Thanksgiving sweets ( a wee bit late)

Can you believe Thanksgiving was 2 weeks ago?  I can't.  And I'm sorry to say that I've been meaning to show you some of the yummy treats we had at our family get-together, and I'm just now getting around to it.  Well, my intentions were good at least!

First up is a Thanksgiving tradition with me: pumpkin cheesecake.  It's so, so yummy!  This year, I decided to go all crazy and make graham crackers from scratch, which I used for the crust.  It was a lot of work and a lot of dirty dishes, but so worth it.  The cheesecake recipe is from The New Best Recipe and the graham cracker recipe was from The Craft of Baking.

DH's niece made the cutest spice cake cupcakes that looked like fancy pumpkins.  She has a real talent with cupcakes - look at how picture-perfect these are:

My SIL and her husband made a from-scratch pecan pie.  I've made pecan pie only once in my life, and it was terrible.  I'm not sure if it was my doing (I vaguely remember something about over cooking it) or the recipe (it was pecan pie with chocolate, a rather unusual combination).  Regardless, theirs turned out much better than my first attempt did.  I must get their recipe and give pecan pie another chance!

After the Thanksgiving meal, we all lingered at the table, where the desserts were conveniently placed.  So, I know all these desserts very well because we all just talked and munched on them for hours after the main meal.

I'm thinking we should do this sort of thing all the time!

-Cheryl