Saturday, January 23, 2016

Pie Day Review - January 23

National Pie Day ~ January 23

Image of an apple pie
Apple Pie Image Source: Wikimedia

In my opinion, every day should be Pie Day, but let's review a few pie facts in honor of National Pie Day held each January 23rd.

Pie Day was begun in the 1970s in Colorado when Charlie Papazian declared his birthday to be National Pie Day.  Today 'Pie Day' is sponsored by the American Pie Council, which is an organization set up to preserve America's pie heritage and promote “America's love affair with pies”.

There are fruit pies and custard pies and cream pies, with apple pie leading the way.


A Few Pie Facts


You could go to Pie School to learn about pies, or you could learn a great deal by reading this Pie Post!


  • Nearly one out of five Americans prefer apple pie. Next favorite is pumpkin pie, followed by pecan, banana cream, and cherry pie.
  • Pumpkin pie was first introduced to the holiday table at the pilgrim’s second Thanksgiving in 1623.
  • When invited to a family or friend's house for a holiday dinner and asked what dessert we could bring, pie was the winner at 29%, followed by cake (17%) and cookies (15%). Surprisingly, ice cream wasn't in the top three spots.

SPECIAL PIE DAYS



In our own glad and fortunate country the seasons are known by their respective dominant pies—for each there is an appropriate pie, with apple pie for all the year round.... The perfect days of June welcome the lip-painting berry pies.... Then, as nature paints the forests with her magic brush, comes in the golden glory of the year, the royal pumpkin pie!

             ~New York Times, 1902 May 3rd

Besides National Pie Day celebrating all pies, we have individual days to recognize specific kinds of pies.

*There's Cherry Pie Day on February 20, naturally associated with President's Day due to the George Washington story of cutting down the cherry tree.  


Cherry Pie was my hubby's favorite and instead of a birthday cake for his birthday on February 23rd, we always had Cherry Pie!

*Apple Pie has it's own special day (Apple Pie Day) held on May 13.


Did you know that the first apple pie recipe was printed in England in 1381? 

*March 2 is National Banana Cream Pie Day

*May 8 is National Coconut Cream Pie Day.


Image of a coconut cream pie
Source: Creative Commons Photo by Whitney Wright

My mother was not much of a cook (our dad did most of the cooking in our family), but she was a wonderful pie maker and coconut cream pie was my dad's favorite, so we had it often. Yum! 

*On July 12 we have National Pecan Pie Day, a true Southern favorite.

*National Lemon Meringue Day is held on August 15 and Peach Pie Day is August 24.

*September brings us National Strawberry Cream Pie Day on the 28th of the month.

*October 23rd is National Boston Cream Pie Day.

*November has two special 'pie' days: Bavarian Cream Pie Day  on the 27th and Lemon Cream Pie Day on the 29th.


National Pumpkin Pie Day



We tend to associate Thanksgiving with Pumpkin Pie, but the actual designated National special day for it is actually Christmas Day (December 25).   But pumpkin pie is also associated with Halloween as pumpkin is the symbol of Harvest Time.


Image of a pumpkin chiffon pie
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Sylvestermouse Cynthia has a yummy recipe for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie.  It can be found on her Cooking for the Holidays site.

Chocolate pie doesn't appear to have a designated day, but being MY favorite of all pies, it definitely SHOULD.  Any day is special to me when I can have chocolate pie! There IS a National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day on August 20.

There are also meat pies, especially popular in England and perhaps the forerunner of the original pie, and vegetable pies such as Sweet Potato Pie and Rhubarb Pie and Tomato Pie, but our focus today has been on favorite 'dessert' pies.


Pie Town, New Mexico



Daily Pie Café in Pie Town, New Mexico
Daily Pie Cafe, NM

If you REALLY love pies, there is a special place for pie lovers.  It's called Pie Town, New Mexico, a small community that got its name from an early bakery for making dried-apple pies established by Clyde Norman in the early 1920s.   Located just north of the Gila National Forest, Pie Town has a population of 186 people.  A "Pie Festival" is held on the second Saturday of September which includes a pie-baking contest, games and races, music, food, and arts and crafts.

Photographer Russell Lee (working for the Farm Security Administration) photographed Pie Town and its people in 1940. In 2005, Lee's photos, and the local restaurant the Daily Pie Cafe were the subject of an article in Smithsonian magazine. CBS News Sunday Morning aired a story about the town in 2015.


Delicious Homemade Pie Recipes




Whichever pie is your favorite, you can find a whole lot of pie recipes (300)  in Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie.

Rated near the top at #29 in pie cookbooks, this recipe book with the short title (PIE) is filled with 300 pie recipes for everything from fruit pies, berry pies, nut pies, custard pies, turnovers, and ice cream pies to the perfect pie crusts.  Author Richard Haedrich is a cooking teacher and cookbook author who compiled this Pie cookbook because of his lifelong passion--the making and baking of all manner of pies.


