Pie

An apple pie “made from scratch” has no competition from store-bought pies. Here’s the basic recipe with some favorite variations. To bake a frozen apple pie, see the chart. Convection-baked pies cook in about one-third less time.

You roll up this rocciata, a thin pastry with a fruit-and-nut filling, just as you do a strudel—but you don’t bake it like a strudel. Instead, you slice the roll into thin rounds, lay them flat, and bake them into two dozen rich and beautiful spiral cookies. In this version, I macerate dried fruit overnight in vin santo, one of my favorite sweet wines. There’s always a bit of fruity wine left over, and I cook it into a delicious syrup to drizzle over the cookies. Delicious when dunked in a good espresso, and even better when dunked in grappa, these cookies are nice to have around, as well as to give as gifts at the holidays. And I make them after the holidays, too, since they’re such a brilliant way to use up all the dried fruit and nuts I have left over from the festivities.

NUT-FREE Thanksgiving dinner without pumpkin pie is almost unimaginable to most people, no matter what their dietary bent. To that end, I present two versions of this iconic dessert. Still, though it’s hard for us pumpkin pie fans to imagine, there are plenty of people who don’t care for it. (“Je n’aime pas le citrouille,” said the Parisian mother of my niece-by-marriage at a recent Thanksgiving gathering. My brother-in-law concurred, “I’m not a big pumpkin pie fan.”) Since I have two pumpkin pie naysayers in my family, I’m sure there are others out there. For them, I’ve provided a trio of additional desserts to choose from. This is just as good made with butternut squash as it is with sugar pumpkin. Once the pumpkin or squash is baked, which you can (and should) do ahead of time, the pie comes together quickly. It goes down very easily, which is why I recommend making two pies for practically the same effort as one.

A deeper, darker, saltier version of the cereal milk ice cream pie—try this one for the salty but sweet fans.

Use any combination of red or black grapes to achieve a deep purple color.

Tangy buttermilk and fresh lemon juice balance the sweetness in this custardy Southern pie.

Inspired by the simple cherry desserts from the Limousin region of France, this baked custard can be served warm or at room temperature. Feel free to use pitted or unpitted cherries.

"This dough, with its addition of whole wheat flour for a nutty taste and tender texture, is a must in your baking repertoire."—Karen DeMasco

Chase Utley is not a dessert guy, unless it is mud pie. Once you try this incredible dessert recipe, you, too, will find your dinner guests unable to turn away a serving of bliss.

Graham crusts typically start with crushed graham crackers. Here, graham flour gives the crust a nutty flavor and hearty texture.

My most coveted pie is of the apple variety. To me, nothing says an afternoon out by the grill than having an apple pie to finish off the experience. What sets this pie apart from your normal apple pie is that I use a whopping thirteen apples that I slowly cook down with Vietnamese cinnamon and brown sugar, creating a collection of flavors so distinctively comforting, you'll never search for another apple pie recipe. Use Maker's Mark bourbon as it is currently the only gluten-free bourbon available.

In many sweet-potato pies, the ginger and spices overwhelm the flavor of the potatoes. This version plays to the flavor of the tubers; a little spicy nuttiness from the gingersnap pecan crust just emphasizes the pie's luscious creaminess. It is perfectly normal for the surface of a custardy pie, like this one, to crack in the course of baking and cooling—the pie will taste no less delicious.

The Shakers, an early nineteenth-century religious group who knew that good things like lemon pie were worth waiting for, lived and worked in communities throughout New England, and established a vibrant Shaker fellowship in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. Preserved as a living history museum, today's Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill illuminates their traditions and creations, including woodworking, farming, spinning, and stonework. Their restaurants serve this signature confection, Shaker Lemon Pie.
For those of us who adore lemons, it is magnificent, and if you simply appreciate thrift and culinary creativity, you'll admire its unique approach. The issue is its pithy-ness. Shaker lemon pie uses the entire lemon, from yellow peel through white pith and all the way to the interior seeds. This means slicing two whole lemons absolutely paper thin, and macerating them for hours in sugar. The resulting pie includes a subtle sharp flavor from the pith, and the texture tends toward the chewy side, but it all works for the aforementioned lemon-lovers like myself. For my version, I chop the thinly sliced lemons coarsely, so that despite my uneven slicing, the lemon pieces are bite sized. I also add a little flour, to thicken the juices a bit. Plan ahead, so that you can set the mixture of very thinly sliced lemons and sugar aside for at least three hours and ideally, overnight. This makes for a softer texture and profoundly lemony flavor in your pie.

Ever since I first tasted bean pie at The Know bookstore in Durham, North Carolina, I've been a fan. Given my deep affection for egg custard, pumpkin, and sweet potato pies, it's no surprise that I would adore bean pie, which shares culinary roots with those pie favorites. Developed in the 1930s as part of the nutritional teachings of the Nation of Islam, bean pies became standard items at black Muslim bakeries in urban communities from Chicago and Oakland to Detroit and Washington, D.C. Navy beans are most commonly cited in recipes, but great northern beans and pinto beans are also popular choices. With a can of beans and the usual custard pie ingredients, you can turn out a delicious bean pie fast. You can use a blender or a food processor to mix up your filling, or mash the cooked, drained beans well with a potato masher or a fork.

My friend and fellow food writer Angela Knipple cherishes memories of childhood visits to her Great-Uncle Curtis and Great-Aunt Marian's big farm. Perhaps her passion for food, cooking, and sustainable agriculture took root during her summer days in their enormous garden. She loved weeding and harvesting vegetables, and turning her fingers a fabulous shade of purple while picking purple-hull peas. Meals were major delights of homegrown, homecooked goodness, including this beautiful summer squash pie—deliciously creamy, sweet, and a little bit tart. You could use yellow squash instead of zucchini, or do a combination of the two.

The technique: To create a lattice top, roll out the dough, then cut it into strips. Make the lattice by draping half the strips in one direction across the filling, then draping the other half in the opposite direction, or weave the strips over and under for a classic basket-weave pattern.
The payoff: A professional-looking dessert that's sure to impress your guests. A perfect Thanksgiving treat for berry pie lovers.

The technique: Streusel—a crumbly mixture of flour, butter, sugar, and spices—often shows up on coffee cakes. The sweet, crunchy stuff also makes a great pie-topper.
The payoff: You have to roll out only one pie crust instead of two, and the streusel adds texture and flavor.

The technique: A single-crust pie requires only a bottom crust and is the best choice for a custard filling, like pumpkin pie.
The payoff: You have to make only one pie crust, and if it breaks or cracks it's easy enough to cobble the crust together in the pie dish. Most of the bottom crust will be covered with filling, so it doesn't have to look perfect. The topping mixture is sprinkled just inside the crust, leaving a circle of filling peeking out in the center of the pie.

Golden Delicious apples, which aren't too sweet and hold their shape when cooked, are a great choice for this pie.