Pie Luck Contest

As an annual fun thing to do at work, every year during the week of Thanksgiving we have a Pie Luck Contest. That is, a Pie making contest. Last year I had every intention of entering but I simply ran out of time. This year, I was asked to judge but I declined because I really wanted to have a go at it.

Taking inspiration from last year's winner I decided to enter one chocolaty super sweet concoction which I wouldn't eat by choice.. just too much sweet richness, which came out as a Peanut Butter Cup Cream Cheese Pie. And the other entry was my signature Caramel Apple Tart (yes I realize that it's a pie contest and not a tart contest, but I saw tarts in there last year so I'm calling it legal!). I went with 2 entries because I wanted to enter one that showcased something I like and then something "they" like.

This year we didn't have nearly the turn out we did last year. Last year we had up words of 40 pies entered. Many people had multiple entrees, and they spanned the gamut from way chocolaty sweet to almost savory, many varieties of pumpkin and nut pies, and even a few ice cream pies which didn't hold up well for the judging. This year we only had 14 entries and 2 of them were my own, and another 2 were my teammates, so I was a little uncomfortable having entered twice. I mean, 2 out of 40.... wouldn't even get noticed, but 2 out of 14? NOTICED!

Well.... after much sugar ingesting, and watching the judges circle the table of pie slices (which had no names or descriptions on them), they announced the winner of the 3 categories.

• Best Looking
• Best Overall
• Least Overall (a nicer way of saying worst)

Let's just say that I'm feeling pretty embarrassed to walk away with the 2 cash prizes. The Peanut Butter Cup sugary goodness won best looking, and the Caramel Apple Tart won best overall. That was totally not my intention. REALLY!


Much thanks to J,Py and Maya for giving me some great feedback on the first trail of the Peanut Butter Cup pie.

** apologies on the lack of photo quality. I didn't have much time to fiddle with lighting and focus and such, since I was also on the committee to set up the whole deal and slice up all of the pies for judging.