Liz Jaros / Chowhound
Not a perfectionist and not particularly good at following directions, I am a taste and tweak chef rather than a chemist. The one and only time I tried to make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, I’m pretty sure I made all the mistakes a holiday pie baker can make. My recklessly improvised crust was broken, burnt, and soggy on the bottom. And the filling oozed out like baby food. The end result was a full flop.
Now, when I host a holiday gathering that calls for pie, I delegate the task to a catering colleague or pick one up from an establishment with pie-making chops. So I was intrigued when I learned that Cracker Barrel recently added a lineup of pies to its holiday menu. With 660 locations in 44 states, Cracker Barrel is not just a road stop; this Southern comfort food chain has a catering department specializing in down-home to-go, and it often gets the nod from busy folks looking to lighten the holiday load without losing the vibe.
With that in mind, we thought a chew through Cracker Barrel’s pie offerings might be enlightening and potentially game changing for those of us who are pastry-averse, type-B cooks. To determine this ranking, I purchased a slice of each pie from Cracker Barrel’s seasonal menu and tried each with an open mind and an eager stomach. With primary consideration for taste and culinary quality, I arranged them all in order from worst to best.
Prices are as of the date of publication and may vary based on region.
5. Cinnamon Roll Pie
Liz Jaros / Chowhound
As a cinnamon roll enthusiast who has never said no to one of these gooey, cream cheesy pinwheels of joy, I found myself scratching my head over Cracker Barrel’s Cinnamon Roll Pie before I even took a bite. How could this beloved breakfast pastry (and Cracker Barrel fan favorite) be properly turned into a pie? And more importantly, why? One bite and I had my answers: It can’t be. And it shouldn’t be.
Essentially a bunch of cinnamon rolls jammed into a salty and unnecessary pie crust, this one was an easy winner for the worst Cracker Barrel pie of the bunch. I’d hoped for a little more creativity with the concept –- maybe a brown sugar filling with a cinnamon roll crust. But Cracker Barrel just phoned this one in using stuff it already had.
On top, the cream cheese frosting tasted great but the texture was grainy and a little off. Maybe the pie had been heated from cold, which is a common mistake when baking with cream cheese, or maybe the traditional frosting had been thickened into a filling rather than a glaze. I couldn’t really tell, but it definitely didn’t work. Inside, the rolls were tightly packed with not near enough cinnamon and brown sugar syrup. And they were super dry because the butter and cream cheese did not seep down into the mix. If you want cinnamon rolls, order the cinnamon rolls. They’re way better than whatever this is.
4. Pumpkin Pie
Liz Jaros / Chowhound
Though the loser and winner in this contest were easy to peg, ranking the three mid-range Cracker Barrel pies proved a little more challenging. They were all pretty good, but each one had a couple of flaws that held it back. I put Cracker Barrel’s Pumpkin Pie at the bottom of the trio because it was the one that disappointed me most.
The first alarm triggered by this pie slice was the coloring, which was a deep brown rather than a bright, autumnal orange. There were no spice flecks in the mix, and the top of the pie had an off-putting oily sheen. Unlike some of the better pumpkin pies I’ve eaten, there was no spicy scent on the nose and nothing drawing me in.
Texture-wise, the crust was about right but it tasted faintly like beef or chicken -– as if it had been cooked in an oven with other food -– and I couldn’t really evaluate the crust flavor on its own merit. Inside, the filling was custardy and held together well but it was dense rather than fluffy, and the taste fell flat for me. Though I could pick out some nutmeg and cinnamon, distinctly missing were the vibrant clove, ginger, and allspice notes of a traditional pumpkin spice mix. If I were passing a Cracker Barrel on my way to a holiday party, I’d feel better about grabbing one of these suckers than making my own. But I would not seek it out if I had other options.
3. Apple Streusel Pie
Liz Jaros / Chowhound
Although apple pie is not my first dessert of choice, I appreciate its history as an American icon, and when the occasion to eat a slice presents itself, I usually do so. As a cook who appreciates a proper ratio of sweet to salty and crunchy to smooth, I know apple pie is a complex work of art for even professionally trained patissieres. So my expectations for Cracker Barrel’s offering in this category were pretty tempered. To my surprise, its Apple Streusel Pie was rather tasty, if slightly flawed.
