The Thomas Keller Thanksgiving Day Contingency Plan

One of the better parts about the culinary juggernaut that is the collected restaurants of Thomas Keller— which include per se and Bouchon here in New York— is that you can bet that any and all pies, cookies or cakes associated with said juggernaut are going to be good. Especially if you forgot to place your special orders for baked goods you’ll need to be lugging somewhere on Thursday, Bouchon Bakery will be your friend, confidant, and possibly your lover, all gussied up with pumpkin and chocolate shavings.

The time for special orders at most bakeries has come and gone, so here’s your secret Thanksgiving weapon if you need one: dessert selections that are over the top (a la Sylvester Stallone), that can be served a la mode. From left: pumpkin custard topped with mascarpone cream and pumpkin streusel. Middle: bourbon pecan pie with 70% chocolate ganache. Right: banana chocolate cream pie topped with banana nougatine. All pies feed 6-8 and cost $30, but they’re very handsome, aren’t they? Since the Sears Portrait Studio refused to shoot pies, we took a few of these little guys to the park and let them run free. They went nowhere.

On the less expensive side, black walnut cookies are Bouchon’s powdered sugarbomb kissing cousin to the Mexican wedding cookie, and are sold in bags for $10. Brown sugar shortbread cookies go $9 a bag. Bouchon is selling turkey cutout cookies that look like you traced your hand in a turkey shape and colored it in, only using fancy chocolate instead of crayons and spicebread instead of construction paper, for $3.25 each. Call ahead for the pies, just in case.

Bouchon Bakery // 10 Columbus Circle, Third Floor // (212) 823-9366