20 Of The First Ladies’ Most Famous Dessert Recipes

Mamie Eisenhower: Million Dollar Fudge

During the 1950s and 1960s, this was

the

go-to fudge recipe in America. Shortly after Mrs. Eisenhower became First Lady in 1953, newspapers started printing the fudge recipe and attributing it as her signature dish. Dubbed « Million Dollar Fudge, » it became so strongly associated with her that a copy of the recipe appears in the archives of the Eisenhower Presidential Center.

Mamie Eisenhower: Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

A 1955 Congressional Club Cookbook includes a recipe for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie submitted by Mamie Eisenhower. Its ingredients include cooked pumpkin alongside cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and milk. Channel her pie’s flavor profile with our own much-loved recipe for Pumpkin Chiffon Pie.

Laura Bush: Texas Cowboy Cookies

Former First Lady Laura Bush is credited with putting these delicious cookies—packed with oats, coconut, pecans, and chocolate chips—on the map. Now known as Cowboy Cookies, these perfect bites won a First Lady cookie bake-off in 2000 between Laura Bush and Tipper Gore, and since then the cookies have been famous.

Sarah Polk: Hickory Nut Cake

Sarah Polk’s Hickory Nut Cake is of humble origins. Back when hickory trees populated the South, people would gather up the hickory nuts before animals scavenged them away. Then, they’d fold these nuts into pound cake batter for a sweet, crunchy surprise. Since hickory nuts favor pecans, we’re revisiting this (slightly more decadent) Pecan Pie Cake in tribute to Mrs. Polk.

Abigail Adams: Lemon Custard Pie

One of Abigail Adams’ favorite recipes was a Lemon Custard Pie, which incorporated tart lemon in a creamy custard base. Our best-ever Lemon Chiffon Pie takes that custard base and incorporates a few dreamy additions. According to our recipe, « A chiffon pie is a custard or curd pie that is set with gelatin and combined with whipped egg whites. This make the pie filling extra airy and almost weightless. »

Martha Washington: Great Cake

Martha Washington’s Great Cake is quite the icon. Typically served during the holidays, this masterpiece is akin to a dense holiday fruitcake, but it’s finished with simple sugar frosting or cream cheese frosting. (

You’ll find an authentic recipe by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association here.

)

Our « Light » Fruitcake recipe is known to turn the most stubborn of fruitcake haters. Try your hand at this Southern cake, and top it with our fluffy

Mascarpone Frosting

or to-die-for

Brown Sugar-Cream Cheese Frosting

.

Dolley Madison: Ice Cream

If you thought serving ice cream to world leaders, dignitaries, and delegates visiting the White House is a no-no, think again. In fact, it was Dolley Madison’s signature move. As part of her ice cream prowess, one of her favorite flavors to serve was homemade strawberry, which was made in-house with fresh strawberry preserves and homemade vanilla ice cream. But our Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream goes a step further, mixing in angel food cake.

Bess Truman: Ozark Pudding

Bess Truman shared her recipe for Ozark Pudding in the second edition of the Congressional Club’s cookbook in 1948. (The Congressional Club is a social club for wives of the U.S. Senate and House.) It’s like a marriage between pecan pie and a macaroon, but with chopped apples added. As the story goes, a Charleston, South Carolina cook loved it so much that she took the idea home and came up with the regional dish now known as the Huguenot Torte. (

You can find that recipe here.

) Start with our « utterly deadly » pecan pie, and level up from there.

Rosalynn Carter: Peanut Butter Pie

This First Lady hailed from Georgia, and she made sure to show it by making frequent use of Georgia’s most beloved crop: peanuts. And it doesn’t get more deliciously simple than peanut butter pie. While her signature pie went with a fluffy meringue topping, we topped our peanut butter ice-cream pie with homemade whipped cream. Either way, you’re in for a heavenly slice.