From a foundation standpoint, the crust was delicious -– golden, buttery, flaky, and just sweet enough, holding its apple guts like a champ and providing great contrast. The streusel on top was also pretty good, but lacked the definition and crunch that cutting cold butter and raw sugar into the mix typically creates. I would also have liked maybe a little salt. But overall, the outer shell of this pie was on point.
The filling was where this one lost me. The base was texturally about right, but the spice mix was weak. Distinctly absent were the strong cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom flavors that make the insides of this particular pastry sing. And the apple chunks were a little too large for one bite, which made things messy. I know cutting the apple slices too thin is one of the worst mistakes an apple pie baker can make, but something in the mid range would have been better.
2. Chocolate Pecan Pie
Liz Jaros / Chowhound
I struggled with deciding where to place Cracker Barrel’s Chocolate Pecan Pie in my ranking because the foundation was exceptionally good. The crust was near-perfect and the pecan filling was some of the best I’ve had, but the incorporation of chocolate into this iconic Southern dessert made this one a little too “extra” in my opinion.
Essentially Cracker Barrel’s traditional Pecan Pie filling embellished with an overly generous amount of chocolate chips, the bite here was a little too chocolate forward for me. Despite those being words I never thought I’d hear myself say, I felt like the chocolate detracted from a pie that was otherwise excellent. If the chips had been a little smaller in size or reduced a bit in quantity, their inclusion might not have been so overwhelming. They also made the pie, which is traditionally a rich and syrupy experience already, a bit too heavy and chewy for my liking.
Similar to the Cinnamon Roll Pie I ranked lowest on this list, the Chocolate Pecan Pie felt like an afterthought or a remix. I believe Cracker Barrel’s holiday pie lineup would be diversified and enhanced by the inclusion of a legitimate chocolate offering –- perhaps a Mississippi mud, a French silk, or a good old chocolate cream –- but its Chocolate Pecan Pie missed the mark for me.
1. Pecan Pie
Liz Jaros / Chowhound
If you’re wondering why I ranked the Chocolate Pecan Pie near the top of my list despite having issue with its key ingredient, hear me out: If that slice had not been muddied by the inclusion of chocolate chips, it would have been one of the most delicious and memorable pieces of pie I’ve ever had. It would have been Cracker Barrel’s original Pecan Pie.
Hands down the best offering on Cracker Barrel’s seasonal pie menu, this one checked all the boxes and satisfied all the senses. The crust was buttery and slightly sweet but also a little savory — maybe because it had absorbed some of the filling, which was complex and a little earthy. The meat of this pie had a strong caramel base but also something bright like orange zest or apple cider in the mix. The texture and consistency were textbook –- gooey but not corn syrupy with just enough thickness to hold up the pecan layer without being gummy.
On top, the nuts were moderately toasted and slightly sugared but not in a way that dominated the experience. And they were rough chopped rather than left intact -– the key to a perfect pecan pie, according to Ree Drummond and a somewhat controversial modification of the traditional whole-pecan topping, which I find way too nutty and really hard on my teeth. In the end, Cracker Barrel’s Pecan Pie took the cake –- earning top honors in my poll and a sticky place in my heart.
Methodology
Liz Jaros / Chowhound
To conduct this ranking, I placed an in-store pickup order at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Germantown, Wisconsin. I selected one of each pie slice available on its holiday desserts menu, which advertised a limited availability range of 10/20-11/29 for the Pumpkin Pie and 10/20-12/24 for the four others. At the time of purchase, a whole pie in my market was $14.49 while a single slice was $5.19.
My to-go slices were packaged in a plastic container and handed to me in a plastic bag at room temperature. I took a nibble of each crust and a small sample of each filling before heading home, taking notes of each slice’s appearance, aroma, and consistency. I left the slices covered on my counter while I photographed each, then sampled each variety with a cleansing glass of water and a 5-minute palate break in between. My primary consideration was overall flavor.
When evaluating each pie’s taste and quality, I used my experience as a caterer and knowledge of traditional pie ingredients to parse the flavors and draw distinctions. In most cases, I compared each slice to my experiences with similar pies that were either semi-scratch using a premade pie crust or professionally baked by experts with pastry-making bona fides. Though I touched on my personal preferences, I did my best to remove biases from the evaluation as I ranked five holiday pies from Cracker Barrel in order from worst to best.
Dining and Cooking