Pumpkin Pie

If Thanksgiving is the classic American food holiday (or maybe it's the only American food holiday?), pumpkin pie is the classic ending for it. And while you can find all kinds of variations that take the basic pie in different directions - many of them quite delicious, to be sure - there still is no beating the original, as created here by former Times Test Kitchen manager Donna Deane. She calls for making the dough by hand rather than using a pastry cutter or a food processor because that is the best way to get the perfect texture.

  Total time: 1 hour, plus chilling time for the pies Servings: 12 Note: The filling is adapted from a recipe in "The Pie and Pastry Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum. The filling uses uncooked egg whites. 1/4 cup water 1/4 ounce (2¼ teaspoons) powdered gelatin 1 1/4 cups (a 15-ounce can is 1¾ cups) fresh or canned pumpkin puree 3/4 cup sugar, divided 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated, plus extra for dusting the finished pies 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup milk 3 eggs, separated 3/8 teaspoon cream of tartar 12 pre-baked mini-pie shells, still in the muffin tins Whipped cream, for garnish 1. Put the water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over the top. Set aside until the gelatin is fully moistened , at least 3 minutes.

Pumpkin pie is all about sugar, spice and other things that are nice. Balancing the amount of spice is the trick to good pumpkin pie. Several years ago, Times Test Kitchen cook Mayi Brady came up with what we believe to be the perfect pumpkin pie. Actually, it has a little more sugar than she originally wanted, but you may notice that it doesn't have any cloves. Brady dislikes them and believes they overpower the rest of the filling.

It's never too soon to start thinking about what to make for Thanksgiving. During Monday's #Weekendeats chat on Twitter, participants were already gearing up for the big day with recipes for everything from cranberry sauce to gratin and cocktails. Here are the highlights: Carrie Fehr of the blog Kitchen Garden shared her take on the classic potato gratin with a winter squash and potato gratin with béchamel and Gruyere cheese.  If you can't bring yourself to use the stuff in a can or are bored with traditional cranberry sauce, Mary and Victor of the blog 2 Sense LA shared seven styles of cranberry sauce , including a bourbon sauce, jalapeno, lime and tomatillo sauce, a port and green peppercorn sauce and more.

  Total time: 2½ hours, plus chilling and cooling times Servings: 8 Note: Adapted from Quinn and Karen Hatfield. Pie dough 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup plus 3½ tablespoons water 2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (12 ounces) flour 3/4 cup (1½ sticks) plus 3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into ½-inch cubes 1 tablespoon (½ ounce) cold lard or shortening, cut into ½-inch cubes 1. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the salt and cold water until the salt is dissolved.

Pumpkin pie lovers be warned: You may not find your favorite can of pie filling at the supermarket. There's a national shortage of canned pumpkin and pie filling, a result of poor weather that reduced last year's crop. Shoppers report finding bare shelves, and the supermarkets say they have been put on an "allocation," or quota, system by Libby's, a division of food giant Nestle that controls more than 80% of the canned pumpkin market. Libby's typically uses surpluses from the previous year to stock store shelves during September and October, when the annual pumpkin harvest gets underway.

Thanksgiving may be over, but if you are still craving pumpkin pie, here are some restaurants where you can get an unusually luscious, spicy slice. Be brave and top it with a big dollop of real whipped cream. BELISLES (12001 Harbor Blvd., Garden Grove, (714) 750-6560). For nearly 30 years, Belisles has been serving Midwestern farm cooking.

  Total time: 2½ hours, plus chilling and cooling times Servings: 8 Note: Adapted from Quinn and Karen Hatfield. Pie dough 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup plus 3½ tablespoons water 2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (12 ounces) flour 3/4 cup (1½ sticks) plus 3 tablespoons cold butter, cut into ½-inch cubes 1 tablespoon (½ ounce) cold lard or shortening, cut into ½-inch cubes 1. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the salt and cold water until the salt is dissolved.

WASHINGTON - Hungry for a break from today's economic indigestion? You'll be able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner without paying too much more, according to an American Farm Bureau Federation price survey. The average cost of the traditional dinner for 10 will be $49.48 this year, up 28 cents from last year, the trade group said Thursday.  That's far more appetizing than the $5.73 price increase last year compared with the previous year. A 16-pound turkey gobbled up the biggest price increase -- $22.23, up about 4 cents per pound or 66 cents for the bird.

Thanksgiving is simply not complete without pumpkin pie. And while you can find all kinds of variations that take the basic pie in different directions, there is still no beating the original, as created in this recipe by former Times writer Donna Deane and demonstrated in the video above by Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter. You can find the recipe below. Classic pumpkin pie is one of the favorite holiday recipes we've collected in our "Los Angeles Times Holiday Handbook. " The book shares more than 110 seasonal recipes to help you celebrate Thanksgiving, Hanukkah , Christmas and New Year's.

Between the turkey, the sweet potatoes, the cranberries and the pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving dinner will cost consumers more this year - but not by much. Households will shell out, on average, $49.48 for a party of 10, or 28 cents more than last year. That's less than a 1% increase and still less than $5 a person, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation . Consider last Thanksgiving, when the cost of dinner soared 13% in the largest hike since 1990. The price survey, which has been conducted every year since the meal cost $28.74 in 1986, has shown increases since 2008.

Pull up a chair and settle in for our 50 Shades of Food series, where we introduce you to mouthwatering, shiver-inducing, hot, sexy food porn. It's safe-for-work browsing, sure to get your heart racing and your palms a little sweaty, and the only drawback is a possible hunger pang or two after viewing. It's almost Halloween and as is customary around this time of year, pumpkin patches have sprouted up all over town: The orange orbs are spilling over in stores, and houses are proudly displaying their carved creations.

Back for a second year, the the Grand Canyon Railway is tooting its Pumpkin Patch Train, which features a jaunt from the old depot in Williams, Ariz., to a “secret patch,” where kids have 30-45 minutes to pick out their prize gourd. The train departs Saturdays and Sundays throughout October, leaving at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.  Rates are $20 for adults and $15 for children ages 2-15. There are no advance purchases. Tickets are sold at the depot on a first-come basis.  As part of the package, each child gets a pumpkin.

Can you imagine Chris Berman's Thanksgiving plate? Must look like Google Earth photos of Zurich. Over here, mountains of potatoes; over there, fast-moving rivers of gravy bordered by big zeppelins of bread. All I can say is watch your cheesehead today. Berman's got a fork. Football crazed as we all are, is it no coincidence that the centerpiece of today's feast is shaped like a down lineman in a four-point stance? Look at that giant bird, down on its haunches, awaiting the snap. The Steelers' Casey "Big Snack" Hampton comes to mind, and certainly the Packers' B.J. "The Freezer" Raji.

For me, Thanksgiving is inevitably too much, too rich, too frenzied. Even when there were only four of us, my mother used to get up at 5:30 on Thanksgiving morning to start cooking, huffing and puffing all the way, 'til my father revved up his electric carving knife and dinner was served. We ate quickly, and just when I thought we could maybe relax and digest, maybe take a snooze, she'd clap her hands and command: Dishes! That's maybe why as an adult I rebelled against the holiday, sometimes opting out entirely and staying in to read.