Giada's Thanksgiving desserts: Lemon thyme pie, more

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

Unroll the crust on a work surface. Using floured fingertips, seal any tears in the dough. Sprinkle dough very lightly with flour. Place the dough in a 9-inch-diameter ceramic or glass pie dish. Fold overhang under and form smooth top edge.

Crimp edge decoratively. Pierce bottom and sides of crust all over with a fork.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes, until the crust is deep golden around the top edge and light golden on the bottom. Set aside to cool.

While the crust cools, make the filling. Lower the temperature of the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk and lemon zest to a boil over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the egg yolks, sugar and flour (mixture will be thick). Pour the milk mixture into the bowl and whisk until smooth. Return the mixture to the saucepan and whisk constantly over medium-low heat until smooth and thick, about 6 to 7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter. Whisk in the vanilla, thyme and lemon juice until smooth. Let cool slightly.

Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. (If the pie crust begins to get too dark, cover the edges with aluminum foil.) The center will be loose and will set up as it cools. Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours until completely chilled.

Before serving, make the whipped topping. Place the heavy cream in a medium bowl. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until well combined. Serve the vanilla whipped cream with the pie.

For the tart:

Position rack in center and preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples; sprinkle with salt. Sauté until almost tender, tossing occasionally, about 10 minutes. Remove skillet from the heat. Whisk sugar, spices and cornstarch in a small bowl until no cornstarch lumps remain. Sprinkle spiced sugar and lemon juice over apples in skillet; toss to blend. Cool to lukewarm.

Place a large sheet of parchment paper on work surface. Unfold pastry sheet on parchment; sprinkle both sides lightly with flour. Roll out pastry to 12-inch square, lifting, turning and sprinkling with more flour to keep from sticking. Cut off corners (with a rounded cut), making a 12-inch diameter pastry round.

Brush pastry all over with some beaten egg. Starting 2-inches in from edge (to leave wide border), arrange apple wedges close together in a circle on the pastry. Arrange remaining apples in a smaller circle in center (ends may overlap first ring of apples). Fold pastry border partially over filling, pleating pastry in loose folds. Brush folded up pastry border with some beaten egg. Slide galette with parchment onto heavy baking sheet. Scrape juices from skillet over apples. Bake galette until pastry edge is deep golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, make topping: 

Toss goat cheese, cherries, almonds and maple syrup in a medium bowl until evenly distributed (cheese should remain in distinct pieces). Chill until ready to use.

Remove tart from oven. Sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Return galette to oven. Bake 10 minutes until the topping begins to brown. Cool 20 minutes to serve warm or up to 2 hours to serve at room temperature.

Take five candy cork triangles and, tip side down, stick them in between the chocolate sandwiches to make feathers for the turkey. Repeat with the other five cookies.

Place the chocolate chips in a medium stainless steel or glass bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted, about 4 minutes.

Dip the flat, larger end of the peanut butter cup in the chocolate. Using the chocolate like glue, press the cup against the bottom half of one chocolate sandwich cookie. Next, take one malt ball and dip it in the chocolate. Press it against the chocolate sandwich cookie above the peanut butter cup to make the head of the turkey.

Dip the flat end of the white candy corn tip in the chocolate. Add it to the malt ball, as the turkey's beak. Place in the fridge to set for a few minutes.

While the cookies are setting, in a medium bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons whole milk. Beat on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to high and beat until the mixture is smooth. Color the frosting by mixing in one drop of red food coloring at a time until the desired color is reached. Place the frosting in a piping bag. Clip the end and under the malt ball, make the turkey's beard.

Using the leftover chocolate sandwich cookies as a base (tops removed), prop the cookie upright, using it as a stand.