Every State's Most Legendary Dessert

The culinary landscape of the United States is as diverse as the nation itself. Each of the 50 states carries its own unique identity informed by historical, geographic, and cultural influences. As such, it's impossible to nail down a defining American cuisine. Even within state lines, regional specialties differ greatly from North to South, city to countryside, one family's table to the next. But if there's one thing they all have in common, it's the importance of a little sweet treat.

Food, inextricably woven into a community's heritage, is often a source of pride — and, at times, conflict. Heated debates frequently divide citizens over who came up with what. Pennsylvania and Maine, for instance, have spent decades at war over rightful ownership of whoopie pies. In this article, we'll attempt to pinpoint each state's most legendary dessert. Just take it all with a grain of salt (or, should we say, sugar).

Most notably referenced in Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird," Lane cake was designated Alabama's official state dessert in 2016, though the original dates back to the 19th century. It features a soft sponge cake interlaced with layers of eggs, butter, sugar, coconut, raisin, pecans, and a healthy pour of bourbon. Its eponymous inventor, Emma Rylander Lane, developed the recipe in 1898 for a baking competition — and won — earning its alternate moniker, "prize cake."

The indigenous people of Alaska, namely the Iniut and Yupik, have been making this frozen treat for centuries. Translating to "to stir," Akutaq (pronounced a-goo-duck) is a combination of animal fat and berries, usually mixed by hand.

Versions of the dish vary, with techniques passed on orally and ingredients determined by what's locally available. Some lean more salty and gamey, while modern recipes feature plenty of sugar and are whipped to the point of resembling ice cream.

These ruby-shaded cactus fruits grow abundantly around Arizona. Long utilized by Indigenous people in the Southwest, prickly pears were historically eaten raw or used for medicinal purposes, and several desert dwellers rely on the spiny bulbs for survival. Today, rows of magenta-hued jams and prickly pear candies line Arizona's souvenir shop shelves, while flavors of ice cream and margaritas are popular throughout the state.

There are no actual possums in this Arkanasian pie, but the name is inspired by its nocturnal namesake. Known for their clever strategy of feigning death, "playing possum" describes deceptive behavior that masks reality.

Such is the case in possum pie, whose thick encasement of whipped cream obscures its inner fillings. Visible only upon slicing, its layers can include chocolate custard, vanilla pudding, cream cheese, and/or sour cream in a pecan shortbread crust.

Synonymous with Chinese food but largely thought of as American, these instructive cookies are said to have emerged in the Golden State. Their exact creator remains up for debate, though the most compelling lore points to Makoto Hagiwara of San Francisco, who claims to have handed them out in his famed Japanese Tea Garden. Whatever the case may be, no Chinese takeout meal is complete without the satisfying crunch and wisdom of the fortune cookie.

The small yet fertile town of Palisade, Colorado yields famous peaches that give Georgia a run for its money. First planted in the late 1800s by colonizers after forcibly displacing the Ute tribe, peach trees thrived in the mild climate and nutrient-rich soil. Their sweet, juicy fruits are now celebrated at an annual festival called "Peach Days," and baked into decadent pies and cobblers year-round.

Dark chocolate and coconut fans can direct their gratitude to Connecticut for the Mounds Bar. Regarded as one of the great minds in American candy making, West Haven resident Vincent Nitido created the confection in 1920.

He then sold the idea to the nearby Peter Paul Candy Manufacturing Company to handle production. Its lumpier, milk chocolate sister snack, the Almond Joy, was invented in 1948 by the same company, for when "you feel like a nut."

Peach farming has been an important agricultural pursuit in Delaware for centuries. At one point, the First State was even the leading producer of the fruit nationwide.

It wasn't until 2009, however, when the government officially designated the peach pie as its state dessert, a development spawned by the students of a Dover school. Still a significant industry, orchards across the state grow idyllic peaches for pies and cobblers.

Few desserts are more Floridian than Key lime pie. The refreshing, tangy custard pie reportedly originated in Key West in the late 19th century, where Key limes grow in abundance.

This was once contested by Borden, a New York-based milk company, who circulated an eerily similar "Magic Lemon Cream Pie" recipe on cans of the company's sweetened condensed milk. Although no formal verdict was ever reached, public opinion remains aligned with Florida.

Among the many states associated with peaches, Georgia is usually the first to come to mind. As expected for the so-called Peach State, its quintessential dessert comes in the form of a cobbler.

Georgians gather every year at the Georgia Peach Festival to bake a colossal cobbler using 75 pounds of peaches. But you can pull off your own at home using canned peaches, store-bought cinnamon rolls, or even slow-cooked in a crock pot.

The compelling history of Hawaiian shave ice traces its roots to Japanese immigrants, who brought a version of the dish known as kakigōri to the island during the mid 1800s. A simple combination of freshly shaved ice coated in sweet syrups, the refreshing snack is an essential across Hawaii. Its greatest asset lies in the texture of the ice, which is shaved into delicate flakes, yielding a fluffy, powdery consistency.

