Our Best Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes

Printed Nov. 9, 2020Up to date Nov. 21, 2025

We right here at New York Instances Cooking consider that there’s a Thanksgiving dessert for everybody. Chances are you’ll love pie or hate it. Chances are you’ll consider pumpkin as the top of taste, or chances are you’ll be a basic apple pie die-hard. No matter your desire, the recipes under ought to fulfill your candy tooth with one thing tried and true or one thing thrillingly new to you.

Credit score…Rachel Vanni for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Six substances are all you should make this no-bake dessert from Yossy Arefi, which is greatest ready the evening earlier than and left to relax within the fridge till the large meal. It layers cool pumpkin cream with speculoos cookies, which give a spicy and nutty crunch.

Recipe: Pumpkin Icebox Cake

A slice of cranberry tiramisù with red fruit filling and white cream sits on a white plate. It is sprinkled in bright red powder. — Credit score…Andrew Bui for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Kaitlin Wayne.

Of us will thanks for bringing this tart tiramisù from Carolina Gelen, not solely as a result of it’s scrumptious, but additionally as a result of it’ll save treasured oven house. It will get higher the longer it sits, so make it as much as three days prematurely and save your power for celebrating.

Recipe: Cranberry Tiramisù

A pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream is shot from overhead and sits against a light gray background. To the left of the pie is a cake knife and to the right is a small bowl full of whipped cream. — Credit score…Ryan Liebe for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Erika Joyce.

In 2021, Melissa Clark got down to make the final word pumpkin pie, so she turned to butternut squash — actually! It seems that your favourite canned purée might be constituted of a wide range of squash that’s shut in taste to butternut. You not solely get that conventional taste, you additionally get a celebration indisputable fact that’ll blow your family members’ minds.

Recipe: Final Pumpkin Pie

Craggy oatmeal cookies are photographed from overhead, some topped with a swirled frosting. — Credit score…Armando Rafael for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Yossy Arefi.

These chewy, caky pumpkin cookies from Yossy Arefi journey effectively, in order that they’re simply the factor to take to a Thanksgiving potluck. Skip the frosting if you happen to don’t need to intervene with the pumpkin taste, or flip them vegan — as some readers have advised — by utilizing nondairy butter.

Recipe: Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

A pie with a big slice missing, revealing dark brown crumbly crust, two brown filling layers and a thick topping of white whipped cream. — Credit score…Johnny Miller for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Sue Li. Prop Stylist: Sarah Good.

This decadent pie from Sue Li doesn’t maintain again on taste or texture. It’s fluffy and light-weight from the mountain of whipped cream atop distinct layers of chocolate and espresso pudding. The crust, which is constituted of chocolate graham crackers, is the one half you should bake.

Recipe: Chocolate-Espresso Pie

Two square slices of orange cake topped with caramel and pecans sit on pink plates. A fork removes a piece from one slice of cake. — Credit score…David Malosh for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Simon Andrews. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth.

This cake from Sohla El-Waylly combines the basic Thanksgiving flavors of pumpkin and pecan into one thing lighter. As one reader writes: “This is perhaps the very best cake I’ve ever made. So extremely fluffy, and the caramel-pecan topping provides the appropriate degree of sweetness.”

Recipe: Pumpkin Pecan Sheet Cake

A round cake topped with green frosting and red raspberries sits on a black plate. Several slices have been cut, and one sits on a plate nearby. — Credit score…Ryan Liebe for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Simon Andrews.

This mochi cake from Margarita Manzke and Betty Hallock, tailored by Alexa Weibel, is for gluten-free and gluten-full diners alike. Baking with glutinous rice flour (which is gluten-free!) may appear daunting, but it surely’s really a really forgiving course of. The cake comes out moist even if you happen to by accident overbake it, and the distinctive, bouncy chew shall be a welcome change from the opposite textures on the desk.

Recipe: Raspberry-Mochi Butter Cake With Matcha Glaze

A pie with a creamy filling, a brown crust, and a crumbly topping around the edges. Several slices have been cut. — Credit score…Rachel Vanni for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Monica Pierini.

Sure, tofu does belong in dessert. Particularly silken tofu, which is mixed with steamed Japanese candy potato and soaked cashews to create the filling for this pie from Tanya Sichynsky. It’s extraordinarily punchy from recent ginger, and maple syrup provides it a candy, pancakes-in-the-morning taste.

Recipe: Vegan Salted Maple Ginger Pie

A slice of orange cake topped with white whipped cream sits on a red plate. Two other slices sit in the background. — Credit score…Bobbi Lin for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Rebecca Jurkevich. Prop Stylist: Megan Hedgpeth.

