Something different for dessert

What could be better than pie? Four pies! Cafe Indigo is unique in that even it’s apple and pumpkin pies are not traditional, because they’re 100 percent vegan. Above we have one of each, as well as a vegan dutch apple pie and a vegan pumpkin cheesecake. The word vegan contains more than four letters, but it’s also not a four-letter word. “People are always surprised how good this stuff tastes,” owner Patti Dann said. “People are afraid of the word ‘vegan.’ It’s really not so scary.”

Pecan pie might have been interesting enough. But this maple bourbon pecan pie from Crust and Crumb Baking Company? Yowza! If more things contained maple and bourbon, we would consume more things. Said owner Alison Landman: “It’s not the sickening sweet corn syrup variety. We use maple syrup spiced with real bourbon.” As for one of the base ingredients? No fakey fake stuff here. “Everything is made completely from scratch. There’s a lot of butter used.”

Cathy White of In a Pinch Cafe and Bakery had (literally) the most outside the box recommendation, noting that many people prefer grab-and-go items these days. And their heralded lemon bars make the perfect option. “A lot of people do the dessert squares instead of pies for the holidays,” White said. “You can mix-and-match, and a lot of people have their whole family there, and most of the time they are picking as they are going.”

Franz Andlinger of Bread and Chocolate first recommended a pumpkin cheesecake or apple streusel as minor variations on the typical Thanksgiving fare before deciding on this fruit tart, which is a 360-degree smorgasboard of fruity goodness. Fruits we can identify in this photo include strawberries, snozzberries and kiwi.