Fill your Thanksgiving dessert table with vibrant options like the ube blondie pie by Ishnoelle Richardson, owner of Baking With Ish.
(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
L.A.’s best bakeries for last-minute holiday pie orders
The final flourish for Thanksgiving is invariably pie. You might be making yours from scratch. Or maybe you want to put the task of baking holiday pies in the hands of a professional. If so, you’re in luck ... but the clock is ticking. Make your Thanksgiving pie orders for pickup before the big day.
Los Angeles is a city of terrific bakeries and bakers, and ice cream makers too. Yes, there is ice cream pie for Thanksgiving (including plant-based ice cream), and there is cheesecake and pumpkin-filled sweet buns frosted with cream cheese. Traditional pies include chocolate toffee pecan pie, kabocha pie, espresso chess pie and brown butter apple pie. It’s pies galore.
Or, if you want to get into the kitchen and roll out dough, you should definitely check out these recipes from cooking columnist Ben Mims for apple, pumpkin and not-too-sweet pecan pie.
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(Ira Edelman / Clark Street)
Clark Street Bakery
Echo Park Bakery $$
Zack Hall’s string of local bakeries began with bread and, fittingly, will be offering a Thanksgiving bread special in addition to whole pies. For those looking to fill out the holiday table with pull-apart rolls, the baker’s selling them by the half-dozen ($5.50) and dozen ($10). When it comes to desserts, Clark Street is vending 9-inch pies in classic apple, pumpkin and pecan versions, made with crusts using Sonora flour from the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project. Pies are $48 each. Pickup is available at the Brentwood, Echo Park or new Larchmont location Nov. 22 and Nov. 23, or at Clark Street Diner on Nov. 22. Orders close Nov. 18.
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(Lucas Kwan Peterson / Los Angeles Times)
Cobblermania
Culver City Bakery $
The motto of Cobblermania, which sells its goodies in L.A.-area farmers markets, is: “So good you’ll (want to) slap somebody!” Let’s just say I was thankful no one else was around when I tried them. The $14 cobblers, which have crust bottoms (making them somewhat indistinguishable from pie in any practical way) were very good. The strawberry rhubarb nicely balances the sweet strawberry and weedy bitterness of the rhubarb. The sweet potato cobbler, a holiday favorite, is silky smooth with plenty of warm spices. Proprietor Shae Seward, born and raised in L.A., will be at the Torrance and Hollywood farmers markets this weekend as well as the Culver City farmers market on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. She recommends you get there early if you’ve got a particular flavor in mind, which may include the flavors named above as well as mango-blueberry-peach and a classic peach. For last-minute dessert needs, Seward will accept orders through Nov. 21 for pickup on Nov. 22 or Thanksgiving Day morning at Golden Bird (8300 S. Western Ave.), where she has baked her pies for more than a decade.
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(Jakob N. Layman / Friends & Family)
Friends & Family
East Hollywood Bakery $$
Roxana Jullapat’s bounteous pastry case is worth a visit year-round, but at Thanksgiving the Friends & Family baker is expanding her usual heirloom-grain offerings with whole pies at $60 apiece. This year’s menu includes sorghum-sweetened pecan pie, organic heirloom-breed pumpkin pie, quince streusel pie, a classic chocolate chess pie, cranberry brown butter pie and a spiced heirloom-apple pie. Bread options include a sourdough boule ($12), a half-dozen white cheddar biscuits ($28) and a half-dozen pull-apart potato rolls ($26). Friends & Family chef Daniel Mattern also is whipping up a la carte savory sides and salads such as mushroom bread pudding, cranberry dressing and glazed Brussels sprouts. The final day to order Thanksgiving pies and other items from Friends & Family is Nov. 20, with pickup on Nov. 22.