This just-sweet-enough pumpkin cake from Andy Baraghani has savory notes from the olive oil and salted whipped cream, so it’s good for many who don’t have an enormous candy tooth.

Recipe: Olive Oil Pumpkin Cake With Salted Maple Cream

A bright-orange sweet potato pie in a glass pie dish sits on a wooden countertop. Two slices are off to the right on white plates. To the left of the dish is a folded fabric napkin. — Credit score…Craig Lee for The New York Instances

Baking powder makes this model of the Southern basic from Amanda Hesser additional mild and fluffy. Commenters advocate baking the potatoes as a substitute of boiling them, and utilizing cream rather than evaporated milk to mood the sweetness much more.

Recipe: Candy Potato Pie

A piece of apple pie sitting on a white plate next to a metal fork is shot from the side to reveal its filling. A melting scoop of vanilla ice cream sits on top. — Credit score…Ryan Liebe for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Erika Joyce.

Moisture ranges in apples differ vastly, and baking them uncooked in a pie can result in soggy crusts or undercooked apples, so Melissa Clark requires sautéing them in a bit of butter first. This ensures that they’re simply the appropriate texture: tender, however not mushy.

Recipe: Traditional Apple Pie

A layered carrot cake topped with nuts sits on top of a wooden cake stand. The edges are exposed to reveal the frosting between each layer. To the right is a blue striped fabric napkin. — Credit score…Craig Lee for The New York Instances

Those that love cake at any event ought to do that carrot cake from Dorie Greenspan. It’s warmly spiced with cinnamon, full of coconut, raisins and nuts and completed with a tangy cream cheese frosting.

Recipe: Carrot Cake

Six square brownies covered with a dense layer of shiny pecan topping. — Credit score…Yossy Arefi for The New York Instances (Pictures and Styling)

We love pecan pie as a lot as the subsequent particular person, however there’s one thing so thrilling about altering up a basic and merging it with one thing equally acquainted. Melissa Clark tops a moist brownie with a pecan caramel that bakes immediately on high on this intelligent two-for-one deal with.

Recipe: Pecan Pie Brownies

A pink layer cake topped with sugared cranberries sits on a white plate. To the top left are a stack of plates topped with forks and a cake server. To the right is a plate holding a slice of the same cake. — Credit score…Joseph De Leo for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Monica Pierini.

Impress everybody on the desk with this pretty-in-pink layer cake from Yossy Arefi. Don’t skip the sugared cranberries for a beautiful and delightfully lip-puckering garnish.

Recipe: Brown Sugar Layer Cake With Cranberry Buttercream

An apple tart, with thin apple slices arranged in the crust to look like a rose, sits on a blue plate against a marble background. A knife with a wooden handle is off to the left. — Credit score…Joseph De Leo for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Monica Pierini.

You might make an apple pie, however why disguise all of these farmers’ market apples beneath a heavy crust? Yossy Arefi arranges skinny layers of apples in a rose sample for a surprising and complicated outcome. The crust, a easy press-in model of the basic, is straightforward work.

Recipe: Rose Apple Tart

An overhead image of pumpkin bars topped with chocolate chips and cut into squares. — Credit score…David Malosh for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

Chocolate chip cookies meet pumpkin cake in these bars from Jesse Szewczyk, which additionally — twist! — require no eggs. Nonetheless, the canned pumpkin and low oven temperature yield pleasantly chewy bites, filled with pumpkin pie spice and molten chocolate.

Recipe: Chewy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Eight cranberry lemon bars are shot from the side to reveal a cookie base topped with cranberry and lemon fillings. — Credit score…Johnny Miller for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Susan Spungen.

Genevieve Ko had a superb thought: What if you happen to paired two sweet-tart favorites with a vanilla cookie base? These cranberry lemon bars do exactly that, and are the final word crowd-pleasers, a deeply lovable tackle conventional lemon bars, with much more oomph.

Recipe: Cranberry Lemon Bars

A white plate topped with a layered slice of coconut pecan cake, finished with toasted shredded coconut, sits on a gray marbled countertop. A metal fork sits on the edge of the plate. — Credit score…Andrew Scrivani for The New York Instances

The pastry chef Dolester Miles is revered for a lot of causes. This wealthy showstopper of a cake is only one of them. Toasted floor pecans be part of floor coconut flakes within the cake batter, which is baked after which layered with a filling of sweetened condensed milk, egg and extra coconut. It’s the right factor to make if you happen to’re in control of dessert — and need to steal the present.

