Pie winners in Wednesday’s open class pie contest were, from the left, Sidney Larison and her grandmother, Barb McKeen, Ann Wildermuth and Anita Green. (EXAMINER PHOTO | Mandy Loehr)
Grandmother, granddaughter take double-crust pie honors
Throughout her growing up years, West Liberty-Salem High School senior Sidney Larison has made many special memories baking alongside her grandmother Barbara McKeen and learning many expert tricks of the trade.
In Wednesday’s open class pie contest, the grandmother and granddaughter pair were overjoyed when judge Iris Raines announced another shared milestone for the baking duo. Their double crust pie entries garnered the best of show and reserve best of show honors — with the top award going to McKeen for her apple pie and the reserve to Sidney for her strawberry entry.
“We’re so excited,” the 17-year-old said. “I’ve been baking with my nana ever since I was little. My grandma’s cherry pie is my very favorite recipe.
“When I was making my pies for the contest, my younger siblings kept wanting to help and they kept stealing strawberries, too. Thankfully, I had enough left for the pie.”
Sidney said she entered two pies in this year’s contest. Her dedicated efforts to learning pie-making skills at a young age has paid off, as she has previously won awards for her pies at both the Logan County Fair and the Hardin County Fair.
In the single-crust category, perennial winner Anita Green returned for a best of show award for her pecan pie, which featured pecans that she toasted herself. The big win came after a long night of pie-making to prep her seven fair entries.
“I think I might celebrate by taking a nap,” she said with a chuckle. “I was up until about 1:30 a.m. But it paid off well, and I was excited that my banana cream pie also took first place. It was my first time making it.
“Cream pies are definitely my favorite. And I don’t tend to bake a lot, except for fair time and Christmas.”
Ann Wildermuth received the reserve best of show single-crust award for her peach pie with a streusel topping, made with peaches fresh from Hurley’s Farm Market.
“I’ve entered this peach pie before, but I added the crumble topping for the first time,” she said.
Youth bakers in Wednesday’s open class contest also shared their family connections that made their baking extra fun.
Marley Young, 15, of West Liberty, and her younger sisters Raina, 9, and Graysen, 4, all participated in the competition. Marley received reserve best of show cakes for her cake pop bouquet, and Raina garnered reserve candy honors for her peanut butter fudge. Graysen also entered a decorated cake.
“They were so excited because their littlest sister to join in this year for the first time in the decorated cake class,” the girls’ mom Kristy said. “Our kitchen has been very busy these last two days, like a real bakery.”
The cake pop bouquet was a new category this year.
“We thought it would be a fun category to add to our youth cake contest, to give some interest to our teen bakers,” home goods committee member Karla Johnson said.
“You’d think that cake pops might be easy, but they actually are pretty difficult,” Marley said. “It was our first time making them and it’s a tricky combination, trying to balance the right consistency for the cake pops to hold together and stay on the stick. It took some experimenting.”
Benjamin Logan Middle School fifth-grader Juliana Meddings won the best of show cookie award for her no bake cookies made with Dutch cocoa powder, which she enjoyed baking with her grandmother. She also received second-place for her Buckeyes.
“My dad kept trying to steal the cookies, so I know they’re pretty good,” said Juliana, who also shows market and dairy goats at the fair. “I always taste test them to make sure they’re good enough to bring to the fair.”
Twelve-year-old Claire Tidwell received the reserve best of show cookies for her peanut blossoms. She will be a seventh-grader at Indian Lake Middle School this fall.
Best of show cake winner William Johnson’s chocolate layer cake featured chocolate and white chocolate chips as a topping.
“I like that you have to put a lot of work and time into baking,” the 10-year-old said, who will be in fifth-grade at Bellefontaine Intermediate School. He has entered the contest the last two years and enjoys baking with his grandmother, Karla Johnson.
Karly Holtkamp, 10, of New Richland received the best of show candy award for her Buckeyes.
“I make them a lot. They’re really good,” said the fellow BIS fifth-grader.
Winners in the youth baking contest Wednesday were, from the left, Claire Tidwell, Raina Young, Karly Holtkamp, Juliana Meddings, Marley Young and William Johnson. (EXAMINER PHOTO | Mandy Loehr)