Janice Weaver
The Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau’s 43rd Annual Apple Pie Baking Contest was held at the Santa Cruz County Fair last week.
Winners were selected for each of the three divisions, Youth, Adult and Masters. Janice Weaver, of Santa Cruz took the top overall prize by winning “Best of Show.”
The Apple Pie Contest Judges are different every year. The judges for this year’s contest were Francisco Estrada, Mayor, City of Watsonville; Pam Zamani, Retired Community Leader; Maryann Bulich Schnitter, Owner, Butier & Bulich Brothers; and Brendan Miele, President, Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau.
The winners from each division are listed below:
“Best of Show” Winner
Janice Weaver
Santa Cruz
Youth Division
1st Kaia Harroh, Aptos
2nd Claire Madsen, Santa Cruz
3rd Aiden Tomasini, Aromas
Adult Division
1st Connie Elmer-Akin, Santa Cruz
2nd Debbie Justice, Santa Cruz
3rd Jill Martin, Felton
Masters Division
1st Janice Weaver, Santa Cruz
2nd Kelly Kersten, Watsonville
3rd Ruth Ernest, Watsonville
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The Pajaro Valley apple producers, growers and pie lovers sponsor the annual event in cooperation with the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau. Laura Rider, Farm Bureau Member, is Chair for this very popular opening day event.
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2019 Apple Pie Winning Recipe
2 1/2 cup flour
1 t-spn salt
1 Tbl-spn sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup water
Whisk dry ingredients together. Cut butter into flour until in little pieces. Add cold water, and combine until holding together. Divide in half, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least one hour.
Filling
4-5lbs apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 Tbl-spn lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 t-spn cinnamon
1/8 t-spn salt
1 Tbl-spn cornstarch
Bit of milk
Roll out one half of dough and fit into 9” pie pan. Toss filling ingredients together and pour into shell. Roll out second half of dough for top of pie. Crimp it to the shell, cut slits, brush with milk, and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 400 deg to 45-50 minutes.