Happy New Year- The Annual Bake-Off

Happy 2010! I hope everyone rang in the new year with something fun!

This is the second year of our now Annual Bake-Off.  You can see last year’s results here:

http://madkanga.blogspot.com/2009/01/18-on-life-list-completed.html

This year, we decided to tackle pies.  It’s fun to try new things and fun to tackle recipes that are your grandmother’s.  I am not a huge pie person, or dessert person, in general, so I decided to make my husband’s favorite pie: French Silk.  Once again, my Grandma Phyllis has mastered this pie so I called her for her recipe.  And, once again, it went something like this, “Well, I’m not sure how much cream I put in it- just taste it and see what you think!” and “Well, you can use real whipping cream, but then you need to use semi-sweet chocolate but if you use cool whip, you need to use unsweetened chocolate” and “well, stir til it looks fudgy- I have no idea how long that will be” and “just bake the crust til it looks done- I’m not sure how long.”  Seriously, Phyllis, what kind of recipe is this????

But, my sister convinced me to try my grandma’s and not follow a recipe online or from a cookbook.  So, with that in mind, I went for it.  And, the fun begins!

There was pre-bakeoff trash talking.  There was pre-bakeoff strategizing.  There was serious research by all parties involved. There were recipes from the Oprah Show, from Grandma Phyllis, from a blog, from cookbooks…as Ali said about her recipe, “Mine is INTENSE.”

There were little taste-testers. There was sabotaging (see Ali’s recipe below with white-out all over it- part of Bobbi’s strategy).  There was conversation- one that started with this question: “Is it a LAPtop or a LABtop?” which made for serious fun all day long.

Ali ALWAYS brings secret ingredients- this year it was kahula. 

We questioned a few things: why do eggs have to be at room temp? Is it bad when your pie crust splits on the bottom? How thick should pie crust really be? Why is this taking us so long? How many times do we have to read one recipe to get it right? Does the order of ingredients really make a big difference? Should I use powdered sugar or real sugar for my homemade cool whip? How do I make chocolate shavings? And, as usual, we made a few calls to Grandma Phyllis for some pie advice.

But, in the end, we had some amazing pies! I dominated the French Silk Pie; Ali mastered the Chocolate Pecan Pie; and Bobbi showed the Key Lime Pie who was boss. 

But, despite how good our pies looked- it’s what’s inside that counts. So, we brought the judges to the table.  They judged based on appearance, taste, creativity, texture and more.

And, here’s what we found out: Although Ali’s pie did not set up real well, it tasted very, very good!  My pie was way too rich for a non-chocolate lover like myself, however the chocolate lovers in the room loved it.  And, Bobbi’s pie- despite her slight screw-up mid-pie, turned out to be the perfect concoction!

Ali may have been the reigning Bake-Off Queen last year, but this year, Bobbi takes the throne!  It was VERY difficult to judge three VERY different pies, and all pies received a vote but my mother-in-law brought down the house.

And, as Ali said, we can now officially bring pies to our churches for those church dinners that we always went to growing up.  It is then – and only then – that you can consider yourself a pie baker.  And, that we are!

Here’s to a delicious 2010!