This vintage pie recipe originated with Pillsbury and begins with a batter and apple pie filling. Once baked, the batter surrounds the apples and forms its own crust, making for a super easy pie that is outstanding!

Easy Crazy Crust Apple Pie

Apparently Crazy Crust Apple Pie originated with the Pillsbury company, likely sometime back around the late 60s to early 70s - yes y'all. That was more than 50 years ago.

I believe that qualifies this as a vintage recipe!

Folks tend to associate "vintage" recipes to those from the 50s and earlier and forget how long ago those 60s are now. Trust me I get it. It seems like it was yesterday, but nope. It's been a pretty long time now!

Cherry-O Cream Cheese Pie, an icebox pie made with cream cheese, condensed milk and cherry pie filling.

Cherry-O Cream Cheese Pie

This has always been one of my favorite summer pies and I swear it is literally the easiest pie in the world.

I almost hate to post recipes like this because they are so simple that even if you've never made it before, once you have, you really never need the "recipe" again.

An easy, pan-style, baked party cheesecake, made with cream cheese, sugar, lemon, eggs and vanilla, on a graham cracker crust, finished with a layer of sour cream and topped with your favorite canned pie filling.

Easy Party Cheesecake

This party cheesecake has been around for many years, and was pretty popular back in the 70s. Yep, you guessed it - this is another old recipe that falls back to the days of my good ole battered Bell's Best cookbook!

I'm pretty sure that it picked up the name party cheesecake because it was easy to make, portable, and it quickly became a potluck favorite. Now, while this is indeed what one would consider a cheater cheesecake - meaning it doesn't qualify for the real deal award requiring a springform pan, water baths and careful handling - trust me when I say it's still a tasty cheesecake that I think you'll enjoy, and certainly a lot less fuss and worry. I don't think you'll have any complaints about it, or any leftovers.

 

Lemonade Icebox Pie made with sweetened condensed milk, whipped topping, fresh lemon juice and zest, gets an extra tangy boost from the addition of a lemonade powdered drink mix.

Lemonade Icebox Pie

The old fashioned version of lemon icebox pie used raw egg yolks in the filling.

I've included that version in the cook's notes at the bottom of the recipe for those of us who are still adventurous enough to make it. It is believed that the combination of the acids with the eggs in the pie filling "cook" the eggs sufficiently, but scientifically I have no idea if there is any truth to that.

I can tell you that many of us southerners love the egg version and have lived on to tell about it, but if you're concerned about the consumption of raw eggs, you can still have that creamy taste with a few shortcuts in the form of this refrigerator pie, which is also mighty tasty.

Cherry pie, with a filling made easy by canned cherries, and finished with a lattice topped crust.

Lattice Topped Cherry Pie

I love a good homemade cherry pie, but I'm not too likely to pit cherries for an hour to make one, and yes, that's pretty much how long it takes to hand pit enough fresh cherries for a single pie. Okay, I might do that exactly once so I could blog about it, but I doubt it and I'm pretty sure there aren't many of us who would. Plus, it's messy, and believe me when I say, I make a big enough mess in my kitchen as it is.

A layered dessert, made with a buttery shortbread crust, topped with a cream cheese and whipped topping layer, a layer of fresh or frozen strawberries and finished with more whipped cream and chopped nuts.

Strawberry Delight

I have a secret I've been keeping. In the midst of this recent wintery weather, which for some of you has meant snow, I have been chowing down on fresh, local strawberries. Louisiana strawberries. They show up this time of year, every year, and I sure do look forward to it.

Peanut butter paired with chocolate and bananas makes a great pie for any day. Inspired by The Fat Elvis Pie at Hoosier Mama Pie Company - don't forget the milk!

Elvis Pie

Y'all, this pie is so easy to throw together that you could whip it up in the evening before bed and have a company-worthy dessert the next day. Here's how to make it.

No Bake Frozen Yogurt Strawberry Pie

A little cool slice of heaven is found in Rose Mary's Frozen Yogurt Strawberry Pie. It's perfect for your next gathering!

