here, but am interested in other British Import shops as the BC is very small and limited in their supplies.

debbi

Yup - I mean bangers! I used to buy them from Pavilions/Vons but they stopped stocking them, and I've now found them at HOWS Markets (used to be Hughes Markets).

There are a couple of British stores in Santa Monica (SM is full of Brits), that stock good supplies but it's about an hour's drive from Pasadena where I am. We do have a British tearoom in Pasadena that sells Brit food, but they are quite expensive and the guy's a bit stuffy. I think he has ideas of grandeur since he played a butler on the Murder She Wrote series with Angela Lansbury!

But HOWS is probably the way to go. Do you have one near you?

Barbara

We used to make tons of pie for the holidays too but we've cut it down now the extended family doesn't come so much. We've also added other desserts such as cannolis, pizzelle, pumpkin roll, biscotti, cheesecake.

LOL Mrs. Missey... Please everyone, let me know that your coming.. so that I can make enough!!!!
I love baking pies.. The smell in the house.. The warmth of the kitchen and of course when they are ready the BIG spoonfull of whipped cream added!! OMG I just looked at the menu I printed a few years back.. add 2 coconut pies and yams with marshmallows to my list... Not sure what the name of that is..

I always freeze my fruit pies before baking, and I am known for my pies. Perrystcakes is right, it increases the flakiness. It also eliminates that nasty airspace you get when you bake an apple pie without freezing it.

OMG, sound like me when I lived in Pennsylvania. I'd not only have my little shop cranking out orders for my customers,

But, I'd spend 3 days baking for my family.

I would end up with masses of cookie boxes..3 full sized catering trays of mini cheese cakes, fruit tartlets, mini cakes....

Everything that my family loved. They would start putting in their orders early..lol

I'd make enough for everyone to have their favorite desserts after dinner and then some to box up to take home to their families!

I'd bring some nice festive cake boxes and ribbons and that was the highlight of the evening...when everyone would gather around the table of desserts and pick out their favorites!

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...I miss home!!!

candied yams............ love to make those. My family makes fun of me because i am very picky when it comes to eating. i hate pumpkin or pecan pies no meringe for me either just to gross. However i bake all the above and apparently i do it very well lol cause every year they want me to make more for me i usually do
2pumpkin
2 pecan
1 cheesecake
1apple
1 coconut
i have about 30-35 people come to my house there is always just enough pie for the ones who eat it i also make a cake for those who dont like pie. oh and a huge fruitsalad.

custard type pies do not freeze well. they go watery
apple unbaked is good.
pecan freezes well after cooking
cheesecake freezes well after cooking

Just a question for those of you that freeze apple pies. I make a crumb pie, so there is nothing but cinnamon and sugar on the apples. Do your apples turn brown when you freeze them, or do you use pie filling? Also, how do you wrap them to freeze them? This would make life so much easier because my dh always complains about me not making enough apple pies. Thanks for the help.

tsc

mmmmm..warm apple pie with a slice of cheddar and ice cream for me..thanks!

The apples do not turn brown. I put the pie in the freezer and let it freeze solid. As soon as it is frozen I wrap it well. It would probably be fine to put the crumb topping on, but I would probably do everything else and then do a fresh crumb topping when I took it out.

Thanks for the response peanut2. I'm going to try it this weekend. I agree with you about the topping though. I think I'll put it on fresh.

tsc

Let us know how it turns out.

If you mix a bit of lemon juice in with your apples, they will be lovely. I tend to prefer to freeze apple pie uncooked, I find the crust is nicer, but I have done both. Did you know that you can freeze a fully cooked pumpkin pie? For Christmas instead of making pies, I make tarts, that way I can take a few out of the freezer at a time and have quite a variety of sweets, with the cookies, loaves, cakes etc.
I have friends that make up their apple pie filling ahead and freeze it, in portions the right size for their pies. That way when apples are at their best, they just do up huge batches mixed with their favourite spices etc and they are ready to go.
So, while we are on the subject, what do people use in their piecrusts? Do you use butter in your bottom crust to make a less soggy bottom, and lard or shortening in your tops? Do you use the same for both? How many people use glass pie plates to insure that the bottom crusts brown well and that the bottoms aren't soggy? Or do people find it makes a difference?
Haha, my favourite relatives in Syracuse, get us to bring down boxes of Tenderflake Lard every year, many people prefer it over shortening. My mother-in-law could clarify any kind of fat and make the most wonderful pies from it. She would just save up pork fat, anything she used and make her pies. They were wonderful.
Hugs Squirrelly

briansbaker, sounds like it is time for somebody else in that family to learn how to cook! Holy cow!

In my crust I use unbleached flour, a combination of lard and butter blended together (chilled of course), salt, water, egg, a dash of vinegar and a small amount of icing sugar (not so much that it tastes sweet, just a bit). For apple pie I put apple slices, sometimes lemon juice, flour, sugar, some brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter pats before the top crust goes on. I always bake in a glass plate. I have found that I can make my pie, freeze it unbaked, pop it out of the dish and wrap it well..leaving the dish for another pie to freeze.