What dessert is traditionally served at Thanksgiving?

What dessert is traditionally served at Thanksgiving? The answer is pumpkin pie.

Pumpkin pie is a spiced custard pie made with pumpkin, eggs, sugar, milk, and seasonings such as cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. In the United States and Canada, it is strongly associated with Thanksgiving and is usually served after the savory meal, often with whipped cream.

The dessert’s history reflects the meeting of European baking traditions with North American pumpkins. Early colonial pumpkin dishes were not always the sweet, smooth custard pie familiar today. A recognizably modern recipe appeared in Amelia Simmons’s American Cookery, published in 1796.

Apple pie and pecan pie are also common Thanksgiving desserts, so the question does not mean pumpkin pie is the only traditional choice. It is the canonical answer because it is widely regarded as the most traditional and most closely linked to the holiday. Sweet potato pie is especially important in many Southern and African American food traditions.