Thanksgiving Desserts for People Who Are Already Full

"Twelve slices, and it has to chill overnight anyway, so on this list the day-before rule is not advice, it is the recipe. Pull it while the middle still jiggles; a firm top means it is already overbaked and heading for a crack."

"Ten thin slices, and the four hours it needs on the rack are not a delay but the schedule — it is baked on Wednesday and never competes for Thursday oven time. The blind-baked base is why a slice still stands up after an hour on the table."

"It cannot be cut for four hours anyway, so it belongs to the day before by nature. Streusel instead of a pastry lid is what lets it survive being picked at all afternoon: the top stays crisp where a soft lid would have gone damp by the second round."

"Everything else on that table by four in the afternoon is warm, sweet and heavy. This one is cold and sharp, needs no oven at all, and it is the slice people take right after swearing they could not manage another bite."

"Twelve slices with no oven, no water bath and nothing that can crack. Thirty minutes of work the day before, then six hours in the fridge where it does the rest without supervision."

"The one warm dessert here, and it only works because by dessert time the oven has been handed back. Butter, batter and canned peaches go into the dish without stirring and sort themselves into three layers while the table gets cleared."

"Twenty-four mini donuts means twenty-four people can take one without committing to a slice of anything. Brush and roll them within a minute of leaving the oven, because once they cool the cinnamon sugar just slides off."

"Twelve squares, cut in advance, eaten with fingers. The salt in the pretzel crust is the reason the pan empties after a meal where every other thing was sweet or beige."

"This one is not really for Thursday. It is for Friday morning, with coffee, standing at the counter, before anybody has worked up the nerve to open the fridge again."