I started my Substack to write about preparing to compete in my first Orange County Fair culinary competition. That year, I won 1st place for my Coconut Cream Pie and 3rd place for my Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Tart. Last year, I won 1st place for my Peanut Butter Pie, Honorable Mention for my Spiced Plum Pie.
The baking last year got a little crazy. We had friends visiting the weekend of before they were due (they are always submitted first thing Monday morning), and I was making crusts and fillings and toppings in between hanging out with our guests. It was a little intense, I didn’t think I was going to win anything and was pretty surprised that I got any ribbons. (Obviously I got nothing for that very cracked Manchego Chess Pie (ugh)). And then the summer was so busy I never even posted about the fair pies (ugh, ugh).
Going into this year, I decided I would just do two pies. And this decision really paid off because I had family in town this past weekend and we ended up going out of town. Three pies would have been incredibly challenging!
The other thing I did differently this year was to enter a pie with a pressed crust instead of a traditional pie dough. I didn’t do this to have an easier crust to make, but that was a benefit.
2025 Submissions
This year, I decided to submit Passion Fruit Lime Pie with Graham Cracker Macadamia Nut Crust and Salted Honey Pie with an All Butter Crust.
I did a test run on the Passion Fruit Lime Pie a couple of weeks ago. I love this pie so much. My one concern with the graham cracker crust was that it was too crumbly. If you have ever made a graham cracker crust, you know it is hard to get it packed tightly. I am happy to report that I was able to pick up a slice of the test pie and eat it by hand without it falling apart. The sacrifices I make to ensure structural integrity of my pie.
Also, let me reiterate. You must add macadamia nuts to your graham crack crust. It is really, really, really good. Also, it really no extra work to drop some macadamia nuts into the food processor when you are whirling your graham crackers into crumbs.
I did a little piping and sprinkled some lime zest to finish off this pie.
Mistakes may have been made with the Salted Honey Pie. One mistake was definitely not doing a test run of this pie. The last time I made this was last Thanksgiving. Everyone loved it. My husband thinks it’s the best pie I’ve made. I took no pictures of the process or the finished pie. This pie is very delicious. The last time I made this I used a carrot honey. Since I couldn’t get my hands on that again, I used avocado honey, which I really like and has a distinct flavor. This is an easy custard filling and because it was pretty straightforward, I mixed it with a fork. The final result looks like the filling might have separated? I don’t know. I spent some time googling images of this pie (it’s pretty famous). TLDR; I don’t think it is supposed to look like this.
We are going to the fair on Wednesday, so I will report back on how I did!