I’m pretty sure the point of Thanksgiving is actually pie—or perhaps thankfulness for pie. If you’re one for making your pies as pretty as they are delicious, you might be on the lookout for easy pie decorations or creative pie designs to beautify your carbs this year, and we’ve got a few ultra-easy options to share. By easy, I mean require no artistic ability and are fairly quick to implement.
Chocolate Pie Decorations
The first pie design idea we have for you is to create chocolate pie decorations. This technique works best for pies without a top crust that, well, won’t taste bad with chocolate. You can use milk, dark, white, or even colored chocolate—the process is the same on all counts.
First, find or design a decoration you like. For example, in the pie I made below, I simply used a text editor (PicMonkey) to write, “Give Thanks” then added a small leaf. You can also find images by search, but be sure to look for wide-line art type images that will be easy to trace. You’ll also need to resize your image large enough to suit your pie.
For reference, every inch is 96 pixels. So, if you want your image to cover an entire 9.5-inch pie, for instance, you’d crop the design close to the edge and set the pixel size at 912. If you want the pie decoration centered, just set the pixel size at 912, but leave black space between the canvas edge and your image.
Print out your image and tape it to a firm surface that will fit in your freezer and cover it with a sheet of wax or parchment paper. I often use a hardback book—this technique is also amazing for doing birthday cake lettering!
Once your image is ready, simply microwave chocolate chips at 10 to 20-second increments stirring each time until the chips are melted and smooth. Be careful not to overheat your chocolate, as it will clump. Transfer the chocolate into a decorating pen (I have this one), trace your image, and pop the whole thing in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Once the chocolate is firm, arrange your decorations on your pie as desired—but be careful, the heat of your hands can cause thin spots to melt. Chocolate makes an excellent decoration for chocolate cream pies and cheesecakes (the pie pictured is cheesecake cream pie with raspberries).
Stencil Pie Designs
Another option for top-crust-free pie designs (though it will also work with crusted pies) is to use stencils. Stencils are a very easy solution to decorating crustless pies. Just find or cut out a design you like and resize it as specified above (a razor blade with some poster board will do the trick or you can use a cutting machine) and then place the stencil over your pie and sprinkle with spices, powdered sugar, or another powdered topping of your choice. Studio DIY provides an excellent example of this method. Stencil pie decorations are a great alternative for pies that don’t jive as well with chocolate, such as key lime or pumpkin.
Cookie Cutter Pie Designs
Moving on to top-crust only pie designs, cookie cutters are an ultra-easy pie decoration method. Simply take some pie cookie cutters to a pie crust and arrange artistically—fall leaves are a popular option such as in this gorgeous pumpkin pie by ShareAlikeCooking. Additionally, you can embellish your design with braided or decorative pie crust edges.
Painted Pie Crust Designs
Another easy way to either add a little flare to decorative pie crust is to paint decorations with food dye. This method combines well with both braided crusts and cookie cutter pie crusts. I absolutely love the marbled look on this autumn leaves apple pie by Kudos kitchen.
You don’t necessarily have to use a fancy crust to use this method though. You could also use stencils, or if your free-hand game is not too shabby, you can also paint on lettering or designs of your choosing.
Imprint Pie Crust Designs
Finally, even easier than cookie cutter crusts are imprint crusts. This method literally involves just rolling over your dough with an imprint roller—though you can also make your own by rolling textured materials into your pie crust, such as a doily or other fabric as seen in these doily sugar cookies by Wildwood Collective. Side note, doilies can also make neat pie stencils.
We hope these easy pie decorations for those with no artistic skill have helped make your spread just a bit more creative this year. Did we miss a cool technique you’ve used? Let us know in the comments!
Not looking for Thanksgiving pie decorations? Check out our awesome Halloween Face Pie