Senior Club Pie Tasting Contest

Being a judge at a pie tasting event sounds like a dream job to me.   With this in mind I accompanied my husband, Deacon Rex, who was asked to be a judge at the annual Senior Club Pie Tasting event at our church.  I tagged along to take pictures and see just how yummy such a responsibility could be. 

My husband was joined by Deacon Joe, who was returning as a judge for the second year in a row. These guys were asked to choose the top three pies mysteriously provided by some of the 44 attending Senior Club  members. As some members explained, their specialties were cakes and cookies so they left the pie making to the five who carefully put forth their blue ribbon best.

Key Lime pie was the first one tasted. I happen to know my husband is not a pudding pie person, and tangy pudding pies are not his thing. I love key lime pie and have made them myself. If I want  a slice of key lime pie, I had better order it in a restaurant and plan to eat it all myself. My husband is not likely to want to even share a piece with me. Secretly I knew that this lovely pie probably wasn't going to rate the number one spot with him.  If I was a judge, it would most likely be in the running. 

Next taste was the Pineapple Chess pie. I "hear" it was an immediate favorite. The presentation of it was beautiful, no flaws, ribbing on crust perfect and no internal flaws to the texture or top of the pie. I love chess pie and adding pineapple made it even sound wonderful to me.

I thought the apple berry pie might be a winner as my husband's favorite is always apple pie.  As you can see the broken crust didn't add to the presentation and the symmetry was lacking.  I wondered if the combination of apple and berry would be sweet enough, and not so tangy, to win the judges over.

The Raspberry Peach Double Crust pie was fourth in the line-up. The crust appeared to be a little uneven but I liked the familiar cuts in it since that's how I'd do it. 

The last pie to be judged was the Raspberry Peach Streusel pie. It had an oatmeal crust on it rather than the traditional pie dough which gave it an interesting look. By the time I had photographed the last pie,  I was ready to take a fork and go down the line myself sampling them. Gosh every one looked delicious. 

With all five pies sampled and tally sheets scored, the challenging responsibility turned serious.

With pens in hands, the judges calculate their observations.

Deacon Rex ponders what to do. Scoring must have been very difficult.

The judges compare their results to see if they can agree on the three winners. 

The Senior Club members anxiously wait for the announcement of the winners of the pie tasting. Their monthly meeting agenda carried on but the members knew their own taste of the pies was coming soon. What a fun meeting to be at this month. 

The smiling judges have determined the winners. They reported it was a very difficult decision as each pie was wonderful. The senior deacon, Deacon Rex, was given the dangerous task of announcing the winners. He was prepared to run for the door! 

The third place winning pie was pie number four, the raspberry peach pie.  The proud cook, Alice, came forward to get her gift bag.

Second place went to Joann for her apple berry pie.. Pie number three. 

First place winner was the pineapple chess pie, lovingly baked by Armella. She wasn't at the meeting but she had slipped in earlier to drop off her pie. The big surprise was that the cook was Deacon Joe's mother. He was given her bag to take to her. When he delivered it to her, he told her that he had reported to the Senior Club that she had paid the judges $100 to come in first place. She was mortified as she's a lovely lady who would never do such a thing. I hope that ornery son told her he was just teasing her. 

After the winners were revealed, everyone was invited to pick up a plate and fork and try out the pies. I managed to get a spoonful of three different ones, including the first place winner. It was a divine way to spend my Saturday morning.