The absolute best pumpkin, apple and pecan pies for Thanksgiving
Here’s a truth about Thanksgiving: No matter how much gravy-bathed turkey, marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole and mounds of stuffing one may devour, when dessert time rolls around, there’s always room for pie.
Pie had been a constant on Thanksgiving tables even before Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the day a national holiday in 1863. Pumpkin was the first variety to be associated with the feast, soon joined by other seasonal favorites like apple and pecan. The three work perfectly together — creamy, smooth pumpkin, juicy apple and crunchy, candylike pecan — each adding a distinct allure. In a perfect world, my Thanksgiving dessert plate would hold wedges of them all, topped with whipped cream and devoured in alternating bites until the last buttery flakes of crust were gone.
I’ve spent every Thanksgiving of my baking lifetime striving to perfect recipes for these three quintessential pies. But, over the past six months, I’ve been more methodical about it, building on earlier work and testing my way through different techniques so you don’t have to (sous-vide apple pie, not a keeper).
There were some tweaks that stuck, like precooking the Ginger Golds for my apple pie and substituting a mix of maple syrup and honey for the corn syrup in pecan pie. And though I’ve long been a fan of using butternut squash for my pumpkin pie, I improved the roasting method to get the most caramelization and deepest flavor.
Then there’s the crust. While I’m still devoted to all-butter dough, I no longer bother parbaking. I’ve learned that a metal pie pan placed on a hot sheet pan conducts the heat well enough to create a shatteringly crisp, golden-brown crust without having to break out the foil and dried beans. (This doesn’t work with glass or ceramic pie plates, which aren’t as good at conducting heat as metal.)
The results of all this testing are three brand-new but still perfectly classic Thanksgiving pie recipes that are the absolute best of their kind. At least until I start tweaking next year.