Earthy pumpkin seeds and hazelnuts give pecan pie a run for its money.

Everyone loves pecan pie. Gooey, sweet and chuck full of toasted nuts, it’s a bona fide Turkey Day classic for a reason. But in my book, every classic can use the occasional update (I’m all for a Thanksgiving meal that eschews the mashed potatoes, gravy, and plain-Jane Turkey for more creative operations, like Ideas In Food’s Turkey Meatballs.) While I’d never turn away a pitch-perfect slice of pecan, this pie combines a variety of nuts—rich hazelnuts, crunchy pepitas, and sweet pine nuts—for taste that still offers the sticky sweet flavor that makes the dessert such a success, while giving real the depth of flavor. Thanksgiving fanatics may not let it take over the table, but this Pumpkin Seed and Hazelnut Pie is bound to become a holiday hit.

Pumpkin Seed and Hazelnut Pie, adapted from Bon Appetit
Servings: 1 9-inch pie
For the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out dough
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 large egg 9″-diameter pie pan with a removable bottom

For the filling:
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 ounces unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

1. Crust: Whisk 1 cup of flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and powdered sugar until light and fluffy and pale yellow in color, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat to blend, occasionally scrapping bowl. Add dry ingredients in 3 batches, beating just to blend between additions. Gather dough into a ball; flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°Fahrenheit. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch round. Transfer to pan, pressing dough onto bottom and up sides of pan. Trim dough flush with top of pan (reserve any scraps in case needed for patching crust after baking). Prick dough all over with a fork and freeze for 10 minutes.

3. Line the chilled pie shell with foil or parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until the edges of crust are just beginning to turn golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove foil and pie weights. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

4. For filling: Preheat the oven to 300°Fahrenheit. Spread out the pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, and pine nuts on 3 separate small baking sheets. Toast the nuts until fragrant and light brown, about 10 minutes for the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds, and 20 minutes for hazelnuts. Let the nuts cool completely.

5. While the nuts are toasting, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown bits form on bottom of pan, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

6. Stir brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Stir in the eggs, then add the browned butter. Fold in the nuts. Pour the filling into pie shell.

7. Turn the oven up to 350°Fahrenheit. Bake the pie, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set around edges and jiggles slightly in center when nudged, about 1 hour. Loosely tent foil over pie if crust gets too dark. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Brandy, roasted apples and chocolate custards combine to create a decadent and boozy fall dessert.

Although I celebrated Thanksgiving a bit late this year, I certainly celebrated with a bang. The turkey was beautiful and moist, the confit tomato tart was a hit, and ten of our dear friends dug in for one more round of TDay, offering sausage stuffing, carrot souffle, and homemade cranberry relish.

But instead of pie, my dessert of choice this year was a trifle. Partly inspired by Saveur‘s beautiful cover this month, and partly taken up with the notion of making something I hadn’t yet conquered, I decided to forgo the traditional Thanksgiving desserts for this fall-flavored layered treat. Although this is typically an English Christmas dessert, combining the flavors of fall–roasted apples, brandy, and apple jam–gave this version an autumn feel. And it was the perfect ending to our belated Thanksgiving Day celebration this Saturday.

But this concoction, classically made with layers of wine-soaked cake, custard, fruit or jelly, and a liquor-spiked cream called a syllabub, can be re-imagined with any flavors you have on hand, making it a great dessert to get you through the winter party season. An added bonus– the different elements can be made several days in advance, allowing more cooking time for other items on the actual day of.

Autumn Trifle (adapted from Saveur, No. 134)

For the cake:
6 oz butter, softened
14 oz sugar
4 yolks
3 oz white chocolate
1 cup buttermilk or milk
9.5 oz cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
4 whites
1/4 cup sugar

For the custards:
3/4 cup sugar
7 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg yolks
2 eggs
4 cups milk
8 oz. 70 percent dark chocolate, finely chopped
10 oz. white chocolate, finely chopped
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
1/4 cup brandy

For the fruit:
4 medium sized apples
2 cups fresh or dried cherries
1 cup brandy
1 cup apple cider
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup apple jam or applesauce

For the syllabub:
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp brandy
1 cup heavy cream

1. Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and 14 oz sugar together. In a small bowl, microwave the white chocolate, 10 seconds at a time and stirring in between, until melted completely. Be careful beacuse white chocolate burns easily. Add a small amount of the butter to the white chocolate and stir to combine. Add this mixture to the rest of butter and mix on a low speed to combine.

3. Add the egg yolks into the mixer, scraping down the sides in between each addition. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add one-fourth of it to the mixture. Add a small amount of milk. Continue adding flour and then milk, until all is added and batter is smooth.

4. Pour batter into a clean bowl and wash out mixing bowl. Whip the whites in the bowl until they start to froth, then slowly rain in the remaining sugar. Whisk on medium speed until shiny and at medium peeks. Add a small portion to the batter and stir to combine. Add the rest of the meringue to the batter, and gently fold together, using a spatula. Line a sheet tray with a silpat or parchment paper, and pour batter onto tray. Using a large offset spatula, evenly spread the batter on tray. Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. Remove cake from oven and let cool overnight. The next day, remove the top crust, either by gently rolling it off the cake or by slicing the layer off with a knife. Flip the cake out of the tray and carefully slice off the bottom crust. Cut the remaining cake into 1/2” cubes. Place cubes in a bowl and set aside.

