Chocolate Pecan Chess Pie {Small Batch Thanksgiving}

Gooey chocolate and chopped pecans in a small serving size pie crust for a dessert that's just enough when you are fewer around the table.

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For the past few weeks I've been sharing recipes and tips for when you are fewer in number around the table. My Small Batch Thanksgiving series includes a couple of side dishes (Dairy Free Corn Pudding Casserole and Small Batch Sweet Potato Casserole) as well as a list of tips to help you have a successful small holiday meal without resorting to a bunch of frozen single serving side dish bags. [Though if you'd like to have a bunch of frozen single serving side dish bags as your main event I won't knock it. You do you--but save room for dessert!]

To round out my Small Batch Thanksgiving series, I'm ending--as all good meals should end--with dessert. This Small Batch Chocolate Pecan Chess Pie was inspired by Laura of Mother Would Know, coupled with a dash of All Recipes thrown in for good measure. I knew I wanted pie--and Laura's chess pie looked so luscious--but I wanted to use the small graham cracker crust and cocoa powder I had in the pantry so a little bit of creative number crunching and recipe adapting took place. Necessity is the mother of invention after all.

Tips for a Small Batch Thanksgiving

Practical ideas for cutting back, paring down, simplifying and enjoying the holiday more when you have fewer people at the Thanksgiving table.

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One of the most relaxing Thanksgivings I have had was a deliberately low key affair. Because it was my house/my kitchen/my table, we did have 2 kinds of locally sourced vegetable sides from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share as well as stuffing and mashed potatoes and warm rolls and turkey and gravy and pie.  But not too much . . . .

It's adorable how the dogs get in line when we're serving in the kitchen.

Last year we were 3 at the Thanksgiving table. By choice. My spouse was deployed, and while we've often shared others' tables during previous deployments, I just didn't have it in me again. I wanted to relax, chill out, spend the day in my jammies, watch my friends in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and just not fuss with being at a certain place or eating at a certain time.  I felt selfish and indulgent and I went with those feelings because, when he's on his 5th deployment, I've kinda earned the right to say 'nah, thanks but no thanks, we're good staying home'. I don't need to pretend.

That's not to say I'm not grateful for the offers of well-meaning friends and family. I appreciate the love and support that surrounds us each time he's gone.  Each place we live manages to surpass my expectations of what 'support our troops' means to the families back home. As an aside, I'll offer a couple of tips if you've got a friend or neighbor who's dealing with a deployment: don't wait for her/him to ask for help. Offer concrete suggestions for ways you're comfortable lending a hand. From shoveling snow, raking leaves, mowing grass, edging the sidewalk, picking up a gallon of milk or some children's cold medicine while you're out running errands, taking and sharing your photos or recordings of the school play--there's something you can do to lighten the load of the family left behind that they'd appreciate but won't ask you to do. Show up. Offer. And if your offer is declined--offer again at another time. I'd imagine these tips would work for chronic illness or other long term situation where folks need kindness.

Small Batch Sweet Potato Casserole (Small Batch Thanksgiving)

Topped with crunchy pecans and mini marshmallows, this lightened up small batch sweet potato casserole makes a tasty side dish for a small Thanksgiving gathering.

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Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmers over the years have some things in common. One is growing amazing sweet potatoes. It seems every year the size, shape, and sheer number of sweet potatoes in the farm share box increases. No complaints here--just compliments! We went from a family who would occasionally eat sweet potatoes at Outback Steakhouse and Boston Market's Sweet Potato Casserole to a family who enjoys Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili and Roasted Sweet Potato Nachos at home.

Since Thanksgiving is all about the side dishes for me, when I planned our Small Batch Thanksgiving I knew I'd be including a version of sweet potato casserole (alongside a full size batch of MA's Make Ahead Mashed Potato Casserole because 5 pounds of mashed potatoes for 3 people sounds about right). I like the Boston Market sweet potato casserole, so I searched Copykat Recipes for a similar one. I changed up the recipe--reducing the butter and sugar, replacing the oatmeal cookie crust with just marshmallows and nuts, shrinking it to fit in a 3 cup baking dish--and made it my own. This was a keeper last year, and will return to the Thanksgiving table this year. Our sweet potatoes in the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve (which accommodates potatoes, onions, and garlic as well as winter squash) are ready to be of service.