These tiny, wild berries are plentiful all over the Pacific Northwest, but Idaho has claimed them as its state fruit. Similar to blueberries and cranberries, huckleberries differ from their counterparts in that they don't grow on commercial farms, instead reserved for personal foraging and farmers markets. Most of Iowa's huckleberries are dark in color and sweeter than they are sour, making them an ideal choice for pies, jams, ice cream, and milkshakes.

A staple of bake sales and potlucks, the humble brownie comes from none other than the windy city. Developed by pastry chefs at Chicago's Palmer House hotel under the direction of owner Bertha Palmer, the dessert was first served at the Columbian Exposition World's Fair in 1893. This first iteration was made from scratch, featuring chopped walnuts and apricot preserves, but many today consider a simple boxed brownie mix to be top tier.

Named for its inhabitants, hoosier pie is the only choice for Indiana. Attributed to the Amish and Shaker communities, this midwest classic features a low-lift combination of sugar and cream baked in a pie shell — most recipes don't even call for eggs. Affectionately categorized as a type of "desperation pie," Hoosier Pie was common during the Great Depression, when supplies like fresh fruits were low, but simple pleasures were necessary.

Scotcheroos are like Rice Krispies Treats, but better. A riff on the childhood favorite, which was coincidentally invented by an Iowan woman, the first recipe for scotcheroos appeared on a cereal box in the 1960s. They more closely resemble a candy bar, with a layer of melted butterscotch and chocolate spread atop a mixture of peanut butter-coated rice krispies — no marshmallows here — for a crunchy, sticky, sweet masterpiece.

A European cookie commonly known by their German name "pfeffernusse," peppernuts are a Christmas tradition in Mennonite communities. Small in size but mighty in flavor, these teeny biscuits were reportedly brought to Kansas by Russian Mennonites during the 1870s, but they can now be found any time of the year. Traditional recipes feature anise, cloves, and other warm spices, but you can also sample playful flavors at modern bakeries — think lavender, absinthe, and even ghost pepper for the daring.

Did you know that 95% of the world's bourbon hails from Kentucky, per Kentucky Bourbon? It makes sense, then, that the state's signature dessert is essentially chocolate-covered bourbon.

These boozy bites were invented by Ruth Hanley Booe in 1938 for Rebecca Ruth Candies, which was founded by Booe and partner Rebecca Gooch in 1919. While most distillers will have their own recipe, the original features a bourbon-cream center dipped in dark chocolate and crowned with a Southern pecan.

Like much of New Orleans, bananas foster is a flamboyant spectacle. It originated at historic French Quarter restaurant Brennan's in the mid 20th century, a time when bananas were mainly imported through the city.

Modeled after the baked Alaska, chef Paul Blange applied the same showy table-side flambé to the locally accessible fruit. Now a destination New Orleans dish, you can find bananas foster gracing menus around the city and beyond.

Needhams are an "if you know, you know" type of deal. Often overlooked in favor of the controversial whoopie pie, needhams are a specialty of Maine akin to the lobster roll or wild blueberry — they just keep a lower profile. A curious filling of mashed potato and coconut sheathed in chocolate, needhams are not unlike a Mounds Bar in appearance and construction, though they diverge in shape and spud content.

Maryland's state dessert is equally impressive and uncomplicated. A simple yellow layer cake stacked between sheets of chocolate fudge icing, Smith Island Cake is unique in both the quantity (typically eight to 10) and the height of its layers.

As with most historic recipes, bakers have gotten creative over the years, taking liberties with the flavor of cake, icing, and toppings. The combinations are endless, be it red velvet or lemon cream.

Technically a cake, Boston cream pie was first introduced in the 1850s at the Parker House, now called the Omni Park Hotel. Deemed the official state dessert in 1996, Boston Cream Pie is a dreamy, cream-filled sponge cake topped with chocolate ganache. The flavor is also beloved in donut form, where it reached bestseller status at the cult of Dunkin', another Massachusetts darling.

In most cakes, a flat, smooth surface is the goal. The same cannot be said for Bumpy Cake, defined by its "bumps" of buttercream set atop a rich chocolate cake and coated in glossy frosting.

The claim to fame of Detroit institution Sanders Candy, the story goes that owner Fred Sanders ran out of frosting while making a perfectly regular cake, leading to a resourceful use for the little bit he did have. Customers loved it so much, it became a regular at the shop, and eventually turned into a Michigan classic.

The ingenuity of a Bundt Cake has more to do with the bundt pan than the cake itself. The idea was first realized by Nordic Ware, a kitchenware brand built out of a Minnesota basement, gaining steam in the 1960s when it produced the winning dessert — Ella Helfrich's "Tunnel of Fudge" — in a Pillsbury Bake-Off. The fluted design is the most iconic, but bundt pans — and cakes — now come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors.

