2nd Annual Apple Pie Contest: "My, Oh My! Love That Pie!"

Sponsored by Dick and Gail Paulsen, their 2nd Annual Apple Pie Contest took place on the evening of August 26, 2011.

Contestants and friends arrived and enjoyed the pleasant summer evening while getting ready for the contest.

Everyone talked excitedly about their recipes, while they visited and enjoyed a barbeque/potluck supper which preceded the event.

The Paulsen's daughter, Leslie, had fun setting the stage for the contest, artistically arranging all the entries on a picnic table with voting materials close at hand.

Next, everyone lined up to get their first glimpse of the apple pie entries, and proceded to vote on the presentation aspect of each entry.

As you can see from the photos, the apple pie for this contest did not consist of your traditional, flaky-crusted pie, but instead consisted of a liquid version that supposedly "tasted" like apple pie.

Naturally, in order to judge the flavor of each entry, everyone proceded to enjoy the next step of the contest which was the tasting of each concoction.

Since everyone at the event became a judge, there was quite a bit of circling the table, tasting-tasting-tasting, chatting and voting.

After this quite-festive part of the evening, everyone went back to settle around the fire, talk about the flavors of the entries, and wonder which apple pie would be the grand winner.

The Paulsen's son, Robert, built and carefully tended a wonderful fire which provided warmth and beauty as night descended around the group.

After a short while, Leslie appeared with award certificates and prizes and proceded to announce the winners.

Everyone was presented with a Certificate of Participation with the two main prizes going to Jody for the "best presentation award" and to Tami for the "best taste award." Tami also received the most points overall, so she received a special "Award of Excellence."

Believe it or not, I won a special award and prize, too - the booby prize! I think they felt sorry for because I didn't know about the presentation aspect of the contest, and it was my first time to make apple pie. Anyway, I won a cute little yellow chicken that goes "clickety-click" as it walks across the floor. (I think I'm supposed to bring it back next year for the next booby prize winner!)

Now, if you haven't had liquid apple pie before, I'm going to give you an average recipe which you can play around with until it satisfies your taste and you make it your own. It goes something like this: 1 gallon of apple cider, 1 gallon of apple juice, 4 cups sugar, 8 cinnamon sticks, 1 (750 milliliter) bottle of 190 proof Everclear alcohol. Mix together all ingredients except the alcohol, bring to a boil and simmer for as long as you like. Then when the mixture cools completely, add the alcohol. If you're interested in making apple pie, you can find all kind of variations of this recipe at AllRecipes.Com http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/apple-pie-2/detail.aspx.

All in all, we had such a great time at the 2nd Annual Apple Pie Smack Down that the Paulsen's are thinking of opening up the contest to the whole community next year! So... if you're interested in coming to the festivities, start working on your own apple pie recipe for the 3rd Annual Apple Pie Contest!

2nd Annual Apple Pie Contest Slideshow - August, 2011