These Are the Most Loved Desserts in Each New England State

I wish I knew why, but I'm a complete sucker for these website maps that take data from Google Trends and determine things that we like the most in our state, like our favorite movie, drink, or chain restaurant. I guess it's just a fascinating look into the way we think that I can't resist, so here's another one.

The website coventrydirect.com crunched the numbers using Google Trends to see what dessert every state in the country was searching for the most, thereby deeming it that state's most popular dessert. Let's chat a bit about these results after you take a look at them.

• Maine - Chocolate Chip Cookies
• New Hampshire - Jell-O
• Vermont - Brownies
• Massachusettes - Ice Cream
• Connecticut - Ice Box Cake
• Rhode Island - Donuts

There are a few things to unpack here. First of which is, what's wrong with New Hampshire? Jell-O? Who eats Jell-O for dessert unless you're in a hospital?

Second, are donuts actually a dessert? It seems like what you grab for breakfast with your coffee doesn't count as a dessert. Maybe donuts are being searched for in Rhode Island, but this seems misclassified to me.

And then there's Connecticut's ice box cake. I had to Google this one just to figure out what an ice box cake was. If you are just as clueless as me, apparently it's a chocolate ripple cake typically made with cream, fruits, nuts, and wafers and set in the refrigerator.

But the most surprising dessert choice is Maine's. Sure, who doesn't like a good chocolate cookie? However, this is Maine and we already have an official state treat: the whoopie pie. How did that not make the most loved dessert? Come to find out it's all in the methodology that Coventry Direct used. Here's how they explain it:

Using a list of 40 popular desserts, we explored Google search trends over the last 12 months for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. We determined clear winners for the most popular dessert in each state, the most popular dessert overall, and how many states searched for that dessert the most.

So the only eligible desserts were the 40 that they deemed most popular, and let's be honest. Most people in the United States have probably never even heard of a whoopie pie. I've never heard of an ice box cake either, but it made it in. Go figure.