Messy as the mud of the Mississippi River, this Southern dessert doesn't have a formalized recipe, taking infinite shapes. Some are composed of a graham cracker crust, others Oreos. Most variations are consistent in their filling of chocolate pudding, but the addition of a brownie layer is popular, and elaborate interpretations can contain meringue, cream cheese, or ice cream.

A dessert Paula Deen would approve of, gooey butter cake is just what it sounds like. According to St. Louis legend, the cake resulted from an accidental overdose of butter in a regular coffee cake batter.

The final product was even better, with an ooey-gooey, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Most recipes you'll find are not one cohesive cake, instead featuring a gooey butter filling baked atop a base of cake.

Exemplary produce is a given in most mountain states, but unique to Montana are its Flathead cherries. Grown around the Flathead Lake in the northwest, these juicy stems owe their lusciousness to the lake's fertile soil, mild climate, and crystal clear, glacier fed waters. During peak season, Flathead cherries make their way into any number of baked goods, compotes, ice creams, and cocktails throughout the state.

While its candy predecessor was created in neighboring Iowa by manufacturer John G. Woodward Company, butter brickle ice cream is an original of Omaha, Nebraska. The toffee-based frozen treat debuted at the Blackstone Hotel's Orleans Room restaurant in the 1920s. It's now a best-selling flavor at local creameries, resembling butter pecan in flavor and composition, but instead of candied nuts, you'll find golden, crunchy bits of toffee.

Basque immigrants arrived in Nevada in the mid 1800s, during the west's Gold Rush. Though they make up only a small percentage of Nevada's overall demographics, their culinary influence has persisted. Prominent Basque restaurants throughout the state are well known for their colorful cocktail offerings, but the signature dessert goes to the gâteau basque – a pastry-like filled cake with cream and cherry compote.

An essential fall treat, apple cider donuts are popular in many Northeastern states — but none revere them quite like New Hampshire, where they're made and sold every season. Dense yet light and tender, these cinnamon-sugar coated donuts feature a cakey texture and slight tartness from their title ingredient, while warm spices like nutmeg and ginger deliver that unmistakable autumnal kick.

Summertime nostalgia goes hand in hand with the sticky sweetness of salt water taffy. A bastion of shore towns up and down the Jersey coast, these colorful gems wrapped in wax paper were first introduced on the Atlantic City boardwalk circa the late 1800s. While they don't contain salt water, and are actually rather polarizing, they're at least mesmerizing to look at.

You can't go wrong with fried dough in any cuisine, but the cloud-like sopapilla of New Mexico is arguably the best kind. These airy pillows are often enjoyed as the grand finale of the meal, dipped in honey or rolled in cinnamon sugar, but many locals also eat them in savory form, or as a complimentary side dish to cut the spice in chili-laden dishes.

No gimmicks or thrills, New York cheesecake is cheesecake in its purest form. German-Jewish immigrant Arnold Reuben is credited with creating the iconic dessert, which was then brought to the masses by midtown institution Lindy's Restaurant. The ultimate comfort food, its creamy yet firm custard filling and crumbly graham cracker crust is nothing short of perfection.

Potatoes and patience — those are the two crucial ingredients in Moravian sugar cake, which requires time (around two hours) for the dough to proof. Evidently, Moravian settlers in North Carolina had plenty of both. Usually eaten around the holidays, these enriched coffee cakes feature a denser texture and milder flavor than most desserts, thanks to the spuds.

Of the many uses for potato chips, North Dakotans were the first to officially own chocolate-dipped. Coined "chippers," these sweet-salty snacks are widely acknowledged to have originated at Widman's Candy Shop in Grand Forks. Now proudly displayed on its facade, Widman's sells their infamous Red River Valley potato chippers by the pound.

Peanut butter chocolate balls. That's all you really need to know about buckeyes, Ohio's famed dessert. The name comes from their resemblance to the poisonous nuts of the buckeye tree, also the state tree of Ohio. To peel it back one more layer, the tree was named by the Native Americans, who thought the nuts looked like the eye of a male deer, or buck.

Nearly every culture has a hand pie, with savory or sweet varieties found in most cuisines. In Oklahoma, fried hand pies are a convenient on-the-road snack found at stops along the highway courtesy of Arbuckle fried pies, whose looming signs are visible at a great distance. Flavors are plentiful, with fruit options like cherry, peach, and apple, or cream-filled chocolate, coconut, and lemon custards.

A type of blackberry born from scientist-driven cross-breeding, marionberries are a prized fruit of Oregon. And in 2017, the legislature introduced marionberry pie as the official state pie. Deep in color and balanced in flavor between sweet and tart, the marionberry pie is a short-lived seasonal specialty found fleetingly at charming roadside stands and bakeshops during summer months.

