Top off your feast with one of our favorite pies, cakes, crisps, tarts, and cheesecakes.
I’ve had alcohol-free Thanksgivings before. That’s no big deal; I don’t think the Pilgrims had much wine at their feast, either. I’ve skipped the cranberry sauce (no one cared) and even had Thanksgiving without turkey—more than once, in fact. Once it was a vegetarian affair, with stuffed squash in place of the bird, and once it was just my wife and I at dinner so we had Cornish game hens, to minimize waste. (Yes, leftovers are normally one of the best parts of Thanksgiving, but we were traveling and wouldn’t have been able to make one of my famous hot turkey and sweet potato sandwiches anyway.)
But Thanksgiving without pie? Now that’s unthinkable. (For one thing, what would you eat for breakfast the next morning?) Luckily, we’ve got a trove of pie recipes that we’ve collected over the years. The classics are all there, like a straight-ahead pumpkin (well, actually it’s a tart), as well as good old apple (with a little bit of quince).
Then there are variations on tried and true themes, like our pumpkin ice cream pie, and apple-cranberry mince tartlets. Recipes like these offer familiar holiday flavor profiles with a slightly modern twist. Some are a little more out-there (hello, deconstructed pie buffet), and some, candidly, aren’t pie at all. The crisps and cakes we’ve rounded up along with the pies and tarts offer much of the sweet, rich goodness you’re used to ending your Thanksgiving meal with, but also represent a little something different, just to make this year a little more memorable.
Portland pasty chef Michelle Vernier cooks the fruit ahead so the pie won’t collapse in the oven.
Recipe: Lattice-Top Apple Quince Pie
This incredible fall pumpkin recipe is pumpkin pie meets crème brûlee, and worthy of your next dinner party.
Recipe: Pumpkin Brûlee Tart
Making this crowd-pleaser couldn’t be easier—just stir together seasoned pumpkin pie filling and ice cream and spoon into a gingersnap crumb crust.
Recipe: Pumpkin Ice Cream Gingersnap Pie
Zoe Nathan of Santa Monica’s Huckleberry Bakery tops her pies with a variety of cutout shapes.
Ice cream pies make ideal desserts for big holiday dinners, because you can make them days in advance and just haul them out of the freezer right before serving. Plus, they’re easy to make.
We swapped in shredded squash for the usual carrots and amped up the cake with coconut, bourbon, an intriguing mix of spices, and plenty of cream cheese frosting.
Recipe: Butternut Squash Spice Cake
Basically an open-face pie, this is a great dessert for pie-phobes to make because the crust is so easy to handle.
Recipe: Apple Pumpkin Galette
As one reviewer noted, these mini cakes are easy to make, with a nice fine texture and good buttery flavor. And the vanilla bean icing is just right to offset the cranberry filling.
Recipe: Cranberry-Vanilla Mini Bundts
Let Fuyu persimmons (the flat-bottom variety) ripen until they’re deep orange and sweet, then set them off simply in a buttery crust with a big dollop of rich mascarpone cheese.
To create this tablescape, arrange seasonal fruits and leaves along the center of your dining table. Then, when it’s time for dessert, bring out bowls, spoons, and paring knives; whipped cream; and dishes of candied nuts and pie-crust cookies (using our recipes or store-bought nuts and butter cookies). Your guests choose from it all to put together their own pie in a bowl.
Set a few bottles of liqueur on the table for those who’d like to spike their dessert. We like Grand Marnier; cherry liqueur (such as Clear Creek Distillery); and Allspice Dram, a rum-based liqueur that tastes like concentrate of pie.
Recipe: Deconstructed Pie
Embellish a classic pumpkin pie with a streusel topping, then overlap pastry leaves around the edge and set a few on top for a festive presentation.
Recipe: Pumpkin Streusel Pie
Feel free to swap in other squash in pastry chef Michelle McKenzie’s recipe: Sugar Pie comes out sweeter, and canned pumpkin is mellow-tasting, if less distinctive. Shauna Sever, an 18 Reasons instructor, suggested the spicy gingersnap layer. You’ll need a 9-in. deep-dish pie pan.
Recipe: Kabocha Squash Crème Fraîche Pie
This irresistible pumpkin recipe features layers of pumpkin and vanilla ice cream inside a graham cracker crust, with gooey caramel on top.
Recipe: Pumpkin Caramel Ice Cream Pie
These delicate, flaky bites crumble easily over fruit. You’ll need leaf-shaped cookie cutters (we used a 3-in. size).
Recipe: Pie-Crust Leaf Cookies
These little bites taste like mincemeat pie and are good with fruit (or just on their own).
Recipe: Pie-Crust Currant Cookies
We adapted this recipe from Devil’s Teeth Baking Company to create a border that shows off the bright filling. To completely cover the pie, just double the topping.
Recipe: Sweet-Potato Pecan Pie
This torte celebrates the hazelnut crop on the Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery farm in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and the malted cream gives a nod to the brewery.
Recipe: Toasted Hazelnut and Honey Torte and Malted Whipped Cream
Ice cream pies make ideal desserts for big holiday dinners, because you can make them days in advance and just haul them out of the freezer right before serving. Plus, they’re easy to make. This nutty, chocolate confection is a surefire crowd-pleaser.
For depth of flavor, Portland pastry chef Kir Jensen roasts the pecans and hazelnuts before adding them to the filling. She likes to roll her cornmeal pastry extra thick, so it’s more substantial.
