What is sacred on your Thanksgiving dessert table? We've already talked about your favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. Now we want to know about dessert. Is pumpkin pie an inviolable tradition? Or do you bypass the traditional pies for something else - another family tradition perhaps?
Click through for some favorite holiday dessert recipes. Are you baking a pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving?











There's nothing like a good pecan pie--always a favorite at my home!
view KerryTay's profile
oops, i put my answer in the wrong place.
the must have desserts in my family are a pumpkin roll, which is a roulade filled with spiced whipped cream and a triple ginger cheesecake.
apart from that, with so many bakers in my family, there are usually a dozen more desserts from pecan pie to brownies to lemon squares to coconut cream pie to nut cookies that may appear...and then disappear throughout the weekend.
view abby's profile
haha, we're having a Toll-House Cookie pie this year, everyone wanted to focus on the dinner foods and not dessert! Go figure :)
view Haverly's profile
Lemon Chess pie and pecan pie. My dad hates pumpkin, so my mom has pretty much kept it off the menu
view verily's profile
chocolate bourbon pecan pie!
view ForbiddenFruit's profile
Gluten Free, Casein Free Sweet Potato Pie
view JasonD's profile
We always have 2 pumpkin pies and maybe something else like a few chocolates.
Pumpkin pie = breakfast on Friday!!
view Pipsqueak's profile
Always a pumpkin pie, Grandma's chocolate fudge pie, and whatever else people want to bring.
view sarahduckie's profile
We mix it up at Christmas, but at Thanksgiving we stick to Mom's pumpkin pie and her pecan pie. There'd be a riot without either one.
view Green Me's profile
Pecan pie in all of its brittle, burnt, alternately tooth encrusting and tooth breaking Karo glory.
view cakekick's profile
Sounds like heaven cakekick!
view KerryTay's profile
Ours is banana pudding - it's "us kids" who are so fond of it, since our grandma used to make it for us. It's become the family tradition that when a cousin first begins to express interest in making a culinary contribution to family dinners, they get banana pudding. I keep telling my aunts that it's cruel to have us attempt meringue right out of the gate.
view LauraII's profile
We have some kind of pumpkin dessert every year--pie, cheesecake, pudding--but not the same one.
view classiccook's profile
we usually do pumpkin, apple, and pecan pies. which are all my favorite. :)
view thinkingwoman's profile
In my family, apple is the must (and no limit on the quantity) but I always beg for at least 1 pumpkin.
view Silli's profile
Right on, Pipsqueak. I make 2 pumpkin pies, to ensure leftovers!!!
view robyn's profile
Pecan pie. In southeastern NC, it's called peCAN pie (not peCAHN), and it's a requirement at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. The trees in my grandfather's yard are 50 years old, and they've been our source of pecans for just as long. Grandad's recipe makes three pies at a time. One usually goes home with me to wherever I am - no matter how many states away I live.
view lindsey kathlene's profile
There will be an apple pie and probably another pie and there will be cookies of some several sorts.
view lizaboo's profile
I'm having a potluck style Thanksgiving among friends this year. I'm not sure what other desert options there will be, but I'll be making Gâteau au chocolat fondant de Nathalie aka Kate's Winning-Hearts-and-Minds cake from orangette.blogspot.com.
The fact that it tastes even better the day after makes it a GREAT desert to bring to a potluck.
view sparkle's profile
Buttermilk pie.
There are always pecan (enunciated properly pe-CAHN, a peCAN is something you urinate in) and pumpkin.
But who cares you can get those anywhere.
I always want my sister's buttermilk pie.
view alexis's profile
My mother found a recipe for Persimmon Pudding years ago in an advice column (it came from a Bed & Breakfast somewhere) and decided to make it on a whim for Thanksgiving that year. We've had it for Thanksgiving and Christmas every year since, and no one will ever let us bring anything else. I've taken over the pudding making in the past couple years and am currently in the process of creating Persimmon Pudding addicts out of all my friends. We also always have Mashed Bourbon Sweet Potatoes, but I think partially because it's so fun to make ("splash of bourbon for the mash, gulp for the chef, splash for the mash, gulp for the chef" and so on)
view cranberrybobbie's profile
Apple pie at least. In fact, I only had pumpkin pie for the first time this Thanksgiving. It just wasn't something we did in my family.
view Melissa A.'s profile
Mincemeat is my favorite. Nummy.
view Kassie's profile
Pumpkin cheesecake from the Cook's Illustrated recipe, which is the only recipe on earth that I actually follow to the T.
view wende in the twin cities's profile
We'll be having apple pie & pumpkin pecan pie. Plus I'm turning our leftover cranberry sauce into a french toast casserole for the next morning.
Alexis, I never knew buttermilk pie existed until the other day. I'm planning to try it out over the holiday season.
view Tonia's profile
Chocolate pecan pie.
view callbob's profile
pecan pie - no chocolate, no bourbon
just a little more vanilla than recommended on the back of the Caro syrup bottle . . .
view guido's profile
Without dessert Thanksgiving celebration is incomplete.why not pamper your taste-buds with some more cool recipes ? So cook up some toothsome Thanksgiving dishes and let your folks gobble up the gastronomical delights with gusto ! Plan a peachy recipe this Thanksgiving and warm up your dear ones for a great holiday feast.Check out some Thanksgiving recipe ideas that you’ll love to try out here Thanksgiving Recipe Ideas
view kevin123's profile
Every year we have custard pie (without coconut) and a large tray of individual desserts from a good Italian bakery, and homemade whoopie pies. We used to have pumpkin pie, but everybody bypassed it for the other desserts.
view Downeast Suzy's profile
My stepmother used to make a "Black Bottom Pie" which I gather she found as an old Navy-wives recipe. I've never attempted to make it but now my sisters do; no big holiday meal is complete without it. Very labor intensive (about 2 hours) and honestly the most de-lish sweet dish ever, so that if you're not stuffing yourself on thirds at midnite or the first one up sneaking into the fridge at 5a.m. you miss out on the full gorge. Recently similar (but not quite the same recipes) online, but if I could figure how to attach a pdf I could give you in her handwriting.
view Elizabeth II's profile
We always get French Silk Pie from Bakers Square. I NEED it this time of year... :)
view Shannon Bradly's profile
I absolutely must have pecan pie on Thanksgiving, and my husband must have blueberry. Our guests can bring pumpkin if they want it!
view NyKittyNy's profile
nutmeg-cranberry torte: just got a big bag of fresh cranberries at the farmer's market. It's going to be a bastardized Martha recipe, but I think I'll end up adding bourbon mascarpone at some point.
view nadarine's profile
Brown bread with raisins!
view Jean's profile
I never heard of buttermilk pie before, I'm totally going to try that.
What I really want is a butternut squash pie from Abu's Bakery on Fulton St in Brooklyn. Damn, that is a pie. Too bad I'm on the other side of the country.
view mjoe's profile
I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie, but it would be sacrilege not to have it at T'giving. I think pecan pie and cranberry upside down cake are nicer choices. At Xmas the must-have pie is mince! And of that, I am a fan!
view Charlotte's profile
My Mammy (that's my grandma) makes Chess pie. I'm not sure what's in it, but primarily it's sugar & butter I'm sure!! It's gooey & good!
view UptownGirl's profile
I'm not a fan of pumpkin pie(or pumpkin in general) so I always go with some sort of apple dessert. One year I got a pear, apple and cranberry crisp which was GREAT.
view Bridget212323's profile
Creme brulee! It's surprisingly easy to make, and letting everyone (tipsy from wine, of course) torch their own is so much fun :)
view melanie's profile