Evan and Andrew Clasey with their desserts. (Photos: Aaron Carpenter/Sentinel-Tribune)

PERRYSBURG – A little friendly competition never hurt anybody – especially when it’s all in the family.

Evan Clasey, 16, and his brother Andrew, 14, both active members of the Colorful Clovers 4-H Club,
practically swept the competition at this year’s Wood County Fair 4-H Bake Off.
Evan won best of show in the youth division for his mouth-watering apple-cranberry crumb pie. Not to be
outdone, Andrew walked away with best of show in the junior youth for fudge mint brownies.
But it was actually their sister Jennifer, now a freshman at Bowling Green State University, who stirred
the brothers’ competitive blood.
"Me, my brother and my sister really like to go up against each other," Evan admitted.
"It’s just really fun."
"I have six kids and they’re pretty competitive," their mom confirmed. "The boys realized
this was their last year to compete against their sister" before she aged out of 4-H altogether.
And since Jennifer was the best of show champion at last year’s Bake Off, Even and Andrew had a clear
goal.
Of course, the recipes they chose had something to do with their success.
Evan’s apple-cranberry crumb pie would be an ideal candidate for any family’s Thanksgiving dinner. Warmly
tangy versus mellow fruit flavors tussle with each other in a delightful way.
"The pie recipe was a montage," Evan explained.
"A couple different recipes thrown together.
"Our entire family uses the same crust recipe, and the crumb topping came from a strawberry pie
recipe, I believe. And the cranberries were thrown in there for a little bit more flavor and
color."
The triple-threat flavor combination is a brilliant concept. If apple pie is too bland for you, don’t
worry, this one’s not. And if cranberries strike you as just too tart, think again. Here, they create a
perfect balance. Finally, after tasting this butter-cinnamon crumb topping, it’s hard to picture
returning to a traditional lattice-top crust.
Evan hopes plenty of readers will try his pie recipe, which is says is "not really time
consuming," as pies go. "Maybe 40 minutes; the longest thing is chopping apples."
Andrew’s brownie recipe is one he got from his aunt, "a phenomenal baker."
"She gave that one to us a couple years ago and we just decided to try it out this summer, and it
turned out great," Evan said in praise of his brother’s entry, a happy blend of mint and fudge
flavors in just the right proportion.
The boys have been 4-H members for almost four years now and have taken a wide variety of projects in
that time, from photography to woodworking and gardening.
Interestingly, they haven’t enrolled in any cooking projects.
"We mostly learned cooking at home," Evan says. All members of the family are involved in
putting meals on the table, with the older siblings taking a hand with family favorites such as pasta
dishes and casseroles.
"Our brother who’s 4 and our sister, 6, we let them do the simpler jobs like stirring," he
explained.
Evan and Andrew also devote much time to sports, "which we really enjoy. We both play
baseball," Evan at Toledo Christian High School and Andrew with a private travel team.
"And we both ride horses."
The family boards their two horses, Princess and Rain, at a friend’s farm. The boys used to do horseback
riding through 4-H, "but now we just do it for recreation."

Chocolate mint brownies
½ cup butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 ½ cups sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Mint Frosting
¼ cup butter (softened)
2 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar
1 ½ to 3 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
green food coloring
Chocolate topping
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
Directions:
Preheat oven o 350 degrees and grease a 9in. square pan. For brownies, melt butter and chocolate in
microwave and stir until smooth.
In separate bowl, whisk sugar and eggs together. Stir in the chocolate and butter and add vanilla
extract. Stir in flour and salt. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake 25 min. and cool for 1 hour.
For mint frosting, cream butter and confectioner’s sugar. Add milk 1 tbsp. at a time until it’s smooth
and spreadable.
Beat in peppermint extract and tint to desired shade with green food coloring. Frost the brownies and
chill for 1 hour.
To make chocolate topping, melt chocolate chips and butter in microwave and stir until smooth. Pour the
chocolate over brownies and smooth with a knife. Refrigerate for 45 min. or until coating hardens.

Apple-cranberry crumb pie
Crust
1/3 c. butter shortening
1 c. flour (unsifted)
½ tsp. salt
2-3 tbsp. cold water
¥ Mix ingredients until moist, don’t over mix. Roll crust between wax paper sheets. Spread in bottom of
pie dish.
Pie filling
6 c. thinly sliced peeled apples
½ c. diced craisins
¾ c. sugar
2 tbsp. tapioca
½ tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
¥ Mix in large bowl and spread evenly in crust.
Crumb topping
½ c. oats
½ c. flour
½ c. brown sugar
1 dash of cinnamon
1/3 c. butter
¥ Mix ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over pie filling. Bake pie at 425 degrees for 40 min.
then cover with tinfoil and bake another 10 min.