LaunchSquad’s 4th Annual Pie Bake-Off: The Results Are In!
Just before Thanksgiving our San Francisco and New York offices hosted the Fourth Annual LaunchSquad Thanksgiving Pie Bake-Off, and it was out most advanced competition to date by far.
Our San Francisco winner was the simply named pie with extraordinary taste, Zoe Vandeveer’s “Classic Pecan Pie.” (A pecan pie has now won two of the last three years.)
It was, however, anything but classic as we learned in an interview with the champion herself: “There was vodka in the crust!” said Vandeveer. Perhaps that gave it just the extra something needed to pull away from the crowd, totaling 7 votes.
“It was the perfect pie,” said Bake-Off Official Throckmorton who voted for the winner. “It was the right consistency and had a depth of flavor that was lacking in all the other pies.”
New York’s winning pie was baked by Miko Mercer, a divine Apple Pie with a Pecan Caramel topping (and candied ginger too!) The New York office’s inaugural pie contest featured four pies from five employees — not bad! Other entries were pumpkin, port-soaked pear and pumpkin-coconut.
San Francisco’s second place pie, with, 5 votes, was last year’s champion, Monica Miller, with her “Sweet Potato Pie with Meringue.” Melissa Biles followed closely in third place with 4 votes for her “Apple & Pumpkin Harvest Pie with Brittle Crumble Topping.”
Always a LaunchSquad Pie Bakeoff favorite, Melissa Biles’ entry this year was an entirely original recipe of her own invention.
Other notable entries included Brett Weiner’s super-human effort: “The Apple Shizzle with Walnut Streusel Topping,” accompanied by Spiced Persimmon Ice-cream” which drew from the crowd an exclamation of “Homeade ice-cream??!!” And our other LaunchSquad Partner entry, Jesse Odell’s Bobbi Brown cherry pie, complete with lattice topping.
This year was by far our strongest competition yet – huge kudos to all for participating, both in the baking and tasting capacity.
Next up? A New York vs. San Francisco head-to-head competition. Miko vs. Zoe, Iron Chef style!