Frozen Yogurt Strawberry Pie

Today I'm excited to bring you not only a Featured Reader Recipe, but a Featured Guest Post from a lovely lady I have been corresponding with for several months now.  Rose Mary found herself un-expectantly retired by disability, after a long held career in the retail food industry. Not one to be hampered by that, she turned a passion for food and a love of cooking for others, into a self-published cookbook project to help make ends meet. You can find out more about her cookbook at the bottom of this post.

Coming from a background built upon firm parenting under strong Christian values and humble beginnings, Rose Mary is part of a large and accomplished family. She is truly a delight and joy, and the kind of person who can't help but brighten your day. I know you'll enjoy getting to know her, as much as you will enjoy the delicious recipe she is sharing with us. Please welcome and say hello to our special guest.

Little fried hand pies made with fresh fruit or dried, your choice of pastry and either pan fried, deep fried or baked. No matter how you prepare them, they are a true Southern Classic!

Southern Fried Hand Pies

A reader over on the Facebook page asked about these little southern delicacies and we started chatting about everybody's favorites, and of course, impressionable me, decided I had to make some right away! I get cravings thrown on me like that all the time.

A creamy pie made of peanut butter, cream cheese, cream and brown sugar, prepared in a chocolate cookie crust and garnished with chocolate syrup and chopped peanuts.

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

It'd be a rare southern cook who didn't have some form of peanut butter pie in his or her dessert repertoire and there are several popular varieties, including a favorite of mine that is what I consider an old-fashioned peanut butter pie.

Made in layers, beginning with a layer of peanut butter crumble, then topped with a layer of homemade custard mixed with peanut butter and topped with more crumble and often meringue. Now that's old school, scratch cookin' and boy is it delicious!

Banana slices, layered in a cream cheese filling on a shortbread pie crust, covered in whipped topping, chopped pecans and chocolate sauce.

Banana Cream Cheese Pie with Shortbread Cookie Crust

I've had this Banana Pie on my mind for awhile, but just hadn't gotten around to making it. I wanted to produce a banana pie that was a little outside of the usual custard filling but with richer flavor than going with a pudding mix.

With bananas on the counter teetering on the edge of being overripe, and these fantastic Walkers cookies showing up, I decided to finally get around to making that banana pie and use some of these delightful cookies to make a shortbread crust. I decided to use the Shortbread Thins. Walkers cookies are available in the cookie section at most markets, including many Walmart food stores, but you could certainly substitute another commercial or homemade shortbread cookie, or purchase a commercial pie crust instead.

Often referred to as a pantry pie because it can be made from pantry basics, chess pie is an old fashioned, southern favorite. I like to cut the sweetness of my chess pie with just a bit of buttermilk instead of sweet milk and fresh lemon juice and zest, instead of vinegar.

Old Fashioned Buttermilk Chess Pie

Old Fashioned Chess Pie is southern to the core. And sweet. A very sweet custard pie made with eggs, butter, a little flour, a bit of cornmeal, vanilla and sugar. Lots of sugar.  While not many folks include buttermilk in their chess pie recipe as I do, I happen to think that it only improves on the flavor of the chess pie. The tartness of the buttermilk helps to cut the sugary sweetness and makes for a simply perfect chess pie.

Classic Old Fashioned Southern Pecan Pie

It is no secret that we love our pecans down south and we use them everywhere, but the king of pecans is found in the simple, classic, unadulterated southern pecan pie. Follow these tips for the perfect pecan pie!

Perfect Southern Pecan Pie

Ah, southern pecan pie - a classic no doubt.

It is no secret that we love our pecans down south. We use them on top of pies, in the crusts of pies and of course, in pies.  We use them as a topping, in cookies, and even in cookies you might not expect them in. We make glazes with them, put them in cranberries, and even add them to pasta! Heck, we even put 'em on bacon.

