Perfect Thanksgiving Pies That Are Too Pretty To Eat

The second beauty, a single crust apple pie, is amazing because it needs no lattice, no top crust—no finishing on the surface at all! It’s a stunner all on its own, due to some deliberate (but not difficult) arrangement of apples. Best of all, it tastes amazing, the texture of the apples is the perfect combination of soft with a little crispness. They get a sort of roast-y flavor from being uncovered during their bake time. Yes, you can recreate it.

You begin by slicing the apples super thin, then sweeten and season them with spices. I do the slicing by hand, but you can certainly bring in the help of a mandolin or the slicing attachment of a food processor. It also doesn’t need to be insanely thin—just as thin as you can comfortably go. The thinner the slices are, the easier it is to get them to create the final shape.

I stand by my tried and true method: After peeling, I cut the apple in quarters. Then, with my knife at a 45-degree angle, I cut the core out of the apple, leaving a flat surface where the core was removed. With this flat surface, it’s easier to cut the apples thinly. Then, I sweeten the apples with brown sugar and season them with the typical pie spices. After they’ve been tossed, I arrange the apples in the par-baked pie crust.

I do it in a rosette, but anything really goes: concentric circles, a spiral, even “stripes” of the apples, all fanned out. Or, you can totally dump the thin slices right in the center and leave it at that—it will taste just as good.