Owner of The Charmed Pie Shoppe, Havenwood, Georgia
Friends, today is going to be a day like no other!
Do you remember the scene in Charlotte’s Web when everyone went to the fair? Remember the excitement? The descriptions of the scents? The sights? And most of all, the food?
That’s what I have to look forward to today. Havenwood is hosting an event called History in the Baking and for several days, we’re celebrating all things pie. Today, is the Pies of All States Bake-Off and I have the privilege of tasting over 50 delectable pies from across our great nation.
As I move from booth to booth, I’ve been learning facts about each state and the crops that influenced their first pies. Here are some examples:
- Oregon produces more hazelnuts than any other state, so their baker made a heavenly chocolate hazelnut pie.
- A baker from Illinois created a ginger-crumble pumpkin pie. He also showed me on how the colonists used to prepare pumpkins. She cut off the top of the pumpkin, took out all the seeds, and then filled the inside with honey, milk, and several spices. She then baked the pumpkin in hot ashes and gave me a sample. Yum!
- A woman from Kentucky, who wore an enormous hat covered with racehorses and roses, made a pie with roasted walnuts, bourbon, and chocolate. The crust was flaky as a Southern biscuit. And I’d love to tell you the name, but I can’t because it copyrighted and the owners have sued people for printing it in the past. All I can tell you is that it’s based on the 1950s recipe from the Melrose Inn.
- I was shocked when the bakers from Georgia presented me with a peanut butter pie instead of peach pie. I was even more shocked to learn that my home state isn’t the main producer of peaches (pssst – it’s South Carolina!)
Now, it’s mid-afternoon and I’ve tasted incredible apple pies from New York, key lime and lemon pies from Florida, sweet potato pies from North Carolina, blueberry pies from Maine, and a mud pie from Mississippi. I can’t eat another bite! The question is: who will I pick as a winner?
You can read more about Ella Mae and her pie tasting contest in Lemon Pies And Little White Lies, the fourth book in the “Charmed Pie Shoppe” mystery series, published by Berkley Prime Crime. The first three books in the series are Pies and Prejudice, Peach Pies and Alibis, and Pecan Pies and Homicides.
About Lemon Pies And Little White Lies
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Books by the Bay series and the Book Retreat mysteries–Includes pie recipes!
After Pecan Pies and Homicides comes another tangy slice of life—and death—in a charmed, and charming, small town. . .
Ella Mae LeFaye’s Charmed Pie Shoppe has become a phenomenon beyond her wildest dreams, providing the enchanted town of Havenwood, Georgia, with spellbinding desserts and magical pies. Her personal life is also heating up as she takes on the responsibilities of leadership within her magical community. In fact, the only thing weighing her down is the fact that handsome Hugh Dylan won’t return her calls. . .
Still, when Havenwood is rocked by a series of mysterious deaths, Ella Mae must put romantic longings aside—especially when she realizes that the mystical symbols left at each crime scene are dangerously personal. Now she will have to whip up all her supernatural skills to uncover a killer out to settle an ancient score—before the murderer devastates everything Ella Mae is determined to protect. . .
GIVEAWAY
Since you’ll have to read Lemon Pies And Little White Lies to find out, why don’t I offer you a prize? Tell me your all-time favorite pie and you’ll be automatically 
entered to win a book-shaped plate, cup and saucer, because you need to have your pie and your favorite hot beverage in style. Contest ends by 12 p.m. eastern on April 3. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Winner will be notified within 48 hours after giveaway closes and you will have three days to respond after being contacted or another winner will be selected. Make sure to check your SPAM folder.
About the author
Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. Ms. Adams has held many jobs including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children’s books, and novels. She now writes full-time from her home in Virginia. For more information, kindly visit www.elleryadamsmysteries.com
Lemon meringue pie is my favorite.
Mince Meat Pie is my favorite.
Strawberry
Don’t think there is anything better than a good apple pie.
Even if lemon pie wasn’t in the title, my favorite pie is lemon meringue pie. But lemon cream, has to be meringue! Looking forward to reading this latest one! I’ve these book shaped dinnerware and thought as a librarian I should really have these. Perhaps this giveaway prize could be my starter set! Thank you for writing such grat series & this unique giveaway!
Lemon Pies and Little White Lies sound so good! Although peach pies are our family favorite. Thanks for the chance to win. 🍸📖📚
For me that’s a really tough one because I like all sorts of pies and pastries. If I had to pick just one I’d go with Miss Hilda’s Favorite Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/miss-hildas-favorite-chocolate-peanut-butter-pie-recipe.html
A simple fresh raspberry pie is my fave.
thanks
My all time favorite pie is Lemon Meringue! I could eat it every day every meal and never get tired of it! But since I would be bigger than a house if I did that I occasionally splurge and savor every bite! Thanks for the chance!
