’50 pies, 50 states’ is a mouthwatering pie road trip across the U.S.

I asked some friends what food comes to mind this time of the year. Responses include the following: comfort food, apples, everything pumpkin and pies. Walk into any supermarket, and you’ll see displays of ingredients to make the perfect pie.

As the holiday baking season approaches, home bakers are digging out and dusting off their pie baking gear, many of them heirlooms handed down from family bakers.

What’s better on a cold day than to have a pie baking in the oven, warming-up the house, coupled with the aroma of cinnamon and spice to dispel the winter blues?

Ask anyone what their favorite part of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner is, and most often it’s pie that sits atop the list. We seem to have a love affair with it. Families pass on the tradition of pie making from generation to generation.

Making the crust often is the biggest challenge, thus it can cause a fair amount of fear. With trial and error, making perfect pies possible. And if rolling out the dough is something you feel is out of your comfort zone, a pressed crust is an easy alternative for a single crust pie.

The crumble, crisp or cobbler are alternatives to a traditional pie. Whether it be a sweet fruit pie or a savory one such as chicken potpie, the nostalgic association with the pies we savor can evoke feelings of comfort and love.

On the lookout for this year’s cookbook for this feature, I was intrigued with the title, “50 Pies, 50 States: An Immigrants Love Letter to the United States Through Pie” by Stacey Mei Yan Fong (2023, Voracious an imprint of Little, Brown and Company, $35).

Consider the book as a mouthwatering “pie” road trip throughout the United States. The author took her Instagram project where she baked a pie for each state based upon ingredients that define it. Her project culminates with the book’s publication.

There are U.S states that have an official pie; Florida’s is key lime; shoofly is Pennsylvania’s, and apple is Vermont’s. You’ll probably agree that different regions and cultures each have unique pie traditions. What makes the book so much more than a cookbook are the dedication comments for each recipe as well as the information about the state and the inspiration for each pie.

During a recent interview, Stacey mentioned that every bite of a pie transports us to the people and places that mean the most, no matter where in the world we are. I learned that she was searching for what she could call home when moving to the U.S., where she earned her degree at the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

Stacey was born in Singapore, raised in Indonesia and Hong Kong. For some reason, she felt that she didn’t have roots. Moving to the U.S., she was able to understand what home could mean.

After quitting her handbag design career, she began her culinary vocation, baking at Four and Twenty Blackbirds, the famous Brooklyn, N.Y., pie shop. This job gave her the idea for the project “50 Pies, 50 States”. The undertaking offered her a sense of home and an appreciation for the United States, what Stacey calls her adopted home. It was interesting to learn that where she grew up, pies are a savory dish.

Her creations are impressive and whimsical, incorporating the state’s flavors.

When asked what the two pies from the book one should put on the top of the list to bake, she said, “Your home state’s pie and the Brooklyn pie (Scallion Bagel Pie).”

In addition to the 50 states, Stacey pays homage to the places she’s lived by creating a pie recipe: Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Savannah, Ga., and her home for the past 13 years, Brooklyn. She encourages you to be creative when making the Brooklyn Bagel pie, by incorporating ingredients enjoyed on a bagel.

How about these creative pies (using flavor combinations that intrigue me.)

California’s artichoke pie with savory lemon crumble and red wine reduction. It is a nod to the flavors of Sonoma County. Maine’s blueberry and Moxie Pie is inspired by the state’s abundant harvest of berries as well as Moxie, the official soft drink of the state.

Maryland’s Blue-Crab-Dip Pie with Hot Old Bay crust pays homage to crab, the state’s most famous food. Old Bay was invented by a German refugee who came to Maryland in 1939 and named the blend after the ship line on the Chesapeake Bay.

The Nevada pie, well it is extravagant and excessive. I’ll keep this one at bay until you get the book, but here’s a hint…think “all you can eat buffet.”

I bet your mouth is watering by now….so let’s turn on the oven and bake a pie!

Maple Pumpkin Pie (New Hampshire’s Pie) With Painted Birch Tree Crust

Makes 1 pie

Ingredients:

Crust:

All butter crust (double recipe below), one for bottom of pie, rolled out, fit into 10-inch pie pan, and crimped, one for birch tree crust design.

Filling:

1 cup maple syrup

1 (15-ounce) can (1 7/8 cups) pumpkin (preferably Libby’s)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2/3 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons ground espresso powder for birch trees

Small paintbrush

x-acto knife to cut birch tree design

Directions:

Make the filling: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, gently bring the maple syrup to a boil. Turn the heat off and let the maple syrup cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the cooled maple syrup, pumpkin, cream, milk, eggs, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Set aside until ready to fill the pie.

Assemble and bake the pie: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the prepared crust on a baking sheet and pour filling into the crust. Bake on center rack for 1 hour until the filling is set but has a slight jiggle. Cool completely.

Make the birch tree decorations: While the pie is cooling, use the birch tree template to cut trees out of the rolled-out top crust. Place the cut out trees onto a flour dusted baking sheet. Mix two teaspoons ground instant espresso with 1 tablespoon water and use a clean paintbrush to paint on tree details. Freeze the finished trees for 230 minutes. Bake in the 375-degree oven rotating 180 degrees halfway through for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Finish the pie: Place the birch trees on the cooled pie. Enjoy with whipped cream.

All-Butter Crust

The headnote says: “Crust is the foundation of all your pies. Bakers have their preferences of which fat to use, but I’m all about the butter, baby. Fat is flavor and using a butter with high fat percentage when making your dough means a pie crust that you’re gonna wanna eat crimp first!”

All-Butter Crust (single)

1¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar

½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces

½ cup cold water

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

½  cup ice

All-Butter Crust (double)

2 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ -inch pieces

1 cup cold water

¼ cup cider vinegar ½ cup ice

Sift flour, salt, and sugar together in a large bowl with a flat bottom. Add the butter pieces on top of the dry ingredients. Using your fingers, too the butter in the dry mixture so each cube is coated. Use a pastry blender or your fingers to cut or rub the butter into the mixture until it is pieces a bit larger than peas (a few larger pieces are okay; be careful not to over-blend). You want to be able to have big butter chunks in your crust: it helps to create a flaky effect, as well as adding delicious buttery hits of flavor!

In a separate large measuring cup or small bowl, combine the water, cider vinegar, and ice. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the ice water mixture over the flour mixture; do not add the ice, which is just there to keep your water cold. Using your hands in a circular motion, bring the mixture together until all the liquid is incorporated. Continue adding the ice water mixture, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time. Carefully mix until dough comes together in a ball, with some dry bits remaining. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until it comes into one mass; you don’t want to overwork it.

Shape dough into a flat disc (if making double recipe, first separate dough into two equal portions), wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight before using.

Wrapped tightly, the dough can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen dough overnight in refrigerator.

Excerpted from “50 pies, 50 states” by Stacey Mei Yan Fong. Copyright 2023 by Stacey Mei Yan Fong. Photos by Alanna Hale. Food Styling by Caitlin Haught Brown. Used with permission from Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company.