It's that time of year again. The birds are twittering, the sun is melting winter off the ground like butter on hot toast, and it's time for Kentucky to burst into springtime blossoms of fireworks, great tidal waves of Bourbon, flocks of fanciful head wear, and thick slices of Kern's Derby Pie. IT'S TIME TO GET DERBY! Kern's Derby Pie (and mind you, Kern's is the only producer of real, copyrighted Derby pie, and only Kern's Derby Pie is used in the following incarnations!) is a staple among us Louisvillians, and we have come up with some truly wonderful variations on the chocolate, nut and Bourbon pie we all hold so near and dear. These are just a few of my favorites:
1. Deep Fried Derby Pie
You can get this treat at the Kentucky State Fair, and it would be amazing to see this at Thunder Over Louisville (hint, hint). Deep fried Derby pie is the most succulent, rich iteration of the treat I've tasted yet—warm and sticky, dipped in dough and deep fried until golden, dusted with powdered sugar and drizzled with raspberry syrup. When you bite in the pie filling floods your mouth with melted chocolate and whiskey notes. Worth a possible heart attack.
2. The Village Anchor's Derby Pie Pop
The Village Anchor consistently gets voted as the all around best restaurant in our foodie town. The Anchor's Derby Pie Pop is a slice of derby pie, on a stick (isn't everything better served on a stick?) covered in Comfy Cow vanilla ice cream and frozen, then dipped in chocolate. I would chase an ice cream truck sixteen blocks for this pop, the cool vanilla makes the Derby pie tacky and caramel in texture.
3. The Derby Piecaken
A little pat on the back for myself here: last year I made a delicious Derby piecaken, a Kern's frozen pie, baked inside a German chocolate cake, iced with Bourbon butter cream frosting) and it turned out beautifully. It is absurdly easy to make, (really only about an hour of work is involved) and it's the perfect impressive dessert to bring to a Derby party to wow everyone. The piecaken is very moist, perfect with some Bourbon, and you can find the recipe here.
Enjoy the pie, people!
Photos: Elizabeth Orrick and Abigail Orrick
