Give our Dessert Pie Bar a try! The best pie sauces, crowd-favorite toppings, and loads of whipped cream to finish things off.
Dessert Pie Bar
Quick Tip
How Does A Dessert Pie Bar Work?
- Mini crusts: Use store-bought or from-scratch mini graham cracker and/or pie crusts.
- Sauces: Choose five straightforward sauces, each with four ingredients or less. Keep them warm in a slow cooker.
- Whipped cream: Provide from-scratch or store-bought.
- Toppings: Arrange a variety of toppings in a muffin tin or small bowls.
- Pie-making party: Once everything is set up, begin the pie-making fun!
Dessert Pie Bar: The Crusts
For your Dessert Pie Bar, there are a few options when it comes to crusts. Here’s what you can do:
- Grab store-bought mini graham cracker crusts or, use our Graham Cracker Crust recipe to make your own in mini pie tins.
- Love chocolate? Whip up miniature crusts using our Oreo Pie Crust recipe.
- For those who love the classic, either snag some store-bought mini pie crusts or use our Pie Crust Recipe to bake your own bite-sized versions.
Dessert Pie Bar: The Sauces
Choose five sauces to whip up (that’s the max the slow cooker can handle to keep them warm).
- Caramel sauce: Rich, buttery with a smooth texture. Alternatively, whip up this from-scratch Caramel Sauce.
- Chocolate sauce: Decadent, featuring chocolate chips, Nutella®, and coconut oil for a glossy finish.
- Pecan sauce: Nutty and sweet, blending butter, brown sugar, chopped pecans, and heavy cream.
- Dulce de leche: Creamy, thick sauce with a complex, caramel-like sweetness.
- Apple pie filling: Apple pie in a sauce form, featuring cooked apples in a cinnamon-spiced syrup.
- Creamy peanut butter: Smooth, nutty, and versatile, reliable for combining with other sauces.
Quick Tips:
- Prep in advance: Prepare sauces and crusts a day earlier to ease the actual day’s workload.
- Logical layout: Arrange everything in progression from crusts to sauces, toppings, and then whipped cream for a nice flow.
- Freshness first: Use lemon juice on fruits like bananas and apples to prevent browning.
- Watch the heat: Monitor the slow cooker so the sauces maintain the right consistency.
Dessert Pie Bar: The Toppings
Select 12 toppings to prepare and arrange in a muffin tin. Alternatively, pick a few favorites and display them in small bowls.
- Mini chocolate chips
- Bananas, sliced or diced
- Pretzels, crushed or coarsely chopped
- Graham crackers, crushed or coarsely chopped
- Sweetened coconut flakes
- Peanut brittle, coarsely chopped
- Mixed nuts, coarsely chopped
- Strawberries, sliced or diced
- Blueberries, blackberries, or raspberries
- Crushed toffee bits
- Chocolate chip cookies, coarsely chopped
- Crushed toffee chips
- Mini peanut butter chocolate cups
- Vanilla wafers, coarsely chopped
- Oreos®, crushed
Dessert Pie Bar Supplies
Before sharing a reliable flavor concoctions, let’s make sure we have all our tools in place! Here’s your checklist:
- Jars: Use wide-mouth Mason Jars for straightforward scooping of pie sauces.
- Hot tub for sauces: A 6-quart slow cooker®, filled halfway with water and set to high, to keep sauces warm.
- Topping central: Use a Muffin Pan with liners or cute miniature bowls for displaying toppings.
- Labels or signs (skippable): Add labels or signs for straightforward identification of sauces and toppings.
- Mini wooden scoops (skippable): Handy for scooping and sprinkling toppings.
- Nut grinder (skippable): A spice or nut grinder to quickly grind toppings like cookies, nuts, seeds, and candies.
