Tag: Blue Ribbon Pie

Nutty Seed & Honey Tart

This Nutty Seed & Honey Tart will fulfill any nut lover’s dreams. This is because the tart packs in a ton of nuts. It has almost a pound of mixed nuts, plus sliced almonds and pistachios. You can’t go wrong with that many nuts. It’s nutty how many nuts it has! With our upcoming “Nutty Cookie Contest” at the Minnesota State Fair (find the deets here), this recipe immediately came to mind. You can make this recipe into nutty cookie cups or even tiny tartlets.

Let this all-time favorite blue ribbon recipe be your inspiration too! Here’s what it looked like when it was entered at the fair.

Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are this pie’s other “crunchy” ingredients. You could opt for pepitas, instead of pumpkin seeds. Vary up the ingredients however you want. Cashews and whole almonds would work well in this recipe too.

This award-winning tart is sweetened with clover honey and brown sugar. Almond extract gives the tart a flavor boost. Butter and cream in the filling give just the right amount richness. The amounts are perfect.

The recipe comes together easily, especially with a pre-made pie crust. If you want a homemade piecrust, find one of our favorites here or do a shortbread crust like we did.

Altogether, this Nutty Seed & Honey Tart makes for a delicious dessert you’ll be proud to serve. It’s sweet, but not overly so, and the texture is unforgettable. It’s both rich and chewy.

Award-Winning Recipe

Recipe credit for this blue ribbon winning tart goes to Elaine Mason who won first place with this recipe at the 2013 Wisconsin State Fair.

The contest was a pie baking championship that Pillsbury sponsored. It ran for 18 years and remained popular the entire time.

This Nutty Seed & Honey Tart is an all-time favorite. One taste and you will know why.

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Triple Berry Apple Streusel Pie

This blue ribbon winning Triple Berry Apple Streusel Pie has both frozen and fresh berries in it—a mixture of raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries—plus a Granny Smith apple. Between that fruit combination, a gorgeous lattice top crust, and a streusel topping featuring oats and almonds, this pie is a total show stopper. As in best ever pie. As in, mic drop. Boom!

Seriously, we think you’ll go crazy for this Triple Berry Apple Streusel Pie. And funny thing is, this blue ribbon pie was originally titled: Berry Crazy Pie with Nutty Crunch Topping. And an even cooler thing about this pie, a 24-year old created it. Recipe credit goes to Tyler Stump who won first place with it at the Indiana State Fair (2016).

If you loves pies, really great fruit pies, you simply have to make this Tripe Berry Apple Streusel Pie. Follow our step-by-step recipe and bake like a blue ribbon winner! And pie lover, if you’re looking for another best-ever pie recipe, try this Mixed Fruit Pie.

-Cyndi & Crystal

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

Blue Ribbon Lemon Meringue Pie

Quite a while back we tested some recipes in a vintage cookbook and discovered this fantastic Blue Ribbon Lemon Meringue Pie. The “cookbook” was more of a booklet but a wonderful recipe roundup, none the less. The publication was titled, “Great State Fair Recipes…A Collection of Minnesota State Fair Sweepstakes-Winning Recipes from 1906 to 1975.” What a find this gem was!

Cakes, cookies and breads (three highly popular categories at fairs) make up most of the booklet’s collection, all with Minnesota State Fair roots. We found the blue ribbon lemon meringue pie in the “church recipe” section. It is a tried and true recipe, sure to become a family favorite.

We tweaked the recipe a bit, using only shortening for the crust versus half butter and half lard, plus added salt to the filling. The pie came out perfectly.

That testing day was a year or two ago. Somehow the pics and recipe kept getting set aside instead of posted, so my apologies. Here it finally is!

If you love lemon and meringue, this is a great “go to” recipe. For another citrus sweet treat, check out this other favorite of our here. It is an epic recipe and also quite easy to make.

One last note, if you are one to make MANY pies at a time, which many of you are, I now have a recipe that makes 40 pie crusts. Yes it’s true. It was in this same recipe publication. If you ever need 40 pies crusts at once, just drop me a line!

Cyndi