Branson's Great American Pie Show Part Two

The saga continues...

Four pie finalists out of the twelve, with the highest scores, were announced on stage and these people would be baking their pies on the second day.

The top four finalists were:
-The Dreamy Creamy Peanut Butter Pie
-Sour Cream Peach Pecan Pie
-Vermont Maple Oatmeal Pie
-Mixed Nut 'n' Fig Pie

The winner of the pie bake-off would receive $2,500! That's a lot of money!

The finalists baked their pies early Saturday afternoon, and as they garnished and sliced them, they called all of the judges on stage. I was the first judge to be announced. Thankfully I made it across the stage without tripping in my yellow high heels.





The judges consisted of a lot of newscasters, Taste of Home people, a chef, me, and AL ROKER!



Here we are walking by the pies, judging on presentation of pie as a whole.
I took my job very seriously.


I really did! I tasted and thought about each pie, because I wanted to make the right decision. The eleven judges (including Al Roker!) sat at one small table and ate pie together.



My favorite pies were the the Vermont Maple Oatmeal Pie and the Sour Cream Peach Pecan Pie, but all of them were incredible.

After judging, my job was finished for the day. Eric and I couldn't wait until they announced the winners a couple of hours later, because we had to leave to attend a wedding. I thought I knew what would win though, and I was right.


The Sour Cream Peach Pecan Pie won.

Well deserved! Congrats to Sherrell Dikes, Holiday Island, Arkansas! Here's a picture of her getting her pie ready to be judged.


I'm so glad I had the opportunity to judge this pie bake-off! I had a lot of fun and I'd do it again in an instant.

Now I'm itching to get in the kitchen and bake some pie creations of my own!