Our 33 Best Thanksgiving Desserts
Our tasty treats with fall flavors include apple ice cream sandwiches, boozy pecan pie, pear tarte tatin, and many more holiday desserts.
Tarts and Thanksgiving pies may be the tradition that overtakes the dessert table this holiday, but don't forget to make room for cakes, puddings, and ice cream sandwiches for a well-rounded spread. Showcase seasonal flavors like pumpkins, apples, pears, cranberries, and figs, and streamline prep with make-ahead desserts. Here are Food & Wine's best Thanksgiving desserts to serve a sweet finish to your holiday meal.
Chocolate and Fig Cake
If figs are a holiday favorite in your house, this cake is perfect for the holiday. It accommodates as much as 12 ounces of fresh fruit alongside plenty of rich, bittersweet chocolate.
Tarte Tatin
Morgan Hunt Glaze / Food Styling by Emily Nabors Hall / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle
Tarte Tatin is a French dessert for which apples are caramelized in a skillet with butter and sugar, then topped with a round of pastry dough and baked. This recipe from Benoît Guichard placed first in the pastry category at the Meilleur Ouvrier de France.
Honey-Pear Sweet Cream Galette
A mix of alternative flours — here, two kinds of rice flour and arrowroot — delivers a gluten-free crust that is flaky, buttery, and crisp. The floral sweetness from the honey and pears is nicely balanced by tangy cream cheese. Be sure to let the baked galette rest at least 30 minutes to give the filling time to firm up for easier slicing.
Sweet Potato Pie with Honeycrisp-Kabocha Salad
With more eggs than a traditional pumpkin pie, this version is much richer. It's a magnificent match for the optional licorice ice cream accompaniment but is delicious served simply with the honeyed apple-squash salad.
Purple Sweet Potato Pie with Coconut and Five-Spice
Add some color to your Thanksgiving dessert table by swapping regular sweet potato pie with this gorgeous purple one.
Apple Upside-Down Cake
Cara Cormack
Tender, brown sugar-kissed fruit bakes into a buttery, vanilla-scented upside-down apple cake, creating a classic dessert that takes 20 minutes of active time.
Pumpkin Spice Conchas
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Thom Driver
Pumpkin Spice ConchasIn chef Ellen Ramos’ festive recipe, a light and fluffy traditional Mexican concha is blanketed with a crunchy, pumpkin-spiced, seashell-shaped sugar crust.
Blue Corn, Cherry, and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cookies may get all the attention around Christmas, but you can turn classic chocolate chip cookies into an easy Thanksgiving-appropriate dessert with these cookies. Featuring a soft interior that has a hint of almond flavor, these fresh cherry–studded cookies are not only colorful but also incredibly delicious.
Boozy Bourbon-Pecan Tassies
"These diminutive pecan pie poppers, with a higher crust-to-filling ratio, offer the perfect bite," says cookbook author Andrea Slonecker. "I spike them with bourbon to both cut through and complement the sweetness. And you (yes, you) can get this cream cheese crust right 100% of the time. The dough is forgiving as can be, no rolling pin needed."
Cranberry Crumble Pie
Give your favorite side dish the dessert table treatment. Cranberry sauce fans will love this jammy fruit pie with the addition of warm holiday spices and a buttery crumble topping.
Sweet Potato Honey Beer Pie
The different components of this pie can be prepared on different days. Here's a suggested order of steps you might find useful, especially if you make it for Thanksgiving. Day 1: Roast sweet potatoes, reduce the beer, and prepare the pie crust, but don't blind bake (partially bake). Day 2: Blind bake the pie crust, prepare the sweet potato custard, and bake the pie. Of course, you can also do this all in one day.
Apple Cheddar Rye Pie
Instead of a slice of cheese on top, this apple pie puts cheddar in the crust to provide a bit of tanginess that's balanced out by the addition of nutty rye flour.
Almond-Cardamom Budapest Roll
Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Thom Driver
Almond-Cardamom Budapest RollThis decadent roll cake pairs an almond flour meringue base with sweetened whipped cream and orange segments. The best part of Ann Taylor Pittman’s melt-in-your-mouth rolled meringue cake is that its beauty belies its easy preparation.
Roasted Spiced Cranberry Pie
Give your holiday cranberry sauce a boost. Tart cranberries are roasted with lemongrass and gochugaru (Korean chile flakes) to give this vibrant pie its fruity and fragrant kick.
