Not every apple is cut out for the oven. The best apples for baking—whether you’re making BA’s Best Apple Pie, a Buttery German Apple Cake, or Suspiciously Cheesy Apple Crumb Bars—have firm flesh that softens in the oven without turning to mush. A good balance of sweetness and acidity helps, too. Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Braeburn, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Mutsu, and Winesap are among our favorites.

But say you’re at the farmers market and none of those varieties is in sight. Don’t panic. Cookbook author and former BA food editor Claire Saffitz has a simple trick for finding a worthy substitute: Press your thumb against the apple. If it’s firm enough that you don’t leave an indent, you’re probably in good shape.

Softer apples—those that yield to the pressure of your thumb—are higher in water content and more likely to lose their shape or get soft and mushy when cooked. Save them for applesauce or apple butter, where a little breakdown is exactly the point. For more on why those apples listed above top our list of apple picks, read on.

8 apple varieties we love for baking

Granny Smith

Granny Smith apples have long been a go-to for baking, thanks to their pronounced tartness, firm texture, and year-round availability. Their bright, citrus-like acidity balances the sugar in pies and other desserts, like Gourmet’s classic Apple Strudel, and has made them a favorite among professional bakers for decades.

But they’re not everyone’s first choice anymore. During recipe development for BA Bake Club, senior test kitchen editors Jesse Szewczyk and Shilpa Uskokovic found that Granny Smiths repeatedly turned mushy in baked desserts, including their Apple-Cranberry Tarte Tatin and Caramel Apple Monkey Bread. Switching to Honeycrisp produced apples that held their shape and offered more complex flavor. Granny Smith remains a classic, but if you want distinct pieces of tender fruit, another apple may be the better bet.

Pink Lady

Pink Lady apples strike an ideal balance of sweet, tart, and tannic notes. They hold their shape in the oven and are relatively slow to oxidize, so the slices won’t brown as quickly while you’re assembling your dessert. Their bright flavor and relatively wide availability make them our first choice for BA’s Best Apple Pie.

Pink Lady is also a favorite of Christa Campbell of Rainbow Orchards in Camino, California, where they bake plenty of pies. “They keep that divine sweet-tart flavor,” she says, “and have the perfect oh-so-soft crunch and juiciness when baked.”