THE BEST DESSERT IN EVERY STATE

Apple pie belongs to all of us, but every region has its signature treat. With help from our friends at Taste of Home, we’ve found the 50 best.

- Emily Goodman, Genevieve Looby

ALABAMA

Lane cake

This dessert made 19th-century southern hospitality a piece of cake. Perfect for impromptu guests, Lane cake is filled with dried fruit (traditionally raisins) soaked in whiskey or bourbon, which keeps it moist even days after it comes out of the oven. In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, young Scout eats one so boozy that she feels the effects.

ALASKA

Akutaq

Also known as Eskimo ice cream, akutaq calls for reindeer fat, seal oil, berries, and snow—all whipped by hand until it becomes airy. In Yupik, akutaq (“ah-GOO-duck”) means “mix them together.” It’s traditionally made after the first seal catch of the year, though it can be enjoyed at any time with vegetable shortening and sugar in place of the animal fat and oil.

ARIZONA

Cactus candies

You might call these desert gumdrops. They’re made by combining the bright pink juice of the prickly pear cactus and simple syrup. The mixture is then cooked, cooled, and coated with sugar. The flavor lands somewhere between lemon and watermelon.

ARKANSAS

Chocolate rolls

Depending on your culinary touchstones, these pastries look like flat croissants or fried burritos. The buttery dough is stuffed with cocoa powder and sugar before being rolled into gooey sticks up to a foot long. Searcy County, in northern Arkansas, is the self-proclaimed “chocolate roll capital of the world” and hosts the annual Chocolate Roll Festival.

CALIFORNIA

Frozen yogurt