6. For the custards: In a 2-qt sauce pan, whisk together 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tbsp cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp salt. Add two yolks and 1 egg, whisk until smooth, and add 2 cup milk. Bring to a boil, whisking so sides and bottom do not burn or curdle, and cook until mixture thickens, 1-2 minutes. Pour into a small bowl, and add chocolate in four additions, stirring to smooth after every addition. Add 2 tbsp butter and brandy and stir to combine. Place a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and chill overnight. Whisk the remaining sugar, cornstarch and salt in a 2-qt saucepan. Add two yolks and one egg, whisk to combine, and add 2 cups milk. Bring to a boil, whisking so sides and bottom do not burn or curdle, and cook until mixture thickens, 1-2 minutes. Pour into a small bowl, and add white chocolate in four additions, stirring to smooth after every addition. Add 2 tbsp butter, and combine. Place a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard and chill overnight.

7. For the fruit: Heat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the apples into a small dice and place them in a roasting pan (a bread pan works well). Add 1/2 cup brandy, 1 cup apple cider, and 1 tbsp cinnamon. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and cook 30-40 minutes or until fork tender. Removed from oven, strain off liquid, reserving, and place apples in a separate container. Cool. Halve and pit cherries and place them in a 4-qt sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup brandy, 1 cup cider and 1 tbsp cinnamon and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Strain, reserving liquid, and cool cherries.

8. To assemble the trifle: Combine the reserved fruit liquids and toss the cake cubes with it. Arrange the cake snugly in the bottom of a 3-qt glass trifle dish or bowl. Combine the apples and cherries, and top cake with a layer of fruit. Spoon chocolate custard over fruit and smooth top with a rubber spatula or back of spoon. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes. If using thick apple jam, heat to soften, and then allow to cool. Pour jam or applesauce over custard and spread evenly. Return to refrigerator and chill until set, about two hours. Spoon white chocolate custard over jam, smooth with spatula and cover dish with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours.

9. An hour or so before your plan to serve the trifle, make the syllabub. Whisk together the brandy and sugar until sugar has dissolved. Add the heavy cream, and whisk to soft peaks. Spoon over the chocolate custard and use the back of a spoon to create swirls and peaks with the cream. Chill until ready to serve.

Skip the traditional apple altogether and let the Japanese version star in your Thanksgiving Day pie.

This time of year it’s no surprise my favorite thing to eat are persimmons. I love crisp, crunchy fuyus and eat them like apples, as soon as I buy them at the farmers market. Some are sweet, some are tangy, and I use them for everything from salads to jam to an addition in my latest stuffing recipe(added to dark rye bread soaked in stout.)

Thankful for the vast assortment of persimmons available at the multitude of California farmers markets, this year the fruit is my special choice for Thanksgiving Day. Sweet and crunchy, the flavor takes the place of apples in a pie, with the addition of musky honey dates. Cooked with moscavado sugar, vanilla and dark rum, this pie is everything I love about persimmons: rich, sweet, and earthy. I just hope everyone is as thankful as I for all my persimmons recipes.

Apple and Persimmon Pie
Pastry Dough
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup ice water

For the Filling
6 medium size fuyu persimmons or 2 Giant fuyu and 3 small fuyu
1/2 cup honey dates
1/4 cup dark rum
1 1/2 cup moscavado sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp clove
1 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup milk
1/8 cup large crystal brown sugar(for dusting top of pie)

1. Stir together flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the cubed butter, and using a pastry cutter or two forks, cut the butter into the dough, creating small pieces of butter mixed with the dries.

2. When the butter is fairly incorporated, add half of the ice water and mix together. Add more water until the dough just holds together. Form a ball with the dough, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

3. While the dough is chilling, cut the persimmons into 1/2-inch slices. Pit the dates and cut them into quaters.

4. Put the sugar, butter, cream, and spices into a heavy-bottomed, medium-size pot. Heat over medium heat until the liquid is thick and syrupy, about ten minutes. Add the rum and fruit and stir to combine. Turn off heat and set aside.

4. Pre-heat then oven to 425 F with a sheet tray in the oven. Remove dough from the refrigerator and cut the ball into two pieces, re-wrapping one piece and placing it back into the fridge. Place to dough between two sheets of parchment or wax paper and roll the dough out to 13-inch round. Spray a pie pan with cooking spray and lay the dough into the pan, pressing down into the corners of the pan. Place the lined  pan in the refrigerator and remove the second piece.

5. Place between two sheets of parchment or wax paper, and roll the second piece of dough out to a 13-inch round.  Place back in the refrigerator, removing the pie pan. Remove the top sheet of paper from the pie pan, making sure dough is in all corners of pan. Trim the edges with kitchen scissors, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Fill the pie pan with fruit mixture.

6. Take second peice of dough out and remove top sheet of paper. Using any shape cutter, cut out sections of dough, either one in the center, or several around the dough. Carefully remove cut out pieces, and place to the side. Carefully put the dough on top of the pie and remove the top layer of paper. Trim the edges to match the bottom layer, and using a fork, make impressions all along the pie rim.

7. If desired, place the cut out pieces of dough on the top of the pie. Using a pastry brush, cover the whole pie with milk and then sprinkle the large crystal sugar on top.

7. Place the pie on the hot sheet tray and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. Cool pie to room temperature. Freeze if making ahead of time, or slice and enjoy after your turkey dinner.