Where To Pick Up Philly’s Best Thanksgiving Pies This Year
From classics to out-of-the-box takes on the holiday dessert, here’s where (and when) to order.
Pick up your Thanksgiving pies from one of Philly’s expert bakers. / Photograph courtesy of Zsa’s Ice Cream
Let’s all be honest with each other here: making a great pie is hard. It requires an alchemy of cold butter and a hot oven that takes practice to pull off dependably. Plus, making pies is time-consuming under the best of circumstances, but when you’re in the middle of cooking a lot of other things for Thanksgiving, they can present a challenge that is both formidable and, ultimately, unnecessary. And it’s unnecessary because there are so many people in the city of Philadelphia who are incredibly skilled bakers and who would love to make your Thanksgiving pies for you.
So what we’re asking you here is, why not let them?
Zsa’s Ice Cream, Germantown
Pie and ice cream are a natural pair so why not … ice-cream pies? Zsa’s Ice Cream is offering two seasonal ice-cream pies: a caramel-apple pie with a vanilla bean base topped with roasted apples, caramel sauce and graham cracker streusel, the other a maple ice cream base topped with salted brown butter pecans and that same streusel. It’s a nice balance between traditional and outside-the-box, in a way that people are sure to love.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: dates available between November 10th and 22nd
Fiore Fine Foods, East Kensington
Fiore is back in a new East Kensington location just in time for the holiday season. They’re doing pies, cookies and biscuits with a honey-butter glaze for Thanksgiving, in addition to a full savory menu. I can tell you from personal experience that their apple crumb pie is exceptional, and that people will absolutely believe you if you say you made it yourself.
Preorders open: now through November 16th
Pickup: Wednesday, November 22nd from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
High Street Philadelphia, Washington Square West
High Street’s sweet offerings are modern takes on classics. They’ve added five spice to an apple crumb pie, and are doing pumpkin pie with a gingery, honeynut squash filling and a brown-sugar meringue topping. Both are sure to make you seem elegant and sophisticated, and who doesn’t want to seem elegant and sophisticated?
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Wednesday, November 22nd and Thursday, November 23rd
Paistries, Point Breeze
If you’re concerned about having homemade desserts for Thanksgiving, look no further than Erica Pais, a professional baker who runs pop-ups out of her own home. See? Homemade! For Thanksgiving, she’s your pick for a lattice-topped classic apple pie, an actually-good pumpkin, and a pecan pie shot through with dark chocolate.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Tuesday, November 21st and Wednesday, November 22nd
Vernick Coffee Bar, Center City
I’m on board with anyone who believes that cake, specifically carrot, deserves a place on the Thanksgiving table. And at Vernick Coffee Bar, they’re walking a very fine line between pie and cake with a cake-filled carrot-cake pie, which gets baked inside a graham-cracker crust and topped with cream-cheese frosting. They’ve also got a pumpkin cheesecake, a pecan sweet potato pie, and a gluten-free caramel apple pie.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Monday, November 20th through Wednesday, November 22nd
Essen Bakery, East Passyunk
If pumpkin challah and pumpkin-cheesecake babka belong on your Thanksgiving table, Essen has you covered. They’re also doing Jewish apple cake (very good for breakfast!), a Basque cheesecake, a kabocha squash pie, plus classic pecan and apple pies.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Tuesday, November 21st and Wednesday, November 22nd
Mighty Bread Co., East Passyunk
Mighty Bread has savory offerings this year, but I’m most focused on their apple-pear pie filled with hazelnut frangipane and finished with a lattice-top crust (a look I love but simply cannot pull off myself.) Other sweet options include maple-pumpkin pie with pepita-sage streusel, a pumpkin loaf cake, and several other breakfast-appropriate sweets.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Tuesday, November 21st and Wednesday, November 22nd
Second Daughter Baking Company, East Passyunk
One problem with traditional Thanksgiving desserts is that they traditionally don’t involve chocolate. Second Daughter has solved that problem by simply baking their legendary brownies into a pie. They’ve also got a bourbon-soaked apple butter bundt cake and a spiced-pumpkin tart topped with maple-brown-sugar whipped cream that would look fantastic on any table.
Preorders open: now until November 18th
Pickup: Wednesday, November 22nd from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursday, November 23rd from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Vanilya, East Passyunk
In addition to classic apple and pecan, Vanilya is doing a halvah-topped pumpkin pie, a banana cream pie with chocolate curls, a fruit tart, and a much more that you might not think you’re even allowed to be craving for Thanksgiving. But trust me, you are.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Monday, November 20th through Wednesday, November 22nd
Cake Life Bake Shop, Fishtown
Cake Life has pies! It’s not an oxymoron, although they also have cakes if that’s more your speed. In fact, between rum-spiced pumpkin pie, cranberry-hazelnut tart, caramel-apple cake, and so much more, they’ve got pretty much whatever you could want.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Wednesday, November 22nd from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Thursday, November 23rd from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Amy’s Pastelillos, Fishtown
I am pretty much always craving what Amy’s Pastelillo’s is making, but by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, I’m particularly interested in her coquito, a Puerto Rican coconut nog that takes extremely well to rum, and wouldn’t be out of place alongside your Thanksgiving dessert spread.
Preorders open: now until sold out
Pickup: Wednesday, November 22nd