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(Sasha Piligian / May Microbakery)
May Microbakery
Echo Park Bakery $$
Sasha Piligian’s petal-and-fruit-topped, hyper-seasonal cakes are some of the most coveted desserts in L.A. — and on Instagram, more generally — and now the former Sqirl pastry chef’s gorgeous baked goods can be ordered as Thanksgiving pies. This season, through her May Microbakery operation, she’s offering pies for the holiday, each priced at $70. You can secure a See Canyon apple and fig leaf pie topped with brown sugar crumble, or a sweet potato tahini pie that tops sweet potato custard with a salted tahini whip, both in a buttery Sonora flour crust. The last day to order from Piligian is Nov. 18 for pickup on Nov. 22 at Canyon Coffee in Echo Park — where one can regularly find her tea cakes, cookies and other treats in the cafe’s pastry case by the register — or in Mid-City.
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(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)
The Pie Room by Curtis Stone
Hollywood Bakery $$
The Pie Room by Curtis Stone launched in 2020 at the Australian chef’s tasting-menu restaurant Maude. Since then it has moved to Gwen in Hollywood — and for the Thanksgiving holiday, pie pickups take place at a Pico Boulevard address. It’s worth following the trail of these pies. Available for advance order are holiday pies such as cranberry ginger with vanilla pastry cream, whipped cream, sugar-coated cranberries and candied ginger; chocolate cream with Valrhona chocolate custard, whipped crème fraîche and chocolate shavings; chocolate toffee pecan with toasted pecans and Valrhona chocolate covered with brown butter toffee; and maple pumpkin, lightly spiced and served with maple whipped cream and candied pepitas. Prices range from $55 to $65 for a whole pie. Place Thanksgiving orders via email at info@gwenla.com until Nov. 19. Pick up on Nov. 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. or Nov. 23, from 8 to 11 a.m.
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(Katrina Frederick / Sweet Rose Creamery)
Sweet Rose Creamery
Santa Monica Ice cream Bakery $$
In both Santa Monica and the Brentwood Country Mart, the Rustic Canyon Family’s artisanal ice cream shop is serving a chilly take on the classic Thanksgiving pie. Sweet Rose Creamery is vending a variety of ice cream pies in flavors such as pecan featuring brown sugar ice cream with buttered pecans and fudge in chocolate cookie crust; apple that tops apple ice cream with salted crumb and caramel sauce, in a graham cracker crust; and an all-vegan pumpkin version with pumpkin ice cream, meringue, pepitas and cinnamon in a gingerbread crust. Pies range from $55 to $60. Both shops also sell take-and-bake cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies and flaky biscuits from sibling spot Milo + Olive, along with pints of Sweet Rose ice cream. Preorders end Nov. 19, but both shops will offer the seasonal treats for walk-in orders (unless sold out) through Nov. 22.
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(Joanna Soon / République)
République
Hancock Park French Bakery $$$
Picking up sweets from the bakery at République is always a pro move. A decade in and fans still line up on a daily basis for a glimpse of the pastry case helmed by James Beard Award-winning pastry chef and co-owner Margarita Manzke, and her baked goods are out in full force during the holiday season. This year she and her team are offering a plethora of pies for Thanksgiving, including all the classics — pecan, apple and pumpkin — in addition to a few lighter fruit options such as strawberry passion fruit cream pie and banana cream pie (all $46 apiece). Spruce it up with a side of fresh vanilla whipped cream for $10, or opt for whole cakes in flavors such as pumpkin Basque cheesecake ($70), three-layer salted caramel chocolate cake ($96) or berry tres leches ($64). Online orders can be picked up from the restaurant in designated time slots until 2 p.m. Nov. 22 until sold out; orders for more than two cakes or two pies for next-day pickup should email info@republiquela.com.
