A Thanksgiving Guide to Baked-in-Brooklyn Pies
Officially burned out on a post-Halloween excess of Tootsie Pops, Milk Duds and bite-sized Baby Ruth’s? Time to turn your attention to autumn’s other prominent holiday sweet: pie. Granted, it’s become a bit of a year-round indulgence, thanks to the infamous Four and Twenty Blackbirds, but consider this your opportunity to give Brooklyn’s other quality pie purveyors a whirl—from Prospect Heights newcomer Daly Pie, to Russia’s Stolle Bakery, with outposts in Carroll Gardens and Brighton Beach.
Daly Pie
If there’s an excuse for skipping dessert at Olmsted, it’s this new, next-door pie shop, whose holiday offerings include Buttermilk Sweet Potato, Vermont Maple Pecan and Lumberjack—pears tossed with maple syrup and walnuts and topped with a maple walnut crunch. You can even order a Thanksgiving Package, complete with a Chocolate Bourbon Pecan pie from Daly, paired with two pints of “Splinters” via Ice & Vice (smoked whiskey barrel wood-infused ice cream studded with cracker jack) and a quart of chai-spiced pear cider from Renegade Lemonade.
665 Vanderbilt Ave., Prospect Heights
Pels Pie Co.
Brokelyn writer-turned pie proprietor, Alison Pels, opened this Prospect Lefferts Gardens café in 2015, serving both savory slices (like Zucchini Goat Cheese and Whitefish Quiche) and sweet—such as Pear Almond, Fig Buttermilk, Black Bottom Pumpkin and Chocolate Mousse.
446 Rogers Ave., Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Pie Corps
So often sidelined as sauce, Pie Corps gives cranberries a central role in their seasonal pie selection; think Nantucket Cranberry pie, brimming with tart fruit and vanilla almond custard, or Apple Cranberry Walnut Lattice, boasting a rustic, sugar-dusted crust. And a series of 4-inch, palm-sized pies are ideal for supplementing your Thanksgiving dessert spread: try Pumpkin Crumb, Apple Crumb with rosemary caramel, or Bittersweet Chocolate Fudge.
77 Driggs Ave., Greenpoint
Bien Cuit
Zachary Golper may be considered one of Brooklyn’s premiere bread artisans, but his pie game is just as strong; consider intriguingly-tweaked classics such as Pumpkin with marshmallow and pecan praline, and Caramel Apple with cheddar streusel, or highly non-traditional Thanksgiving offerings, such as a Yuzu Tart layered with Asian pears and coconut cream, or a Kadota Fig and Ricotta Torte.
120 Smith St., Cobble Hill
Butter & Scotch
It’s all about the single, ice cream-crowned slices (alternately blended into milkshakes) at Butter & Scotch’s boozy Crown Heights bakery, but entire pies can still be procured online, pre-order Caramel Apple, Bourbon Ginger Pecan, all butter crusted Pumpkin, or toasted homemade marshmallow fluff-topped S’mores, for pick-up in the shop.
818 Franklin Ave., Crown Heights
Little Cupcake Bakeshop
Cupcakes are merely a jumping off point at this winsome Bay Ridge sweet shop—you’ll also find an array of Pecan, Apple Crumb and Pumpkin Spice pies, formed from ingredients sourced from local farms, and baked in small batches in their green architecturally designed space.
9102 3rd Ave., Bay Ridge
The Good Batch
Though we can’t imagine your Thanksgiving guests would turn up their noses at Pumpkin Chai Whoopie Pie Ice Cream Sandwiches, or lacy Dutch Stroopwaffles filled with buttered caramel (The Good Batch’s signature sweet) the Clinton Hill storefront is nodding to the season with a duo of pies as well: Ginger Cookie Pumpkin sweetened with molasses, and Apple Crumble made with NYS-grown fruit.
936 Fulton St., Clinton Hill
Stolle Bakery
This Russia-based mini-chain currently boasts bakeries in both Carroll Gardens and Brighton Beach, specializing in not-too-sweet Eastern European-style pies, such as Raspberry Cottage Cheese, Black Currant, Cranberry, Dried Apricot and Apple, each enclosed in an intricately folded, egg-glazed pastry crust.
119 Court St. in Carroll Gardens, or 231 Brighton Beach Ave., in Brighton Beach