Recipe: Dolester Miles’ Coconut Pecan Cake

An overhead image of a blue baking dish filled with pumpkin butterscotch pudding and topped with whipped cream. A serving sits off to one side. — Credit score…Ryan Liebe for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

In the event you thrill to pumpkin pie filling however desire to skip making (and consuming) crust, this Melissa Clark custard, meant to be made forward and shared extensively, is for you. A number of cookies on the facet — gingersnaps, perhaps? — give this silky-smooth dessert a welcome crunch.

Recipe: Pumpkin-Butterscotch Custard With Spiced Whipped Cream

A burnished cheesecake with a gorgeously cratered top sits on top of parchment paper, with a slice ready to be taken out. — Credit score…Linda Xiao for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Barrett Washburne.

So you’re keen on cheesecake, however aren’t a lot of a baker. Could I curiosity you on this easy, rustic recipe, which Tanya Sichynsky tailored from Marti Buckley’s cookbook, “Basque Nation”? The batter, constituted of simply 5 substances, caramelizes underneath excessive warmth, increasing after which deflating to go away a good looking burnished crater that’s prepared to carry any topping you’d like.

Recipe: Basque Cheesecake

A cast-iron skillet filled with apples, a crumble topping and five scoops of vanilla ice cream drizzled with caramel sits on a light gray countertop. — Credit score…Christopher Testani for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Eugene Jho.

Not everybody loves pie. And that’s OK. For them, there’s this skillet caramel-apple crisp from Yossy Arefi. The recipe yields a great quantity of caramel sauce — for sweetening the apples, for serving alongside and for devouring later.

Recipe: Skillet Caramel-Apple Crisp

An overhead image of a baking dish filled with lemon pudding. A large serving sits off to the side. — Credit score…David Malosh for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Simon Andrews.

Chances are you’ll not instantly affiliate lemon desserts with Thanksgiving, however this ethereal, sweet-tart favourite, which David Tanis tailored from the pastry chef JR Ryall, is the best counterpoint to the vacation’s wealthy flavors.

Recipe: Baked Lemon Pudding

A pecan pie in a metal pie plate and shot overhead sits against a light gray countertop. One slice is missing. — Credit score…Ryan Liebe for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Erika Joyce.

Melissa Clark swaps maple syrup and honey for the standard corn syrup and requires double the pecans on this tackle the basic. To cite one commenter, “I’ve been making pecan pies for 48 years — and palms down, that is the BEST BEST BEST pecan pie I’ve ever had!”

Recipe: Maple-Honey Pecan Pie

A bright-red cranberry curd tart, edged with a hazelnut crust, sits in the middle of the frame. In the background are a bowl with cranberries, a napkin holding hazelnuts and a serrated knife. — Credit score…Evan Sung for The New York Instances

A radiant magnificence, David Tanis’s cranberry curd tart makes a sublime assertion on the Thanksgiving desk. Make it a number of days prematurely and wow your family members by breaking it out on the vacation.

Recipe: Cranberry Curd Tart

A yellow chess pie, dusted with confectioners’ sugar, in a dark pie dish sits against a light and dark blue patterned background. To the right is a plate holding a single slice topped with whipped cream. — Credit score…Kelly Marshall for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Roscoe Betsill. Prop Stylist: Getteline Rene.

Yewande Komolafe took cues from the good Edna Lewis for this buttermilk pie, a Southern basic. Yewande provides a bit of citrus and black pepper and urges you to cook dinner by really feel: You’ll realize it’s prepared when it jiggles simply out of the oven.

Recipe: Chess Pie

A lush cheesecake topped with whipped cream and a couple of slices removed is photographed from the side. — Credit score…Armando Rafael for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.

Yossy Arefi has brilliantly provide you with this easy no-bake dessert, which not solely retains the oven free however may be made 4 days (!) prematurely. Sweetly spiced Biscoff cookies make up the bottom, however be happy to play: Gingersnaps additionally work effectively, as does your favourite pumpkin pie spice.

Recipe: No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake

A burnished custard pie sits in a pie pan with a slice missing. To the right is a white plate holding a slice. Cutlery and plates are just off to the side. — Credit score…David Malosh for The New York Instances. Meals Stylist: Simon Andrews.

It might come as a disappointment to some, however this pie from Jerrelle Man doesn’t require a blowtorch. It’s completed underneath the broiler, simply earlier than serving. That stated, it nonetheless maintains the (different) greatest components of crème brûlée: the crack of a sugary shell and a fragile filling.

Recipe: Crème Brûlée Pie

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