Living in the deep South my whole life has allowed me to collect a variety of classic Southern-style recipes. Food in the South, including dessert, always involves throwing a colorful mix of ingredients together in the hopes that they will be edible. As a full-scale Southern belle, I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying an abundance of baked desserts only offered in the South.
Pies in the Deep South are sweeter than honey. They’re cooked with not only the intense warmth of a Southern home, but the overflowing love of a Southern mother, too. The fruit inside acts as a natural sweetener, filling the pies with apples, berries, and peaches that melt in your mouth. You can find pie at any major holiday or family gathering–they’re practically a staple food of the South.
But you can’t really claim to have Southern roots until you’ve mastered the art of banana pudding. Sweet, simple pudding mixed with banana slices and vanilla wafers is what makes this recipe truly genius; you can rest assured no other place whips this genius together like the South does. You’ll definitely find yourself coming back for seconds, and sometimes even thirds!
The most popular Southern dessert is a Georgian peach cobbler. Since Georgia is practically the home of peaches, it’s only reasonable that its citizens put them in everything they eat. The classic peach cobbler has the perfect ratio of salty to sweet, making it the ideal dessert after any meal. Soft cobbler, fresh out of the oven and with a scoop of ice cream on top is the essence of every Southerner’s dreams.
Regardless of what you end up eating after dinner, though, it’s safe to say that dessert is the best part of Southern meals, and an even better part of what makes Southern culture so unique. Happy baking!