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50 States, 50 Desserts: America's Favorite Sweet Treats

It's no easy feat to pinpoint the most iconic desserts in the US. In a country so sprawling, so shaped by the comings and goings of communities, so contoured by unique terrains and the harvests they produce, how does one even describe the American table, for starters—and whose American table are we talking about when we do? What makes it onto our plates varies as widely as the definition of what it means to be American, but if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's our love of desserts. Even if what that constitutes varies from coast to coast, state to state, or home to home, there is some common ground to be found. If you're amid the apple groves in Washington State, or the peach trees of Georgia, you can usually put your money on a few desserts that will be a hit at a potluck; in Hawaii, or New York, locals know exactly what to bring as a gift to out-of-state friends. So, in this patchwork quilt of a country, we've decided the only way to identify our favorite desserts is to go state by state, naming the unofficial state sweet as you might a state bird. What results below, after months of reaching out to sources around the country and whittling the answers down, is a list of the most iconic desserts from every US state—and Puerto Rico and DC. From berry-stuffed pastries and buttery cakes to use-what-you've-got pies and sugary frozen treats, they tell our stories and bring us together. Read on for the best dessert to try in every single US state. These are the sweets that'll make you turn to your server and say, 'I'll have what she's having!'. — Megan Spurrell & Arati Menon We also did a deep-dive on beloved Indigenous sweets across the US—read more about these dishes, and where to find them, here. Peanut butter pie Daniel Tingcungco Alabama: Peanut Butter Pie Peanut butter pie's exact origins have yet to be cracked, but its presence is far-reaching. Across Alabama the dessert tempts diners at barbecue joints, seafood shacks, and white-tablecloth restaurants alike. The pie's ubiquity nods to a key crop—Alabama routinely ranks among the top four peanut-producing states—and to a pioneering historical figure: trail-blazing scientist George Washington Carver, the child of once enslaved parents who changed the face of farming with his hundreds of inventions for peanuts' uses, while teaching at Tuskegee Institute. Later, in the 1920s, one of the country's first commercial peanut butter manufacturers began operations in Brundidge, Alabama, a fun fact celebrated during the small town's annual Peanut Butter Festival. Perhaps it's no wonder that, today, peanut butter pie has such a grip on Alabama. In this storied dessert, pie crust and toppings can vary—graham-cracker and chocolate-cookie crust are common, with chocolate sauce drizzles and whipped cream or meringue on top—but some combination of peanut butter, whipped cream, cream cheese, and sugar is blended into a fluffy, sweet, and nutty filling. Standouts include the slices on offer at Decatur's century-old Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, where creamy peanut butter pudding rests on peanut butter crumbles in a flaky pastry crust under a crown of melt-in-your mouth meringue and chopped peanuts. Acre in Auburn serves the treat with a fine-dining flex: Banana meringue sits atop layers of chocolate-cookie crust, chocolate ganache, and rich, silky peanut butter filling, all of which gets torched tableside. —Jennifer Kornegay