While no Thanksgiving feast would be complete without turkey, stuffing, or mashed potatoes, dessert is often what leaves a lasting impression on guests. It is the final course of the meal, so you’ll want to do it right.
If you’re interested in straying from the traditional apple, pecan, or pumpkin pie, consider looking to hosting maven Ina Garten for inspiration. The Barefoot Contessa recently shared three dessert recipes on Instagram “that everyone is sure to remember and give thanks for.”
In her post, Garten wrote, “My dear friend Anna Pump used to say, no one remembers what you serve for dinner, but they always remember dessert!” She then listed three dessert recipes and their corresponding page numbers in her cookbooks: Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie, Apple Pie Bars, and Pumpkin Mousse Parfaits.
First published in her book Go-To Dinners, the Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie is a beginner-level recipe that serves six to eight people. The pie features a combination of brown sugar, vanilla extract, good bourbon (such as Maker’s Mark), semisweet chocolate chips (like Nestlé’s), whole pecans, and a few other baking essentials.
After combining these ingredients and pouring the mixture onto your pie crust, pop the dessert in the oven, heated to 350 degrees, for 35 to 40 minutes. To elevate the dessert even further, Garten recommends topping it with a scoop of “good vanilla ice cream” like Häagen-Dazs.
For a twist on classic apple pie, Garten transforms the popular fall dessert into bars. The cooking star’s Apple Pie Bars, first published in Cooking for Jeffrey, is an intermediate-level recipe that yields 12 bars.
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The dessert starts with a homemade crust, which is blanketed in a filling containing Granny Smith and Golden delicious apples, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter. It’s also topped with additional “pinches” of a crust for added crunch. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the topping is browned, and enjoy!
Garten’s third Thanksgiving dessert is her Pumpkin Mousse Parfait. The beginner-level recipe, published in Barefoot Contessa at Home, serves eight to 10 people. The mousse is made with a combination of pumpkin, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg yolks, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, along with homemade whipped cream.
The dessert consists layers of pumpkin mousse, whipped cream, and chopped cookies in a parfait glass. Once the layers are set and refrigerated, top the dessert with whipped cream and slivered crystallized ginger.
These three desserts aren’t the only Thanksgiving recipes Garten has recently shared on social media. This month, the Food Network celebrity also posted several recipes for bread pudding, Brussels sprouts, and sweet potatoes.
Brianna Ruback
Brianna is a staff writer at Eat This, Not That! She attended Ithaca College, where she graduated with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Communication Studies. Read more about Brianna
