Tag: award winning recipe

Blue Ribbon Mixed Fruit Pie

This Blue Ribbon Mixed Fruit Pie is a Minnesota State Fair award-winning recipe made with fresh blueberries, rhubarb, and strawberries. Recipe credit goes to Faye Peterson, who won best overall pie with it in 2014.

Best Pie at the Fair

The judges, a panel of food science professionals, chose the top pie based on appearance/color, texture/internal appearance, and flavor/aroma. In other words, it is all about execution…as in pie baking perfection:

A filling with excellent viscosity. (I love that word by the way; referring it its thickness.)
Fantastic flavor.
Perfectly browned on top.
And no soggy bottom!

Faye says this pie crust recipe, handed down from her mother, is more durable and fool-proof than most. She says this comes from using vinegar, egg, and shortening. Our tasters referred to the crust as “flaky yet firm” and “a perfect compliment to the rich, fruity filling.”

If you’re someone intimidated by home-made pie crusts, give this one a try. We found it forgiving and, so delicious! You can make the crust ahead and refrigerate or even freeze it. Just bring it back to room temperature before rolling it out. Note: the pie crust recipe is for three crusts, so you will have one extra to make a cream pie, meringue, or some other one-crust pie. You can never have too much pie dough around. Am I right?!

Pro Tip

Using fresh blueberries, rhubarb, and strawberries is best. However, if that’s not an option, thaw and drain your frozen fruits and use the same portions: 2 cups blueberries and 3/4 cup each rhubarb and strawberries.

Bake Your Best

With the state fair season just around the corner and July being peak blueberry season, now is the perfect time to make this award-winning Blue Ribbon Mixed Fruit Pie. Plus, it’s a great practice run if you’re registered for 2021 Minnesota State Fair baking competitions a.k.a. Blue Ribbon Baking Day.

Hint Hint! There is a Best Fruit Pie Contest with $175 in prizes. Register by August 10, 4:30pm. Open to Minnesota residents only.

Enjoy & Good Luck!

-Cyndi

Note: This is an edited re-post from our sister website, StateFairRecipes.com

Chocoholic Homemade Ice Cream

This Chocoholic Homemade Ice Cream will delight all of you chocolate lovers out there.

The flavor is bold. Its intensity will wow your senses. Plus its soooo creamy and dreamy. Here’s what goes in it:

Egg yolks
Sugar
Heavy cream
Whole milk
Vanilla bean & extract
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Semisweet chocolate chips

That’s it! You won’t need an ice cream maker (but you can use one if you desire), or any special equipment or tools. Note this recipe doesn’t require sweetened condensed milk, which a lot of ice cream recipes do. By the way, they sound good to me as well (ones with sweetened condensed milk). I’ll make one of those next time around, for sure.

Easy to Make

My favorite characteristic of this decadent dessert, besides how it tastes, is how super simple it is to make. To get started, you whisk 6 egg yolks with sugar.

Then you add whole milk, cream, and a sliced vanilla bean, then slow cook it over low heat. Be sure to stir it constantly to avoid scorching and lumps.

Together, the vanilla bean seeds and extract, give the custard a wonderful flavor and richness.

As the last steps you mix in/melt chocolate chips and cocoa. I like to move the chilled custard from a bowl to a parchment-lined loaf pan. Then you stir it a couple times, just as it starts to freeze. I did these steps in the evening, then let it freeze overnight. The parchment made it easy to move the ice cream after the first servings to a sealable container.

Blue Ribbon Winner

Recipe credit goes to Jayson Aguilar. He won first place with it at the State Fair of Texas back in 2006. Dozens of people competed, but this creation stood out most to the judges. Intense flavor was one of the top judging criteria for the tasting panel of judges. One taste and you’ll know why this Chocoholic Homemade Ice Cream is a blue ribbon winner.

Serving Tips

Put the frozen ice cream in the fridge about 30 minutes before you serve it. This results in nice rounded scoops. Since this ice cream recipe is a no churn version, the custard freezes rock hard. If you want it softened faster, set it on the counter for 5-10 minutes or more, depending how solid it has frozen. I prefer the fridge thaw as it softens more uniformly.
Serve with a berry dessert wine, or drizzle it over the ice cream, if desired, which is what the winner did when he presented it at the fair.
I also think it would work well with Kahlua or a sprinkling of salted nuts on top, i.e. almonds, peanuts, pistachios, or your favorite.
You could even mix in the nuts before it’s frozen or customize it with your favorite chocolate pairings. Peanut butter, pretzels, fresh berries are a few items that come to mind.

However you make it, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

-Cyndi

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

These loaded Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies are packed with deliciousness. They have Oreos and Golden Grahams cereal, both finely chopped, granulated in fact, in a food processor. They also have sea salt which makes each bite pop with tastiness. While we need no excuse to bake, THIS weekend is THE ideal weekend to make these. Not only is Saturday is National Oreo Cookie Day (March 6), but Sunday is also National Cereal Day (March 7). These cookies are super easy to bake also, as in, a prep time of 15 minutes. And you’re going to love their taste and texture.

Marvelous Mix Ins

In addition to Oreos and Golden Grahams, they have chopped caramels, toffee bits, and two different sized chocolate chips. And they are another blue ribbon winning recipe. I’ve had a lot of fun experimenting with these cookies. I’ve skipped the caramel and upped the toffee bits. I’ve also done the reverse, skipping the toffee and increasing the caramel. I’ve also done versions with chocolate chunks instead of chips. All of them, completely delicious.

