Yes, It is true a gluten free pie won third place amongst other pies in a fun Pie Contest Bake-off. Our church hosted an Old Fashioned Picnic a couple of Sundays ago. There was a big Pie Baking Contest as well as other contests. I decided to enter my pie. I was technically in charge of organization of the pie contest but wanted to have the opportunity to enter my pie. So we set it up so the pies would be submitted without names/anonymously and that I would have no part in the judging or tallying of scores. I was just the announcer/organizer. This assured there was no rigging of the contest. When each person came with their pie, their pie was given a number when they signed in. The judges never saw the sign in sheet to see whose pie was whose.
The pies were displayed for all the people to see before judging. There was a list of who submitted pies, but no one knew who made which one. It made for a great mystery that captured the curiosity of the crowd. The judges were called to the table to begin testing. Two judges were assigned to 5 pies each. They judged the pies according to appearance, crust, filling and overall taste. The pie in each category that had the highest points moved onto the final round, where every judge tasted each of the 4 pies and judged them.
I was surprised to hear the announcement that my pie placed third! None of the judges knew which pie was mine and none of them knew it was gluten free. This is proof that gluten free food can taste just as good as regular wheat type food and no one can tell the difference. I used Mama’s Pie Crust Mix for the crust and the filling was Apple Huckleberry. See Recipe below. I feel blessed that Mama’s Pie Crust faired so well against such amazing pie makers. By the way the winning pie was submitted by Sally B. Fresh Berry Pie, and the 2nd place pie was submitted by Cassie W. and was a Huckleberry Pie. All the other pies submitted were beautiful and I am sure tasted wonderful. It was a great event and a lot of fun. Can’t wait till next year.
Mama’s Apple Huckleberry Pie
Ingredients:
1 Pkg. Mama’s Pie Crust Mix.
6 cups sliced tart apples, (Granny Smith)
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
3 Tbsp. Mama’s Almond or Coconut Blend Flour
1½-2 cups fresh or frozen huckleberries
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. water
Directions: Preheat oven to 400.
Start by preparing apple filling. If you prepare the dough first it will get tough while waiting for you to prepare filling and will be harder to work with.
Peel and slice the apples and place in large bowl. Add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour. Toss the apples until all are coated.
Make pie crust per directions. Roll out into two crusts.
Place pie shell in pie pan. Add 1/2 of apple mixture. Sprinkle 1/2 of the huckleberries on top of apples. Evenly add the rest of apples over the huckleberries. Sprinkle remaining huckleberries evenly over apples. Add top layer of pie crust. Flute edges. Cut five slits in top. If desired use a miniature cookie cutter to add to the middle of the crust for design.
Baste crust with egg white mixed with water. Sprinkle crust lightly with sugar.
Bake at 400 for 25 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 and bake for 25 minutes more. Cover edges with foil if needed to prevent over browning.
