American Pie Celebration

I came across the Crisco American Pie Celebration cookbook today (published in 1989 by Procter & Gamble). The Crisco American Pie Celebration originated in 1986 to commemorate Crisco's 75th anniversary. A bit of information taken from the front of the book:

"To find the best pie recipes in America, Crisco pie bake-offs are held at State and County fairs in each of the fifty states throughout the country. In each State, bakers compete in a pie category chosen to reflect the unique personality of the State and to include native grown ingredients. For example, the category in Hawaii is Macadamia Nut Pie, Vermont is Maple Cream Pie and Kansas is Beef Pot Pie. The winning baker from each contest goes on to represent their State at the national competition for the title of THE AMERICAN PIE."

The 50 winning recipes compiled in this particular cookbook are from the 1988-89 National Finals, which were held in Los Angeles, CA. Illustrated, step-by-step instructions for preparing the Classic Crisco Crust and the Contemporary Crisco Crust are shown in the front.

This cookbook seems to be a favorite with collectors of Longaberger baskets. The Longaberger Company designed the official pie basket for the New Orleans Celebration Bake-Off in 1991 and that basket marked the beginning of what's known as the Crisco American Series. The cookbook makes a nice go-with for the pie basket.

Today, Crisco and The American Pie Council are sponsors of The National Pie Championships, a competition that began in 1995. This competition is for bakers from the both the U.S. and Canada. The APC has an interesting website that's worth a look if you're seriously into baking pies.