Arkansas dessert with an animal in its name is award-winning treat with 'no possum included'

The unofficial state treat of Arkansas is a dessert with an animal in its name.

But don't be fooled. There is no marsupial in the Arkansas-born Possum Pie.

"I like to joke around and tell people one of our specialties is the Arkansas Possum Pie – and there's no possum included," Misti Stowers told Fox News Digital.

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Stowers owns Buttercream Bakery and Frozen Custard, which opened in Pocahontas, Arkansas, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Although many businesses were adversely impacted by the pandemic, Buttercream Bakery was an exception and has steadily grown in the years that followed. It continues to have "great community support," Stowers said.

Her business recently received a boost when she earned a golden ticket to Indianapolis to compete in the World Food Championships.

Going up against 20 other chefs, Stowers made her home state's signature Possum Pie and won first place in the opening round of the dessert category.

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While the origin of the Possum Pie isn't clear, the first mention of it in print dates back to a 1983 restaurant review in the Arkansas Gazette newspaper. 

The recipe, however, wasn't published until the late 2000s, according to the now-renamed Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Similar recipes for a pie called "The Next Best Thing to Robert Redford" were published by the Indianapolis Star and Los Angeles Times as early as 1982.

"The Arkansas Possum Pie starts with a pecan base crust," Stowers said. 

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"Then we have a cream cheese layer, and then we have a chocolate pie layer. Then it's topped with homemade whipped cream and more pecans."

Arkansas legend has it that the name of the pie derives from the term "playing possum" because all the layers of its ingredients are hidden beneath the whipped cream.

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"We don't go pick up roadkill," Stowers joked, dispelling the common misconception that the dessert contains possum meat.

Stowers said any visitors to Arkansas "can't go wrong" with the Possum Pie.

"If you've never tried the Possum Pie, you're missing out," she said. 

"It's delicious. It's comfort food – and we love comfort food in Arkansas."