It’s the Wednesday simply earlier than Thanksgiving, and at a nook storefront in Chicago’s Roscoe Village neighborhood, individuals are arriving on the baking college Give Me Some Sugar. Their goal is mission-critical for the festive desk the subsequent day.
The category they’re attending, I Forgot To Make a Pie, is likely one of the quickest to promote out, and no marvel — every attendee leaves with three 9-inch pies they baked themselves, aided with perception and encouragement from the college’s proprietor and govt chef, Jerry Korab.
“People do get intimidated by pie,” Korab stated. “I think they fear the crust, mostly. But I’ve had many previous ‘pie-phobes’ who return to tell me they make them all the time now that they’ve taken the class. It’s heartening, because pie is really pretty simple and not all that time-consuming.”
When the Thanksgiving deadline approaches, house bakers must get these pies rolled, crammed, baked and cooled by the point everybody sits down on the massive day, and for that, they should have shopped, deliberate and labored effectively upfront.
In the event you’re in an identical state of affairs proper now, take coronary heart. Whereas these lessons in Chicago offered out way back, we discovered pastry cooks who’ve loads of good concepts for getting your pie baking again on schedule. And so they even threw in some sensible pie-adjacent choices for whenever you’ve actually run out of time.
Why is pie so vital on Thanksgiving, anyway?
“Thanksgiving is almost synonymous with pie,” stated Erin Jeanne McDowell, creator and host of Completely happy Baking on YouTube. “I often refer to it as my Super Bowl. Because it’s served in one large portion, it calls for a few people to be present to eat it, so it’s associated with gathering times like holiday feasts.”
“At Thanksgiving, pie is more than dessert,” stated chef, TV character and creator Andrew Zimmern. “It’s ritualized memory, the edible archive of family history and immigrant adaptation. The turkey may take the headlines, but it’s pie that delivers the sermon. Without pie, Thanksgiving feels unfinished, like a story that stops before the moral. Because in the end, pie isn’t just food, it’s closure.”
Michael Galindo, govt pastry chef at Indaco in Greenville, South Carolina, calls pie the “finale” of a Thanksgiving meal. “It’s not just dessert, it’s the closing chapter of the story, a well-deserved and ceremonious reward,” he stated.
Chef Robert Irvine put it succinctly: “To have a Thanksgiving with no pie does let some of the air out of the holiday’s balloon.”
Do this Wednesday afternoon timetable.
The day earlier than Thanksgiving, you’re in all probability wishing you had finished slightly extra planning. However the evening earlier than is definitely a good time to start out. Don’t get hung up on the concept that you must pull a pie straight from the oven at dessert time — that’s not solely pointless, however may end up in what cooks name “pie soup.”
“Many pastries actually benefit from being made ahead,” stated Culinary Institute of America pastry chef teacher Daniel Keehner. “A pie made the day before will be just as great, and sometimes even better, because it can amalgamate and become one homogenous piece. Also, spoiler alert — most bakeries are baking the day before, too.”
Chef Franklin Becker of New York’s Level Seven Restaurant additionally suggests making the flaky dessert the evening earlier than, “as your oven will be busy with the turkey on Thursday.”
“I’ve made pies on Thanksgiving morning, but it’s so stressful,” stated Rose Hattabaugh, senior recipe developer at Milk Avenue. “Aim to finish pie baking Wednesday night, so they have time to chill and cool properly.”
Relying on the kind of pie, you really want that in a single day relaxation. “For a custard pie, like pumpkin, you absolutely must start on Wednesday night,” stated Bridget Vickers, senior chef-instructor on the Institute of Culinary Schooling’s Los Angeles campus. “Those custard pies require significant chill time, often overnight, to set and become fully sliceable.”
So now it’s Wednesday evening and all of your pies are baked. The place ought to they sit till the massive meal? “If you’re baking a fruit or pecan pie, they can be left out overnight, which means they won’t crowd a fridge that’s already holding turkey and sides,” stated Robin Selden, managing associate and govt chef at Marcia Selden Catering and Bare Fig Catering. Pies with meringue or cream filling ought to go within the fridge, she added.
Or try this Thursday morning timetable.
