Ordering Holiday Pies and Desserts

New York's best bakeries stop taking orders for pies and desserts long before any major holiday.  If you want to count on having a great pie, cake, tart or other sweets from any of the city's best bakeries, put your order early so you won't be disappointed.

Many of these bakeries have web sites so click on our listing for more information, including addresses and phone numbers.  Some have deadlines for taking orders so it's a good idea to call soon.

Here are some of the best:

• Pie Country -- One of New York's newest and best pie bakeries.  Order online and get your pies delivered right to your door. Each pie is rolled by hand with more than 50 varieties, including Thanksgiving classics.  Made in both 6" and 9" sizes. 

• Pie Corps -- Artisanal and made with local ingredients, this bakery's sweet and savory pies, tarts, and hand-sized pastries are outstanding for their flavor and texture.  Special seasonal flavors include nutmeg maple custard and pumpkin maple bourbon.  Their pies are sold at Amsterdam Market and a select number of other locations, but order direct to be sure you get what you want. 

• Two Little Red Hens -- On Manhattan's Upper East Side.  Loved for their traditional approach to classic American desserts like apple and pecan pies.

• The Little Pie Company -- For many New Yorkers it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without an Old Fashioned Apple Pie from this bakery.  Other choices are Sour Cream Apple Walnut Pie, Southern Pecan Pie, New York Cheesecake, Mississippi Mud Pie and Cranberry-Apple Crumb Pie.  Sizes range from 5 to 10-inches. 

• Black Hound Bakery -- Exquisitely decorated and satisfying, sweet flavors.  Their pies and cakes come in sizes as small as 3-inch in diameter, plus larger sizes to serve 12 or so -- but buy enough for seconds.  Choices include:  Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Cognac Pie, Apple Pie, Apple Pecan Pie, Apple-Cranberry Pie, Apple Ginger Tart, Pumpkin Cake, and Pumpkin Cheesecake.  Their gorgeous Autumn Leaf Cake, filled with poached pear and decorated with marzipan, would make the ideal gift if someone else is making you Thanksgiving dinner.

• Martha's Country Bakery -- With three locations in Queens, this bakery makes old fashioned apple and pumpkin pies.  Call for their selection and when to order.

• Cousin John's -- A long-loved bakery on 7th Avenue in Park Slope that makes traditional American and Italian-style desserts.  Call for holiday choices.

• Junior's Cheesecake -- As much a restaurant as a bakery, this company is not in our regular merchant database.  But for those of you who must have Pumpkin Cheesecake on your holiday menu, their Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake is 3 pounds of creamy sweetness.  Three locations:  Grand Central Concourse near Track 36, 386 Flatbush Avenue at DeKalb in Brooklyn, and Times Square on West 45th Street between Broadway and 8th Avenue.  Call 718-852-5257 for more information. 

• William Greenberg -- An Upper East Side institution that offers traditional holiday sweets including Apple Pie, Sweet Potato Pie, Mince Pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake, and both cupcakes and cookies decorated with Thanksgiving details.  Pies come in three sizes:  8, 10 and 12-inches.

• Baby Cakes -- For Vegans and those with food allergies, this Lower East Side bakery makes wonderful desserts without the ingredients usually found in baked goods.  They offer Apple Pie made with spelt that is dairy, egg and soy free, a MacIntosh Apple Crumb Cake that has sugar but no gluten, dairy, egg or soy, and a Frosted Pumpkin Bread that's as tender as a cake, made without dairy, egg, gluten, sugar or soy.

• Billy's Bakery -- A loved neighborhood bakery in Chelsea that makes superb pies and cakes, many of which are very traditional and old fashioned and thus, perfect for a holiday meal.  Choices include Pecan Pie, Apple Pie, Pumpkin Squares that are a rich cake with walnuts and a cream cheese icing, and an Ice Box Cake that's a celebration in itself.  Billy's delivers throughout Manhattan.  Call to order and to ask about delivery. 

• Once Upon A Tart -- In SoHo, a neighborhood favorite spot for traditional pies and tarts and other baked sweets and savories.  Call for holiday specials and ordering deadlines.

• Ladybird Bakery -- In Park Slope and dedicated to traditional pies, tarts, cakes and cookies.   For Thanksgiving they have a special menu of sweets including double-crust apple pie, Dutch apple pie with a light custard, pumpkin mousse tart, pumpkin cranberry cupcakes, chocolate turkey cake (in 3 sizes) a fall medely pie made with pears, plums, apple and walnuts, and much more.  

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