National Dessert Day Collides with Throwback Thursday . . . (or, the case for Buttermilk Pie!)

So, today is National Dessert Day. It's also Throwback Thursday. What better time to throwback to a dessert that used to be a national treasure?

Or at least a Southern one.

I am amazed at how many people have never tasted, much less eaten, buttermilk pie. I am certain I was offered it as a child, and I probably turned it down.

I should not have.

Buttermilk pie is believed to have originated in ye old mother country - England. It was then brought to the United States into the Southern colonies. With it's custard-like texture, it is very much like chess pie. But chess pie does not contain buttermilk and a true chess pie uses cornmeal.

The pie was predominately baked and eaten in Texas. Texas settlers had to be very resourceful with their food resources, and buttermilk was in large abundance and very inexpensive. The pie did not rely on fruit, and so it could be made all year long. Only four ingredients were needed - sugar, flour, butter, eggs, and buttermilk.

Seriously, if the word buttermilk puts you off, you should move past it. The pie does not have a buttermilk flavor at all to it, but has a sweet, custard like flavor and texture.

And so - Buttermilk Pie is my national dessert of choice this year.

What is yours?