My favorite pie is Lemon Icebox Pie. No one made it better than my Mamaw.
My email addy is tcuevas@iccable.com
I love Boston Cream Pie!
My absolute favorite pie is cherry pie. I also like peach pie but I will pick cherry everytime.
Moonbay7399@gmail.com
My all time favorite is Shoo Fly Pie (the traditional Amish recipe). Just thinking about it makes me want to go to Amish country.
My mother made the BEST LEMON MERIGUE PIE in the world. It was from a cookbook published. In 1951 by Antoine Pope. The filling is cooked and beaten egg whites and whipped cream are in it. This pie takes a long time to make but so worth it. I try and make it once a year. Served with a great cup of coffee!!!
My favorite kind of pie changes from time to time, but right now I am thinking of coconut cream pie with a flaky crust. I love the Charmed Pie Shop series!
Banana cream pie is my favorite!
I love lemon meringue pie. My grandmother used to make it from scratch and it was delicious.
I make a really good strawberry rhubarb pie, but. My favorite is cherry. 🙂
Pecan pie is one of my favorites. 🙂
myrifraf(at)gmail(dot)com
It has to be chocolate cream for me!
Cherry pie with cool whip on top
Chocolate cream for me too.
My favorite pie was made by my grandmother, Ella Mae. It was banana cream pie made with extra love.
French Silk Pie and a nice hot cup of Earl Gray goes awesome with a good book. 🙂
Probably lemon meringue, but any fruit pie is good. Don’t count me in for this prize. Thanks.
My favorite pie is cherry with a lot of cherries. Would love to win this.
Can’t wait to read this installment. I’m an apple pie fan. cheers@marjimmanor.com
Don’t have to think about this one – cherry pie!
My Mom’s Pecan Pie is my favorite. Next would be Coconut Cream
My favorite pie is cherry pie
I love coconut cream pie!
What a fun giveaway! Love this series and just finished reading an ARC. Coconut cream and cherry are my favorite pies.
Dutch Apple Crumble. And I can’t wait until the 7th, I’ve had this book pre-ordered for months.
Pumpkin pie with a cream cheese bottom, called Paradise Pumpkin Pie!
Paradise Pumpkin Pie.. (pumpkin pie with a lovely cream cheese bottom)
Chocolate creme pie with LOTS of meringue! And I’m starting this book tomorrow. 🙂
My favorite pie is lemon meringue. My BFF made me one for my birthday every year. Her pies were the best. Mine doesn’t come out too well but I enjoy it anyway. sounds like a fun read. Don’t know if I could taste that many pies at one sitting. thanks.
Looks like a great cozy mystery. Love pies
My mom’s chocolate meringue pie. Great giveaway!
Favorite pie is a really good pumpkin!
My favorite is lemon meringue pie. Every birthday I have ever had, I have had that instead! I love the sweetness but is the tangy twist that is the best!
Mince Meat pie is my favorite
I really love all kinds of pie, but my favorite is also the first one I ever baked- a recipe for chocolate pecan pie that I got from one of Ellery Adam’s books! I have yet to add alcohol to the recipe, but I’ve made the last several years for Thanksgiving and book club, and it tastes delicious.
Thank you for this giveaway! My favorite pie is Chocolate Pecan Pie. 🙂
I love coconut cream pie. Yum!
It is so hard to choose. Key Lime Pie
It’s always about the lemon meringue pie for me.
My grandma Bean’s rhubarb pie. Yum yum.
My absolute favorite pie is Banana Cream with ‘nilla wafer crust. YUM!!
Yum pie…..never met one that I didn’t like but my favorite is lemon meringue or pecan….depending on my mood.
vernagass@gmail.com
My favorite pie is pie. Any pie. All pie.
Love good old fashioned apple pie.
I love most pies but I have to say that cherry and peach pies are my favorite, I can’t choose they are equally tied. I would love to try some of those pies that you have listed above, I’ve got to go wipe the drool from my face now. LOL
Good ole’ fashioned pumpkin pie is my all time favorite!
ChocolAte mousse pie!
Key lime pie!
Lemon Meringue Pie is mu all time favorite. What a lovely feature and giveaway. Thanks.
Apple pie (homemade with local apples, of course).
My favorite pie is chocolate cream pie. Love this book and post. Many thanks.
My all time favorite is pecan pie, or key lime, or lemon meringue …is cheesecake a pie?? Thank you and have a great day!!
A good old fashion apple pie is my favorite pie. I love the book shaped dishes.
