‘I literally couldn’t believe it’: A sweet reward for Gravenstein Apple Fair pie contest winner

Victory was a long time coming for Susan Sheehan, but it made her win in the apple pie baking contest on Aug. 10 at the Gravenstein Apple Fair all that much sweeter.

Sheehan, 55, had entered the contest several times since moving to Sebastopol in 2000 but had never won, or even placed, so hearing her name called was a surreal experience.

“I literally couldn’t believe it. I wanted to cry but that’s not acceptable. I could hardly speak. I stopped hearing things,” Sheehan said. “I know it’s just a silly pie contest, but for me it was a lot of years of hard work.”

Sheehan’s pie was one of 14 entered in the adult category at this year’s Gravenstein Apple Fair. There were six entries in the youth division, which included entries from Sheehan’s grandchildren Jack Kiesel, 12, and his sister Frances, 6, who spent part of the summer visiting her from Juneau, Alaska. Jack won third place in the youth division.

“It is a family affair,” said Sheehan, whose daughters are also past pie contest competitors. Her daughter Olivia Sandor won the kids division a few times, and her other daughter Kayleigh Kiesel won in the adult division in 2008, the very first time she ever entered.

“When my daughter won that contest, she wasn’t really even a cook. (And now) she’s a fantastic cook, and all of it started with that bump of confidence and validation,” Sheehan said.

But it didn’t come so easy for Sheehan, who is an avid pie baker.

“You can tell I’m proud of myself. It’s been a lot of not winning,” she said. “But if you’re not winning, you’re learning.”

Sheehan has been studying and practicing the finer points of pie baking to achieve her Gravenstein grand champion goal. She cobbled together her winning recipe using a crust recipe from Cook’s Illustrated that she’s spent a couple of years perfecting. The salted caramel apple filling, made with Gravenstein apples, of course, is inspired by a recipe she found on the internet then tweaked to her liking.

An avid equestrian, Sheehan said she baked a lot of practice pies for her friends at Chocolate Horse Farm in Petaluma, where she rides, before she hit upon just the right recipe.

“I made it a few times for my friends at the barn who were like, ‘Yeah this is the winner.’ So I didn’t change a thing after that,” she said.

Even with all that practice, jitters on judgment day nearly sabotaged her efforts.

Sheehan said she was up at 5 a.m. the morning of the baking contest to make sure her pie was out of the oven before her grandkids came over to bake their entries. She put the salted caramel in the freezer to cool and forgot about it until she had put on the lattice and crimped the edges of her pie.

“I’m no dummy,” said Sheehan. “I made myself a couple of extra pie crusts the day before, so I got the second pie in the oven to win the contest.”

For her efforts, she won a brand-new, candy-apple red Le Creuset pie plate with scalloped edges and bragging rights. Sheehan says she’ll continue to tweak her recipe and technique.

She hopes to encourage her grandkids to carry on the family tradition, including her granddaughter, who Sheehan said was upset about not winning. At 6 years old, she may need to practice some patience, just like her grandma did before bringing home a prize.

“Next year I’m going to take her, because her day is coming.”

Susan’s Salted Caramel Apple Pie

Makes 8 servings

Susan Sheehan won the 2024 Gravenstein Apple Fair pie baking contest with this recipe. Her tips for achieving a great pie is to make sure the filling reaches 200 degrees inside to ensure it is done. She also says vodka is a key to flaky crust.

For the pie crust:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons butter (6 ounces), cut into small pieces

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup vodka

For the filling:

1 cup salted caramel sauce (see recipe below)

8 cups peeled, cored and sliced Gravenstein apples

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Egg wash (1 egg beaten and 1 tablespoon milk)

Coarse sugar sprinkles

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour with salt and sugar. Add butter and shortening and using a pastry blender, mix till crumbly. Add water and vodka and mix until the crust just sticks together. Split into two pieces, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for a few hours.

Just before baking, preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large mixing bowl toss apples with flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and vanilla and allow to sit.

Roll out one piece of pie dough and line an 8 or 9 inch pie plate with it. Spoon in apple mixture. Drizzle with salted caramel sauce. Roll out the top crust. Cut into strips for a lattice top, or just top with the whole crust and crimp the edges, using the tines of a fork to prick holes in the top to allow steam to escape. Brush crust with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Put in the oven on a baking sheet. Cook for 25 mins at 400 degrees. Cover the edges of the pie with a pie ring or aluminum foil to prevent them from getting too brown. Reduce heat to 375 and cook until pie filling reaches a temp of 200. About 40 or 50 minutes.

Salted Caramel Sauce

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

In a small saucepan, heat sugar, stirring constantly until it is an amber colored liquid. Stir in butter on tablespoon at a time. Slowly add cream. Bring to a boil and let bubble for 1 minute until temperature reaches 220 degrees. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. Let cool.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Graue at 707-521-5262 or jennifer.graue@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @JenInOz.