Go Beyond Pie! NEW Thanksgiving Desserts for NEW Traditions


Hi Reader,

In a world where pie has ruled Thanksgiving dessert since the beginning of time...

One brave soul dares to suggest something different.
(That's you, by the way.)

Thanksgiving Desserts that AREN'T Pie

Traditionalists might clutch their rolling pins in horror, but this list of proven recipes are worth every "side-eye" glance.

Cranberry Apple Crostata

Cranberry apple crostata is so easy to make and so unexpectedly lovely to experience it may end up displacing the more familiar dessert offerings at your Thanksgiving table.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Cranberry-Orange Cheesecake

This cranberry-orange cheesecake from Bon Appetit is scented with vanilla and orange and topped with sweetened fresh cranberries. A perfect holiday dessert.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Pumpkin Meringue Pie Ice Cream

Pumpkin meringue pie ice cream is the ultimate mashup of pumpkin ice cream−spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and mace−creamy-dreamy meringue, and crunchy bits of Oreo-cookie crust. Think frozen pumpkin-spice latte.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

These pumpkin swirl brownies are made with cream cheese and taste as if pumpkin spice cheesecake swirl collided with chocolate fudge brownies.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake

Pure pumpkin cheesecake is exactly what you'd expect. The creaminess of cheesecake melded with all the spice of pumpkin pie spice and a gentle lilt of, natch, pumpkin. Perhaps your Thanksgiving tradition just got upturned.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Cinnamon Pear Tarts with Puff Pastry

Sweet cinnamon-sugar pears are baked atop puff pastry to make these adorable pear tarts. It's an easy, impressive fall dessert.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Spiced Cider Doughnuts

You may wonder if making your own doughnuts is worth the effort. Just one bite of these sugar-glazed, spiced-cider doughnut treats will prove it is. The spicy flavor is sure to bring back memories of crisp autumn mornings and relaxing breakfasts in flannel pajamas. These are also delicious tossed with cinnamon sugar instead of glazed.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Pear and Cardamom Caramel Upside-Down Cake

I love the flavor balance in this cake: tangy pears, floral cardamom, rich caramel, and, underneath, a moist sponge of orange and almonds. Do try it—your friends and family will think it a triumph.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Pumpkin Pots de Crème

These fancy-sounding pumpkin pots de crème are essentially creamy custards made from half-and-half, brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and warm spices, topped with maple whipped cream and crushed amaretti cookies. Perfect for entertaining.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting

This stunning dessert is made with two layers of rich chocolate cake that's filled with salty-sweet caramel buttercream frosting.
☞ ​Try this recipe

Leite's Culinaria

Why, hello! Leite's Culinaria is the James Beard Award-winning site that helps home cooks and bakers put dinner on the table and laughs in the kitchen. Hungry for more? Join 40,000 food lovers and subscribe.

Read more from Leite's Culinaria

Hi Reader, For most of the year a tomato is a sad, pink, mealy thing I refuse to buy. Then for about six weeks in summer it becomes the best thing in the kitchen, and I build half my meals around it.A real July tomato, still warm from the garden or the market, needs almost nothing done to it.That is the whole point of tomato season. It is the one stretch of the year when the best thing you can do to your food is get out of its way. Good salt, good oil, maybe some torn basil and a slab of...

Hi Reader, A ripe peach is a short-lived thing. It is rock hard at the store, then perfect for about a day and a half, then it is jam whether you planned on jam or not.I bought a basket anyway, because a good July peach is one of the few foods I will rearrange a week around.Use them at the right moment and a basket goes a long way. The firm ones go into something that cooks. The dead-ripe ones, the ones that drip down your wrist, you eat over the sink or fold raw into a salad before the...

Hi Reader, By the Wednesday after the Fourth, the idea of another heavy dinner just does not appeal. You have grilled. You have eaten ribs. The body wants something lighter and quicker, and it wants it without much fuss.That is fish weather.A fillet of salmon, a pile of shrimp, a whole fish if you are feeling it: most of these are on the plate faster than the grilled food and leave you feeling like you ate well rather than ate a lot.The trouble is that seafood is the thing home cooks are most...