The 10 best and worst pies that Thanksgiving has to offer
By Brian Miller
![Lemon meringue pie, pictured, Friday, May 1, 2020, at OTR Chili on Elm Street in Cincinnati.Otr Chili Lemon meringue pie, pictured, Friday, May 1, 2020, at OTR Chili on Elm Street in Cincinnati.Otr Chili](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/a02dcbd08c228f181c113a5e6c80ddea527c7b26db584a0807e49b92ab3ac503.jpg)
Peanut butter pie should be a perfect dessert but instead, it’s perfectly disgusting even for Thanksgiving.
Peanut butter can be used to make a lot of incredibly delicious deserts but a peanut butter cream cheese pie is one of the vilest, disgusting, things that have ever been put in front of me.
History? My grandmother, rest her soul, used to make peanut butter pies whenever family visited because somewhere through the years, someone was polite and said they liked it. Now, even long after her passing, the pie has become more of a family joke, poor woman.
This pie is akin to a no-bake pie that comes out of a box you buy at the grocery store and frankly, it’s not any good and I love, and by love I mean “one food on a deserted island” type love, peanut butter. If I see this on a Thanksgiving table, I’m honestly questioning whether I should bother to eat dinner at all, let alone dessert!
Apple pie makes perfect sense in the summertime but at Thanksgiving?
I will be honest, I couldn’t figure out if I should put the most popular American pie on this list as a no-go for Thanksgiving or a must-have. It could literally go either way.
When I think of apple pie, I think of a hot summer day at a picnic with a blanket spread out in front of us. I picture fireworks on the 4th of July or a backyard BBQ on Memorial Day to kick off the summer.
Then, at the same time, I could literally smell the pie in the oven. I could see the Dutch crumbles or the thatched upper crust. I could picture the ice cream on top or a sweetened caramel drizzle over the top and at that point, I couldn’t simply leave off one of the most versatile pies in American cuisine.
Frankly, despite the questioning of my internal baker, is a Thanksgiving dessert table complete without an apple pie of some sort?