pie

The wonderful folks at SusieCakes recently sent the Sugar offices an assortment of scrumptious holiday pies. While some staff members marveled over how delicious the pies looked, I paid attention to how the pies were packed. If you're transporting a homemade pie this holiday season, here's what you should do:

1. Start by baking the pie in a disposable aluminum pie pan. This way you won't have to remember to get the pan at the end of the party.
2. Pick up a pie box from a local bakery or the baking department of your regular grocery store.
3. Place the box on a large sheet of parchment paper. With a pencil, trace the shape of the box onto the parchment paper. Cut down to size leaving a two-inch border on one edge.

Read more to learn the rest of the technique.

While most classic Thanksgiving desserts don't feature meat, the majority do use dairy products. If you're catering to a mix of vegetarians and vegans, it's important to serve a dessert that everyone can enjoy. This pumpkin pie recipe is 100 percent vegan. The crust consists of flour and pecans blended with vegetable shortening.

The pumpkin filling gets its creamy, smooth, and thick texture from silken tofu. To make this pie gluten-free, substitute gluten-free baking mix for the flour and use gluten-free vanilla instead of vanilla. Get the recipe here.

For a Southern-inspired Thanksgiving, don't just serve ordinary pumpkin pie for dessert, instead offer pumpkin chess pie. Although it has no relation to the game of chess, this luscious custard pie has origins in England and roots in the South. It normally consists of eggs, butter, and sugar, but this recipe stirs in pumpkin puree. The thing that makes a chess pie different from other custard pies is the addition of cornmeal to the batter. Classic chess pie can be somewhat sweet, so pair it with coffee or a crisp sparkling Moscato. Get the recipe when you read more.

This Summer, I'm in a pie state of mind: I've been making at least one pie a month and show no signs of stopping! Lately, I've been tackling fruit pies, like peach and blueberry, but perhaps the time is right for me to move on to cream and custard pies? There are countless pie recipes out there, but if I had to choose one type of pie to be my favorite, I would select key lime pie. It's cool, it's creamy, it's divine. Second runner up? Banana cream pie. Classic cherry pie is third! How about you? What is your preferred pie?

I am eating as many berries as I can until Fall comes and takes them away from me. I love them in my yogurt and cereal, on top of waffles, and especially in desserts. And as much as I wished it wasn't so, berries pair amazingly with fresh whipped cream. Always on the hunt for healthy food swaps, I've been trying to find ways to lighten up my use of heavy whipping cream, and once again Greek yogurt is the answer!

I fold in an equal amount of nonfat Greek yogurt to fresh whipped cream and let that sit overnight. If you like things a little bit sweeter, use nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt instead. My friend also has success whipping nonfat Greek yogurt, lowfat milk, and some sugar together in a mixer until it's light and fluffy. While calorie counts aren't remarkably different, the nutritional content is. This lighter version of whipped cream has much less fat, and contains more calcium, protein, iron, and healthy bacteria from the yogurt. And if whipping and folding isn't your thing, skip it all together! It's amazing how satisfying pie, fruit crumbles, or shortcake tastes topped with nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt.

Source: Flickr User Merelymel13

This plum pie recipe was uploaded and shared by TJTalks in the Kitchen Goddess group in the YumSugar Community. With those bright red plums and and that flaky crust it looks mouthwatering!

To see more pictures and the recipe, keep reading.