The Kitchn’s Best Pie Bakeoff 2008

Well, the pies have been rolling in, but there’s still room for yours. And tonight is the deadline! You have until 11:59 pm EST tonight to submit your own pie. Read on to see the rules and fill out the entry form.

The Kitchn is having a best pie bakeoff! Why pies? Well, it’s November, and pies are about to crop up on holiday tables all over the country. Have you ever made a pie? We were intimidated by pies for a long time, but now they’re one of our favorite desserts. We hope to make some converts, discover new recipes, and find the truly best versions of classic pies.

Want to know more about the pie bakeoff, maybe even enter your best pie? Read on!

Think of pies as the parcels that bring warmth and sweetness to holiday gatherings. Thanksgiving is high-pie season, with the obvious (pumpkins) pie ingredient peaking, but think also of apples, pears, quince, squash, sweet potatoes and nuts.

We want to help you nail the pie part of your holiday meal because what gets served last lingers in the mouth’s memory. Over the next few weeks you can count on us to publish tons of new pie recipes, tips, tools, product reviews, good ideas and questions, and plenty of inspiration.

• Finding the best pie recipes that we know are lurking in our readers’ cupboards and recipe boxes! The Best Pie Bakeoff is about sharing these recipes and, just for the fun of it, deciding whose pie looks the best to all of us. A few of us will get some sweet prizes but all of us will be the richer for these new recipes.
• The Best Pie Bakeoff is also about encouragement in baking a pie for the first time, and bringing all our best tips to the table. Maybe you’ve never made a pie but are pie-curious. This is the event for you.
• Oh, and all you tart-bakers, galette-bakers, and other pieish-sort-of-bakers, this is for you too. Throw in your recipes!

The Bakeoff is now in full swing. Here are all the entries. It’s a pie extravaganza!

1. Caramel Apple Crumb Pie
2. Cherry Berry Pie

3. Martha’s Apple Pie

4. Pumpkin Pie Tarts with Dark Chocolate Frosting
5. Bean Brulee Tart
6. Classic Apple Pie with Pâte Brisée Crust
7. Chocolate Pecan Mini Tarts
8. Confetti Quiche with Curry Crust
9. Pie of the Vine
10. Low-tech Korean Bulgogi Mini Pie

11. Sugar and Spice Pumpkin Pie

12. Chocolate Bourbon Truffle-Turtle Tart
13. Pumpkin Pie Cups
14. Quiche Oignon & Cumin

15. Almond Cream Pie

16. Banana Cream Pie
17. Apple Ginger Pie Bars
18. Buckeye Pie
19. Candy Apple Pie

20. Chocolate Truffle Tart with Vanilla Crème Brulee

21. Creamy Adsuki Bean Pie
22. Pumpple Pie (Pumpkin & Apple!)
23. Apple Cranberry Galette with Stonewall Kitchen Apple Caramel Butter
24. Rustic Pear Custard Pie
25. Jack-O-Lantern Tartlets
26. Pear Gruyère Pie
27. Edith’s Sweet Potato Pie
28. Pecan and Date Pie
29. Pumpkin Pie

Categories
Categories are broken down by what kind of pie it is.

• Classic: This is for the pumpkin pies, apple pies, pecan pies – and everything else that usually shows up on the holiday table. Also the vegan and gluten-free versions of these classics! If you have to ask whether it’s classic, well, then it goes in the next category…
• Original: This is for those mixed fall fruit pies, the savory egg and Swiss pies, the meat pies and other unusual pies that we hope also end up here.

The categories are very loose; you can decide which category your pie goes into.

Recipes and Photography
• You can enter any recipe – as long as you think it’s the best. Maybe you have a faded recipe clipped from a magazine taped on the inside of a cabinet and it’s your go-to pie. Maybe you have a great story of jarring cherries from a neighbor’s tree and want to bring them out for a Thanksgiving pie, mixed with some fall flavors to keep it current. You can enter your own recipe, your grandma’s recipe, or link to a favorite Epicurious recipe.
• Please do make sure to clearly credit the recipe and link back to it, if it’s on the web somewhere.
• We really want to see your pie and the process of making, baking, and eating. We are requiring 4 photos, but you can enter up to 10.
• Doublecheck our how to write a recipe post for instructions on how to properly format your recipe.
• Photos need to be no more than 800 pixels wide. They also need to be well-lit and good-looking. Please see our tips here for taking better food photos.

Two Category Winners

Here’s what the two reader-chosen winners will receive for the best pie recipe:

• Pie plates: The winner of the Classic category will receive a Hess earthenware pie plate, and the winner of the Original category will receive an Emile Henry pie dish.
• A copy of Flo Braker’s brand-new (and gorgeous!) hard cover book, Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Every Celebration, published by Chronicle Books.
• A jar of Zingerman’s very special, extra fancy Italian Wild Cherries. ($48 value). These would make an incredibly flavorful and special mix-in or topping for nearly any pie. (Great for cocktails too.)

Three Special Mentions
Our editorial team will choose three special mentions, and they will get:

• One Emile Henry pie dish.
• A copy of Flo Braker’s Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Every Celebration, published by Chronicle Books.

Everyone!
What we’ll all get through the Best Pie Bakeoff:

• Lots of new pie recipes.
• Increased confidence and good ideas for holiday pies.

• Entries due by MONDAY NOVEMBER 10th, 2008, at 11:59PM EST.
• The Kitchn editors will review submissions as they come in.
• The Kitchn will post entries beginning on or after MONDAY NOVEMBER 3rd.
• Entries will be posted each weekday until WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19.
• Voting will take place in both categories on THURSDAY & FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20-21.
• Honorable mentions will be announced Monday-Wednesday, NOVEMBER 24-26.

Process
• In case of a huge abundance of submissions, the AT: The Kitchn team will select the best. The best recipes will be posted for all to try at home. The earlier you get your submission in, the more chance it has of being posted!
• Two winners will be chosen by reader voting.
• Three honorable mentions will be editorially picked by our team.

Ties
• In case of an exact tie in reader voting, AT: The Kitchn editors will hold a second round of run-off voting between the tied contestants.

Entry is now closed. Please join in and help us choose the best pies. We’ll be voting on Thursday and Friday, November 20-21.

Rules:
Please, only one entry PER CATEGORY per person. You may enter one pie in each category, with these restrictions: You cannot win a prize in more than one category; AT Kitchn editorial staff reserves the right to only post one of your recipes. Duplicate entries past one in each category will be discarded. Make sure the email address in your Apartment Therapy registration is valid; that’s how we’ll contact you if you win. If you haven’t registered yet, please join us here: welcome to our community and create an account.

Winners must claim their prize within three business days after the date of notification of such prize. A winner’s failure to respond to the prize notification within the specified three business days will be considered such winner’s forfeiture of the prize and an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. If an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may also be selected from the pool of eligible entries.

To enter, you must be a U.S. resident, age 18 or older to enter. Employees, partners and vendors of Apartment Therapy and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology. When applicable, the winner may be required to execute and return within five business days an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability and Publicity Release to be eligible for the prize or an alternate winner will be selected.

All prizes will be awarded. No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that Apartment Therapy reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of their prize. To receive a complete list of winners or a copy of the Best Pie Bakeoff Offical Rules, send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Apartment Therapy, 22 Howard Street #4i, New York, NY 10013.