Bananas Foster
Louisiana
Like Louisiana itself, bananas Foster is all about flair — and flare. Created at Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans in 1951, the dessert is still flambeed tableside at this local institution and many other restaurants around town. The recipe features fresh bananas, vanilla ice cream and a sauce made with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, dark rum and banana liqueur, combining hot and cold elements into a sweet, gooey delight. Groups can find it throughout New Orleans as well as at Bon Temps Grill in Lafayette, where it is incorporated into a bread pudding.
Kringle
Wisconsin
Though it is the official state pastry for all of Wisconsin, kringle is found most often in the city of Racine on the Lake Michigan shoreline. Like a strudel, kringle originated with the area’s Scandinavian immigrants and features sweet pastry baked into a ring and stuffed with sweet fruit or nut filling. The process takes three days from start to finish. Groups can watch bakers making kringle on behind-the-scenes tours at Lehmann’s Bakery and Larsen Bakery, or get demonstrations and tastings in the retail store at O&H Danish Bakery.
Sopapillas
Arizona
Arizona’s Navajo Indians created fry bread, deep-fried servings of dough that have become a trademark Native American food throughout the Southwest. A close cousin of fry bread is a the sopapilla, a dessert common in Arizona and neighboring New Mexico. Sopapillas are often drizzled with honey or dusted with cinnamon and sugar immediately after coming out of the fryer, making them a hot, gooey, sweet treat that has become the area’s signature dessert. Groups can experience sopapillas in their pure form at Si Senor restaurant in Chandler, where they are served with every meal.
Key Lime Pie
Florida
People around the country make Key lime pie, but nobody takes it as seriously as Floridians. The special limes required to make the pie are named for the Florida Keys, and the state has an annual Key Lime Pie Festival in Cape Canaveral. Served cold, the pie features a sweet, tangy lime curd and dollops of whipped cream. Groups are likely to find a great Key lime pie anyplace they stop for a meal in the Keys; Blonde Giraffe restaurant on Key Largo has won awards for its Key lime pie in numerous recent regional and state competitions.
