Serve Up a Southern Pie

Taste and tradition for your holiday table

Imagine a turkey dinner topped off with a slice of sweet potato pie, or a baked ham meal followed by a slice of coconut cream pie. Whatever your plans for a holiday spread, a Southern pie is sure to please you and your guests. At the Farmers Market Restaurant, a Fort Myers landmark since 1952, homemade sweet potato pie is just one of many Southern pies it’s known for. “Our sweet potato pie recipe comes from one of our late cooks, Olivia Williams—‘Miss Libby’—who made the pie at our restaurant for 45 years,” owner Betsy Barnwell explains. “Her secret was using only fresh sweet potatoes and only very simple, fresh ingredients.”

The pies are now made by Christine Yelling, who’s been baking for more than 40 years. She started her career at Flora and Ella’s in LaBelle, and joined the Farmers Market Restaurant in 2011. She bakes at least 15 varieties daily, including another Southern favorite—coconut cream. That flavor has been revered since a recipe for it appeared in the early 1900s. It’s now celebrated every May 8, which is National Coconut Cream Pie Day.

And strawberry pie, filled to the brim with the ripe sweet fruit, is often ordered by patrons at the Farmers Market Restaurant. Pies actually date back many centuries, when they were baked with fruits and berries, and round “corners” were used in order to help stretch ingredients.

“Our Southern pecan pie is also a very popular pie,” adds Barnwell, and it’s often served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Pecan pie likely originated in New Orleans in the 1800s. It became so popular that in the early 1900s, a recipe for it appeared on Karo corn syrup bottles. Over time, pecan pie was created in different versions, such as caramel and chocolate.

One more delicious Southern favorite served at the restaurant is peanut butter pie. “It’s made with an old family recipe of mine and is delicious,” Barnwell notes. Ingredients include peanut butter, cream cheese and whipping cream.

“Our sweet potato pie recipe comes from one of our late cooks, Olivia Williams— ‘Miss Libby’—who made the pie at our restaurant for 45 years.” —Betsy Barnwell, owner of Farmers Market Restaurant