Food Holidays & Occasions Thanksgiving 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. By Food & Wine Editors Food & Wine Editors This is collaborative content from Food & Wine's team of experts, including staff, recipe developers, chefs, and contributors. Many of our galleries curate recipes or guides from a variety of sources which we credit throughout the content and at each link. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on October 23, 2023 Trending Videos Close this video player Photo: Marcus Nilsson 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. 01 of 33 Chocolate and Fig Cake Photo by Caitlin Bensel / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Audrey Davis 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. Get the Recipe 02 of 33 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. Get the Recipe 03 of 33 Honey-Pear Sweet Cream Galette Erin Kunkel 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. Get the Recipe 04 of 33 Sweet Potato Pie with Honeycrisp-Kabocha Salad Marcus Nilsson 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. Get the Recipe 05 of 33 Purple Sweet Potato Pie with Coconut and Five-Spice Christopher Testani Add some color to your Thanksgiving dessert table by swapping regular sweet potato pie with this gorgeous purple one. Get the Recipe 06 of 33 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. Get the Recipe 07 of 33 Pumpkin Spice Conchas Pumpkin Spice Conchas. Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Thom Driver In chef Ellen Ramos’ festive recipe, a light and fluffy traditional Mexican concha is blanketed with a crunchy, pumpkin-spiced, seashell-shaped sugar crust. Get the Recipe 08 of 33 Blue Corn, Cherry, and Chocolate Chip Cookies Photo by Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Lydia Pursell 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. Get the Recipe 09 of 33 Boozy Bourbon-Pecan Tassies Alison Miksch "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." Get the Recipe 10 of 33 Cranberry Crumble Pie Gerard + Belevender 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. Get the Recipe 11 of 33 Sweet Potato Honey Beer Pie Photo by Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Melissa Gray / Prop Styling by Heather Chadduck Hillegas 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. Get the Recipe 12 of 33 Apple Cheddar Rye Pie Gerard + Belevender 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. Get the Recipe 13 of 33 Almond-Cardamom Budapest Roll Almond-Cardamom Budapest Roll. Jennifer Causey / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Thom Driver This 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. Get the Recipe 14 of 33 Roasted Spiced Cranberry Pie Photo: Victor Protasio / Food Stylist Torie Cox / Prop Stylist Claire Spollen 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. Get the Recipe 15 of 33 Peanut Butter–Chocolate Pie Antonis Achilleos 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. Get the Recipe 16 of 33 Maple-Meringue Doughnuts Tara Donne 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. Get the Recipe 17 of 33 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. Get the Recipe 18 of 33 Monkey Bread with Honey-Bourbon Sauce Christopher Testani 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. Get the Recipe 19 of 33 Pumpkin Layer Cake with Mascarpone Frosting © Con Poulos 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. Get the Recipe 20 of 33 Apple Pie à la Mode Ice Cream Sandwiches Eva Kolenko 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. Get the Recipe 21 of 33 Pecan Pie with Candied Ginger and Rum © JOHN KERNICK 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. Get the Recipe 22 of 33 Lemon-Cranberry Pie Bars © CON POULOS 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. Get the Recipe 23 of 33 Classic Pumpkin Pie © Frances Janisch 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. Get the Recipe 24 of 33 Pear Tarte Tatin with Red Wine Caramel © John Kernick 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. Get the Recipe 25 of 33 Brown Butter Pumpkin Pie Abby Hocking 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. Get the Recipe 26 of 33 Vanilla Ice Cream Bread Pudding with Whiskey Caramel John Kernick 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. Get the Recipe 27 of 33 Apple-Pomegranate Cobbler David Cicconi 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. Get the Recipe 28 of 33 Dutch Apple Pie Tina Rupp 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. Get the Recipe 29 of 33 Pear and Cranberry Slab Pie © Con Poulos 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. Get the Recipe 30 of 33 Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars with Caramel Swirl © Alexandra Rowley 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. Get the Recipe 31 of 33 Apple Cake with Toffee Crust © Anna Williams 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. Get the Recipe 32 of 33 Marbled Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Brownie Crust © William Meppem 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. Get the Recipe 33 of 33 Chocolate Panna Cotta with Spiced Pepita Brittle © Con Poulos 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. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit