"World Class Pumpkin Pie" Contest

In my hometown of Harrow, Ontario, Labour Day weekend means the Harrow Fair. The 153rd Harrow Fair this year, to be exact. Oldest country fair in Ontario, or possibly all of Canada??? Every year, I walk through the exhibits and look at the canning, baked goods, vegetables, etc. and vow that next year I will enter something in the fair. Well, this was my year!

I entered three items for judging. A pumpkin pie in the "World Class Pumpkin Pie" category, the baby blanket that I made for my nephew Hugh, and a pair of thrum mittens. To put this in perspective, there are over 8000 items entered each year so this is no rinky-dink contest.

My Mom & I dropped our entries in at the Agricultural building on Wednesday afternoon and the judging took place on Thursday. There were some ladies that were sitting at the table where people were dropping off pies. There was a typo on the entry tag for my pumpkin pie and I asked them to fix it. They said it really didn't matter and tried to get rid of me as quickly as possible. I asked the woman in charge, "But what if I win?" She just looked at me like, "Yeah, right." I went and found a pencil and insisted my name be changed from "Maira" back to the proper spelling.

Thursday afternoon, my Mom and I were chomping at the bit to get into the fair and see the results. A first place ribbon for my Mom's Aran knit sampler blanket and a third for her homemade tomato sauce. A second place ribbon for Hugh's baby blanket and then... no sign of my pumpkin pie. When we finally figured out where the cooler was for the pumpkin pies, my pie was already gone to be sold at the pie auction. But then we saw it - my name on the side of the cooler on a chalkboard that said Best Pumpkin pie. First place - can't remember and it doesn't matter anyway. Second place - MARIA Sanders. Maria??? Harrow has a large Portuguese population and I personally know of at least 10 Maria's. In a town of 3000, that's a lot. Without my maiden name to identify me, no one would know that it was me that had won! Maybe I was being vain, but I was a little annoyed.

I soon had the correction made and I must admit, I was in my glory! The weekend flew by and Sunday afternoon, my Mom & I were back at the fair to pick up our entries. Because my pie was auctioned off on Thursday, I didn't expect to get it back, but I thought my pie plate would be back (my name & phone # were on the bottom). The pie ladies were not much help again and the pie plate has yet to turn up.

There were a few details that I haven't mentioned regarding the "World Class Pumpkin Pie" contest. That category was actually sponsored by a local family and they provide the prize money, $20 for second place. The catch is that I have to bake them another pie and drop it off to collect the prize money, before September 30th. Apparently this family sponsors the pumpkin pie contest and a raspberry pie contest as birthday presents for the Grandfather's of the family. They find out when the pies will be delivered and they plan parties around those weekends. What a great idea! However, now I am out a pie plate (well, my mom is out a pie plate!) and I also have to drive 4+ hours back to Harrow and bake a pie, all for the $20 prize. If I wasn't enjoying my bragging rights so much, I would be wondering if this was worth it! Alan is definitely wondering, although he is proud to be married to a ribbon winner.

Here is the recipe for my "World Class Pumpkin Pie". My secret is using coconut milk in place of the evaporated milk. The idea for that came from the pastry chef at Meinhardt Fine Foods in Vancouver. I also thought that the brand of canned pumpkin made a difference. I prefer using Stokely pumpkin, not E.D. Smith pumpkin. I had my Mom make a special trip to Amherstburg to buy Stokely pumpkin. I had a can of E.D. Smith just in case. Both cans were on the counter while I was making the pie and afterwards, I realized that I had used the E.D. Smith pumpkin. My mom was not overly impressed. Maybe I would have won first place if I would have used the Stokely??? Maybe not.

Pumpkin Pie

2 - 9 inch unbaked, deep-dish pie shells
2 c. brown sugar
1 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. ground mace
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 - 28oz can pure pumpkin (never pumpkin pie filling)
1 1/2 c. coconut milk
1/2 c. cream

Mix together brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and mace thoroughly. Stir in eggs. Add pumpkin taking care that mixture is well blended. Stir in coconut and cream. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking 25 minutes longer or until firm and crust is well browned.

*I sometimes use this double recipe for just one pie. If the pie plate is deep enough, it will hold most of the mixture. You just have to make sure that the crust doesn't burn before the filling sets. You can put the leftover filling into a ramekin and bake it for 15 minutes or so and you have a nice little pumpkin custard for a snack.

*I blind baked the pie crust for the competition. I usually do this if I am using a homemade crust. There are times that I need to use a pre-made crust and I don't blind bake those.

*You would think that baking your own pumpkin and pureeing it and using that in your pie would be better than canned. That hasn't been my experience and I have tried it several times. I don't know if there is a secret to getting the pumpkin to a nice consistency but if there is, I don't know it!