Besides January 23rd, we have December 1st also designated National Pie Day. With two national days and a host of days associated with individual kinds of pies, we will never be without an excuse to indulge this favorite dessert.

Come tell me YOUR favorite kind of PIE, this most traditional of American desserts.  If I've left out any, let me know. 

Quick Links:

Cooking for the Holidays
PIE Cookbook on Amazon


*National Pie Day article written by Wednesday Elf (c) on 1/23/2016.  




Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


17 comments:

  1. What a surprise to see my pie recipe here! Thanks for sharing that link, Wednesday Elf. Guess I'm not surprised at how many specific pie holidays there are - everyone loves pie! Very glad I can officially celebrate pies all throughout the year. I had no idea there was a Pie Town, New Mexico. Their Pie Festival in September sounds like a great time to visit!

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    1. You're welcome, Susan. I love coconut cream pie and your recipe looks delicious. Wouldn't it be fun to go to Pie Town, NM?

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  2. I absolutely love pie! When I think about it, I do wonder why I tend to bake so many cakes instead of pies because I actually prefer pie myself. I think I should celebrate Pie Day by making and eating a pie today. Thank you for including my Pumpkin Pie recipe above. I am quite interested in checking out the cookbook you featured. Oh, and the next time I make a chocolate pie, I'll have to invite you over. How about today?!!!

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    Replies
    1. I'd LOVE having a chocolate pie any day, Mouse! What time shall I come over? :) My favorite kind of chocolate pie is that made with chocolate pudding in a regular pie crust, and topped with 'real' whipped cream!

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    2. Oh, that one is a really easy pie to make! You are very easy to please Elfness :)

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    3. You can make it anytime for me, Mouse! :)

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  3. My absolute favorite pie is black raspberry pie. I really enjoy most of the others but black raspberry is my most favorite. I was lucky enough to share my birthday with my maternal grandmother. One year when I was about 10 or so Grandma asked me what kind of cake I wanted for "our" birthday. I said, "Well, I don't much care for cakes, I'd rather have a black raspberry pie for our birthday." Our birthday is in April and it disappointed her so that she didn't have any berries to make me that pie. She made an Angel Food cake that year but every year after that she saved enough raspberries each year to bake me a pie for my birthday. She passed several years ago and I've missed her pie (along with her) each year. I'm with Cynthia...I don't know why I bake so many cakes and cupcakes when I really do prefer a good pie over cake any day. This was a very fun post, Miss Elf!

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    1. Thanks so much, Beverly. I'm not a cake eater, so Pies are my favorite dessert! Sweet story about you and your grandmother. My grandma made me chocolate pies with pie crust from scratch and whipped the whip cream from scratch with fresh cream just for me. It was a standard dessert she fixed me every time I visited her!

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  4. My absolute favorite pie is black raspberry pie. I really enjoy most of the others but black raspberry is my most favorite. I was lucky enough to share my birthday with my maternal grandmother. One year when I was about 10 or so Grandma asked me what kind of cake I wanted for "our" birthday. I said, "Well, I don't much care for cakes, I'd rather have a black raspberry pie for our birthday." Our birthday is in April and it disappointed her so that she didn't have any berries to make me that pie. She made an Angel Food cake that year but every year after that she saved enough raspberries each year to bake me a pie for my birthday. She passed several years ago and I've missed her pie (along with her) each year. I'm with Cynthia...I don't know why I bake so many cakes and cupcakes when I really do prefer a good pie over cake any day. This was a very fun post, Miss Elf!

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  5. Pies are the preferred dessert at our house. Tonight I am serving chocolate cream pie!

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    1. Mary Beth, what time is dinner? My favorite pie. You don't have to serve me dinner; I'll just come over for dessert! :-)

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  6. I love pie, and I'd like a piece of that chocolate pie, too. Maybe with so many of us loving chocolate pie, we should establish our own Chocolate Pie Day. Thanks for sharing the information on Pie Town. I hadn't heard of it, either.

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    1. Chocolate Pie Day! Why not? We'll just have to pick a day to celebrate it with a big slice of chocolate pie.

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  7. Wow, I had no idea there were so many Pie Days......but it's nice to know it now. My favorite has to be lemon pie in any and all combinations.....but apple and pumpkin are close seconds....

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    1. Lemon pie is my daughter-in-law's favorite too, Olivia. In fact, last week while having lemon cake for her birthday, we did an around-the-table family poll of everyone's favorite pie and cake flavor. Lemon for everything is hers. LOL.

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  8. Like your hubby, I always have cherry pie on my birthday. I thought I was the only one. Nice to know I have a pie doppelganger out there. Now I will think of him on my birthday each year.

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