No more apple pie....

On September 27th, Shelburne Orchard hosted its 7th annual Pie Fest.  M and I entered two pies.  Well I made both but he supervised. LOL  We had been testing pies for over 4 weeks in preparation for the big day.

McIntosh, Pippin, Wolf, Paula Red....the list of apples goes on and on.  My dining room table was covered in apples.  I tried several kinds of crusts - All butter, butter and Crisco, butter and lard, butter and cream cheese.....butter butter butter.... The fillings were basic as the contest was a classic apple pie contest.  M kept wanting to get fancy and I think ultimately wore himself out.  For a man who does not like apples, he sure put away alot of apple pie.  The ultimate compliment I think and I thank him for his tenacity.

I had a couple of meltdowns.  Crust was not pretty enough...pie exhaustion.  But we finished at 4am the day of the contest.  Before I reveal the pics....here are my top tips.

• All butter is the way to go - though it is the most difficult crust to deal with
• Lattice tops DO count as double crust entries - we were not sure. 
• Lattice tops can hide alot of flaws
• Pyrex glass pie pans are the best - they allow for the crust to brown on the bottom
• I loved Pippin apples - firm and tasty - no falling apart in the pie
• Put sugar in your crust - no question just do it.
• Half and half wash over egg wash
• Murray River salt is awesome!

Now the pictures.....

My pie - Classic Apple Pie

M's "Pie"

The Competition

The Mother of All Pies

So the real question - did we win?  Sadly...no.  But I know my pie was up there with the best. The judges came back a few times to retaste my pie.  I need to work on my appearance...needs to be fancier.  I will post the recipes later this week.

But I am now sick of apple pie. I keep finding dough all over my kitchen and I still have a whole bowl of apples left.

Happy Autumn!