Create Your Own National Day and Enjoy “Possum Pie” While You’re At it!
Were you aware June is National Dairy Month? No surprises then that June 2nd was National Rocky Road (ice cream) Day, June 4th was National Cheese Day and National Frozen Yogurt Day, June 7th was National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, and June 20th was National Ice Cream Soda Day.
But don’t panic (cuz you missed your opportunity—International Panic Day was June 18th). There’s still time to celebrate National Dairy Month—have an ice cream party or something. And if you want, you can actually create your own dairy-oriented day within this Month. It’s easy to create a holiday and people do it all the time.
The only hard part is gaining recognition for it. But with these tips to creating it and getting it recognized, it’s very doable:
With all this said, in honor of National Dairy Month, a few of us in the family are thinking of creating National Possum Pie Day. We always serve it on Father’s Day, and it just seems right, after all these years of our snarfing it down, that we give it its own special day.
This mouth-watering dessert is a cool, creamy, southern pie that’s always the belle of the dessert stage. A buttery pecan shortbread crust is first topped with a thick layer of sweet cream cheese. Atop the cream cheese is another thick layer of velvety homemade chocolate custard. Then it’s all crowned with just the right amount of homemade whipped cream. (For me, “just the right amount” is several inches, but I’ll leave that decision to you.)
There’s no concrete history on how this dessert got its name, but the recipe made its newspaper debut in the June 6, 1974, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT in a story about the Arkansas 4-H Dairy Recipe Contest. The contest was open to students enrolled in fourth-12th grade at any Arkansas school. And grade schooler, Cindy Watson, was the lucky winner.
Along with “Possum Pie,” it was called “The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford.” “Possum Pie” stuck though—not because possums are preferable over Robert Redford, but probably just because it was quicker to say.
Anyway, if you haven’t tried this decadent delight, here’s the recipe. You can take all sorts of short cuts—subbing packaged chocolate pudding for homemade, Cool Whip® for the whipped cream, and Nabisco’s Lorna Doone Shortbread® or Keebler’s Pecan Sandies® cookies for homemade shortbread. However, Possum Pie purists would never recommend that—dessert blasphemy, and all.
PECAN SHORTBREAD CRUST
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped pecans
CREAM CHEESE LAYER
6 ounces cream cheese softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
PUDDING LAYER
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
3 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
grated chocolate
Directions:
Add Recipe to Cook'n
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But don’t panic (cuz you missed your opportunity—International Panic Day was June 18th). There’s still time to celebrate National Dairy Month—have an ice cream party or something. And if you want, you can actually create your own dairy-oriented day within this Month. It’s easy to create a holiday and people do it all the time.
The only hard part is gaining recognition for it. But with these tips to creating it and getting it recognized, it’s very doable:
- Create the name for your holiday.
- Define what the day is all about, and why it is created.
- Decide how it should be celebrated and observed.
- Assign a date to celebrate your new holiday. It could be a fixed date or vary (i.e. the first Thursday in May). If it varies, make sure it is well defined.
- Identify the creator(s), the creator’s city, and state of residence. We recommend you DO NOT identify the street address. Other contact information is optional.
- State the creation date of your holiday. The date created is sometimes different from the dated celebrated.
- Using all of the information and definitions from the above steps, create a website for your special day. While this is not an absolute necessity, how else will you legitimatize and promote your new holiday?
- The URL should be the title of the day, if possible.
- Add relevant pictures to the website.
- Now comes the hard part… getting your new holiday and the website recognized.
- wwwholidayinsights.com recommends SEO work.
- Also, email existing holiday calendar websites (such as www.holidayinsights.com, announcing your special day, and provide the link to your website.
With all this said, in honor of National Dairy Month, a few of us in the family are thinking of creating National Possum Pie Day. We always serve it on Father’s Day, and it just seems right, after all these years of our snarfing it down, that we give it its own special day.