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(Proof Bakery)
Proof Bakery
Atwater Village Bakery $$
The kabocha pie at Proof Bakery is one of the best pumpkin pies in the city, with a filling that is so custardy it’s almost jiggly, more creamy than grainy (as some pumpkin pies can be) and well-spiced. The crust is buttery and perfect, well-browned even on the bottom and in the center. In addition to kabocha, double-crust apple and espresso chess pies are available to preorder. So are dinner rolls made with purple sweet potatoes and cornbread, plus more desserts: cheesecake (your choice of pumpkin or labneh), chocolate espresso layer cake and passion fruit vanilla cake. You also can preorder loaf cakes, pastries such as croissants and cookies by the half-dozen. Pickup available on Nov. 22. Prices are $15 to $60.
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(SweetBoy)
SweetBoy
Hollywood Hills West Bakery $$
Ben Sidell helms the desserts program at Saltie Girl, the East Coast-style seafood restaurant owned by his mother, Kathy Sidell, that expanded to a location in West Hollywood in late 2022. Regular offerings include a baked-to-order chocolate chip cookie with Valhrona chocolate and an apple-walnut tart. For the holidays, Ben is offering an apple caramel crumble pie with salted caramel and oat granola and sweet buns with pecans or pumpkin filling and cream cheese frosting. Sweet buns are $35 to $40 and whole apple caramel crumble pies are $50 apiece. Place your order by sending @sweetboy an Instagram DM with your preferred items and email address. Preorders close on Nov. 17 and pickup is Nov. 22 from noon to 3 p.m. at Saltie Girl.
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(Mariah Tauger / Los Angeles Times)
Baking With Ish
San Gabriel Valley Bakery $$
The ube blondie pie at Ishnoelle Chin Richardson’s small storefront at the Blossom Market Hall in San Gabriel is like three desserts in one. The buttery, flaky crust is made from a blend of flours from the Tehachapi Heritage Grain Project. Then comes a layer of ube blondie in a deep shade of purple. It’s soft, chewy and full of the earthy, nutty flavor of the sweet yam native to southeast Asia. The top of the dessert is a delicate sheen of flan, mostly intact until you slice the pie and it slowly spills over the sides. It’s extra decadent and a wonderland of textures. Richardson is taking holiday orders for the ube blondie pie, a sticky rice pie with dulce de leche and coconut caramel, an ube coconut cream pie and an ube pumpkin pie through Nov. 19 or until he sells out. Orders can be placed on his website.
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(Dino Kužnik)
Dunsmoor
Glassell Park New American Bakery $$
Dunsmoor’s newly crowned pastry chef Erika Chan (Kato, Rustic Canyon) wasted no time putting her mark on the dessert menu at Brian Dunsmoor’s eponymous Glassell Park restaurant that showcases American heritage cooking. Chan takes a whimsical approach to hearth-fired desserts, including a spiced fig preserve cake that hails from Ocracoke Island, N.C., and is also adding a trio of pies available for order ahead of Thanksgiving. The brown butter apple pie features six heirloom apple varieties from Cuyama Orchards, caramelized in brown butter and finished with a double-layer, extra-flaky pie crust that’s crunchy with Demerara sugar. The pumpkin and pecan options prove just as tempting. All whole pies are $60 apiece. Orders for all three pies can be placed on Nov. 19 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for pickup on Nov. 22.
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(John Troxell)
Yangban
Downtown L.A. Korean American Jewish $$
Every meal at Katianna and John Hong’s Yangban restaurant in the Arts District inevitably ends with a slice of their whipped cheesecake. It doesn’t matter how much I’ve eaten for dinner. Or how I swear I couldn’t eat another bite. The cheesecake hits the table and it’s game on. It’s an excellent cheesecake, lighter and fluffier than most, thanks to a combination of whipped cream, whipped cream cheese and whipped coconut cream in the filling. The crust is ultra-buttery and crumbly, made with coconut biscuits, brown sugar and lots of roasted brown butter. It’s the welcome exclamation point at the end of any meal, including a holiday dinner. The Hongs are selling whole whipped cheesecakes ($72) as well as jars of jam for topping ($16) along with Goguma custard pies and chocolate tarts for $72 apiece for the holidays. To order and schedule a pickup time, email info@yangbanla.com.
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