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Angel Food
Cake
Contest
Pam Foor of Everett, Bedford County, repeated her state contest-winning achievement in the 2016 INCREDIBLE! Egg Angel Food Cake Contest on Sunday at the 100th Pennsylvania Farm Show in Harrisburg.
In 2011, Foor placed first with her Lemon Poppyseed recipe. Last year, she took home a blue ribbon, along with a $500 prize, for her updated Triple Lemon Angel Food Cake. She maintains her title during the 100th Pennsylvania Farm Show in the Angel Food Cake Contest with her Bee Mine Angel Food Cake.
Foor represented the Bedford County Fair. The winner of each county and community fair angel food cake contest is eligible for Farm Show competition.
Five judges ranked 73 cakes at the 12th annual competition.
Second place went to Clancein Donough, of Port Royal, representing the Juniata County Fair.
Bee Mine Angel Food Cake
1 1/2 cup egg whites
1 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon limoncello
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon pudding
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Sift cake flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Set aside. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add cream of tartar. Beat until stiff. Add 1 1/2 cup sugar. Fold in vanilla, limoncello, lemon juice, lemon pudding and zest. Gently fold. Add flour mixture gently. Pour into ungreased tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 to 40 min. Cool in pan.
Filling:
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
In a saucepan, combine lemon juice, zest, sugar, eggs and butter. Cook over medium heat until thick and starts to bubble on surface. Remove and let cool.
Garnish:
Marshmallows
2.5 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1.5 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/2 cup water
1 cup lite corn syrup
Scrap inside of vanilla bean
Powder sugar for dusting
Combine gelatin and water in mixing bowl. Let stand 30 minutes. Combine sugar, syrup, salt and water in saucepan on low until sugar is dissolved, stirring continuously. Wash down sides of pan with wet pasting brush. Cook syrup without stirring to firm ball stage, 244 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat. In mixing bowl with gelatin at low speed, gently pour syrup. Increase speed beat until mixture is very thick and triples in volume. Add vanilla and vanilla bean. Pour marshmallows into a pan or muffin tin. Dust with powdered sugar. Let uncovered overnight to dry. May substitute with Nathan Miller’s Vanilla Bean Marshmallows.
Assemble Cake:
Cut one inch down from top, spoon out tunnel and fill with curd. Replace top garnish with curd, marshmallows, lemon slices and bees. Enjoy!
Pam Foor
Apple Pie
Contest
Jeralyn Adams, the Susquehanna County Fair winner, won the Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Contest on Saturday at the Farm Show.
Five judges tasted a total of 80 entries in search of Pennsylvania’s best apple pie.
Second place winner John Rauch from Lehigh County won first place at the Kempton County Fair before competing at the 100th Pennsylvania Farm Show. In addition to this being his first year competing in the contest, Rauch also used his own home-grown Cortland apples. Over the years, the event has become a family affair, with Rauch’s wife Lorrie and sister-in-law Jennifer placing in the top five in previous years. This year Rauch joined in on the fun.
Judging of the apple pies took place in two separate rounds. In the first round, the judges examined the pies’ overall appearance. They then tasted each of the 16 pies on their respective table. The top five pies on each table then advanced to the second round. All five judges then tasted the top 25 pies and then deliberated together to name the best five pies.
Fourth place went to Donough, of Port Royal, representing the Beaver Community Fair.
1st Place Apple Pie Recipe
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup lard
1/3 cup unsalted butter
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water
Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Blend in lard and butter with a fork or pastry blender until crumb is pea-sized and smaller. Add water, one tablespoon at a time, blending gently until dough almost cleans side of bowl. Divide dough in half and shape loosely into two balls. Roll out each in a circle on floured surface to fit an 8 1/2- or 9-inch pie pan. Line bottom of pan with one crust.
Filling:
5 to 6 cups of tart Pennsylvania apples (cored, peeled and thinly sliced)
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash of ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
Mix apples, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Pour into crust-lined pan. Dot the top of the filling with butter.
Top with remaining crust. Seal edges. Pierce top crust with fork at intervals to release steam while baking.
Topping:
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar (1 tablespoon sugar combined with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon)
Brush top of crust with milk. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Protect crust edges from over-browning by covering them with strips of foil or purchased crust protector.
Bake at 425 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes, removing edge protector for last 15 minutes of baking. If top crust starts to over brown, cover loosely with foil.
Jeralyn Adams
4th Place Praline Crunch Apple Pie
Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons shortening
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons ice water
Mix together flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter and blend until looks like coarse cornmeal. Add the shortening, blend not quite as much as butter. Add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time until you get a consistency you prefer for rolling out. Place in the refrigerator and let rest while you get the rest of the ingredients together
Filling:
7 cups sliced Brown’s apples (in season)
3 to 4 1/2 tablespoons flour (depending on the juices in the apples)
4 tablespoons apple juice – concentrate or apple cider
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter
Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt and mix. Add to apples. Sprinkle in lemon juice and apple juice or cider. Cut butter into small pieces and add to the filling mixture. Pour into 9-inch pastry lined pan. Flute edges.
Praline Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup flour
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Combine pecans, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Blend in the butter until you have a crumb mixture. Spread across the top of the filling. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and bake an additional 30-35 minutes. Cool for one hour
Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
Dash salt
1 1/2 teaspoons white vanilla
1 pound box 10X sugar
1 stick butter, softened
Put cream cheese and butter in large bowl of mixer, and beat until smooth. Add vanilla and mix again. Add 10x sugar and salt slowly to creamed mixture, until all is incorporated. Beat on high for 30 seconds. Top with apple jelly to hold sugared almonds and pie crust cut-outs.
Clancein Donough
Thumbprint
Cookie
Contest
Elizabeth Pokriva and her mother, Shelly Pokriva, both of York County won first and second places, respectively, at the Thumbprint Cookie Contest on Sunday at the Farm Show.
According to Gerri Moore, the Family Living Coordinator of the Pennsylvania Farm Show, judging the contest is no small task.
“We’re lucky to have a wide variety of cookies and quite a lot of participants each year,” Moore said. “I’ve been working with this contest for over 25 years, and each year is just a little different.”
Thumbprint cookies are made by pressing your thumb into the cookie, creating a cavity to be filled with jelly, jams or preserves.
“These aren’t the thumbprint cookies I grew up learning to make,” said contest judge and event sponsor Gretchen Masser, of Christina Masser Pantry. “I am amazed at how much variety there is in such a simple cookie.”
Each of the 51 cookie entries were evaluated by the judges based on appearance. Judges then were assigned to taste test a section of the cookies and determined their top three from the heat. The top 15 cookies from each table were then narrowed down to a final, winning five
The Winning
Thumbprint Cookie Recipe
Plum Pecan Thumbprints
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, separated
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
2 cups plum preserves
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar in bowl of a stand mixer. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients except pecans in a medium bowl. Gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture.
Form into tablespoon-sized balls. Roll each ball into beaten egg white, then nuts.
Place on a greased cookie sheet. Using finger, make an indentation into the center of each ball.
Bake for 10 minutes. Fill each cookie with preserves. Cool and serve.
Yields three dozen thumbprints.
Elizabeth Pokriva and
Shelly Pokriva