On his 16th RAGBRAI, rider halfway to collecting enough pie recipes for cookbook 'RAGPIE'

INDIANOLA — It takes a long time to make a cookbook, but even longer if you only work on it one week a year.

That hasn't stopped Eddie Senn.

"This is my 16th year on RAGBRAI," Senn said. "I've been gathering recipes from all over the state."

Senn's goal is to reach 100 recipes to compile into a single book of pies from all across the state. He plans to call the compilation "RAGPIE" — because what's RAGBRAI without a slice (or two or seven) of pie?

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He's halfway to his goal, Senn said Wednesday in Indianola, the meeting town on Day 4 of the Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.

"I just ask people to send me their favorite pie recipe," he said. "I've been doing it for a number of years now, and it's great."

For those who give Senn a pie recipe, they're rewarded with a recipe for chess pie, a pie with custard filling, from his mother. Senn chose the recipe because of a story associated with it.

"The recipe comes from my sixth grade classmate, Claudia Harsh," he said. "Her family bought a chess pie my mother made for a bake sale, and they enjoyed it so much that they asked for the recipe."

However, his mother had two main pie recipes and wasn't sure which one they wanted. So she baked two pies, and the family voted on which one was the right pie.

"Claudia said it was her favorite birthday pie," he said.

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The story is in part what inspired him to start the cookbook project, not only to distribute the recipe, but also to find other people's favorite pies. He chose RAGBRAI for the project because it's an exciting event and lets him meet a wide variety of people.

Senn was born in South Carolina and currently lives in Washington, D.C., but for 16 years, he's made the trip to Iowa to add to the cookbook. Even though it's taken him 16 years to get half of the book, he's committed to keep coming until "RAGPIE" is ready to be published.

"Every year is like a combination of the Fourth of July, Halloween and New Year's Eve," he said.

Finding things to do isn't hard, but there are certain things that he always keeps an eye out for: "I stop for beauty queens, ham balls and pies."

If you have a pie recipe you'd like to share with Senn, email it to scblue314@hotmail.com.

Mrs. Senn's Chess Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter

1 tablespoon of vanilla

3 cups of sugar

1 tablespoon of vinegar

6 eggs, beaten well

2 unbaked pie shells

Instructions:

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, vanilla and vinegar. Pour into an unbaked pie shell. Start baking in pre-heated 300 degree oven. In 10 minutes, raise heat to 350 degrees. Cook for 45 minutes, and enjoy.

Ryan Magalhã es is a reporter for the Register. Reach them at rmagalhaes@dmreg.com .

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: On his 16th RAGBRAI, rider halfway to collecting enough pie recipes for cookbook 'RAGPIE'