Recently, U.S. Veg Corps asked me to judge The Great Vegan Pie Contest that they hosted at VSpot Organic, along with Diana from This Pie is Nuts and Barbara from Gone Pie. Some work is more fun than… well, this is more fun than almost anything!
The winners selected by the judges were 1- Sweet Potato Mini Pies in Gingerbread Crust, 2- Chocolate Truffle Pie, and 3- Strawberry-Rosewater Pie.
Judges first place winner Chef Kasey Hearns said this was her first competition. We all acknowledged that making individual pastry dough crusts is a lot of work. We judges liked the flavor and flakiness of the crust and the-not-too-sweet-but-well-spiced filling too. Our collective feedback was more filling would have been better.
Second prize went to Brian David for his Raw Truffle Pie with Raspberries. It was creamy and intensely chocolate and the raspberries added a bit of needed sweet tart. Lovely presentation, don’t you think?
VSpot Pastry Chef and owner of Brooklyn Rose Pastries Shoshana Frishberg-Izzo made hand pies for the judges and guest, as well as this larger version of same Strawberry-Rosewater recipe. She got third from judges, but won first place for People’s Choice.
Other delicious pies were the S’mores Pie by Tere Fox of Rockin’ Raw, Dayna Rozental’s Mini Watermelon Pies, and a pie from Wendy Landiak from Shankara Vegan Restaurant. Ice creams were provided by Junie Dish of Rockforest Organics and Blythe Ann’s. A delicious time was had by all!
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