Pies and Tarts

French Silk Pie

A thin layer of rich ganache prevents the chocolate filling from making the crust here soggy. If you don't want to make your own pie crust, simply use a 9-inch graham cracker crust.

Tangerine Curd Tart

Food & Wine's Kay Chun makes this beautiful, sunny-yellow tart for special occasions. It's a standout because she makes the rich and silky curd with fresh tangerine and lemon juices for the perfect balance of tangy and sweet.

Hazelnut-Rosemary Caramel Tart

According to Jessica Koslow, chef-owner of Sqirl in Los Angeles, their pastry chef, Meadow Ramsey, "makes the best pies and tarts on earth," and we agree. In tinkering to find an alternative to using corn syrup in this nutty tart, Ramsey discovered that a mix of brown rice syrup and brown sugar creates a custard with an amazing caramelly flavor and a luscious texture.

Pear-and-Cranberry Slab Pie

Instead of making a traditional two-crust pie in a pie plate, Food & Wine's Justin Chapple makes this free-form, fruit-filled, ginger-laced pie on a baking sheet.

Minny's Chocolate Pie

Lee Ann Flemming's fudgy pie is as classic as it gets. You can make your own crust, but Flemming uses packaged.

Lazy Mary's Lemon Tart

A whole Meyer lemon goes into this improbably delicious tart—just toss it in the blender with the other filling ingredients. The Lazy Mary of the recipe title is Mary Constant, a member of the Food52 online community and a Napa winemaker. The pastry crust, adapted from Joy of Cooking, is a Food52 staple.

Black-Bottom Peanut Pie

This is chef Marcus Samuelsson’s take on a classic Southern black-bottom pie. He added a peanut-caramel layer on top as an ode to his favorite candy bar, Snickers. “When I was a kid, I would treat myself to a Snickers bar on the way to soccer practice,” he writes in his cookbook Marcus Off Duty. “I don’t eat many candy bars these days, but I still love that combination of flavors.”

Custard Phyllo Pie With Almonds and Pistachios

For this unusual open-face pie from executive pastry chef Ghaya Oliveira of Daniel in New York City, buttered phyllo is layered with nuts and baked, then drenched with syrup and filled with rich custard.

Flaky Pear Pie

Grant Achatz's pie, inspired by his mom's, is as straightforward as it gets, with a melt-in-your-mouth all-shortening crust and a lightly sweetened pear filling with just a hint of spice.

• Interview with Grant Achatz

Brown Butter Custard Pie with Cranberry Glaze

To make this glorious pie, Momofuku pastry chef Christina Tosi uses a cinnamon-sugar crumb crust, a luscious brown butter filling and a cranberry glaze. Adorning the dessert: sweet potato-white chocolate ganache.

Chilled Grapefruit-Caramel Meringue Pie

This icebox treat can be prepared through Step 5 and frozen for up to 2 weeks, making it a perfect dessert choice when entertaining.

French Lemon Tart

• In this classic citrus tart, the lemony custard is poured into the baked tart shell, so there's no need to worry about an undercooked crust or a curdled filling.

Free-Form Pineapple, Mango and Berry Tarts

• Chef Mauricio Couly created these tarts filled with summer fruits like pineapple, mango and blueberries. The filling can, of course, vary depending on the season.

Bourbon Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Streusel

• A spicy-sweet, intense and fragrant Muscat ice wine will echo the rich texture and nutty flavors in this pie.

Caramelized Banana Tart

Good store-bought all-butter puff pastry forms the base of this easy banana tart glazed with a simple caramel sauce.

Double-Crust Apple Pie

• Grace Parisi uses a mix of Granny Smith, Pink Lady and Golden Delicious apples for this iconic dessert.

Brûléed Key Lime Tarts

• When the famed Gray Kunz opened Grayz in Manhattan, he planned to pair every dish with a cocktail. What to have with this outrageous Oreo-crusted riff on Key lime pie? An Elderflower Martini.

Passion Fruit Ice Cream Pie with a Ginger Crust

This isn't the kind of ice cream pie you'd make for a kiddie birthday party. Instead of a plain cookie crust, Grace Parisi creates a crispy, chewy one with crumbled gingersnaps, dried pineapple and candied ginger. And instead of the usual caramel or chocolate sauce on top, she prepares a delectable mix of dulce de leche and passion fruit nectar from the supermarket.

Bittersweet Chocolate-Truffle Tart with Candied Oranges

Bittersweet chocolate and orange make a heavenly combination in this decadent and divine tart.

Lemon Ice Box Pie

• This silken frozen pie is adapted from one of chef David Guas's favorite New Orleans neighborhood restaurants. (Recipe adapted from DamGoodSweet.)

Fresh Raspberry Tart

This fresh raspberry tart gets an extra hit of berry flavor from the raspberry jam; it sets the berries in place, adding flavor intensity and a beautiful shine.

Pear Tarte Tatin with Red-Wine Caramel

• Because Shawn McClain's recipe calls for store-bought puff pastry (he's a huge fan of Dufour's), it's quite easy to prepare.

Yogurt and Apricot Pie with Crunchy Granola Crust

Oats and almonds may both help lower blood pressure; they’re incorporated here in an ingenious granola crust for this sweet apricot pie.

Brown Butter-Cranberry Tart

• This is a terrific cross between a tart and a cake; it has a crisp, delicate crust as well as a cakey filling made with nutty browned butter and vanilla bean. Pastry chef Katherine Thompson serves it all year-round with different toppings, but for the holidays, she loves to pile on fresh cranberries.

Caramel Cream Pie with Crispy Rice Topping

• Humble ingredients like puffed rice cereal (transformed into a brilliant topping) and graham crackers (crushed with hazelnuts to yield a tender crust) are the core of this surprisingly luxe dessert.

Tiramisu Icebox Pie

Pastry chef Mathew Rice of Pastaria in Nashville takes the familiar elements of a classic tiramisu—ladyfingers, coffee, and mascarpone—and reimagines them as an icebox pie. The dessert is full of playful textures and flavors, including a dense coffee mousse and salty-sweet coffee crunchies.

Huckleberry and Butter Pie

Huckleberries are similar to blueberries; either will work here. Sumac, a dried crimson berry common in Middle Eastern cooking, is naturally tart. It stands in for the lemon here and heightens the floral aroma of the berries. Violet extract is the can’t-quite-place-it element that intensifies the jammy berry filling.

Purple Sweet Potato Pie with Coconut and Five-Spice

Krystal Mack, of BLK//SUGAR in Baltimore, draws inspiration from the communities nearby. The purple ube, or sweet potato, comes from the Filipino-Americans who make up a vital part of Baltimore’s culture. The Taiwanese and Southeast Asian populations introduced Mack to five-spice and inspired the addition of coconut. Toasted marshmallows brings in the Americana of a Black Thanksgiving. “This pie represents true cultural exchange,” says Mack. Using ube flavoring, an extract available from McCormick, amps up the purple color of the pie, making it a showstopper on any holiday table.