What Idiot Said Pie is Easy?

I decided to do something a little different this Thanksgiving.  I promised my sister a pumpkin pie, but I had never tried the recipe before, so I wanted to make a small one first, to make sure I liked it.  That led me down the slippery slope, and within a few days, I had made eight different varieties of pie!  (I also used the leftover meringue to make meringue cookies, but not until after Thanksgiving, so I didn't share.)  I used a muffin tin as my baking pan, so was able to make a dozen pies per batch.   The top crusts and/or garnish were made using cookie stamps.   Recipes are as follows (although I will admit that I used commercial pie crusts (Pillsbury) on all of them, except for the lemon meringue):

Apple Pie (and variation:  Dutch Apple Pie)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/apple-pie-recipe/index.html

(To make it Dutch Apple, just replace top crust with a mix of 1/2 c. flour, 1/2 c. brown sugar, and 2 T. cold butter.  Put all three ingredients in a bowl and smash it up until it resembles coarse crumbs, then sprinkle on pie.)

Peach Pie (and variation:  Peach Crumble)

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/peach-pie

(To make Peach Crumble, follow same directions as for Dutch Apple)

Cherry Pie (which you could also make into Cherry Crumble, although I did not)

http://www.oregonfruit.com/of.pl?pg=rp&rcp=Cherry%20Pie

Pumpkin Pie

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/smooth-and-spicy-pumpkin-pie-recipe

Lemon Meringue Pie

http://www.food.com/recipe/the-ultimate-lemon-meringue-pie-63712

Pecan Pie

I actually have my own old recipe for this one:

9" pastry for pie
3/4 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 c. light corn syrup
6 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 T. unsulfured molasses
1 t. vanilla extract
2 c. coarsely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 400F

Cut pastry into 4"diameter circles.  Place pastry circles in greased muffin tin.

(At this point, if you want black-bottom pecan pie, add some semi-sweet chocolate ships to line the bottom of each mini-pie.)

Whisk together everything else except pecans, until well-blended.  Stir in pecans.

Scoop filling into pie shells.  Bake until filling is deep golden brown and set.  (It took approximately 40 minutes in my oven.  If you think the crust is getting too brown, but the filling is not set, place a parchment sheet or foil over muffin pan.