I could go on. All I can say is thank goodness they are plentiful down here!

 

  A classic southern pie made with spiced fresh sweet potatoes, topped with toasted pecans and drizzled with syrup.

Southern Sweet Potato Pie

Southern Sweet Potato Pie was one of three pies that nearly always graced our holiday tables growing up - along with pecan, and pumpkin - though I seem to recall that me and Mama were the only two who truly indulged in the sweet potato pie.

Somewhat likened to pumpkin pie, and certainly seasoned similarly, they really are different from one another, and if you put the two side by side, I'd be able to identify which is which, as easy as I can tell if it's homemade or made from a canned sweet potato pie filling.

Not that there's a thing wrong with whipping up a pie using canned pie filling, but like homemade pimento cheese versus a commercial pimento cheese product, you can usually spot homemade.

Apple pie made with mixed apples and mango jam or apple jelly and pictured here with a drizzle of caramel sauce.

Old Fashioned Apple Pie

This recipe is for a very basic, old fashioned apple pie, using 3 pounds of mixed apples for a nice depth of flavor, and the addition of a bit of jam or jelly as a nice little extra flavor burst. A brush of the bowl juices across the top and we've got another great recipe for the apple recipe collection!

Chocolate and Pecan Dixie Pie

A classic southern pie, made with chocolate and pecans and affectionately known in the south as Dixie Pie is sure to please!

Dixie Pie

This is another one of those classic southern pies that's been around forever - and one that everybody has a slightly different version of; some use corn syrup making it similar to pecan pie, some use more eggs and make it more of a custard pie. Some use coconut, or raisins, or walnuts, or some combination of any or all of the above! And some, well, they add a nip of bourbon too.

Coconut Key Lime Pie with Minty Whipped Cream

A Key lime pie made with cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and Key lime juice in a coconut graham cracker crust and served with minty whipped cream.

Coconut Key Lime Pie

Coconut Key Lime Pie.

I love lime. I absolutely love it. Pair that up with some sweetened condensed milk and I am in heaven.

Traditionally Key lime pie contains egg yolks and is unbaked, though that is rarely done these days, since most fillings with egg are now baked.

Some say that baking the pie completely changes its flavor and texture though and use pasteurized egg yolks to squelch the fears of using raw eggs in an unbaked filling. Key lime pie also sometimes has an egg white meringue on top, though I prefer mine plain with only a dab of whipped cream.

Apple and Walnut Pie made in layers of crushed walnuts, apples and cinnamon sugar.

Apple and Walnut Pie

I had some apples to use up and considered doing a good ole old fashioned apple pie but I settled on doing this Apple & Walnut Pie instead. This is actually an old Slavonian recipe that is intended to be made as a slab pie in an oblong dish and cut up into squares, but I had some ready-made Pillsbury pie crusts in the fridge that also needed to be used, so I decided to adapt it for a regular pie pan instead.

I also thought I would use the thin slicing blade on my food processor this time in order to slice the apples real thin (chip), but honestly, I wasn't real stoked up about the results. I should have known better to be honest, because I much more prefer texture to my apples and chipping them takes that away.

Layered Banana Cream Pie Dessert

Layered Banana Cream Pie Dessert

This Layered Banana Cream Pie Dessert starts with a quick baked vanilla wafer and pecan crust {though walnuts would be amazing here too} that is pressed into the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Sliced bananas go over that, and then are topped with a bit of plain vanilla pudding, which sort of then seeps into the cracks and crevices between the bananas.

A well loved pie, reminiscent of those served at Shoney's restaurants back in the day, made with fresh sliced strawberries and set with the help of strawberry gelatin and a secret ingredient!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

It's the season for strawberries, which makes me a happy person. I LOVE strawberries! And especially locally grown sweet Louisiana or Florida strawberries.

Strawberries are best purchased fresh when you need them because they just do not store well. Last year though, I discovered that the Debbie Meyer green bags and boxes kept them fresh in the fridge for much, much longer than any other storage method.