Photo: Mishie’s Pies
There are those who claim, correctly, that any Thanksgiving meal only exists as a warm-up to the main event: pie. I always take a maximalist approach; I am notorious for skipping the turkey and picking at least three pies, just for myself. This year I focused on familiar flavors in new forms, vetting close to 20 new offerings. (Custard, as you’ll see, is big.) I ranked them based on my personal preference, but I think the best move would be to order one of each and set out a spread so everyone can decide which pies they love best.
Apple Custard from Mishie’s
Michelle Kogan worked at Del Posto and Torrisi before launching her own bakery in Sunnyside this fall. She is “truly pie obsessed,” she says, and it shows: Rippled with homemade apple-cider caramel and crowned with gold-leaf-flecked sour-cream rosettes, her custard pie is cradled in a crust made with Cinnamon Toast Crunch. $50 to $150, depending on size; mishiessunnyside.com. Orders accepted until sold out.
Instead of suspending pecans in a corn-syrup slurry, Miro and Shilpa Uskokovic line their flaky, buttery crust with a dulce de leche–like caramel layer and top it with nut-studded chocolate ganache. $65; hanisnyc.com. Order by November 19.
Two custards — one buttermilk with brown butter and orange zest, the other sweet potato spiced with nutmeg, allspice, and black pepper — are swirled into a shell that gets another dose of buttermilk. $58; elbowbread.shop. Order by November 21.
Nutmeg-laced pumpkin custard binds this pie’s crust — brown-butter cookie dough with cocoa powder — to a coating of chocolate ganache that is spread across the top. $27 to $55, depending on size; thepastrybox.co. Order by November 22.
Katie Kaplan’s bakery is barely a year old, but she’s been perfecting this pie since 2022. The flour in the savory-edged, wheaty crust is stone-milled. The filling, spiked with homemade apple-cider syrup, has the same consistency as a McDonald’s pie, which is to say it’s perfect. $65; fillingsnyc.com. Order by November 20.
Citrus may be a nontraditional Thanksgiving finisher, but Rebecca Newman’s take on the classic lemon tart is luscious and light with petals of whipped white chocolate piped on top of the creamy filling to lend just enough extra heft. $70; libraebakery.com; Orders accepted until sold out.
Photographs the Pastry Box, Scott Semler, Librae