Some food fights are so serious, they warrant civil disobedience. In 2011, Pennsylvanians took to the streets to protest Maine's move to claim the whoopie pie as its state dessert, which, spoiler alert, succeeded.

Nevertheless, the handheld cake sandwich has roots in the Amish communities of Lancaster County, where wives are said to have used up excess cake batter in mini pies for their husbands' and children's lunch boxes. To which, the story goes, they exclaimed "whoopee!"

The unexpected bridge between Italy and our country's littlest state is made of frozen lemonade. An Americanized version of "granita di limone" is a summertime staple in Rhode Island, first brought over at the turn of the 20th century by the DeLucia family, proprietors of Del's Lemonade. Neighboring businesses took note of Del's success and followed suit — spawning a regional favorite.

Benne seeds, a type of sesame seed, were brought to the United States on slave ships from West Africa in the early 1700s and served as an important source of sustenance for enslaved people. They were eventually commandeered by plantation owners and entered the commercial marketplace as seed oils and flour. This gave rise to the benne wafer, an ultra-thin, crisp, semi-sweet cookie studded with white benne seeds that remains a pillar of South Carolina's foodways to date.

Chokecherries are sacred to the Lakota Nation in South Dakota's prairielands, and historically serve as the base for their vivid berry pudding known as Wojapi. Modern recipes are made with cranberries, blueberries, or a combination thereof, which release natural pectins as they cook and thicken the mixture. Wojapi makes for an excellent ice cream topping, but is more traditionally served alongside Native American fry bread.

If you're at a barbecue and the dessert table is lacking in banana pudding, you should probably leave. At least a Tennesseean would likely say so. In fact, they dedicate an entire weekend to the annual Banana Pudding Festival, celebrated with ongoing cook offs and pudding eating contests. Your standard-issue Southern banana pudding will feature trifle-like layers of creamy custard, sliced bananas, vanilla wafers, and fluffy whipped cream or meringue.

Kolaches are one of those pastries that try to pass as a breakfast item, but are really just dessert in disguise. Inherited from Czech immigrants in the early 1900s, Texans fell in love with the flaky dough pockets stuffed with various fruit jams or sweet creams. They are now a mainstay in many Texas cities, with several dedicated bakeries churning out handmade kolaches on the daily.

Per capita, Utah consumes more Jell-O than any other state, per History. There is compelling evidence suggesting that this development was the result of a concerted marketing push aimed to create the association of Jell-O with family values.

In a market with the highest birth rate in the country, and thus more mothers with children to target, it stuck. In 2001, the state went official, naming Jell-O as its dessert of choice.

Sugaring season in Vermont was initiated long ago by Native American tribes. The process of tapping trees to collect sap for maple syrup is a tradition spanning February through April. One of the simplest ways to enjoy Vermont's "liquid gold" is sugar on snow, made by pouring boiling maple syrup on cold snow for a thick, taffy-like treat preferably enjoyed on a stick.

Virginia isn't just for lovers, it's for peanut lovers. Previously only consumed by enslaved people, peanuts were considered lowly, as was peanut pie.

That's no longer the case, with Virginia peanuts so esteemed that they're never to be wasted on peanut butter. A Virginia peanut pie is made with chopped peanuts, eggs, flour, corn syrup, and butter baked in a pie shell for a gooey, sticky dessert that pairs well with ice cream.

The introduction of a new fruit is rarely enjoyed by post-modern society. When Cosmic Crisp apples hit shelves in 2019, consumers were blown away by their crunchy, sweet, juicy perfection. A feat of cross-pollination achieved by Washington State University, these otherworldly fruits are best enjoyed in their natural state, but just as good when integrated into cooked dishes like pies or muffins.

More robust and nutrient-dense than regular wheat, buckwheat is a hearty crop that can withstand turbulent weather conditions in West Virginia, bailing farmers out during cold stretches since the 1800s. As such, buckwheat cakes are the go-to sweet in the mountainous state — ideally ultra thin, crispy, and dripping in syrup.

If you go to Wisconsin and don't try a Kringle, did you really go to Wisconsin? The popular Danish pastry emerged in Racine in the late 1800s, and has been a staple of the local cuisine ever since. As the official pastries of Wisconsin, these oblong treats feature delicate, flaky layers wrapped around various flavorings — the most traditional being almond – but they exist in an endless array of fruit, nut, and dessert-inspired flavors.

Brought into the limelight by Laura Bush during a presidential candidate cookie bake-off, cowboy cookies are oversized and sturdy, with hearty mix-ins like oats, chocolate chips, pecans, and shredded coconut. A fully-loaded snack intended to keep cowboys energized during long periods of travel, cowboy cookies evoke the rugged spirit of Wyoming's wild west.