Blue Ribbon Bragging Rights

Recipe credit for these Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies goes to Michelle Pontbriant. She won her blue ribbon and bragging rights at the Big E Fair in Springfield, Massachusetts. She won a Gold Medal Flour cookie contest with this creation back in 2016. I recall her being a runner and having an “aha moment” when on a run one day, to puree the cookies and cereal together. They give the cookie a terrific tasting texture. You get a bit of caramel, toffee, and chocolate in every bite.

These are such a tasty twist on the traditional chocolate chip cookie. Bake these soon my fellow blue ribbon foodies!

Cyndi

p.s. If you’re a fan of Golden Grahams, you should also try these Peanut Butter S’more No-Bake Cookies. They have the same cereal in them.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles

Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles: this award-winning recipe is a delicious, fun spin on classic snickerdoodles, with cayenne, cocoa, and baking chocolate kicking up the heat and yum factor. You end up rolling the dough in sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and sea salt, making the flavors bloom with your first bite. They’re equally soft and chewy with a slightly crisp texture. One taste and you’ll know why it won top honors.

Choose Your Hotness

If you like a bit of heat in your baked goods, try these spicy snickerdoodles “as is” or choose your “hotness” by adjusting the cayenne (up or down). I actually added the cayenne because, frankly, I love all things spicy. You can certainly leave it out. Recipe credit goes to Kim Dame who won 1^st place in at the L.A. County Fair with this recipe. (Gold Medal Flour, best cookie contest, 2014)

Inspiration, Preparation

Kim’s Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles were inspired by a favorite coffee cream flavor. When she won, Kim shared that in preparation for the recipe contest, she baked a huge variety of cookies. The flavors ranged from coconut to molasses and orange. Her co-workers and friends were the lucky taste testers. They were most wowed by the Mexican Hot Chocolate, and the rest is history.

Bake these Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles. You’ll be wowed as well.

More for Chocolate Lovers

Double Chocolate S’More Sandwich Cookies, another L.A. County Fair winner

Potato Chip Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, another must-make cookie recipe

Raspberry Berets

Aptly named Raspberry Berets, these colorful and creative cookie cups are like mini fruit pies. They get me singing the Prince song of the same name every time. We highly recommend baking them, with Prince tunes as your soundtrack.

They are crowd-pleasing and so easy to make! I mean, really easy. You start with a delicious cookie shell made with butter, granulated and powdered sugar, baking soda, salt, and flour. Fresh out of the oven (while still in the tins) you re-press the cups (to be deep enough to hold the fillings) and let them cool.

Beth Krauss won at the 2015 Ohio State Fair with this Raspberry Berets recipe (third place) and said they were inspired by her love of bite-sized desserts. If you love shortbread, you’re going to love these cookie cups. If you love buttercream, you’re going to scream for these.

The “filling” is a seedless raspberry jam with a rich raspberry buttercream on top. You finish them a fresh raspberry.

Baking Tips:

If you are making these raspberry berets ahead of time and freezing, a raspberry gummy works well as a substitute garnish.

Another idea is the bake the cookie shells/cups and freeze them in sealed plastic freezer bags (or refrigerate them instead). You can pre make the buttercream too and keep it in the freezer or fridge. That way, with some raspberry jam and fresh raspberries on hand, you can assemble all or part of the batch on the day that you need them.

Beth, the wining creator of this recipe, says that if raspberries aren’t your thing, go with a lemon curd, coconut custard, or even chocolate pudding as the filling.

Try this award-winning recipe today! You won’t regret it. This is one of our most popular recipes. One taste and you’ll know why. Put these in heavy rotation and in the “best cookie” category.

-Cyndi

Savory Butternut Squash Carrot Pie

This Butternut Squash Carrot Pie is a savory dish you can savor all winter long. It is comfort food at its finest. It’s also vegetarian. The squash and carrot filling is flavored by cumin, butter, salt, and pepper. Its topped with caramelized onions and fresh sage.

At the 2013 Minnesota State Fair, this recipe stood out to us…from Susan Gran, winner for “best savory pie” (Pillsbury contest). Try it out. We did. And wow!

Here’s what it looks like before you put it in the oven.

You can even do individual portions in cupcake tins. Just bake it for less time of course.

And here I walk you through some of the main steps. I made the filling a day ahead and doubled the batch. I had a good feeling about this one.

First I chopped up the squash and carrots and got them roasting.

I used butternut squash but acorn or even pumpkin would work well too, depending on your tastes.

You toss the squash and carrots with olive oil, salt, pepper and one of my favorite spices, cumin. (I also added cayenne, because heat is a close friend of mine.) You can make the caramelized onions ahead of time too.

Delish Dinner Party Main Dish

Once the squash and carrots were roasted, I pureed the filling with the other key ingredients. If you don’t have a food processor, try a stick blender instead. At this point I put it in my fridge for my dinner party the next day.

When party time came I rolled out my pre-made pie crust and made a full-size pie. Depending on the size of your squash and carrots, you may have extra filling. You can also do cut-outs for mini pies. We did and it worked like a charm.

This butternut squash carrot pie is a colorful recipe, with the vibrant squash contrasting with the fresh sage on top.

There were no leftovers, but the minis would have made terrific to-go lunches. Guess I will have to make them again! And soon. You should give them a try too.

Watch for more savory dishes in the coming months. You can search our site for your favorite ingredients or filter recipes by category here.

Bake it great!

-Cyndi