From shave ice to Boston cream pie,
here is each state's favorite dessert.
Lane cake was made the official state dessert
of Alabama in 2016.
Its filling typically includes pecans, coconut flakes,
raisins, and a generous amount of bourbon.
Indigenous people would mix seal oil, animal fat, fish,
berries, or other available ingredients to make akutaq.
A modern adaptation of the recipe uses vegetable shortening
instead of animal fat and adds sugar.
The sopaipilla is a cross between
Latin American fried pastry and Navajo fry bread.
This fried pastry can be served savory or sweet.
To serve it as a dessert,
drizzle honey or sift powdered sugar on top.
Possum pie can be found at diners and restaurants
throughout Arkansas.
Its layers consist of a crust, a cream cheese mixture,
chocolate pudding, and whipped cream.
Doughnut shops are a quintessential part of California.
Whether you like them plain, over the top,
or packed to the brim,
you're guaranteed to find one you like here.
Duffeyrolls are extremely popular in Denver.
They look like cinnamon rolls,
but are lighter and have a flakier texture.
The snickerdoodle is a classic cinnamon-sugar cookie,
but cream of tartar is the key ingredient
to a true, classic snickerdoodle.
Peach pie is Delaware's state dessert.
In the 19th century, Delaware was the country's
leading producer of peaches.
Even today, residents love making
and eating the state dessert.
Key lime pie is synonymous with Florida.
The pie filling consists of key lime juice,
sweetened condensed milk, and egg yolk.
Restaurants and home bakers alike
love making peach cobblers in Georgia.
To make it extra special, add ice cream on top.
Shave ice is an iconic dessert in Hawaii.
A block of ice is shaved
and then drizzled with rainbow syrups.
You can add toppings such as adzuki bean paste
or condensed milk.
It may look like a potato, but it's actually ice cream.
The ice cream potato can be found
at Boise's Westside Drive In.
Vanilla ice cream is shaped like a potato
and dusted in cocoa powder.
Then it's topped with whipped cream, Oreos, and peanuts.
Popcorn became the Illinois state snack food in 2004.
Garrett Popcorn serves its popcorn fresh to customers
and can make anywhere from 30 to 150 batches every day.
Popular flavors include CaramelCrisp, CheeseCorn,
and a mix of the two.
The Indiana sugar cream pie is a regional specialty
characterized by its buttery crust
and rich vanilla custard filling.
The pie originated from the Amish and Shaker communities
that settled in Indiana in the 1800s.
Le Mars, Iowa, is the ice cream capital of the world.
Home to the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and Museum,
you can find over 50 ice cream sculptures
throughout the city.
Frozen custard is a denser, creamier version of ice cream.
It has pasteurized egg yolk,
which gives it smoother texture.
Sheridan's specializes in frozen custards
and has seven locations in Kansas and Missouri.
Get it in a cone or a cup and make sure to add toppings.
Bourbon balls are a sweet and boozy delight.
The bite-sized confection is made of
Kentucky-bourbon-soaked pecans, butter,
and powdered sugar and then dipped in chocolate.
Yum!
No Louisiana trip is complete without trying
beignets at Café du Monde.
Square-shaped pieces of dough are deep-fried
and generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.
The blueberry pie, made with wild Maine blueberries,
became the state dessert in 2011.
Maine is one of the world's top suppliers
of wild blueberries,
not to be confused with cultivated blueberries.
Wild blueberries are smaller
and have a sweeter and tangier taste.
The Smith Island cake is a layered cake
named after Smith Island in Chesapeake Bay.
Traditionally, it consists of eight to 10 layers of cake
with frosting between each layer.
The Boston cream pie is a decadent cake
filled with custard or cream,
and the chocolate glaze is a must.
It's also the Massachusetts state dessert.
Michigan is well known for its Mackinac Island fudge.
Visitors can watch it being poured onto a marble slab
and worked into solid fudge as it cools and hardens.
While a muffin may be considered more of a breakfast food,
you can certainly eat it for dessert,
especially since Minnesota's state muffin
is the blueberry muffin.
The Mississippi mud pie is a rich, chocolaty dessert.
The pie consists of a chocolate crust,
one to three layers of chocolate,
and a whipped cream topping.
The gooey butter cake is a St. Louis original.
It has a yellow cake bottom with a cream cheese,
egg, and powdered sugar filling.
Huckleberry pie is a favorite dessert in Montana.
Huckleberries are grown in the northwestern US,
especially in the mountainous parts of Montana.
