The Want List: Five Pie Pans for Perfect Holiday Pies
Pie season is here, and your valiant latticework deserves a worthy presentation.
In truth, the beauty of these flakey, filled desserts is that they’re enjoyable year-round. There’s tart rhubarb in spring, freshly plucked blueberries in summer, and the silky custards of cranberries and pumpkins to stuff crusts through fall and winter. But it’s the holidays that really shine a spotlight on these sugar-coated creations, beckoning bakers of all skill levels to preheat their ovens.
Here are our top five dishes to house your homemade (or disguised as homemade) pies.
Sweetie Pie by Great Jones
More than just a splendid street in NoHo, Great Jones effortlessly adds a splash of flair to the tabletop with their jolly, brightly-colored cookware with cool-as-a-cucumber designs. Whether you’re making grandma’s recipe or attempting a very not-your-grandma’s lattice pattern you found on the internet, your dessert is guaranteed to stun in this 10-inch retro print pan, sold both individually or in select sets.
Classic Baker’s Pie Dish by Farmhouse Pottery
It isn’t just for looks. Having a ruffled edge assists the baker in achieving a perfect crimp while simultaneously delivering dessert in style. This wheel-thrown pie dish is timeless. If you’re not gifting yours along with its contents, it’s the kind of thing you’ll want to keep around your home for generations.
Glass Pie Plate by Pyrex
Aesthetics aren’t the only slice of the pie-crafting equation. The pan you pick affects the way it cooks, too, and you’ll want a result that’s glistening, golden, and sprinkles the plate with flakes when sliced into. Glass conducts heat well, allowing an even bake. (If you don’t want to take your baking tips from the real estate people with a baking hobby, take it from Martha).
Centerpiece Pie Pan by Bennington Potters
The bold name lives up to its claim. The “morning glory blue”-splatter Centerpiece Pie Pan begs to be ogled at even if there isn’t a pie in residence. But please, fill that not-so-blank canvas with the recipe of your choice off the Petee’s website (or something you ordered off Goldbelly — we won’t tell). In the off season, you can keep the pan front a center and filled with fruit.
Fluted Round Tart Pan by Gobel
Pies are impressive, but tarts will have people inquiring where you studied the culinary arts. There’s something about a shortbread crust that announces you know what you’re doing. With this pan, channel your inner Rose Levy Beranbaum, who wrote the bible on baking, and deliver a dessert that’ll stop the show.
Brittany Bennett is the founder/baker of Greenpoint, Brooklyn-based Taartwork Pies and author of The Taartwork Pies Cookbook (2018).