Peanut Butter–Chocolate Pie
Combine a smooth, nutty peanut butter filling, glistening ganache, and salty roasted peanuts to evoke all the sweetness of a childhood memory in an elegant, nuanced dessert that adults will want to savor.
Maple-Meringue Doughnuts
Use an intense, robust, high-quality maple syrup to ensure lots of maple flavor for these doughnuts with a meringue filling that's marshmallowy in texture.
Fig Gelato
Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Jillian Knox
Dried figs give this rich and creamy gelato from author Katie Quinn a deep, caramelized flavor and subtle sweetness while light brown sugar provides a deeper, more molasses-forward intensity.
Monkey Bread with Honey-Bourbon Sauce
Smother monkey bread with honey-laced brown butter before baking and then serve the pull-apart bread with a cream cheese–based dipping sauce that’s spiked with bourbon.
Pumpkin Layer Cake with Mascarpone Frosting
Ditch the pumpkin pie and try out this moist, delicately spiced pumpkin layer cake, which trades plain old vanilla buttercream for a tangy mascarpone frosting.
Apple Pie à la Mode Ice Cream Sandwiches
Get all the flavors of apple pie in an innovative, fun-to-eat ice cream sandwich, made with apple pie-spiced vanilla ice cream and snickerdoodle cookies.
Pecan Pie with Candied Ginger and Rum
For a wonderful contrast to the sweetness of her pecan pie, master baker Alice Medrich adds minced candied ginger and a splash of rum to the filling.
Lemon-Cranberry Pie Bars
A beautiful alternative to the classic Thanksgiving pie, this sweet and tangy bar has a simple press-in crust and a lemon curd filling swirled with cranberry puree. elegantly topped with a light dusting of powdered sugar.
Classic Pumpkin Pie
To create a crisp crust on the bottom, we partially bake the pie shell before adding the filling. If the edge starts to darken too much, cover it with a pie shield or strips of foil.
Pear Tarte Tatin with Red Wine Caramel
Instead of apple pie, chef Shawn McClain ends his Thanksgivings with this stunning tarte tatin. The recipe calls for store-bought puff pastry, so it's quite easy to prepare.
Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie
Since it's technically a custard, a smooth and creamy consistency is the goal, and processing the pumpkin helps break up any fibers for a smoother filling. The addition of browned butter gives the pumpkin a subtle butterscotch flavor.
Vanilla Ice Cream Bread Pudding with Whiskey Caramel
This genius bread pudding from ice cream maven Jeni Britton is made with store-bought brioche and melted vanilla ice cream, eliminating the need to make a custard. The simple whiskey-tinged caramel sauce comes together with just four ingredients.
Apple-Pomegranate Cobbler
This juicy and bright apple cobbler — made from Granny Smith apples and pomegranate juice — is just the right amount of sweet, with an irresistibly tender and crunchy crust on top. Serve sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and topped with vanilla ice cream.
Dutch Apple Pie
To vary the flavors and textures in this iconic dessert, be sure to use a blend of different apples, such as Granny Smith, Pink Lady, and Golden Delicious.
Pear and Cranberry Slab Pie
Instead of making a traditional two-crust pie in a pie plate, Food & Wine culinary director at large Justin Chapple makes this free-form, fruit-filled, ginger-laced pie on a baking sheet.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Caramel Swirl
Food & Wine culinary director at large Justin Chapple tops these chocolate-crusted bars with a homemade caramel that sinks into the pumpkin cheesecake batter during baking.
Apple Cake with Toffee Crust
This mouthwatering dessert has all the makings of autumnal holiday indulgence: an ultra-moist apple cake with a buttery toffee glaze, brandy-tinged toffee sauce, caramelized apples, and vanilla ice cream.
Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Brownie Crust
This eye-catching dessert combines creamy, chocolate-swirled pumpkin cheesecake with a chewy, nutty brownie. It can be easily made and refrigerated up to four days in advance, if you're able to refrain from cutting into it sooner.
Chocolate Panna Cotta with Spiced Pepita Brittle
Silky chocolate panna cotta brings the richness of cold-weather favorite hot cocoa while the caramelized and spiced pumpkin seed brittle ties this dish in with the fall harvest. Both the panna cotta and the brittle can be made several days in advance.
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