Peach Dessert Competition: Taking Home First Place but No Leftovers

The first-place winner:
Peach Glazed Cheesecake with Blueberries

Nothing brings out a crowd better than a dessert competition where everyone can sample the entries. So it was when the Sandhills Farmers Green Market set aside a Saturday as Peach Day and announced a competition for the best peach dessert.

I knew that I wanted to attend. On a hot August day nothing can beat tasting all the peach desserts prepared for a contest. However, I wanted to be more than a bystander -- I decided to prepare an entry.  Because peach is my favorite fruit and the contest was in the heart of N.C. peach-growing territory, I quickly signed up to enter.

Setting the cheesecake on
the table for judging

The contest rules specified that each dessert had to be made with N.C. peaches, and each entry required two cups of peaches. After checking the rules, I immediately thought of an old family peach pie (listed at the end of the recent post on N.C. Food blog of N.C. Folklife Institute). Although this recipe is a family favorite, I began having doubts that it would compete well for creativity or appearance. It tastes great but looks like any other peach pie brought to potlucks or reunions in the summer. After lots of thought, I settled on a cheesecake recipe that I modified by adding a layer of sliced peaches on top in a peach glaze – as well as substituting peach moonshine for some flavoring.

Fresh blueberries from
C.V. Pilson Farm can accentuate any dessert.

For the cheesecake, I wanted to use more than only peaches from the farmers market and stopped by the week before the contest was held. Of course, I bought peaches – they had just been picked by Better Be Ellerbe Peaches (Ellerbe, NC). In addition, I bought farm eggs from Riley’s Ranch (Carthage, NC) and blueberries from C.V. Pilson Farm (Cameron, NC). The judges (who included the mayor, the chef of a restaurant known for using local products, the chef of the farm to table program, a TV producer, and the news anchor of a local radio talk show) would select the winners on flavor, appearance, quality, and creativity, and these local ingredients should help to create a successful entry.

Riley's Ranch has the best farm eggs.

The recipe is a four-step process, so it’s not a simple preparation. Even the glaze took extra effort. My chief critic during preparation was my wife, who is tougher than the judges on the Food Channel. Even though I was confident the recipe would be successful, she encouraged me to make the glaze more than once – I did ... four times ... just to make sure that nothing would go wrong on the final effort.

On the morning of the competition, I brought a nice looking cheesecake. The peach glaze itself required the minimum two cups of peaches. In addition, two more cups of sliced peaches decorated the cake’s top around blueberries in the center: very peachy indeed.

Nancy Fiorillo, mayor of Pinehurst,
awards first-place prize of $75.00

At the appointed time, I gathered near the judges area and waited for the results to be announced. I was hoping to place at least third in the contest. When Melanie Riley of Riley’s Ranch announced the third and second place winners (a peaches and cream pie and peach crepes respectively), I was disappointed that my entry had not been selected. When “peach glazed cheesecake” was announced as the first-place winner, I was really surprised and delighted.

After the contest I went to get the platter and the remaining cheesecake, but there was none to take home. It had all been eaten. I guess I have to make another one soon.

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Want the recipe? (Remember that it's not simple.)

Peach Glazed Cheesecake with Blueberries

Crust

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

6 tablespoons melted butter

2 tablespoons flour

¼ cup raw sliced almonds, chopped

Combine ingredients and press evenly onto bottom and sides of buttered 9x3-inch spring form. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes. Then continue with cheesecake portion.

Cheesecake

3 eight-ounce cream cheese

¾ cup sugar

3 eggs 

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons peach moonshine

2 tablespoons vanilla

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

Beat cream cheese until soft. Add sugar, blending thoroughly. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Mix in lemon juice, moonshine, vanilla, and rind. Blend well. Put in spring form. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes or until cake is firm. Then continue with sour cream layer.

Sour Cream Layer

2 cups sour cream

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

While cake is baking, blend sour cream, sugar, and vanilla. When cheesecake comes out of over, spread sour cream mix over cake and return to over for 12 more minutes. Cool cheesecake until it is room temperature before adding peach glaze.