Recipe: Hazelnut, Pecan, and Bourbon Pie
To give the nuts their glistening coating, we use powdered sugar rather than granulated. If you’re using a combination of nuts, it’s easier to mix them with the sugar syrup one type at a time; they’ll be coated more evenly.
Recipe: Shiny Candied Nuts
Tangy goat cheese in the frosting and a hint of cocoa and pepper in the cake add a depth and sophistication to this carrot cake.
Rustic and not too sweet, this open-face pie, or crostata, is made for a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Recipe: Cranberry Frangipane Crostata
Imagine a slightly gooey but intensely nutty filling over a rich cookie base, and you’ll understand why these cookies get rave reviews. For easiest cutting, line the pan with buttered foil, and as soon as the baked cookies are cool, cut them into pieces with a sturdy knife (don’t wait until the next day).
Recipe: Hazelnut Shortbread Bars
This prize-winning cheesecake from a Sunset reader is one of our absolute favorites. Creamy and moist, with just the right amount of sweetness, this dessert will wow your guests.
This showstopper pumpkin recipe is full of our favorite things, including buttery pecans, a caramely topping, and pumpkin cake. They’re all layered with billowy whipped cream.
Recipe: Praline Pumpkin Torte
The canned pumpkin in the batter keeps these cupcakes moist, reducing the amount of oil you need to use.
Recipe: Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes
Poach pears in a syrup made with white wine, vanilla bean, and cinnamon; then serve them with dollops of creamy mascarpone cheese and a sprinkle of crunchy pumpkin seeds.
Studded with tart cranberries and sweet currants, laced with brandy and finished with a buttery, crisp topping, this dressed up apple pie is a Sunset favorite.
Caramel-coated walnuts and cranberries top this tender, easy to make, cake.
We gave flan an autumnal flair with citrus, spice, and homemade pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin works great here too).
Recipe: Caramelized Orange Pumpkin Flan
Fresh pears and purchased puff pastry add up to an incredibly easy seasonal dessert.
Brown sugar glazed pears top moist ginger cake in this fall-inspired twist on the classic pineapple upside-down cake.
Recipe: Pear and Ginger Upside-Down Cake
Glistening, glazed cranberries shine like jewels atop a luxuriously creamy cheesecake.
Recipe: Cranberry Crown Cheesecake
This creamy cheesecake has a glistening topping of caramelized, candy-like orange slices.
Recipe: Orange Ribbon Cheesecake
Juicy pears take the place of apples in this twist on the apple cranberry crisp. Bake them in individual dishes for an especially pretty presentation.
Recipe: Pear Cranberry Crisps
These pretty tartlets make for a special individual holiday dessert. We love them with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream.
Recipe: Apple-Cranberry Mince Tartlets
This tart is so easy to tote, and everyone loves its supremely buttery crust packed with crunchy nuts and soft, tangy apricots.
Recipe: Apricot Nut Tart
Not everyone loves pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, so try serving this gorgeous and decadent chocolate raspberry trifle in addition to the classic pie.
Tart Granny Smith apples, plenty of dried fruit and spices, citrus, and rum go into this richly flavored (and vegetarian) version of mincemeat pie.
Recipe: Apple and Dried-Fruit Spice Pie
Jazz up the traditional Thanksgiving dessert with mascarpone, a hint of orange flavor, and a gingersnap crust.
Recipe: Pumpkin-Orange Mascarpone Pie
A concentrated wine and spice syrup gives this dessert exceptional flavor.
Recipe: Black Mission Fig Tart
The rich sour cream-pound cake texture and bright citrus and cranberry flavors guarantee this bread will disappear in a flash.
To ensure a crisp topping and add depth of flavor to the fruit, bake the streusel topping on its own and simmer the pears with marsala wine and ginger. Then layer pears and topping in a dish and bake briefly.
To create this deluxe but easy dessert, flavor whipping cream with brown sugar, pumpkin, and spices and freeze in an ice cream maker. Then fold in bourbon and crushed gingersnaps and freeze until firm.
Recipe: Pumpkin Gingersnap Ice Cream
As the layers of chocolate graham crackers and pumpkin- and spice-flavored cream cheese chill overnight, the flavors meld and the crackers soften to create this super-easy cake. A dusting of cocoa over leaf stencils give it a fancy look, but you can omit the stencils if you’re in a hurry.
If you’re looking for dessert for a crowd, this moist, handsome cake serves 12 to 16, and it keeps well made a day ahead.
Recipe: Chocolate-Pumpkin Marble Cake
These pears are so beautiful you won’t believe they take only 30 minutes to make.
Recipe: Red Wine Poached Pears
A bowl of this refreshing sorbet won’t weigh you down after a big meal; then again, it might be the perfect partner for cookies or a slice of pie.
Recipe: Green Apple Sorbet
If you love the old-fashioned flavor of apple crisp but want a more company-worthy look, try hollowing out the fruit and packing the buttery brown sugar streusel inside.
Recipe: Apple-Crisp Baked Apples
For a fissure-free cheesecake, beat your filling just until it’s blended–no more. (Too much air in the mixture will make it pouf up, and then deflate, in the oven.)
Homey and very moist, a cream torte is like a cross between a cake, a custard, and a dutch baby. To keep the batter from leaking out of the springform pan, be sure the pan bottom and rim fit together tightly; or line the pan with foil before buttering and flouring it.