10 Thanksgiving Desserts For A Crowd

Thanksgiving dessert is decided by the oven schedule, not the menu.

The turkey has the oven all day, so everything below is either baked the day before or goes in while the bird rests.

Each one below has a pin so you can see what you’re aiming for, and a link to a recipe that has actually been made.

Ten of them.

1. Classic Pumpkin Pie

Blind bake the crust first, because pumpkin filling poured into raw dough gives you a wet, pale bottom every time.

Line it with parchment, fill it with pie weights, bake until the edges set, then take the weights out and bake until the base looks dry.

Canned pumpkin puree, not pie filling, which is already sweetened and spiced.

It’s done when the edges are set and the center still has a jiggle the size of a coin, and it firms up as it cools.

Cracks come from overbaking, so pull it early rather than late.

Bake it the day before, cool it two hours on the counter, then keep it in the fridge, since custard pie doesn’t sit out overnight.

The pin is Baker by Nature’s bourbon pumpkin pie, which uses evaporated milk, brown sugar, a little bourbon, and cardamom with the usual spices, and bakes 50 to 55 minutes until there’s a jiggly spot in the middle.

2. Decadent Chocolate Pecan Pie

Chocolate pecan pie is regular pecan pie with chopped chocolate scattered in the crust before the filling goes in.

Toast the pecans for eight minutes first, because raw pecans taste soft and flat under the syrup.

Bake it on a rimmed baking sheet, since the filling bubbles over and burns on the oven floor.

If the crust browns before the center sets, a pie crust shield for the last twenty minutes saves it.

It’s done when it’s puffed at the edges with a small wobble in the middle.

Let it cool at least three hours, or it runs across the plate when it’s cut.

The pin is Baker by Nature’s chocolate pecan pie, which uses browned butter, bittersweet chocolate plus chips, and a splash of Kahlúa instead of bourbon, bakes over an hour at 350, and keeps five days in the fridge.

3. Apple Crisp With Oat Topping

Crisp is the Thanksgiving dessert for people who don’t want to make pastry.

Granny Smith, or half Granny Smith and half Honeycrisp, because soft apples turn to applesauce under the topping.

Slice them a quarter inch thick with an apple peeler and corer if you’re doubling it, since that’s twelve apples by hand.

The topping is flour, oats, brown sugar, and fat, squeezed into clumps so it bakes into crunchy pieces instead of sand.

Double it in a 9×13 and it feeds twelve.

Make the topping ahead and keep it in the fridge, then assemble and bake while the turkey rests, because crisp is best warm.

The pin is KJ and Company’s apple crisp, which uses Granny Smith apples with maple syrup and almond extract, adds pecans to the oat topping, and bakes 45 to 50 minutes at 350.

4. Maple Bourbon Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is the best dessert for a big table because it’s built to be made ahead and it scales in any pan.

Use brioche or challah that’s a day old or dried in a low oven, since fresh bread falls apart in custard.

Let the bread soak for at least twenty minutes before it goes in the oven, or the bottom stays dry while the top floats.

It’s done when the center is set and a knife comes out without wet custard on it.

The sauce is maple syrup warmed with a splash of bourbon, and the alcohol mostly cooks off if you simmer it for a couple of minutes.

Assemble it the night before, keep it covered in the fridge, and bake it in the morning.

The pin is Well Made by Kiley’s sweet potato pecan pie bread pudding, which folds sweet potato into the custard, tops it with a brown sugar pecan layer, and serves it with bourbon maple syrup and vanilla ice cream.

5. Cranberry Orange Cake

A bundt cake is the one dessert on this list that doesn’t need the fridge, which matters on Thanksgiving.

Rub the orange zest into the sugar before creaming, since that pulls the oil out of the zest and the whole cake tastes of orange.

Toss the cranberries in a spoon of flour so they don’t all sink to the top of the pan.

Grease every ridge of the bundt pan and dust it with flour, because one bare spot is where it sticks.

Flip it after ten minutes, not before and not much after.

Bake it two days ahead, wrap it once it’s cold, and glaze it on the day.

