'as easy as pie' .. ever think where that phrase comes from?
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How though, are pies thought to be easy? They aren't especially easy to make; I know, I've tried it. The easiness comes with the eating. At least, that was the view in 19th century America, where this phrase was coined. There are various mid 19th century US citations that, whilst not using 'as easy as pie' verbatim, do point to 'pie' being used to denote pleasantry and ease. 'Pie' in this sense is archetypally American, as American as apple pie in fact. The usage first comes in the phrase 'as nice as pie', as found here in Which: Right or Left? in 1855:
"For nearly a week afterwards, the domestics observed significantly to each other, that Miss Isabella was as 'nice as pie!'"
Mark Twain frequently used just 'pie' to mean pleasant or accommodating: In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, 1884,
"You're always as polite as pie to them."
Pie was also used at that time for something that was easy to accomplish. For example, The US magazine Sporting Life, May 1886:
"As for stealing second and third, it's like eating pie."
'Pie in the sky', also an American phrase from around the same time, refers to 'pie' as something pleasant that we will receive eventually.