“You can make a pie from start to finish and have it ready to eat in about five to six hours, so in theory it can be baked early in the morning and be ready for Thanksgiving dinner,” stated Kenzie Ross, pastry chef at 4 Seasons Lodge Minneapolis. “But if you’re baking on a time crunch, remember to let it rest at least two to three hours. If you’re lucky enough to live in a snowy state and the fridge is packed, pop the pie outside in the snow.”
Vickers laid out an bold first light prep timetable. “I recommend starting no later than 6 a.m. on Thursday,” she stated. Right here’s her “panic pie” plan for a double-crust apple or pecan pie. Don’t neglect to set your alarm, as a result of we trip (and roll) at daybreak:
- 6 to six:30 a.m.: Make the dough
- 6:30 to 7 a.m.: Make the filling (apples, spices, and so forth.)
- 7 to 7:30 a.m.: Assemble
- 7:30 to eight:45 a.m.: Bake (occasions fluctuate, so verify your recipe)
- 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. (or longer): “Cooling is critical,” she stated. “The pie needs several hours for the filling to set up fully and for the crust to achieve its final flaky texture. If you rush this, the slice will slump, which is one of the most common mistakes home bakers make.”
(Caveat: In fact, not all pies are created equal. Some should be chilled, some want to only relaxation at room temperature, some require a blind-baked crust forward of time, and so forth. All the time you should definitely learn your recipe upfront.)
If that all-important setting hasn’t occurred, there’s a strategy to handle that, stated Lisa Steele, creator and host of PBS’s “Welcome to My Farm.” “I’ve had apple pies come out of the oven around noon and served them for dessert that evening, but it really isn’t enough time for the pie to completely set,” she stated. “Since pies that aren’t completely cooled and set can be hard to cut neatly, plan on serving slices in a shallow bowl with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream, to disguise a less-than-perfect slicing job.”
Feeling completely frazzled? Overlook pie altogether.
Cooks do have empathy for last-minute dessert emergencies. In fact there are frozen pies and crusts on the grocery, and bakeries may nonetheless have a couple of choices on the market, in the event you act in time.
In the event you’d wish to serve one thing festive that isn’t the dreaded “p” phrase, they’ve a lot of concepts:
- Zimmern stated: “Make a crumble. Put fruit, sugar and a little cornstarch in a dish, then cover with torn pieces of supermarket sugar cookie dough.”
- Even higher, from Zimmern: “Best baking tip you’ll ever receive — I almost always tell guests to bring desserts.”
- McDowell talked up easy-to-assemble pandowdies and trifles.
- Chef Ana Sofía Pino, govt pastry chef of Lutèce in Washington, D.C., stated: “I always have ice cream in my freezer for emergencies.”
Pino’s different tactic is complete, brutal honesty: “Grab your family’s favorite ice cream, cookies, or bars of chocolate and be honest. Tell them things really got away from you and that it’s been a wild year. Tell them how you really poured your focus into some other element of the meal. Enjoy your treats, and maybe recruit your favorite cousin to handle dessert next year.”
Right here’s what to do to keep away from entering into this jam for subsequent Thanksgiving.
Pastry chef and creator Stella Parks of BraveTart admitted, “I’m a planner, and I’m all about the long game. The best shortcut is making your pie crust weeks in advance and popping it in the freezer.”
Parks wasn’t the one pastry chef we talked to who reported having a freezer filled with premade pie crusts able to go by Veterans Day. That’s probably not the form of factor that’s going that will help you on the final minute, however we simply wished to place that on the market for subsequent 12 months. (Calendar discover for Nov. 1, 2026: Make and freeze pie crust.)
One chef even goes the complete distance to make life simpler on the massive day. New York Metropolis-based caterer The Raging Skillet’s chef and creator Chef Rossi does all of it effectively upfront. “Life got profoundly easier when I realized that pumpkin, berry or apple pie can be fully made, baked, cooled and then frozen for a month or even longer,” she stated. “I pull my pie from the freezer the day before, let it thaw in the fridge overnight and then warm it in the oven before serving. Nobody can tell that it was frozen. I always say, ‘To pie is human, to make it easy on your nerves is divine.’”
