I made Ina Garten's apple, pumpkin, and pecan pies. The best recipe of the day surprised me, and I'm saving it forever.

I've followed a few Garten pie recipes before, and I recall liking her easy-to-make crust. That recollection held true.

I needed to create four crusts: a base and top for the apple pie, and one crust all for the pumpkin and pecan pies. It lone took me between 10 and 15 minutes.

Garten uses a food processor for her "perfect pie crust," which makes prep easy. I divided the batter into two batches, and I could already inform from the appearance and awareness that the crusts would be buttery and delicious.

With all of the batter resting in the fridge, I was prepared to commencement tackling the idiosyncratic pies.

Garten's maple-pecan pie has fair 10 ingredients, excluding the crust.

I was enthusiastic to sensation the blend of maple syrup and bourbon alongside the pecans. And I liked that she included several caller orange zest to cut through the richer ingredients, akin corn syrup and honey.

To create the pie, all I had to do was whisk the filling ingredients — minus the pecans — together.

Then I merely added the nuts and gave it a final mix before flowing the filling into the prepared pie crust.

To justify I got an evenly cooked crust, I turned the pie midway through the bake.

The procedure was easy, and I loved the enticing smells coming from the oven as it baked.

The flavors of the pecan pie reminded me of an old-fashioned cocktail, gratitude to the bourbon and orange.

But the pecans ended up a small chewier than I would've liked. If I create this pie again, I'd likely toast the nuts archetypal for a improved texture.

Despite letting the pecan pie completely chill before slicing into it, the pieces cut distinct on me.

Next time, I think I'd let it chill in the fridge before serving so the filling can resolute up more.

I moved on to making Garten's pumpkin pie.

I was intrigued by several of the ingredients in the filling, akin orange zest and rum, but most were beautiful standard, including pumpkin purée, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

I was most enthusiastic to create the accompanying rum whipped cream.

It echoed akin a delicious, indulgent supplement to the homemade pie, alongside ingredients specified as crème fraîche or mascarpone and a dreary rum.

First, I rolled out one of my crusts and placed it in a pie tin.

Unlike the another two recipes, this one required me to blind-bake the crust before adding the filling. I established several dried lentils and grain to use as pie weights to keep it from puffing up too much.

This archetypal roast helped prep the crust for the liquid-y filling, but it additionally meant the edges got a small darker by the end than I'd hoped.

The pumpkin filling was uncomplicated to create as I fair had to whisk all the ingredients together in a ample bowl.

I made way additional filling than I needed for the pie crust, so I set it apart in hopes I could discover a way to use it later. (My partner had a fun idea to use the filling to create pumpkin-pie custards in ramekins.)

Despite the slightly overdone crust, Garten's pumpkin pie turned out awesome in conditions of the two sensation and texture.

The filling was saccharine but not too sweet, and the subtle clue of orange helped balance the custard's richness. The texture of it was gentle and creamy.

The crust was flaky and buttery, yet sturdy adequate to clasp the importance of the pumpkin filling. Each piece came out of the tin without crumbling.

The rum whipped lotion was a distinctive companion to the pumpkin pie. I liked it much improved than regular whipped cream.

I saved the most intimidating pie for last.

I've made apple pies many times before, but I was motionless concerned concerning whether the top crust would rotate out correct and if the filling would soften adequate by the period the crust was done baking.

Garten's recipe for deep-dish apple pie calls for Granny Smith apples, which lean to be additional sour and tart than sweet. The filling additionally called for the two citrus and orange juices and zest, affirmative plentifulness of spices.

With all of those ingredients and lone a ½ cup of sugar in the filling, I was concerned the pie power not be saccharine enough.

The filling was uncomplicated to create following I completed peeling, coring, and chopping what felt akin 100 apples. The formula called for 4 pounds!

The batter for my crust was extremely uncomplicated to rotate out and transfer to the tin, gratitude to the margarine and plant shortening. It made uncomplicated activity of assembling the pie.

After adding my top crust, I cut slits for ventilation, swept it alongside an egg wash, and scattered it alongside sugar, per Garten's instructions.

I let the pie roast for concerning an hour. Afterward, the top crust was aureate and looked and smelled incredible.

Garten's apple pie was beautiful tasty, but the crust was by far the finest part.

The additional sugar sprinkling on top gave it a saccharine sensation and crunchy texture. It was so delicious I could eat it on its own.

The filling was decent, but it had a small bit too much citrus create for me.

I was glad the apples softened fine without becoming mushy, but I think I'd precook them a small bit additional next time. That would hopefully assistance concentration the apple sensation and keep the filling from shrinking so far distant from the top crust.

I additionally power sub several of the tart apples for a sweeter variety, as the blend of the Granny Smiths and citrus create made for a beautiful tart pie.

In the end, all of the pies I made using Garten's recipes turned out beautiful good, and they were uncomplicated adequate to create in one day without breaking a sweat.

I akin that she adds citrus create zest to all of these pies to really boost their flavors and provision them a freshness. The rum whipped lotion that went alongside the pumpkin pie was additionally delicious, and I think it would brace really fine alongside the pecan pie, too.

However, my favorite part of all three recipes was the pie crust.

It was quick and uncomplicated to make, and it worked fine alongside all the distinct fillings. I'll be using this crust for all my pies moving forward.

This narrative was initially published on November 19, 2023, and most lately updated on October 29, 2026.