Rosalynn Carter: Strawberry Cake

Dubbed a « Carter family favorite, » this classic confection is simple and sweet—made with a box of yellow or white cake mix, a packet of strawberry Jell-O, fresh or frozen strawberries, and some chopped nuts for a little crunch. (Pictured is our delicious, but more involved Strawberry Cake; click the link below for Mrs. Carter’s take, which is perfect at any time, but especially in a pinch!)

Rosalynn Carter: Date Nut Rolls

Rosalynn Carter was known for several excellent dessert recipes during her time in the White House, and this recipe for her Date Nut Rolls is a long-loved and long-lived favorite. According to the lore, they were known in the White House as « humdingers. »

Jackie Kennedy: Strawberries Romanoff

Jackie Kennedy favored French cuisine when she was hosting in the White House, and she preferred a lighter dessert, such as sweet stewed fruits and occasionally crème brûlée. But when Princess Grace of Monaco visited the White House, the First Lady whipped out another simple favorite: Strawberries Romanoff. Simply put, this delicate dessert calls for marinating strawberries in a mixture of orange juice and sugar, then topping the berries with a sweetened whipped cream. For a fresh twist on Jackie’s favorite dessert, serve our Macerated Strawberries with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Nancy Reagan: Vienna Chocolate Bars

Following a visit to the Neshoba County Fair (known as Mississippi’s Giant Houseparty) during Ronald Reagan’s 1980 bid for the presidency, Nancy shared a decadent bar recipe known as Vienna Chocolate Bars. Channel that baked chocolatey flavor with a batch of our beautifully swirled Cappuccino Swirl Bars.

Lady Bird Johnson: Lemon Cake

Lady Bird Johnson—born in Texas as Claudia Alta Taylor—was known for her famous glazed lemon pound cake. It was even served at the wedding of her daughter, Luci Baines Johnson, for the ceremony held at the White House in 1966. Here’s our take on the beloved citrus masterpiece.

Lady Bird Johnson: Pecan Pie

Lady Bird Johnson was also known for her Pecan Pie, which is a classically Southern dessert. Ranches throughout Texas have their own legendary recipes for the dish, but we’re partial to this classic from Texas’ Oxbow Bakery, which delights those who bake it with its sweetness, crunch, and nostalgia.

Barbara Bush: Her Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

What’s special about these « famous » chocolate chip cookies? The secret lies in the recipe. A Texan at heart, Barbara knows to go big or go home. Her recipe calls for almost equal parts of chocolate chips and flour, which means that her cookies are absolutely

packed

with semisweet chocolate chips, and we aren’t mad about that.

Betty Ford: Strawberry Shortcake

The word on the street: the Fords were a fit bunch. We’re talking health-conscious and athletically minded. So, it’s safe to say that dessert didn’t frequent the family dinner every evening. Susan Ford—the youngest of the Ford kids—did have one preference, though: strawberry shortcake. And since fruit and calorie-light whipped cream was involved, we’re guessing Betty Ford deemed it a healthy enough alternative to chocolate cake.

Lucretia Garfield: Apple Pie

One of President James Garfield’s favorite desserts was apple pie, so you can bet Lucretia Garfield had a great recipe for America’s most classic dessert. This recipe is tried and true; it bakes up an Old-Fashioned Apple Pie with plenty of tender apples and a buttery, flaky crust with a beautifully browned lattice on top.

Lucretia Garfield: Potato Bread

While not exactly a dessert, Lucretia Garfield’s Potato Bread (a bread recipe featuring a russet potato and flour) reminds us of this classic Depression-era recipe for Potato Candy. It that transforms the humble potato into something greater than the sum of its parts, just like the bread that was a Garfield favorite.

Mary Todd Lincoln: White Almond Cake

This cake originated in Lexington, Kentucky, where Mary Todd was raised before she married Abraham Lincoln. At the core, it’s a classic Southern pound cake made with finely chopped almonds. We’ve found a variation of her beloved White Almond Cake (

which you can find here

), but we’re including our very own Coconut-Almond Cream Cake for those looking for an almond cake with a little extra oomph.