Pie makes you smile, spelling comfort and nostalgia, especially when the crust is crimped just right and begging to be broken with a fork. This all-American touchstone is enjoying a comeback, edging up on the cupcake craze. In autumn, pie hits the sweet spot with the harvest of pumpkins, apples and pecans. Some bakers stick to tradition while others devise innovative twists. The pumpkin pie at Balthazar is scattered with candied pumpkin seeds and gingersnaps. At the Bowery Hotel's Gemma, a topless apple pie (or tart) comes with a scoop of olive oil gelato. Then there's Four & Twenty Blackbirds in Brooklyn, where two sisters from South Dakota make tantalizing salted caramel apple and brown butter pumpkin pies. Brooklyn is also home to the best key lime pies north of the Mason-Dixon Line, at Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies in Red Hook and at Traif in Williamsburg, where Mom's key lime pie is worthy of a blue ribbon. Our slideshow makes it easy as pie to find more made-from-scratch goodness.