Thanksgiving Desserts Made Sweeter: Tips from a Pro

In the mad scramble to cook the turkey and the sides, don't forget about dessert. Everyone knows how to make a serviceable apple pie, but a few quick upgrades can make the ending of the meal memorable.

Patch spoke to a local pastry pro for some ideas home cooks can use to elevate their meal's ending.

Victoria Rizzo is a Babylon pastry chef who owns a home baking business, Cakes By Tori. She is a graduate of the Culinary Academy of Long Island.

Pies are a relatively simple dessert, but getting the mix of crust and filling perfect can take some practice, she says.

"A common mistake people make with pies is winding up with a soggy bottom. Ways to avoid that would be to use high heat in the beginning of your baking, avoid adding hot fillings on unbaked crusts, and using dark metal pie tins to help absorb heat to help bake underneath the crust."

Rizzo says her own Thanksgiving table will be a mix of standard and new: she will be making a classic pumpkin pie, an apple crumb pie and vegan pumpkin muffins.

The most important aspect of any holiday pie, she stressed, is the dough.

"Make sure all your ingredients are cold and you use ice cold water. If you want a flakey apple or blueberry pie, the bigger your chunks of butter are the flakier your pie will be."

Depending on the variety of pie you are making, Rizzo explains, you need to vary the way you prepare the dough.

"If you want to make a crust that is more savory (pumpkin pie, coconut custard, pecan pie) make sure your butter is more thoroughly absorbed for a more tender crunchy crust. My advice? A savory bottom crust, warm apple filling, and a flaky buttery top crust. How can you go wrong?"