Three Thanksgiving Tarts for a Beautiful (and Easier) Holiday Dessert Table
There was a time when September meant I started thinking about how many Thanksgiving tarts I could possibly make.
For years, Thanksgiving at Ginger & Spice meant tart boxes. I made them, packaged them and sent them out the door to become part of other families' Thanksgiving tables.
This year, I'm doing something different.
Instead of making the tarts for you, I'm giving you the recipes.
I've gathered three of my favourite Thanksgiving tart recipes into a new digital e-book, along with the little things I've learned from actually making them—the adjustments, make-ahead steps and troubleshooting tips that don't always make it into a traditional recipe.
And because I apparently couldn't stop at three recipes, I've included my Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies as a bonus.
Thanksgiving Tarts: A Gathered Recipe Collection is now available as an instant digital download for $14 CAD.
Thanksgiving Dessert Doesn't Need to Be Complicated
I love a beautiful dessert table. That probably surprises absolutely no one.
But I've also learned that a dessert table does not need twelve things.
It doesn't need to keep you in the kitchen until five minutes before everyone arrives, either.
A beautiful tart on a cake stand, a plate piled with cookies, perhaps something you've picked up from a favourite bakery—and suddenly you have a dessert table.
Add some flowers. Light the candles. Put the coffee on.
Done.
This is really the philosophy behind the new e-book. The desserts are beautiful enough to feel special for Thanksgiving, but I've included ways to spread the work out so you're not trying to make everything on Thanksgiving Day.
Make the tart shell the day before.
Make the caramel ahead.
Bake the cookies and tuck them into an airtight container.
Save the final garnishes and finishing touches for the day you're serving.
Do the messy work early so that when everyone arrives, you can actually join them.
Sound familiar? It's becoming a bit of a theme around here.
The Lemon Cream Tart
This might be the unexpected choice for Thanksgiving—and that's exactly why I love it.
After turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy and all the other wonderful richness of Thanksgiving dinner, something bright and lemony can be so good.
The filling is creamy but beautifully tart, and the graham and pretzel crust gives it that little salty contrast that keeps everything from becoming too sweet.
It's also a recipe where technique matters.
I've made it enough times to know that the crust needs to feel a certain way before it goes into the oven. I've learned to use a much larger pot than seems necessary when making the filling because cream has an alarming ability to go from perfectly behaved to boiling all over the stove.
And I've learned to pour the filling slowly.
Those are exactly the details I've included in the e-book.
Not just what to do, but the little “here's what I've learned after actually making this” notes that can save you from learning them the messy way.
The Chai Pumpkin Tart with Toasted Meringue
If you're firmly in the Thanksgiving requires pumpkin camp, this one's for you.
It has all the familiarity of pumpkin pie but feels a little more special: warm chai spices, a gingersnap crust and a cloud of toasted meringue on top. And don't let the meringue intimidate you. If you have piping bags and tips and want to create something beautiful and elaborate, absolutely pipe it.
If you don't? Spoon it onto the tart, make some lovely swoops and peaks with the back of the spoon and toast it. Both are beautiful.
I've also included a nut-free option for the crust, which happens to give you an even stronger gingersnap flavour. This is one I'd happily make ahead and save the meringue for closer to serving.
The Caramel Pumpkin Streusel Tart
And then there's this one. If the lemon tart is the fresh one and the chai pumpkin is the elegant one, the caramel pumpkin tart is the showstopper.
It starts with a buttery pastry shell, followed by homemade caramel and creamy pumpkin filling, and then gets topped with a chunky pecan streusel. There are several components, which makes it look like the most intimidating recipe in the collection.
But here's the secret:
Don't make all the components on the same day.
Make your pastry shell ahead.
Make your caramel ahead.
Suddenly, assembling the tart isn't nearly as daunting.
This is exactly how I approach entertaining in general. I'm not necessarily looking for recipes that require no effort. Sometimes the things worth making take a little effort. I'm looking for ways to move that effort to a time when I actually have time for it. That's a very different thing.
And a Little Something Extra...
I couldn't make a fall recipe collection without cookies.
So tucked into the e-book is a bonus recipe for my Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies.
They're soft, warmly spiced and can be made with semisweet, milk or white chocolate chips.
I've also included the flour adjustment I use here in Alberta, where our altitude and dry climate can affect baking.
Make them the day before Thanksgiving and keep them in an airtight container. They can also be frozen and thawed, although pumpkin baking is always at its best when it's fresh.
Pile them onto a beautiful platter beside your tarts—or send a couple home with everyone at the end of the evening.
What's Inside the Thanksgiving Tarts E-Book?
This isn't a giant cookbook filled with recipes you'll never make.
It's a small, intentional collection designed specifically for the Thanksgiving table.
Inside you'll find the three complete tart recipes, the bonus pumpkin cookie recipe, my baker's notes and troubleshooting tips, make-ahead recommendations, beautiful photography and some thoughts on creating a Thanksgiving dessert table without making yourself crazy in the process.
It's a digital PDF, so you'll receive it immediately after purchase. You can save it to your phone, tablet or computer, or print it and add it to your recipe collection.
Thanksgiving Tarts: A Gathered Recipe Collection — $14 CAD
Make It. Share It. Gather Around It.
I hope these recipes become the kind you pull out every fall.
Maybe you make the chai pumpkin tart every Thanksgiving until it becomes your tart. Maybe you bring the lemon one to someone else's dinner. Maybe the pumpkin cookies become the thing your family starts asking for before September is even over.
That's one of my favourite things about recipes. We can create them in one kitchen, but eventually they take on lives and stories of their own in someone else's.
So make something beautiful.
Set it on the table.
Light the candles.
And then leave the kitchen and go sit with your people.
Because the dessert matters—but mostly because of the people gathered around it.
A life well gathered.
Carla
Gathered by Ginger & Spice
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