Thanksgiving is coming up in a few weeks and I was planning out what I could bring out of town to contribute to our family feast. My go to is always cake pops, cookies with edible images and custom cakes. With all the baking I have been doing for others right now, the thought of adding more to my plate was exhausting. I want something easy to make and easy to travel with. I want a Thanksgiving staple, not just a extra dessert. So, a pumpkin pie seemed easy to make (or pick up frozen) and bring it down. Now, my brain doesn't really work like that. A normal pumpkin pie couldn't be what I brought.... maybe I could come up with a cool recipe... a neat display..... turn it into a turkey.... and finally it hit me, place an edible image on top and call it a day!
I had already designed some personalization edible images that are created with the latest typography word art style and thought I could start there and see if a pumpkin pie could handle an edible image. Most things can.... whipped cream, ice cream, frosting, syrup and even biscuits. So, for my trial run I ran to the store and bought a frozen pumpkin pie. I then took my 2" Cookie Design and resized it to 7.5" Round, printed it out and placed it in a zip-lock bag until my pie was ready for it's trial run.

Baking was easy, one hour per the instructions on the box and it as done. I took it out, let it cool down for about 20 minutes and was ready to give it a try. My impatience kicked in and since it was still hot to the touch, I knew I would have to forgo the whipped topping layer. The reason for my impatience....  I teach at the local Michael's and didn't have time to wait for it too cool down.

I washed and dried my hands thoroughly as the worse thing that can happen to an edible image is water to cause the image to bleed. I took the edible image out of the zip-lock bag and peeled it off the backing sheet. Then, I placed it right on top of the pie and used my clean, dry hand to lightly smooth it onto the top.

I took these photos right when the pie was still really hot. I didn't add any thing to the back of the frosting sheet. The heat from the pie really helped adhere it to the pie so I was satisfied with my choice to skip the whip cream. Even though it turned out good, next time I would wait for it to fully cool and then either put a big layer of whipped cream or brush the pie with some whipped cream or just wet it a little bit with a mister/pastry brush with water. Though the image will hold and stay for days, be careful with condensation from the refrigerator or just the heat from the pie (which I why I suggest to cool it).

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for taking a minute to learn more about personalized pumpkin pies!