That’s a very tough question. Being a solid New Englander it isn’t autumn with out apple pie and cheddar cheese…real crumbly sharp cheddar cheese. When I lived in WA state I fell in love with Marionberry pies and still miss them today. I’m also partial to a good cherry pie and then we have Boston Cream pie. Really, this is a tough question, but if I had to pick one pie that I would dearly miss it would have to be apple pie! I’m looking forward to reading this book very, very much!
My favorite pie is dutch apple or strawberry. I recently found this series from Ellery and I’m loving it. Chewey reminds me of my terrier so much. I love how she started her pie shop on her own, I’ve always wanted to do that. Wish I had the courage to do it!
A cinnamon apple pie made with macs.
I love this series! Every time I read one of the books I have a pie week. Each day I bake a sweet or savory pie in honor of Ella Mae. My daughter and husband love the results. 🙂 The only problem is, how do you limit yourself to one favorite? It has to be Vidalia Onion Pie for a savory pie, and I will go with creamy pumpkin pie for a sweet. (My mom;s rhubarb pie is a close second!) What a frustrating but fun contest! Thanks!
My all time favorite pie was a lemon custard pie my mother made that I didn’t get the recipe for——and can’t seem to recreate.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Strawberry Rhubarb during the summer. A delightful book and wonderful giveaway.
My all time favorite pie is apple. Warmed up. With lots and lots and lots of vanilla ice cream piled on top.
chocolate carmel w/ a little red chili powder in it!!!
My all time favorite is the old classic Apple Pie!! With an occasional scoop of ice cream.
After going back in time and thinking about memorable pies, I kept returning to my mother’s apple pie. I have many favorites but I think that was the most delicious.
What a marvelous collection of pies she had to eat her way through! I’m green with envy. I’d probably be a bit green if I ate all those pies at the same time!
Warm apple pie–my mother would eat it for breakfast with sharp cheddar cheese.
But I wouldn’t say no to chocolate pecan pie, either!
Grandma’s banana cream. She passed away this January and I found out, too late, that no one else knows how she made it.
My all-time favorite pie has no crust. In our family it is called English Apple Pie. The recipe calls for mellow apples sprinled wiyh lemon, dotted with butter the size of a walnut, and sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The topping calls for a crumbly mixture of flour, brown sugar and butter the size of an egg. It’s crispy and sweet. Can be eaten hot or cold and with or without ice cream. Soooooo yummy!
My favorite pie is coconut cream. My mother in law always made this for me for my birthday. I also enjoy a piece of lemon meringue to brighten up a day when it’s dreary.
Key Lime pie
I’m pretty simple – basic pecan pie is my favorite.
My family loves Banana Creme Pie. Got a from scratch recipe from a 1956 Betty Crocker Cookbook. When my husband finished his radiation treatments I made him 3 in one week!
Key lime pie ..even better experienced at the beach.
Strawberry Rhubarb is my all-time favorite pie. All I would need now is to have my pie and my favorite hot beverage in style. If I’m lucky enough to win this awesome giveaway. Thanks for the opportunity.
Okay, now I am super hungry. But that’s what I get for asking that question!
Strawberry Rhubarb ala mode! 🙂
I love blueberry pie.
dotkel50@comcast.net
I love Key Lime pie.
Have to say chess pie!!
My all time favorite pie is Pumpkin. Thanks for the chance to win this great prize!
I have to pick one?? I’m not big on desserts, but pie is my weakness, especially fruit pie. So it’s a tossup – coconut cream, peach, or razzleberry (mixed berry).
I love all pies but pecan is my favorite.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie, yummy! Thanks for giving us the opportunity to win.
Coconut cream pie. Although I never met a pie I didn’t like, lol
My all-time favorite pie is pumpkin. My grandma finally asked if, for my November birthday, I’d rather have pumpkin pie than cake and I jumped on that offer.
I love pumpkin pie. My grandma finally asked me if, for my November birthday, I’d rather have the pie instead of cake. I jumped on that offer!
Lemon meringue pie is the best
While I can love just about any pie out there (quick note: my maiden name, a long Polish name, started with the letters P-I-E, so that has been my nickname for 60 years!), my favorite is an incredible coconut cream pie from Sandy McGee’s down-home restaurant in Richmond, TX. I do not get there often, so it is an EXTRA special pie for “Pie.”
My grandmother’s mincemeat pie has always been my favorite!!
I would have to say my all time favorite pie is Pumpkin Pie with a dollop of whipped cream on top. There are many others I like but that is the one I go for out of all of them!
I love Pecan! All pies are yummy but a good pecan….HEAVEN!
My all time favorite pie is my Mom’s apple pie 🙂
Lemon Meringue has always been my favorite!! Sweet and tart!
One of my favorite series!!!!
My all-time favorite pie is a classic….apple pie!!!
Thank you for the giveaway….
My favorite is coconut cream pie!