The pin is The Broken Bread’s cranberry orange bundt cake, which uses buttermilk and orange juice, fresh or frozen cranberries straight from the freezer, an orange glaze, and keeps four to five days.

6. Sweet Potato Cheesecake

Cheesecake has to be made the day before, which makes it a Thanksgiving dessert by default.

Roast the sweet potatoes rather than boiling them, because boiled ones add water and the cheesecake won’t set.

Everything goes in at room temperature, since cold cream cheese makes lumps you can’t beat out without adding air.

A water bath keeps the edges from overbaking, and wrapping the springform pan in foil keeps the water out.

Turn the oven off when the center still jiggles and leave it inside with the door cracked for an hour, which is what stops it cracking.

Eight hours in the fridge minimum, and a 9-inch cheesecake cuts into sixteen thin slices.

The pin is My Baking Addiction’s sweet potato cheesecake, which uses a gingersnap crust, two pounds of roasted sweet potatoes and three packs of cream cheese, and finishes with whipped cream, salted caramel and pecans.

7. Pear and Almond Tart

This is the dessert that looks like it came from a bakery and is mostly almond cream spread in a shell.

The frangipane is almond, butter, sugar, and eggs blended smooth, and it puffs up around the pears as it bakes.

Bartlett pears that are ripe but still firm, sliced thin and fanned on top, since soft pears weep into the filling.

Par-bake the crust in a tart pan with a removable bottom so the base stays crisp under the wet filling.

It’s a tart for eight, so it sits next to something bigger rather than being the only dessert.

It’s good the day after at room temperature, which means it can be baked on Wednesday.

The pin is The Little Epicurean’s pear frangipane tart, which uses almond paste in the filling, raw Bartlett pears, a sweet cookie-style crust, and sliced almonds with turbinado sugar on top.

8. Spiced Carrot Cake

For a crowd, bake carrot cake as a sheet cake, because a layer cake serves twelve and a 9×13 serves twenty-four.

Oil, not butter, since oil cakes stay moist for days and butter cakes dry out in the fridge.

Grate the carrots fresh on the fine side of a box grater, because bagged shredded carrots are dry and thick and stay crunchy.

Cinnamon and a little cardamom is what makes it taste like the holidays instead of Easter.

The cream cheese frosting goes on a completely cold cake, and the cake lives in the fridge once it’s frosted.

Bake it two days ahead, since carrot cake is better on day two.

The pin is Kitchen by the Sea’s 12 layer carrot cake, which uses cinnamon and cardamom, oil, crushed pineapple and a vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, and says the same batter works as a sheet cake.

9. Gingerbread Trifle

A trifle is the dessert you assemble, not bake, which leaves the oven free.

Gingerbread cake, cubed, then pudding, then whipped cream, and around again.

Individual dessert cups serve a crowd better than one big bowl, since nobody has to scoop and the last serving looks like the first.

The cake can be baked days ahead, the pudding a day ahead, and the cream whipped right before assembly.

Assemble in the morning so the cake softens into the pudding by dinner.

It keeps a day in the fridge and it’s best the day it’s made.

The pin is Baker’s Table’s gingerbread and chocolate pudding trifle, which layers a molasses gingerbread cake with homemade chocolate pudding and a spiced whipped cream in individual glasses.

10. Caramel Apple Galette

A galette is apple pie without the part where pie goes wrong, since the crust just folds up around the fruit.

Roll the dough into a rough circle, pile the apples in the middle, and leave a two-inch border to fold over.

Toss the apples with a spoon of flour so the juice thickens instead of running out onto the pan.

Bake it on parchment on a baking sheet at 400 until the crust is deep golden, not pale.

The caramel goes on after baking, and a candy thermometer helps if you’ve never made it, though watching for amber works.

Make two for a crowd, because one serves eight at most.

The pin is A Sassy Spoon’s bourbon caramel apple galette, which uses a homemade butter crust, bakes 30 to 40 minutes at 400, and finishes with a quick bourbon caramel and chopped walnuts.

If you want small things on the dessert table too, the fall macarons post has ten flavors.

And the fall trifle recipes post has nine more trifles if the gingerbread one is the one that goes.