Move over cakes, cookies, cupcakes, and candy-it's time for pie. Yes, nothing says dessert in this season more than a pie. Thanksgiving is the time when pies take center stage-pumpkin, sweet potato, pecan, mincemeat, apple or any other seasonal-harvested fruit. Add a lattice or crumb top, ice cream or whipped cream, and you have the perfect finale for a feast.

Thankfully, I am a pie baker and my mother was a pie baker extraordinaire. Although she could turn out a fantastic chocolate fudge cake and 20+ varieties of Christmas cookies with recipes originating from Germany and Sweden, she was really known for her pies. Her trick was making pie crusts in quantity and freezing them. She thought freezing made pie shells flakier, and they always were. Her cold, fresh strawberry and lemon meringue pies were to die for.

I have used my pie baking skills to contribute sweet endings to pitch-ins, comfort grieving families, grace neighborhood gatherings, and crown many a Thanksgiving meal. Pies are not only central to my family life but also hold a key place in our culture. The three little kittens, Georgy Porgy, Simple Simon, and 4 and 20 blackbirds are a few of the nursery rhymes that introduced me and a trove of other children to the delights of pie.

Be they sweet or savory meat pies, these special concoctions can bring smiles at any table. Think about the scrumptious variety: apple, blueberry, cranberry, cherry, strawberry, peach, boysenberry, raspberry, gooseberry, rhubarb, pecan, pumpkin, sugar cream, custard, lemon meringue, banana cream, key lime, French silk, chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, mincemeat, rum raisin; quiche, chicken pot pie, turkey and beef too. Doesn't the array just make your mouth water? Each one's a winner!

I have streamlined my pie baking. My simplifying shortcut (don't tell anyone) is Pillsbury pie crust. Having listened to my sister's unending search for the best pie crust recipe (she has experimented with scores, always seeking one that's better and easier), I decided to go for convenience. My timesaver also yields consistently good results. For apple pies, I prefer to use at least three varieties of apples, sometimes adding cranberries, nuts, or raisins. My mother's other tip: serve a pie within four hours so the crust doesn't get soggy. She never baked a pie the day before.

Did you know there is an American Pie Council? You can check it out online. The Council has competitions and recipes. The 2012 champion was a Strawberry Kiwi Green Tea Pie. National Pie Day occurs each January 23, not to be confused with Pi Day that happens to be March 14. Our Indiana State Fair also invites contestants to show their pie talents and creativity. Winning the blue ribbon is truly a mark of accomplishment. I was thrilled when a friend won a ribbon for a Green Tomato Pie. That year my entry was a Carmel Apple Pie.

Through the years, pie has become "the most traditional American dessert." It is so much a part of our country's culture that we commonly use the expression "as American as apple pie." Pie is one of the most comforting symbols of thanks, so baking one or two or even three could make this Thanksgiving memorable. Seize the moment before it's time to begin baking those Christmas cookies. Bake a pie!