food
By Katherine Gillen
•
Published Sep 17, 2019
You’ll fearlessly roast a whole chicken and you consider yourself a cookie master, but there’s one thing that strikes fear into your culinary heart every time: Pie. We’ll totally admit that—even for us seasoned bakers—mastering a flaky crust and luscious filling then rolling and crimping it into something stunning is totally intimidating. But with these 25 easy pie recipes, you’ll be a pie professional in no time.
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Photo: Mark Weinberg/Styling: Erin McDowell
1. Cherry Slab Pie
Everyone knows the crust is the best part, and in our opinion, a slab pie offers a more balanced crust-to-filling ratio. You won’t know until you try it, though.
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Photo: Mark Weinberg/Styling: Erin McDowell
2. Mini Apricot Meringue Pies
Confession: We’re totally smitten with these cuties, which feature a cookie-like crust and jammy filling. You can use any fruit that’s in season, but don’t skip the fluffy meringue.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
3. Peanut-butter Freezer Pie
You don’t even need an oven for this one. The press-in crust and freezer filling eliminate all that par-baking, rolling and crimping nonsense.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
4. Lemon Pie With Blueberry Meringue
Sure, you could make a traditional lemon meringue pie. Or you could add freeze-dried blueberries and blow everyone away.
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Photo: Nico Schinco/Styling: Erin McDowell
5. Neapolitan Pie
At first glance, this pie looks deceptively simple. But slice in and you’ll find three irresistible, impressive layers of flavor.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
6. Blueberry Crumble Pie
By swapping the top crust for a low-maintenance crumb topping, you automatically make the recipe easier to pull off. And besides, who can argue with cinnamon-sugar streusel?
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Photo: Mark Weinberg/Styling: Erin McDowell
7. Ginger Cherry Pie
FYI, Erin McDowell is something of a pie genius, so you can trust that her spicy take on a classic cherry pie will be utterly delicious.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
8. Puff-pastry Plum And Thyme Galette
A galette is really just a fancy way of saying “freeform pie,” right? This one takes it a step further with an effortless (read: store-bought) puff-pastry base.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
9. Strawberry Pie With Strawberry Crust
Ooh, look how fancy! The effect is surprisingly easy to pull off: By pulsing freeze-dried fruit into your food processor crust, you’ll end up with a pastel masterpiece.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
10. Cheater’s Mini Rhubarb Galettes
The hardest part is rolling out the pre-made pie dough.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
11. Mini Caramel Pecan Pies With Cinnamon Roll Pie Crust
We know it’s hard to believe, but these minis are ready in under an hour. That means more time for eating two…or three.
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Photo: Mark Weinberg/Styling: Erin McDowell
12. Mini Strawberry Ice-cream Pies
Everyone will think this took you tons of effort, but it’s as simple as crushing up graham crackers and roasting some fruit. Look at you, pie whiz.
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Photo: Nico Schinco/Styling: Erin McDowell
13. Muffin-tin Lemon Meringue Tarts
These look like they belong in a bakery showcase, but they’re super simple to whip up at home, thanks to your handy muffin tin.
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Nisha Vora
14. Vegan And Gluten-free Dark Chocolate Ginger Tart
With a fudge-like consistency and irresistible combination of rich dark chocolate and zingy ginger, no one will even suspect that it’s actually kind of healthy.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
15. Blackberry Panna Cotta Tartlets
Skip the pastry cream and fill your itty-bitty tart crusts with this panna cotta instead. Why? Because there’s no special equipment required.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
16. Gluten-free Pistachio Apricot Tart
Behold, the most photogenic dessert of all time. You can use any fruit you like, but we’re partial to stone fruit when it’s in season.
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Lomelino's Pies: A Sweet Celebration of Pies, Galettes, and Tarts
17. Banoffee Pie With Honeycomb
Meet banoffee, the magical British flavor combination of bananas, toffee and cream that’s somewhat life changing. Better yet, these mini pies are ready in just 40 minutes.
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Erin McDowell
18. Chocolate-chip Cookie Tart With Chocolate Ganache
If a chocolate-chip cookie and a chocolate cream pie had a very delicious baby, this would be it.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
19. Berry Galette
This one’s for the pie purists. You really can’t go wrong.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
20. Brownie Pie
Oh hi, decadentpie of our dreams. If you’re going to have dessert, you might as well go all in.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
21. Triple Cookie Skillet Pie
While we’re big fans of cookies, sometimes we just can’t bother with the scooping and portioning. This skillet pie is the solution.
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Photo: Eric Moran/Styling: Erin McDowell
22. No-bake Coconut Cream Pie
Your oven called, and it wants a break. Good news, this sweet stunner relies solely on the refrigerator to set up.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
23. Gluten-free Apple Rose Tart
It’ll look like you pulled out all the stops, but don’t tell anyone how easy it really was. (You can thank the press-in pecan crust for that.)
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Lomelino's Pies: A Sweet Celebration of Pies, Galettes, and Tarts
24. Banana Cream Pie
This pie has a secret: There are peanuts in the crust, which balance the sweet filling with just a hint of salt.
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
25. Biscuit Dough Pumpkin Hand Pies
We’ve got a trick up our sleeve, in the form of a can of store-bought biscuit dough. See you later, finicky pie crust.
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Watch: Pie Crust Recipe: How To Make The Perfect Dough
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Katherine Gillen
Senior Food Editor
Katherine Gillenis PureWow’s senior food editor. She’s a writer, recipe developer and food stylist with a degree in culinary arts and professional experience in New York City...
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