Traditional (and tasty!) Kentucky Derby party recipes

By Hallmark staff on February 1, 2016

If it’s the first Saturday in May, the horses are running at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The lucky Kentucky Derby attendees celebrate by donning their racetrack best (the women wearing spectacular hats), drinking a frosty mint julep and eating a piece of Derby-Pie®.

You can make your Kentucky Derby party a winner with our delectable version of a similar pie, made with pecans, chocolate and, in honor of the state of Kentucky, a dash of bourbon. Visitors to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs can also buy their mint juleps in a commemorative glass—a different one for each year (the glass shown below is from 1954, the year the Derby-Pie® was born). If you’re watching the Derby at home, however, you might want to serve the drinks in the classic mint julep cup, which is a tumbler made of sterling silver.

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Chocolate-pecan pie

This Chocolate-Pecan Pie is ideal for race-day celebrations…and pretty much any other time of the year! Have fun creating variations on this sweet theme with our reduced-calorie version and 3 other tasty twists on the traditional pie.

Mint julep

Sipping a frosty mint julep is a tasty Kentucky Derby tradition, but we think this refreshing cocktail is also perfect for sipping away any sultry summer day.

The history of Derby Pie®

Derby-Pie® is a close relative of pecan pie but it’s made with walnuts and chocolate. It was invented in 1954 by George Kern and his parents, Walter and Leaudra, the managers of an inn near Louisville. The Kerns spent hours in the kitchen trying to come up with just the right blend of ingredients. Once they’d got it down, they had to give the pie a name, and because each family member had a favorite, they left it to chance by literally pulling the name out of a hat.

Fourteen years later, the pie had become so popular that the Kern family elders marched off to Washington, D.C., to register its name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. To this day, Walter and Leaudra’s heirs fiercely protect their family’s pie heritage. Not only is the name a registered trademark, but the recipe itself is a closely guarded secret—only four people know the formula.

Traditional (and tasty!) Kentucky Derby party recipes

Chocolate-pecan pie

Mint julep

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