Food Holidays & Occasions Thanksgiving 23 Easy Thanksgiving Desserts Our easiest holiday-worthy, autumnal desserts take 30 minutes of active time or less. 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 20, 2023 Trending Videos Photo: Photo by Heami Lee / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely Pulling off a fantastic Thanksgiving feast usually comes with an extra-long to-do list, but a little strategic menu planning can definitely lighten that load. While some dishes inherently seem to demand lots of attention, dessert is what punctuates it all — those last bites of the meal should be memorable, but that doesn't mean they need to be hard to put together! Here, we've gathered our best Thanksgiving dessert recipes that are made with simple techniques and time-saving shortcuts. Use store-bought puff pastry to make an incredible apple pie, convert your traditional pecan pie into a batch of bars with a press-in crust, or use melted vanilla ice cream as the custard base for a decadent bread pudding. This year, let Thanksgiving dessert be easy. 01 of 22 Pear Sticky Toffee Cakes with Miso-Caramel Sauce Greg DuPree "When the weather turns colder and I start planning for the holidays ahead, this spoonable sweet is everything I need in the dessert department," says Gail Simmons. "In addition to the traditional dates, I like to add chopped pears to the batter, where they cook down as the individual cakes bake. I add miso to the toffee, which lends a salty savoriness that may sound gratuitous but exceeds expectations." Get the Recipe 02 of 22 Cream Cheese Pumpkin Bars Sarah Kieffer In baker Sarah Kieffer’s gently spiced pumpkin bars, cream cheese enhances the pumpkin filling without making everything too sweet. As Kieffer writes, “I like pumpkin pie alright, but in all honesty I will always take a slice of anything else over it, especially if cheesecake is an option. But pumpkin pie swirled into cheesecake? I will never say no.” Get the Recipe 03 of 22 Spiced Chocolate Fondue Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Food Styling by Ruth Blackburn / Prop Styling by Claire Spollen This spiced chocolate fondue is fragrant with cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and ginger. Serve it with pieces of pound cake, gingerbread, apples, pears, and/or marshmallows, for dunking. If you like, offer a few pretzels or salt-topped cookies for a sweet-salty dessert experience. Get the Recipe 04 of 22 Pumpkin Praline Bars Victor Protasio / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley Bring pumpkin to the table in these easy to make and eat bars topped with a decadent frosting inspired by the flavors of pralines — a classic Southern confection. Topped with decadent brown sugar frosting, these cakelike bars are loaded with fall flavor — earthy and sweet pumpkin, warm spices, and toasty pecans. Get the Recipe 05 of 22 Fresh Figs With Labneh and Carob Molasses Photo by Heami Lee / Food Styling by Chelsea Zimmer / Prop Styling by Christine Keely Simple and striking: a geometric bloom of fresh figs tops a layer of labneh, served with carob molasses, olive oil, toasted sesame seeds and hazelnuts, and a shower of black pepper. Get the Recipe 06 of 22 Butterscotch Pudding Parfait with Gingersnap Crumble Tara Donne Classic butterscotch pudding is layered with tangy whipped crème fraîche and warm, spicy gingersnap crumble (made from store-bought cookies!) to create a beautiful parfait. Get the Recipe 07 of 22 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 08 of 22 Skillet Apple-Ginger Crisp Antonis Achilleos It's hard to mess up a fruit crisp, and you can skip coring the apples with this one with chewy candied ginger and a sweet apple filling. Get the Recipe 09 of 22 Pecan Pie Bars Julia Hartbeck Pecan pie bars have all the virtues of pecan pie without the need to roll out dough. They've got an effortless press-in shortbread crust and a stirred-together custard filling. Melted butter, light corn syrup, dark brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt make up that filling — once the pecan halves are mixed in, all you have to do is pour it into the prepared crust and bake. Get the Recipe 10 of 22 Snickerdoodles Matt Taylor-Gross / Food Styling Debbie Wee These solid snickerdoodle cookies only take 15 minutes of active time, but keep in mind the dough needs to rest for an hour. You can simplify day-of prep by making the dough ahead, stashing it in the freezer, and thawing in the refrigerator overnight before rolling and baking the cookies. Get the Recipe 11 of 22 Pumpkin Cream Pie in a Chocolate Crust © John Kernick Cookbook author Melissa Clark likes pumpkin pie, but she likes making it in new and unexpected ways. Here she bakes a silky pumpkin custard in a crispy chocolate cookie crust, then dollops the pie with a tangy crème fraîche topping. Get the Recipe 12 of 22 Country Honey Apple Galette © Con Poulos Jacques Pépin loves to serve this delicate apple galette as a buffet dessert, since it's beautiful, easy to slice, and simple to eat, pizza-style, while standing. The miraculously easy and versatile pastry dough comes together in a food processor in less than 20 seconds and can be filled with all sorts of fruits or vegetables. Get the Recipe 13 of 22 Vanilla Ice Cream Bread Pudding with Whiskey Caramel © John Kernick This genius bread pudding is made with melted vanilla ice cream, eliminating the need to make a custard. The caramel sauce comes together quickly with just four ingredients. Get the Recipe 14 of 22 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 15 of 22 Vanilla and Cider Panna Cotta with Spiced Ginger Cookies © John Kernick Chef Shawn McClain tops his cinnamon-vanilla panna cotta with an elegant apple cider gelée for a creamy, tangy dessert that's definitely holiday-worthy. The panna cotta is lovely on its own, but if you have time, make the spiced ginger cookies to serve with it. Get the Recipe 16 of 22 Pumpkin Tiramisu © John Kernick Silky pumpkin mousse is layered with coffee-dipped store-bought ladyfingers to create a spectacular tiramisu that's an easy and terrific alternative to pumpkin pie. Get the Recipe 17 of 22 Maple-Apple Upside-Down Cake © Con Poulos This is one of the best upside-down cakes ever — the maple syrup infuses both the apples and the cake, making the dessert taste like a stack of apple pancakes. Get the Recipe 18 of 22 Apple Pie Granita Kana Okada Chef Emeril Lagasse transforms natural apple juice into a refreshing granita in 15 minutes. Get the Recipe 19 of 22 Free-Form Apple Tart © Quentin Bacon Sam Mogannam's wife, Anne Walker, usually makes this dessert with Arkansas Black apples — an heirloom variety — from Mogannam's parents' orchard near Sacramento. The dense, tart apples are harvested late in the season, making them a good Thanksgiving choice. Granny Smiths are an easier-to-find alternative. Get the Recipe 20 of 22 Pumpkin Cookies © David Malosh These soft, lightly spiced cake-like cookies are studded with minced candied ginger and topped with a buttery sugar glaze. Get the Recipe 21 of 22 Skillet Apple Charlotte © Lucy Schaeffer A classic apple charlotte has a crust of buttered bread slices filled with caramelized apples. In this quick version from chef Jacques Pépin, apple wedges are sautéed with honey and maple syrup, topped with buttered toast, and turned out of the pan like a tarte Tatin. Get the Recipe 22 of 22 Apple Cake with Cranberries John Kernick Layer apples with cranberries and brown sugar for this moist and buttery upside-down cake, then top them with a fantastic sour cream batter. Get the Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit