Mud Pies

Do little girls make mud pies these days? Maybe little girls that live in the country but I doubt that little city girls even know what they are.

I had a set of mini cookware when I was a little girl or that’s how I remember it. I think I had a little pie pan and maybe a muffin tin. But I remember especially when visiting my grandparents out in West Texas, that I’d spend hours playing like the water tank was my kitchen (it had a spout on it so that could be the sink). The field was maybe five feet away so the ingredients of my famous mud pies were plentiful.

I would mix the dirt from the field and water from the tank and then put the “batter” into the pie plate for it to “cook”. Of course, it took hours, maybe even a day for the pie to “cook”. But I remember cutting slices in that pie just like my mama did and serving it up on my play dishes with my play forks. My parents would pretend to taste that wonderful pie and just take on and brag about how good it was.

I wonder who thought up mud pies? How did it get passed down from little girl to little girl? To my surprise there are all kinds of mud pies today – I Googled it! There are mud pie recipes (using chocolate, not dirt), mud pie gifts, mud pie collectables, mud pie glassware & tableware. There’s even a publisher using that name, publishing for stuff for kids. So I must not be the only one that has fond memories of making mud pies.

I still don’t know where making mud pies came from. A few pages of Google and I’m done with research. But it might be worth a google for you sometime. You might find some fun things to do with your little ones. But don’t ask me for the recipe for the “old fashioned mud pie”. Other than a little dirt and a little water I have no idea. But if you think about it, the “a little of this and a little of that” approach usually turns out the best. You could throw in a few pebbles for chocolate nuggets or apples, depending on your imagination. Sure ‘nough ingredients for a lot of great memories and some pretty cute pictures.