Recipes from Ms. American Pie

Ms. American Pie Cookbook

Beth M. Howard knows about pie. She made pies at California’s Malibu Kitchen for celebrities including Barbra Streisand (lemon meringue), Dick Van Dyke (strawberry rhubarb), and Steven Spielberg (coconut cream) before moving back home to rural Iowa. She now lives in the famous American Gothic House (the backdrop for Grant Wood’s famous painting) and runs the hugely popular Pitchfork Pie Stand.

With full-color photos throughout, Ms. American Pie features 80 of Beth’s coveted pie recipes and some of her own true tales to accompany them. With chapters like Pies to Heal, Pies to Seduce, and Pies to Win the Iowa State Fair, Beth will divulge her secret for making a killer crust without refrigerating the dough and will show you how to break every rule you’ve ever learned about making delicious, homemade pie.

A whole sweet cherry pie with a lattice crust on a baking sheet on a wood table.

Sweet Cherry Pie

We’re not going to do a song and dance to try to entice you to bake this cherry pie. We don’t need to. Just look at it. A stunner, right? And wait’ll you taste it. Here’s how to make it.