They're sweet and tart, similar to blueberries,
and perfect for a dessert pie.
The kolache is a pastry roll
popular in the Midwest and Texas.
Soft dough is filled with cream cheese or fruit.
It originated in Eastern Europe
and was brought to the US in the 1800s.
You can find chocolate treats all over Nevada
at chocolate shops or all-you-can-eat buffets.
Las Vegas also has one of the largest
chocolate fountains in the world
at the Bellagio, at 27 feet tall.
Cider doughnuts are a New England favorite,
especially in the fall.
New Hampshire is home to many apple orchards,
including the oldest continuously operating one
in America, Applecrest Farms.
Saltwater taffy is a sweet treat you can enjoy
on many New Jersey boardwalks.
It's made by mixing and stretching corn syrup,
sugar, and butter.
There are dozens of flavors to enjoy,
including vanilla, strawberry, and bubblegum.
Bizcochitos are New Mexico's state cookie.
The anise-flavored shortbread cookie
is often eaten at special celebrations
like weddings, baptisms, and holidays.
This recipe was influenced by locals and immigrants
from other Hispanic countries.
New York-style cheesecake is characterized
by its dense and rich texture,
made possible by using lots of cream cheese
and extra eggs and egg yolks.
It's great by itself, but putting strawberries on top
adds an extra-sweet flavor.
Sweet potato pie is a Southern classic,
but instead of empty calories,
this pie is filled with mashed sweet potatoes,
which are full of fiber and vitamin A.
The krumkake is a Norwegian waffle cookie.
While it's still hot, the cookie is rolled into a cone
and can be filled with cream.
It was brought to the Midwest by Scandinavian immigrants.
Buckeyes are peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate.
They're meant to resemble the nut of the buckeye tree,
which is Ohio's state tree.
Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies are famous
throughout Oklahoma.
These handheld treats are perfect for on the go,
and there are over a dozen flavors to choose from,
including chocolate and cherry.
The marionberry pie is an Oregon favorite.
The marionberry was created by Oregon State University
and the US Department of Agriculture
in a berry-developing partnership in the early 1900s.
Amish people in Pennsylvania invented the whoopie pie.
Marshmallow Fluff or buttercream
is sandwiched between two pieces of cake-like cookies.
The doughboy is similar to a zeppole
but local to Rhode Island.
It starts out as a flattened pizza dough,
and then it's deep-fried and topped with powdered sugar.
Coconut cake is a must-have in the South.
It's made up of coconut cake, coconut frosting,
and covered with toasted coconut flakes.
The word "kuchen" roughly translates to "cake" in German.
The pastry has a dough crust
and custard and fruit filling.
German immigrants brought it to South Dakota
in the 1880s.
Banana pudding consists of layers
of vanilla wafers, pudding, and bananas.
The simple, but delicious dessert is a Southern staple.
There's even a National Banana Pudding Festival
held in Centerville, Tennessee, annually.
Texans love their pecan pie
so much they made it the state pie.
You can find the nutty treat at restaurants,
dessert shops, and many family gatherings.
Jell-O is Utah's state snack food.
It's popular among the state's large Mormon population.
To make it a sweeter treat, add whipped cream on top.
Nothing warms the heart and stomach like apple pie.
Sliced Vermont apples are placed inside a pie crust
with a lattice top and baked to perfection.
Virginians love their chess pie.
The simple pie is made up of flour,
butter, sugar, and eggs,
and on occasion an acid such as vinegar,
buttermilk, or lemon juice.
While the Nanaimo bar is Canadian by birth,
it was made popular in the US by Starbucks,
whose headquarters are in Seattle.
This no-bake dessert bar is decadent and delicious.
While invented by the Pennsylvania Dutch,
the shoofly pie is very popular in West Virginia.
The star of the decadent pie is molasses.
There's even an annual West Virginia Molasses Festival
in Arnoldsburg.
Original Cream Puffs are a popular dessert
in the Wisconsin State Fair.
The puff pastry is piled high with cream
and extremely fun to eat.
Cowboy cookies are packed with a bunch
of flavors and textures.
This cookie contains chocolate, pecans,
coconut, oats, and cinnamon.
While they aren't states, here are the favorite desserts
in Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico.
Cupcakes reign supreme in Washington, DC.
Local favorites are Georgetown Cupcake
and Baked and Wired.
Flan is a popular custard dessert in Puerto Rico
and other Spanish-speaking countries and territories.
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