Third Times the Charm at #CookieTakedown

This is what my cousin said to me a couple times on our way to the 2014 Sunday edition of the Brooklyn Cookie Takedown I was not wholly optimistic. For me, baking is somewhat therapeutic. I couldn't imagine baking full-time as some of the love would be chipped away. Whereas writing is a passion, and something I consider work, baking is a hobby. And like any hobby why the heck not make over 200 cookies for people to consume and judge at the annual Cookie Takedown? Matt Timms organizes the slew of Takedowns that goes on, and not just in Brooklyn. The cookie version is the only one I've dared to enter because of my love for baking.

I found I was pretty uninspired for cookies. Wanting to do something different, and without chocolate, like in previous years. 2012 was maple cookie with a candied almond. 2013 brought a toasty coco-lime shortbread. This year...I was blank for a bit.

In the end I knew I wanted to try shortbread and perfect what I did last year in a way. Shortbread is a good try for several reasons. One of which is that it is so full of butter that it freezes well and is easy to roll so moisture and texture can retain if you make dough ahead of time.

But what to add to said shortbread? Who the heck knows? Time flew. Thanksgiving came and went. And I figured "The hell?!" I'll do shortbread dipped in chocolate with homemade caramel swirled on top. Perhaps there'll be a slew of chocolate items like the year prior. Perhaps there'd be a lot of caramel or bourbon items as well. I dunno. All I knew was that even though I was going through some personal issues and was not wholly invested that I'd make the best damn cookie I could.

Some things I learned in re-trying my hand at shortbread.

1. Use the BEST butter you can. And that meant Kerrygold Unsalted. Being part of the Kerrygold Food Blogger Network I knew I could utilize some coupons and found the texture and quality to be enhanced than with that of butter available in my local stores.

2. Confectioners over Granulated. Sugar matters when it comes to shortbread. Shortbread needs to be smooth and crisp, but buttery and not too sweet. Which is why it's important to have a good balance in that taste when you're adding items onto it. Don't just add stuff to shortbread! It has to work on all levels. So confectioners tones down the sweetness to not overpower while also being so fine that it works in the dough itself to get that crispness you want.

3. Watch. Your. Shortbread. I moved into a new place and so have a much more powerful oven. Which means I had to nurse and guard my shortbread until it turned a slight toasty on the bottom edges. Once that happens and the top is somewhat firm take it out and slip onto your wracks to cool and then seal up tight.

So I made all the cookies on Friday. And then it was time to melt the chocolate (use a pan!) and dip said cookies into chocolate. What did I find though after 2 hours of waiting for chocolate to set in my hot a** apartment? That I need to set these things in the fridge because my apartment was not having it. This meant the 200+ cookies I had spread throughout my small NYC apartment in Queens needed to go into my fridge in shifts over the course of another 2 hours so I could stack them up.

Sunday morning, right before heading out to Brooklyn, I made caramel complete with more butter, (light) brown sugar, heavy cream, and kosher salt. After making the caramel I put it into a squeeze bottle and wrapped that up in foil to retain the heat in the hopes it was not too cold out (since my apartment was Hades) to freeze the caramel and rushed off to the Takedown.

Well, after 3 years of doing this I was having fun. Eating the other participants' cookies. Friend and Takedown Queen (Ice Cream Champene) Daisy Bow was my table buddy and had my fave cookie of the day her Darth Tater potato chip shortbread with chocolate drizzle. Sooo good.

The judges tasted. One of them co-owner of Baked Renato Poliafito and a previous Takedown judge from Schnack. So, at the end of the competition you get up on stage, introduce yourself and your cookie and wait to hear the verdict. The judges choice came first and they announced the two Honorary mentions. Then came third place.

At this point one is hopeful to hear their name but not expecting it and by the time the second place was called I was waiting to hear whom I'd be congratulating for the first place prize while sweating under the Bell House lights on stage and smiling due to a sugar high and since you're being watched by many, many people.

And then, someone, Renato of Baked, calls #19 Chocolate dipped & caramel tipped shortbread and your mouth drops open and you stagger back into your friends Daisy and Emily in shock at having your name called. Then you, or I, walk slowly to gain your prizes and smile really big and goofily and when the mic is placed in front of you say "I've been in this competition three times and this is the first time I won. Yay!" And then you get a bunch of congratulations from many people with genuine smiles and must figure out how to carry a Kitchenaid mixer home from Brooklyn to Queens with your cousin.

