All about pie

A love for baking runs in the family for Patty Hummel. She and her mom, Linda Pruin, travel to the state fair together each year for a special day together to enter baking contests and learn tips and tricks from other bakers.
     “We had a really good time,” Hummel said. “For me, it’s a hobby. I don’t bake any better than anybody else, but it’s a fun thing to do, and a chance to visit a lot of other people like me who like to make pies.”
     This year, Hummel won first place Rhubarb Custard Pie, and she won third place Two Crust Berry Pie with a blackberry pie in the Machine Shed Pie competition at the state fair.
     The rhubarb custard pie is an old recipe from her grandma, Doris Cuvelier:
Rhubarb Custard Pie
3 tablespoons flour
1 ½ cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups chopped rhubarb
2 unbaked 9-inch pie shells
     Sift together flour, salt and sugar. Add eggs, cream and vanilla. Beat to a smooth thin batter. Stir in rhubarb. Pour into shell and cover with top crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
 
Read more in the August 30 edition of the TRIBUNE.