28 Holiday Pie and Tart Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is inside a McDonald's holiday pie? ›

Debuting in 1999, the holiday pie features “smooth custard nestled in a flaky, buttery crust that's glazed with sugar and topped with rainbow sprinkles,” according to a product description. It joins McDonald's dessert lineup, appearing alongside the classic apple pie.

While pies have a thin and smooth crust, tarts have a rather thick and crumbly crust which crumbles down when pieces are cut from the tart. Pies are served in the same dish they are made in, while tarts are often taken out and molded, if needed.

This month, the brand announced that the fan-favorite holiday pie is back on the menu to make all your winter festivities even sweeter. The fun dessert is made of creamy custard wrapped in a flaky, buttery crust.

McDonald's first introduced the Strawberry & Crème Pie in 2012 and it was available nationally until 2014. The fast food chain brought it back briefly in 2022 but only in the spring or winter and only at select locations, according to AllRecipes.com.

The Strawberry and Crème Pie has started to appear at McDonald's locations across America and officially replaced the fast-food giant's Holiday Pie, AllRecipes.com reported.

McDonald's Baked Apple Pie recipe features 100% American-grown apples, and a lattice crust baked to perfection and topped with sprinkled sugar. There are 230 calories in McDonald's apple pie. Pair it with a Hot Caramel Sundae for your own twist on Apple Pie A-La-Mode!

In 1992, McDonald's switched from frying its apple pies to baking them to quell health concerns. Today, nearly every McDonald's in America serves baked apple pies that are somewhat "healthier" than the beloved fried version.

The limited-edition pie, which premiered in 1999 (via Southern Living), often reemerges during the winter season at select locations throughout the country. This year, McDonald's will be serving the festive treats at participating stores from November 15 to December 30, according to a press release.

PIZZA IS A PIE CAMP

Whether we go by Oxford Languages, as Google immediately does, or Merriam Webster, “pie” is, as one of its very definitions, pizza. Whether pies are sweet or savoury, it's still a pie, so clearly ingredients don't matter (which, coincidentally, is one reason pop tarts = ravioli).

Cheesecake is Technically a Tart

So, what we have is a dessert consisting of a pastry shell, a thick custard-like filling that can be sweetened with vanilla extract, limes, strawberries, chocolate, blueberries, or even pumpkin.

What are the 4 types of filling for pies and tarts? ›

Flaky dough, mealy dough and crumbs are best for pie crusts; sweet dough is usually used for tart shells. Fillings make pies and tarts distinctive and flavorful. Four types of fillings are common: cream, fruit, custard and chiffon.

New McDonald's 2024 menu items

One of the new menu launches is the Hot Cross Bun Pie bringing the classic warming cinnamon and spice flavours of a hot cross bun and putting it into a beloved Maccies pie. The pie is made from a cinnamon pastry and inside there's a spiced fruit mix and butter-flavour cream filling.

All of the pies sold at US McDonald's are made in Tulsa. For more than 50 years, all the pies sold in US McDonald's have been made exclusively at Bama Companies in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Bama also makes biscuits and hotcakes for the fast-food chain.)

As with any McDonald's menu item, prices vary from location to location, but you can expect to pay a little over a dollar for the Holiday Pie.

Ingredients: EITHER: Water, Apple (23%), WHEAT Flour (contains Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Vegetable Oils (Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil), Sugar, Modified Corn Starch, Dextrose, Salt, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Spices (Cinnamon, Nutmeg), Flavourings, Cassia Extract.

A-Plus Apples

So you can put away your Granny Smiths and Red Delicious if you think you can just whip up McDonald's signature dessert at home. Instead, Mickey D's makes their pies with six different types of apples — Jonagold, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Gala, Rome, and Ida Red, all of which are homegrown in the U.S.

Back in the late 70's - before labelling was required on fast food products in Canada, McDonalds did use potatoes in their pies - because it was cheaper. Then, labelling laws changed, requiring them to label all contents, after which, they changed the contents to apples. Snopes.com says nope: McDonald's Shakes .

A sweet and creamy Strawberry & Crème Pie, made with strawberries and vanilla flavored crème, baked side by side in a sugar-coated flaky crust, of course. There are 280 calories in the Strawberry & Crème Pie.