Afterwards you eat Thai food for dinner to try and cancel out the sugar. :-)

So yay! Bridesmaid turned bride at the latest Brooklyn Cookie Takedown after a rough couple weeks and worrying about what I was making knowing I made something people enjoyed--even having Matt Timms dad Pete strike up convo about how much he liked my shortbread and the best he's had was by his wife who is English and they, you know, invented shortbread--can be enough. I really do simply like to feed people and have them enjoy it. But winning a Kitchenaid mixer and Baked cookbook is pretty damn awesome too.

Happy Baking peeps!

Ice Cream Takedown 2013

Sunday was the perfect day to be eating ice cream. Maybe not so much to take it to Gowanus and serve people though. But what can you do? The annual Takedowns hosted by Matt Timms went down, and it was a grand. Once again Matt organized a lovely event sponsored by PAMA, Il Laboratorio del Gelato, Phin and Phebes, Mikey Likes It, and Enterprise. And as it often is the event was at the Brooklyn gem, The Bell House.

Free cocktails (thanks to PAMA) of PAMA cocktails flowed for the first hour. And even after tasting a bunch of delicious ice cream from participants there was still some to be tasted from Mikey Likes It. Good times.

It is hot and humid on the east coast. Has been for a few weeks and needless to say people can get antsy. But there was dry ice to keep the ice cream chilled and lines to streamline things and people ready to eat and judge and eat some more. Even Tyra Banks, yes ANTM's Tyra Banks, made an appearance and ate and left and maybe she even voted. Who knows? I didn't want to be that person sneaking a picture of her as she tried to enjoy the ice cream, but even Matt Timms was all "Holy crap! A supermodel came to one of the Takedowns."

But yeah, ice cream. And lots of it! Twenty entrants overall and less people in the space because of the heat and precious goods made for a not too packed time with room to roam and slurp and get on lines for more creamy goodness of the frozen variety. There were a lot of great flavors and unique ones at that.

My Standouts

A couple adorable kids and their aunt (Team JujuBeans) presented Coco Cado, a creamy avocado ice cream with toasted coconut that was  a perfect merging of flavors. Each relied on the other and it was in my top 5.

Other faves were cannoli ice cream with a cannoli shell and a kind of icy cream with chocolate bits inside made by Kimberly Stein. The shell really made this one. Kimberly said she spent 22 hours making them and they were perfect.

Then there was Daisy's backwoods blueberry sherbet with buttermilk and moonshine that was quite refreshing after having so much cream based items. And she won not only a judge prize but an audience prize as well. Her's definitely stood out among the crowd.

An apple pie ice cream with sugared apples and crumble made by Angela made me think what she made should be mass produced and available to the world. It really had all the elements of apple pie in ice cream form. Something only Angela could produce.

Other standouts included the 3 PBJ which was peanut butter ice cream with balsamic jam glaze and brown buttered croutons. Flavors in all aspects and the crunch! Fantastic.

Add in some butterscotch (which took the top judge prize) and a lemon meringue pie ice cream by Alice (which took the top audience prize) and you have the contrast of cream flavors filling you up to lighter essences engaging your palate.

There were some entrants that may be a bit icy or too melty to properly get the flavors or badly constructed due to the heat but hey that's what experimentation is all about. Previous Takedown winner Adrian was one of the few to have booze and bacon in his while Steve, a Takedown winner from two years prior, also had alcohol and a great sandwich construction with his cakey sandwich and boozy Irish car bomb ice cream sandwich. There was "A Hot Friend Named Ginger" which combined the overall flavor of ginger with some heat that kicks in soon after it hits your tongue. There was a s'mores ice cream with a marshmallow base and then you also had some Mexican Hot Chocolate (won 3rd place by the judges) in spicy or mild. The texture of the Mexican Hot Chocolate was on par with Haagen Dazs.

And like Matt always says you have to give a HUGE round of applause to those who enter these Takedowns. As someone who did the cookie one I know how much work goes into it and in finding the right consistency and texture for your ice cream as well as balancing flavors AND getting it to another borough in 90+ degree weather? Well hats off to you Takedowners for making it happen and showing us a great time and what "amateur" cooks can produce. Though I feel none of these entrants are amateurs in the least!

Congrats to ALL those who entered and Thanks so much for your delicious treats. I will be there again next year and will probably see some of you at a later Takedown. Off to nap now.

To see a full list of entrants check thetakedowns.com for Matt's follow-up post.