A big, luscious slice of pie is a special treat at any time of the year, but the holiday season – from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day – is when this dessert becomes a requirement.

Yet holiday pies, particularly pumpkin pie and mincemeat pie, are potential minefields for the home baker.

Pies can be seasonal in nature. It’s impossible to imagine a pumpkin pie gracing a Fourth of July beach picnic. And there are mysteries to these pies.

One rule: It’s impossible to make a good pumpkin pie out of a pumpkin salvaged from a Halloween jack-o’-lantern.

And is there really meat in a mincemeat pie?

These questions are critical, especially for newbie bakers who are eager to impress an audience and flirting with public calamity.

Clearly, experts are needed here, and the good people at the Olympia Pie Bakers Guild dusted the flour off their hands and stepped in to defuse any possible holiday disasters.

Guild members Mary Beth Ricks, Amy Pavletich and Helen Kramer recently gathered in Kramer’s comfortable, roomy kitchen to talk holiday pie over cups of tea – and slices of pie.

The pumpkin pie mystery was first on the agenda. Ricks, a former professional baker, and Kramer agreed that a jack-o’-lantern pumpkin is not good raw material for a homemade pie.

“A jack-o’-lantern pumpkin has too much water, and it comes out watery,” Ricks said.

“Yes, you need a sugar pumpkin,” Kramer said. “But a sugar pumpkin pie comes out much lighter in color than a pie made with canned pumpkin.”

Kramer said a good, homemade pumpkin pie made with sugar pumpkin was almost completely rejected at one holiday party in her past, as almost everyone thought the pie was an icky yellow.

A short silence reigned as the pie bakers thought about this pie catastrophe.

Pavletich slid the cover off a pie and seized the moment.

“I make a butternut squash pie instead,” Pavletich said as she revealed a gorgeous, golden-brown pie. “You can always make a pumpkin pie out of canned pumpkins, but I like this pie.”

Pavletich,a baker since her Hoquiam childhood and one of the stars of the Olympia Pie Bakers Guild, said the best pumpkin pie isn’t made of pumpkins at all.

Everyone dug into the pie – more silence – and then the cheers began.

So what about mincemeat? Is it really a meat pie? The pie bakers agreed that a mincemeat pie historically featured meat and suet, but not that often these days.

“A friend of mine makes mincemeat pie, and she always puts meat in it,” Kramer said.

Mincemeat pie – seen usually at Christmas and sometimes at Thanksgiving – can have meat or no meat, Ricks said.

“But all mince pies seem to have some combination of spices, apples or pears – and raisins,” Ricks said.

Reader shout-out

Have a recipe for holiday pie you’d like to share with other readers? E-mail it to sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com or snail mail to The News Tribune, Sue Kidd, food editor, 1950 S. State St., Tacoma, WA 98405. Submissions may be published in any form. Join the guild

The Olympia Pie Bakers Guild’s next meeting is from 1 to 3 p.m. Nov. 7 at Olympia Timberland Regional Library, 318 Eighth Ave. S.E., Olympia. Guild members will discuss their yearly pie-baking contest, which raises money for the Thurston County Food Bank and the Senior Nutrition Program.

Pie contest

The pie contest – which featured more than 100 pies last year – is scheduled for Feb. 20 at the Olympia Center, 222 Columbia St. N.W. For information on the Olympia Pie Bakers Guild, go to www.olypie.com. Roasted Butternut Squash Pie

1 small butternut squash

1 tablespoon oil

12 ounces evaporated milk

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Peel and cube the butternut squash and mix in the tablespoon of oil.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and roast the squash cubes for 45 minutes.

Put the reminder of the ingredients into a mixing bowl, add the roasted squash and then puree.

Pour the mixture into a 9-inch pie crust and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350-degrees and bake for an additional 25 minutes, until it is set and a golden-brown color.

Source: Amy Pavletich

Mincemeat Pie

7 pounds Bartlett pears

1 lemon

2 pounds raisins

63/4 cups sugar

1 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon cloves

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon allspice

1 teaspoon ginger

Chop the pears. Cut the lemon in quarters and remove the seeds. Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 40 minutes. This fruit mince can be canned – or placed in a pie crust and baked for 15 minutes or so.

Source: Ricks uses this recipe from her treasured, vintage copy of the “Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook.”

Pie Crust

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup - plus two tablespoons - of butter-flavored shortening

cup cold water

Combine flour and salt.

Cut in shortening with a pastry blender.

Drizzle cold water over flour mixture and stir until it forms into a ball.

Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

This recipe will create enough crust for two 9-inch pies.

Source: Amy Pavletich