Peach Glaze

2 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches (approx. 4) 

½ cup water

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon peach moonshine

Place peaches and water in blender; cover and process until smooth. Pour pureed fruit into medium saucepan. Combine sugar and cornstarch, stirring well. Add sugar mixture to pureed peaches. Cook over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until mixture is thick and clear, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add butter and peach moonshine, stirring until smooth. Cool and set aside until room temperature.

Top Layer

2 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches (approx. 4) 

1/2 cup blueberries 

Arrange peeled, sliced fresh peaches as needed in attractive pattern on top of the cheesecake. Pour peach glaze on top. Add blueberries around side or in center. Chill several hours or overnight.

Final Note: If not served immediately, sliced peaches may start to brown. Use Sure-Jell Ever-Fresh to stop browning. Dissolve 2 teaspoons Ever-Fresh in 2 tablespoons water; toss with peaches; refrigerate and serve within 8 hours.

Banana Pudding Cheesecake: Search Leads to Mount Gilead, NC

The banana pudding cheesecake made the drive to Mount Gilead, NC worthwhile. Never before had I tasted cheesecake with the flavor of banana pudding. It was truly the finest cheesecake I have eaten (of course, my taste buds prefer Southern flavors) – and the cheesecake’s price of $3.95 was the best value I had purchased all month.

Mount Gilead (zip code 27306), a town incorporated in1898 and with a population now of fewer than 1,500 residents, caught my attention because it’s the home of The Ford Place, which bills itself as a restaurant, pub and event center. As I arrived in town, it was easy to find – on Main Street in the center of town and a prominent part of the Mount Gilead Downtown Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

I always have to look at the dessert options before giving my order to a server. Because banana pudding cheesecake was the purpose of the trip, making this decision was not difficult. The dessert had been featured in “100 Foods You Must Eat in 100 Counties” [of North Carolina] in Our State magazine, which had recommended The Ford Place as the one location to dine in Montgomery County (in the central part of the state).

The food at The Ford Place is exceptional, due to the culinary talents of Steve Flaugher, who trained in Chapel Hill under the highly regarded Bill Neal. Our State had also drawn my attention to the Carolina Slider Plate, the first item on the menu under “sandwiches and burgers.” I knew that I was in trouble when the plate arrived because it was overflowing with three sliders in freshly baked yeast rolls. In addition, the plate comes with a side (as do all sandwiches); my choice was sweet potato fries – yum! The first slider that I picked up was the one with house-made pimento cheese and a slice of summer tomato – if only I could have chosen a whole meal of it! Next was a yeast roll with pulled pork topped with cole slaw – excellent! Knowing that I had to save room for dessert, I only sampled the last slider (and took the rest home); it was a fried green tomato sitting on top of smoked bacon and lettuce (not a bad snack later that evening).

My wife, who ordered the fried chicken dinner that comes with two sides, kindly shared her sides: mashed potatoes and collards. The chicken was crispy, and the sides made our table look like a Sunday family-style dinner – too many choices. Even as good as the chicken was, my wife raved more about the homemade flavor and texture of the mashed potatoes, which evoked more memories than Proust’s madeleine.

As we waited for our food to arrive (which was only a brief time), our server Dinah proudly walked us around the establishment. The building, constructed in 1922 and operated until 1960s as a Ford dealership (thus its name), had been recently restored, opening in March 2009 as a restaurant. Dinah pointed out original windows and doors as well as a car lift (now used as a stage for entertainment) that had been used to bring vehicles into the showroom (now the dining room); original sales offices have even been converted into restrooms for restaurant customers. On the restaurant’s walls are several historical photos of automobiles from the 1920s in the showroom.

Before becoming a place to sell cars, the location had been a livery stable – adding to the historic importance of The Ford Place, where the food is reasonably priced. The bill for two full meals with two beverages and a dessert that was shared was less than $25. The banana pudding cheesecake, however, made the trip one that we must repeat. Next time we may consider other entree choices, such as shrimp and grits or rainbow trout. Of course, the banana pudding cheesecake will be ordered again.

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Update: The Ford Place is no longer open for business.