A Baker's Dozen of Our Best Pies: Menus : gourmet.com

Chocolate S’more Pie

It’s impossible to go wrong with layers of graham, chocolate, and marshmallow. Broiling the gooey top creates an irresistible golden crown that crackles each time the pie is sliced.

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Apricot Raspberry Pie

A sugared buttery crust provides a touch of sweetness to balance the tang of juicy apricot and raspberry filling.

Photograph by Rita Maas

This pie, an easy take on toffee with bananas (hence the name), made its debut at The Hungry Monk, a pub in England, in 1972. Traditional recipes involve boiling unopened cans of condensed milk, but since that sometimes results in explosions, we thought you might prefer our method.

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie

Here we’ve taken pecan pie above and beyond its usual corn-syrupy incarnation. A layer of bittersweet chocolate adds richness to the dessert while simultaneously balancing its sweetness. And an abundance of pecans makes for a supremely satisfying filling.

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Vinegar Pie

In 1947, Gourmet answered a reader’s query about vinegar pie with the explanation that “it might well have been a pioneer forerunner for that effete, dudish concoction, lemon meringue pie.” Others theorize that it was invented at a time when lemons weren’t so ubiquitous in grocery stores.

Either way, it’s been a popular topic in our pages. Between 1947 and 1963, we published five variations on vinegar pie, culminating with Mrs. Z.M. Crawford’s version, which she assured us was the “old, old recipe once used out on the plains when pie timber was scarce.”

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Cherry Pie

Too tart to eat raw, sour cherries were born to be baked into a pie—this all-American version gets added sophistication from a gorgeously flaky crust and a filling, enhanced with an unexpected hint of cinnamon, that is not overly sweet.

Photograph by Mikkel Vang

Frozen Lemon Gingersnap Pie

This dessert was inspired by the time-honored tradition of serving gingerbread with lemon sauce—the tang of lemon cuts the richness of molasses.

Photograph by Sang An

Deep-Dish Wild Blueberry Pie

If you’ve never had pie made from wild blueberries before, you’ll be bowled over by the intensity of this one. The light, tender crust provides a sublime foil for the deeply flavorful fruit. Take heart if you can’t find fresh wild blueberries in your area—frozen ones also yield excellent results.

Photograph by Romulo Yanes

Lemon Meringue Pie

This grand old American dessert is enormously popular down South for its clear, true sweetness (saved by the edginess of lemon) and its masterful contrast of textures. And somehow it is showstopping (think beauty pageant) and homey (think Aunt Bee) simultaneously.

Photograph by Ditte Isager