Tag: best pie

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

 

Bake Your Best for the 2021 Minnesota State Fair

Calling all Blue Ribbon Foodies & Minnesota State Fair Lovers!!

Hit the kitchen and let’s bake together for the Great Minnesota Get-Back-Together! To celebrate the official return of our hometown Minnesota State Fair in 2021, the Blue Ribbon Group is sponsoring four special baking contests at the Minnesota State Fair including:

  • Best Banana Bread
  • Best Fruit Pie
  • Best Drop Cookie
  • Best Coconut Cake

Cash Prizes & Kudos

For this “Blue Ribbon Baking Day” at the fair, we’ve organized $175 in prizes for each competition, plus there will be special recognition for blue ribbon winners across several broader baking categories: Cookies, Cakes, Pies, and Breads. Don’t miss this treasured tradition that hundreds of Minnesotans take part in every year. You’ll rub elbows with like-minded home cooks and hobby bakers on “baking drop-off day” and once the fair opens see what wins in display cases throughout the Creative Activities Building. The experience is also a wonderful warm-up for the upcoming holiday baking season.

Special Thanks to our prize partner, King Arthur Baking Company. 

King Arthur Baking Company

Blue Ribbon Baking Contest Series: Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 9:30am – 1pm (Competitors: Sign Up by Aug 10, 4:30pm)

All registration goes through the Minnesota State Fair competition department. Registration is free! There’s also no obligation if you later can’t participate. Go to the Competitions/Creative Activities/Baked Products section at MNStateFair.org to sign up (under the Participants tab). Three quick-start tips:

  • Create your online account here
  • For step-by-step guidance, go here.
  • Sign up for the Competition Department email list here and be sure to choose “Creative Activities” as your email list.

Best Drop Cookies Blue Ribbon Cake Blue Ribbon Pie: Blueberry Rhubarb Strawberry Pie Best Banana Bread

 

Sign Up!   *********************Registration is Closed; Stay Tuned for Follow-Up Posts **************************************

  • Registration is open now. It closes August 10 at 4:30pm. No late registrations are allowed so don’t miss the deadline
  • Registration is FREE
  • You drop off your entry the Saturday before the fair opens, so it’s easy in, easy out. Drop off is 9:30am to 1pm on Saturday, August 21. You can even have a friend drop it off if you can’t make it
  • Open to Minnesota residents only

If you are on social media, be sure to follow BLUE RIBBBON FOODIES on Instagram or Facebook (or both =). Help us grow. Like and comment on what you see there. Save and share your favorite posts. Also, stay tuned here for inspiration and award-winning recipes from Minnesota and across the country.

Want to see all the official rules? Download them here.

Good luck. We’ll be cheering for you all!

Cyndi & Crystal (aka The Blue Ribbon Group & Blue Ribbon Foodies)

Dreamy Creamy Raspberry Pie

This dreamy creamy raspberry pie is true to its name. The “always-heavenly” heavy cream and cream cheese ingredients give this pie it’s richness. You use both frozen and fresh raspberries. Featuring this fruit makes the raspberry flavor a co-star to the cream. Each bite is divine thanks to the pie’s five layers.

Five Easy Layers

  1. pie crust
  2. baked “cheesecake”
  3. raspberry filling
  4. whipped cream cheese
  5. fresh raspberries

Everything goes inside a fabulous and flaky pie crust, homemade with cold butter and ice cold water, plus flour, salt, sugar, of course. And as always, if you’re in a time crunch (or have no interest in mastering your “pie crust from scratch” skills), a pre-made crust works too.  No questions asked.  No judging 😊

The pie’s bright color is eye-catching for sure, making it a scrumptious sweet treat for Valentine’s day…or any special day of the year for that matter. You can see all the layers well in this slice’s close up. (Personally, this pic makes me want to lick the screen. And I find the raspberries almost hypnotizing on top.)

Dreamy Creamy Raspberry Pie - Best Slice

Worth the Wait

Because of the chill times, this dreamy creamy raspberry pie will take a few hours to make, but please do not let that intimidate you. The raspberry filling thickens easily and the creamy layers are easy to whip up. For the crust, you use a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, opt for a pastry blender. Just be sure to keep the butter cold and water ice cold.  The crust bakes beautifully and the delicious layers give it a complexity that wows the senses.

State Fair Winner

Recipe credit goes to Emily Olsen, who created it for the North Carolina State Fair, Gold Medal Flour best pie contest (2015). She won a red ribbon, and we are so glad she did!  Make this one as soon as possible!

-Cyndi

 

 

Bali Hai Tropical Pie

Bali Hai Tropical Pie is a show-stopping, mic-dropping, tropical-themed award-winning best pie recipe you don’t want to miss.

Shredded coconut, fresh mango, fresh lime, cream cheese, and Malibou coconut rum are just a few of the ingredients comprising this marvelous masterpiece. It features a prominent citrusy creaminess, thanks to the heavy whipping cream you combine with cream cheese. You’ll be tempted to eat this mixture/filling by the spoonful. Macadamia nuts give it a nice texture contrast on top.

Recipe Inspiration

Recipe credit goes to Peggy Linberg. The Californian won first place with it at the San Diego County Fair (2014). Peggy’s Bali Hai Tropical Pie was inspired by her favorite musical, South Pacific. With a strong love of passionfruit, she made her pie a combination of the fruit she grew up with in Hawaii and other favorite Polynesian flavors. From the coconut in the pie crust, to the mango, rum and lime flavors infused into its layers, everything about this pie was a hit with the judges. Peggy wanted to transport herself to Hawaii when making and tasting it. Mission accomplished! We were too!

Extra Effort, Ingredients for the Win

Heads up: This pie isn’t for a first time pie baker. It is one of the more involved recipes we’ve tested, but after tasting it, you’ll be convinced…totally worth the extra effort and ingredients! Plan for several hours, start to finish, mainly because of the chill time once you’re done.

Special Recipe Tips & Tricks

  • For the tropical fruit juice concentrate, Peggy, used an orange peach, mango combination. We used a variation on that. Choose your favorite.
  • Peggy’s preferred whipped topping mix is Rich’s Bettercreme. It gives the top decoration more stability, i.e. holds up well while moved or carried.

More like this

If you like unique and creative recipes like this pie, check out these other original recipes:

 

Raspberry Peach Pie

Raspberry Peach Pie: use this Minnesota State Fair winning recipe to hone your pie baking skills. It comes from Judy Olson who has literally made thousands of pies in her lifetime. She’s won an endless number of blue ribbons. In her recipe Judy shares some great tips for pie perfection! For instance, she suggests using ceramic tiles to help evenly bake your bottom crust.

Raspberry Peach Pie - side shot

It’s tough to nail that perfect crust but use good ingredients – like unbleached flour, quality butter, and ripened fruit – and you are well on your way to a delightful dessert.

Raspberry Peach Pie from above

This fantastic fruit pie won two big honors at the Minnesota State Fair. Judy Olson’s Raspberry Peach Pie won best overall pie out of the 112 total pies entered in 2015. The pie also won runner-up honors in a “best pie” baking competition requiring new, original recipes. Gold Medal Flour sponsored it and we managed.

Want more perfect pie recipes? Search for “pies” on our site.

Thanks for tuning in!

-Cyndi