This mouth-watering dessert is a cool, creamy, southern pie that’s always the belle of the dessert stage. A buttery pecan shortbread crust is first topped with a thick layer of sweet cream cheese. Atop the cream cheese is another thick layer of velvety homemade chocolate custard. Then it’s all crowned with just the right amount of homemade whipped cream. (For me, “just the right amount” is several inches, but I’ll leave that decision to you.)
There’s no concrete history on how this dessert got its name, but the recipe made its newspaper debut in the June 6, 1974, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT in a story about the Arkansas 4-H Dairy Recipe Contest. The contest was open to students enrolled in fourth-12th grade at any Arkansas school. And grade schooler, Cindy Watson, was the lucky winner.
Along with “Possum Pie,” it was called “The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford.” “Possum Pie” stuck though—not because possums are preferable over Robert Redford, but probably just because it was quicker to say.
Anyway, if you haven’t tried this decadent delight, here’s the recipe. You can take all sorts of short cuts—subbing packaged chocolate pudding for homemade, Cool Whip® for the whipped cream, and Nabisco’s Lorna Doone Shortbread® or Keebler’s Pecan Sandies® cookies for homemade shortbread. However, Possum Pie purists would never recommend that—dessert blasphemy, and all.
Possum Pie
Ingredients:
PECAN SHORTBREAD CRUST
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped pecans
CREAM CHEESE LAYER
6 ounces cream cheese softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
PUDDING LAYER
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
3 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
grated chocolate
Directions:
CRUST
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter, then combine the butter, flour, brown sugar and pecans by stirring with a fork. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, just until the crust begins to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and cool completely.
CREAM CHEESE FILLING
In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and heavy cream using a hand mixer until smooth. Spread over bottom of the cooled pecan pie crust.
CHOCOLATE LAYER
Combine the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a medium saucepan and whisk well.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and milk and whisk well, then add to the sugar and cocoa powder mixture in the sauce pan, whisking to combine.
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until pudding begins to thicken and bubble, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla, stirring just until the butter is melted and combined. Transfer the chocolate pudding to a shallow bowl and cover with a plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming, then refrigerate for 30 minutes to help the filling cool down.
When the filling has mostly cooled down, remove the plastic wrap and stir, then spread over the cream cheese layer. Cover the pie with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 4 hours until set.
WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
Beat the heavy cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla using a hand mixer until whipped cream forms and holds its shape when beaters are removed. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the chocolate pudding layer and sprinkle with a handful of chopped pecans and chocolate shavings before slicing and serving.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter, then combine the butter, flour, brown sugar and pecans by stirring with a fork. Press into the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes, just until the crust begins to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and cool completely.
CREAM CHEESE FILLING
In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and heavy cream using a hand mixer until smooth. Spread over bottom of the cooled pecan pie crust.
CHOCOLATE LAYER
Combine the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, flour, and salt in a medium saucepan and whisk well.
In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and milk and whisk well, then add to the sugar and cocoa powder mixture in the sauce pan, whisking to combine.
Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until pudding begins to thicken and bubble, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla, stirring just until the butter is melted and combined. Transfer the chocolate pudding to a shallow bowl and cover with a plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming, then refrigerate for 30 minutes to help the filling cool down.
When the filling has mostly cooled down, remove the plastic wrap and stir, then spread over the cream cheese layer. Cover the pie with plastic wrap, then refrigerate for 4 hours until set.
WHIPPED CREAM TOPPING
Beat the heavy cream with the powdered sugar and vanilla using a hand mixer until whipped cream forms and holds its shape when beaters are removed. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the chocolate pudding layer and sprinkle with a handful of chopped pecans and chocolate shavings before slicing and serving.
Recipe formatted with the Cook'n Recipe Software from DVO Enterprises.
Alice Osborne
Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2006
Email the author! alice@dvo.com
Sources:
- www.hotcore.info.com
- www.babiafi.co.uk
- www.gonnawantseconds.com
- www.facebook.com
- www.passthedessert.com
