The room smelled of wood fire, pie crust and cinnamon.

It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and I was there to taste 23 pies for the first ever Great Apple Pie Bake Off.

Both novice and professional bakers gathered to watch judges deliberate over their pies using six criteria:

Appearance

Aroma

Crust Texture

Crust Taste

Filling Texture

Filling Taste

The judges came from wildly different professions:

Kris Nelson, Co-Owner of Citizen Cider

Nick Cowles, Owner of Shelburne Orchards

Amanda Wildermuth, Pastry Chef for Honey Road

Anisa Potvin, Volunteer Coordinator for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf

Eric Seitz, Co-Owner and Farmer at Pitchfork Farms

Evan Weiss, Editor at the Free Press and writer of the words you're reading right now

But, before we get to the winners, let's get to why you're truly here: The appetizing pictures of beautiful pies.

The winners

The judges were set to decide Best in Show for separate professional and novice categories and an overall winner for Most Original.

Then we tasted 23 pies.

Nick Cowles, who hosts his own pie competition at Shelburne Orchards, warned that warmer pies always score better. I heeded his warning and adjusted my judgments accordingly.

We discussed the Most Original category as a group and our scores were tallied for the rest. Everyone waited and the winners were announced to cheers.

First place for the professionals went to Madeline Doggett of Great Harvest Bread Co. in Burlington. She baked a "Dutch apple pie with vanilla ice cream as a special ingredient, and a dash of love."

The novice winner was Roxanne Doyle from Wisconsin. Frank Pace, chef of The Great Northern, announced the award and said, "Step up your game, Vermont."

Doyle's pie featured both bacon and cheese. In Vermont, cheese in apple pie is a somewhat common occurrence. As Nick Cowles put it, "An apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze."

Apple pie with cheese is so important to Vermont that the legislature passed a law advising on how to eat it in 1999:

§ 512. STATE PIE

The state pie shall be apple pie.

Sec. 2. SERVING APPLE PIE

When serving apple pie in Vermont, a "good faith" effort shall be made to meet one or more of the following conditions:

(a) with a glass of cold milk,

(b) with a slice of cheddar cheese weighing a minimum of 1/2 ounce,

(c) with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The other awards

Julia Emery and Heather Klaff placed second and third in the novice category.

One novice, Johnny Sommers, was pushed into the professional category because the novice category was full. He was still able to place second. Meg Dawson and Sarah Auger of Philo Ridge Farm placed third.

Finally, Laura Schantz from Hen of the Wood won for Most Original pie. Her pie included apple cider vinegar, sweet pickled cranberries, and a brown butter streusel topping.

Watch:Shelburne Orchards has the secret to cider donuts

The evening

The competition was hosted by The Great Northern, which donated a portion of their sales to the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. The remaining slices were sold for $5 each with all proceeds going to the Food Shelf.

I can happily say that I enjoyed every pie, though my stomach, which still feels full almost two days later, may have something else to say. Here is a chart to show my enjoyment and overall satiety as the competition progressed.

As the winners were announced, the afternoon turned to night, the fireplace roared and the images of pies turned in my head.

Contact Evan Weiss at 660-1854 or eweiss@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @eaweiss.