Y’all! My sister Rita is a frequent contributor this lil blog and we had ourselves a real day today! We went to WAPAKONETA, OHIO for a just-us 5K (moon festival / 50th anniversary of first moon people / Neil Armstrong is from Wapak. OBVIOUSLY). And she made some moon pies!!!! Here’s her hot take on the whole experience!
Moon Pie + Pile of Money
It all started so innocently. I got a bee in my bonnet that I wanted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the moon landing & somehow decided on making Moon Pies. (That’s what Neil Armstrong would have wanted.) Not knowing much about Moon Pies except they were a chocolatey confection that I confused with Whoopie Pies and GooGoo Clusters, I decided to do a bit of research on the official Moon Pie. And that’s when I went down a real rabbit hole.
You see…Moon Pie has a lot of history, a lot of fans & is kinda banoodles. Here’s what I mean:
First: Moon Pie is 100 years old! Sheesh that’s old. (ed: SHEESH!) It started when some Kentucky baker asked some miner, what kind of treat do you like? The miner says “I want a s’more. But as big as a moon. But a moon that fits in my lunch pail.” The baker goes and whips up a “Moon Pie.” It’s so sugary & cheap (just 5 cents) that the miner all of his friends get addicted.
Second: The Moon Pie products page reveals a fairly normal assortment of snacks in the usual flavors (caramel, vanilla, barf banana). What catches my eye is “Personalized Moon Pies.” Hmmm…what is this? Can you create your own? No. No, you cannot. But you can get your picture on the box. Just like this strange naked guy with his nards covered by a sheet. Way to go, Moon Pie! I’ve been wondering what to get Grandma for her birthday. (Actually if you zoom out it’s a guy at the beach with his family, but it really does make you do a double take, right?)
Finally: Where I really got lost was the Twitter account. It started with a search turning up this Tweet: “Can someone who is good at photoshop make me a picture of a MoonPie next to a bunch of money I need it for a private reason” (July 12) A private reason…huh??? Of course, the Tweet had a bajillion responses from people with all sorts of time on their hands & artistic talents.
Yep. I kept scrolling. Which made me wonder how does one master illustration via keyboard strokes? This one is kind of cute…
but this next one gives me funny feelings. Why is the second face so close to the groin area, MoonPie?
Finally, I’m thankful to MoonPie for the new vocabulary. I used to dream big, but now my dreams will be CHUNGUS.
Oh what’s that? All this talk has made you hungry for a Moon Pie? Well here’s the recipe: https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/anatomy-of-a-classic-do-it-yourself-moon-pies/
I got it from Garden & Gun, which shared David Guas’ recipe. I’d give the recipe 3 stars out of 4. The graham cracker cookies need to be a bit moister, but I forgot to add the flour until the end. Oops! My bad. Hot Tip: If you need a short cut, Marshmallow Fluff & Ghiradelli Dark Melting Chocolate are winners. Hotter Tip: Spray utensils with cooking spray before handling marshmallow so it doesn’t stick. CHUNGUS Tip: Add googly eyes & mustaches so you can eat a friend.
I'm Writing A Cookbook!!! 