Pie Flavor Ideas
- Classic caramel banana: Graham cracker crust, caramel sauce, sliced bananas, whipped cream, crushed pretzels
- Chocolate indulgence: Graham or Oreo crust, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, mini chocolate chips, shredded coconut
- Nutty pecan delight: Graham or classic pie crust, pecan sauce, whipped cream, crushed graham crackers, chopped mixed nuts, toffee bits
- Banoffee: Graham cracker crust, dulce de leche, sliced bananas, whipped cream, coconut
- Apple pie remix: Graham or classic pie crust, apple pie filling, whipped cream, crushed graham crackers, chopped peanut brittle
- Sweet and salty peanut: Graham or classic pie crust, creamy peanut butter sauce, whipped cream, crushed pretzels, crushed Butterfinger®
- Chocolate peanut butter: Graham or Oreo crust, chocolate sauce, creamy peanut butter sauce, whipped cream, mini peanut butter cups
- Banana split pie: Graham or Oreo crust, chocolate sauce, sliced bananas, whipped cream, chopped mixed nuts
- Caramel coco crunch: Graham or classic pie crust, caramel sauce, whipped cream, coconut, chopped chocolate-chip cookies
- Nutella strawberry: Graham or Oreo crust, chocolate sauce, sliced strawberries, whipped cream, crushed Oreos
- Fruity fusion: Graham or classic pie crust, dulce de leche, raspberries, whipped cream, crushed vanilla wafers
Storage
Storing Dessert Pie Bar Leftovers
- Sauces: Keep in sealed Mason jars in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Reheat as needed.
- Crusts: Store unfilled crusts in a cool, dry place in an airtight container.
- Toppings:
- Dry: Store in airtight containers at room temperature.
- Fresh fruit: Refrigerate and use within a day.
- Whipped Cream: Refrigerate from-scratch cream and use within 24 hours; re-whip if needed.
Quick Tip
Download our FREE Pie Menu Printable! Enjoy!
More Fun Treats:
- Dessert Cheese Ball brownie-batter flavored
- Crème Brûlée a fancy dessert that couldn’t be easier to make!
- Churros with two dipping sauce ideas
- Apple Cobbler with a cookie-like topping
- Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars with a graham cracker crust
Ingredients
- 1 (10.8-ounce) bag soft caramels (unwrapped)
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup chocolate chips (use good-quality chocolate)
- 1/3 cup Nutella (or other chocolate hazelnut spread)
- 2 teaspoons coconut oil (or vegetable/canola oil)
- 8 tablespoons salted butter (1/2 cup, cut into tablespoons)
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 to 2 (13.4-ounce) cans dulce de leche sauce (or from-scratch)
- 1 (21-ounce) can apple pie filling
- Creamy peanut butter
- 12 mini graham cracker crusts (or mini pie crusts or tart shells)
- Whipped cream (from-scratch; or spray whipped topping)
- Toppings as desired (see note 2)
- Free printable menu
Method
- Choose five sauces to prepare.
- Caramel Sauce: In a small pot over medium-a low burner, melt the caramels with the cream. Stir continuously until smooth and well combined. move the sauce to a wide-mouth mason jar.
- Chocolate Sauce: In a microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips with coconut oil. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring after each until smooth. Mix in Nutella until well combined. Pour the mixture into a wide-mouth mason jar.
- Pecan/Nut Filling: In a small pot, melt the butter with the brown sugar over a medium burner. Once the mixture starts to bubble, add the heavy cream and pecans. Stir continuously for 1–2 minutes or until the sugar is fully dissolved. Pour the sauce into a jar.
- move apple pie filling to a jar (right in the jar use a knife to slice into smaller pieces). Fill other mason jars with creamy peanut butter and dulce de leche.
- Fill a 6-quart slow cooker halfway with water and set it on high. Place the sauce-filled jars in the cooker. Stir the sauces occasionally to ensure even warmth.
- Arrange your chosen toppings (see note 2) in a lined muffin tin or small serving bowls.
- Prepare from-scratch whipped cream according to recipe directions (click link in ingredients). move it to a chilled serving bowl that is set inside a bowl filled with ice. Alternatively, use spray whipped topping or thawed topping.
- Organize a serving station with warm cooker of sauces, mini graham cracker crusts, bowl of whipped cream, and toppings. Enjoy!
