My love of cooking started at a very young age. My mother loved to be in the kitchen and was a fabulous cook. She taught me her “tricks of the trade” and to this day I still call her frequently and ask for her advice.

I was thinking about this as I drove to pick our daughter up from a sleepover at grandma and grandpa’s house last night. As I walked in the door, those wonderful aromas that I so vividly remember growing up surrounded me. My mom was pouring out peanut brittle and banana bread was in the oven baking. Mom is still having fun in the kitchen. Now I don’t want to make mom angry at me by sharing her exact age, but I will give you a hint. We celebrated her 80th birthday several years ago. What a blessing that she is still cooking, (when she is not at dances with my dad or playing cards with their friends!)  I hope I am still having as much fun in the kitchen at 80+ as my mom is now.

Thinking about my mom and going through her recipes for our upcoming Thanksgiving feast inspired me to adapt one of her favorite recipes to the Babycakes Cupcake Maker.
My mom’s recipe is for a 9-inch pie, so I just made 1/4 of the recipe and created 8 rich, moist bourbon infused pecan pies. No one will ever out bake my mom when it comes to pies, but this recipe comes very close.

May each of you enjoy this special season with those you love. Kathy and I want to wish all of our friends and family a Happy Thanksgiving. And to our new blogging friends, thank you so much for all your kindness, support and comments. We are in awe everyday and ever so thankful for each one of you.