Desserts often take the cake — and Best of Show — at the Suburban Journals Holiday Recipe Contest, but this year's grand-prize winner was from the first course, not the last.

In the first category from which they sampled, the judges tried the Almond Cheese Pinecone appetizer and gave it high marks. Nothing surpassed the dish, making it the winner of its category and the entire contest.

The spread, prepared by Chris Simons of the Kingshighway Hills neighborhood in South St. Louis, resembles a pinecone accented with almonds.

Judge Jeannie Eisenberg, who oversees the Schnucks Cooks Cooking Schools, said she had seen the dish done before, "but I loved the presentation."

As pretty as it was, the flavor also received high marks from Eisenberg and judges Nathaniel Bonner and Lucy Schnuck, both chefs at the Schnucks Cooks Cooking School at the Schnucks Des Peres — where the contest was judged.

"It was just well done," Eisenberg said.

Simons resurrected a recipe from the 1970s, but she added blue cheese and dill. She used blue cheese in a casing, rather than crumbled blue cheese.

"You can't cheat your ingredients," she said.

A recipe for Fall Pumpkin Bread With Spiced Cherry Sauce won the Bread Bites category. Michael W. Rue, of Valley Park, conceived of the recipe and has been making it for his family for five years. Rue won the category as a first-time contestant.

Bonner called the topping and presentation of the dish "fun," with cherries as a "garnish that's not frivolous."

"As far as seasonality goes, it wins a ton of points," he said.

Cherie Wegener, of Festus, took first in the Merry Makeovers category with her Tuscan Turkey Soup. The dish uses pumpkin to give the soup the right consistency but does not retain the pumpkin flavor. Schnuck compared the dish to a white chili.

In the Dessert Delights category, Jane Mark's White Chocolate Mousse Torte edged out a carrot cake recipe submitted by Lisa Belue. The judges complimented both dishes.

Mark, of Florissant, prepares her dish, which includes pirouette cookies, honey, cream cheese and grated chocolate, without baking.

"I do this on Christmas Eve when my extended family gets together," she said. "It's a nice alternative to chocolate and holiday cookies."