My mom makes a killer pineapple pie…it is my absolute favorite! I make the pie too, but it doesn’t quite taste likes hers!
misstree1963@gmail.com
I love apple pie! Even if I don’t win, I would love to know where to get the set!
Cherry pie with a cup of Lady Grey tea. Blueberry and pumpkin are a close second.
A pie almost no one has heard of is a Butterscotch pie. Every holiday my mom has to make this for the family.
Jeremy Morrison
Any book about pies has to be good.
During the summertime, my favorite pie is slice of lemon meringue or key lime with a big refreshing ice tea to go with it. Mmmmm yummy! 😀
Rhubarb Pie for me! Great memories of making this with my aunt when I was young, and then again as a young wife. I think it’s still my husband’s favorite, 23 years (and a lot of pie) later.
Sour cream Lemon. Yum. 😊
My absolute favorite pie is my own homemade version of chocolate silk pie. It’s smooth, chocolatey perfection with a touch of cinnamon & cayenne.
I cannot tell “a little white lie”…I cannot pick just one favorite pie!;) Some faves are cherry, lemon meringue, chocolate cream & pecan pie.
Apple all the way!
My favorite pie is chocolate pecan with ice cream.
I love pie and a good mystery–can’t wait for this. My favorite is coconut cream, although there’s no such thing as a bad pie.
This is such a fun series! Looking forward to the latest addition. I am so bad at picking favorites, but blueberry is definitely among my favorite pies. Thanks for the chance to win!
I’m amazed at how many people share my love of lemon meringue pie! Especially if the lemon has just the right kind of light zing to it! Love the plates!
Even though lemon pie is a favorite of mine; I also like coconut cream. I don’t think there is a pie I don’t like.
Lemon meringue is my favorite! Thanks for the chance to win.
I like several kinds, but I love pumpkin pie.
I love key lime pie!
Lemon meringue is my all time favorite with blueberry as a close second. The dishes are adorable, and the book sounds delicious.
looks really good! great giveaway! I love lemon pie too!
being that my favorite flavor is lemon… My favorite pie must be lemon meringue! Of course that leads to thoughts of lemon bars and lemon filled donuts and … Oh my I must get back to work. Thanks for the chance to win!
Pecan Pie
Key lime. Yum.
Pecan pie is my favorite.
While I love Pecan and Pumpkin…blackberry is my favorite..yum!
Marilyn ewatvess@yahoo.com
I haven’t met a pie I haven’t liked! Favorite I would have to say is Black Raspberry because it reminds me of my grandmother. Great memories & I miss her terribly. Awesome giveaway. Fingers crossed!
Scouts579 (at) aol (dot) com
I love pumpkin pie with tea. It’s something my girls and I have when we can purchase the pumpkin pie.
I like all pies. Between coconut cream and strawberry I would have a hard time deciding. The book sounds great and would love to read it.
My favorite pie is my mother in laws pecan pie.We have pecan trees and picked up and cracked buckets full just so she would make us some of her wonderful pies.She also takes the pie filling and uses it in fried pies that are Amazing! !!
Favorites for me are seasonal especially with fruit pies. Soon it will be rhubarb time and making straberryrhubarb pies, then Summer pies of fresh peach and fresh cherry and just picked fresh blueberries. In the fall there is nothing like all kinds of apple pies made with fresh picked apples. The adults in our family all prefer pick over cake any day. With lemon meringue , key lime and chocolate mousse pie being the most requested. But anytime of the year I would be thrilled to have pecan pie or egg custard pie at least once a day. It seems almost impossible to have just one favorite but luckily there are many weeks in the year to get to eat all of them.. The book plates are great.Thank you for the giveawAy and your wonderful books. Love this series so please keep on writing.
Cynthia.
peach with a crumbly crust…is there really anything better?!
Hi Dru Ann! Thank you for the intro and review! I’m here to tell you that butterscotch cream pie has always been my fave. Marie Callendar’s used to make it but stopped several years ago. I remember one Thanksgiving at my son’s house, we were preparing the annual feast and my daughter and I decided we were going to dig into the pie (for energy reasons you see), rather than using plates (just more to wash up later), we took the pie and two forks into a bedroom and started eating (just little bites of course). Well, before we knew it, my daughter-in-law and her mom peeked in to see what we were up to. A few minutes later here they came with their own forks to join us. Needless to say…not crumb was left to offer the other dinner guests for dessert that day. Thanks for the chance at these adorable dishes!
Love Lemon Meringue!
My first favorite is blueberry pie especially warm with vanilla ice cream on top.yum My Mom made peach pie and that became my second favorite. Since she passed I haven’t had one that comes near to hers but I am still trying to find one that comes close.
My favorite pie is Lemon Meringue. Thanks!
contest is closed.