#CookieTakedown 2012

Gray Sunday. Rain. Wind. Cookies. Bourbon. Brooklyn. Mid-December and the 2012 Cookie Takedown at The Bell House was officially on! In my corner, I had maple deliciousness. Shaking off the droplets my cousin Melissa and I walked into a literal smorgasbord of cookies and some serious competition. For some, or many, this wasn’t just for fun. This. Was. It.

Admittedly, I felt pretty confident about my original creation. I’d done a test batch and got thumbs up from discerning eaters in the form of my co-workers and got raves from members of my writing group. But, like anything when it comes to NYC, in smaller communities you feel like a master, but when facing the larger realm you realize how steep the competition is.

With my tin pans full of cookies I was beside women with nice tablecloths, neon colored gloves, cute zebra printed plates and a light-up sign! Luckily fellow foodie, food blogger, fashionista, and kickass mom Angela (Mind Over Batter, by the way she's also currently doing a cookbook giveaway!) had done one of the of the Takedowns before (she placed at the Ice Cream Takedown earlier this year) and brought a lovely tablecloth. She also brought some delicious Banana Bread Re-snicker-cycle-doodles. If you like banana bread you’ll love her cookie it has the great balance of bread and cookie and a perfect banana taste.

Matt Timms knows how to treat his takedowners. There were nice giveaways for all including Bulleit Bourbon, Bulleit Bourbon glasses, and a handy Anolon wooden spoon. There was free eggnog (strong stuff!) and the first round was on Matt. Winners got either a Cuisinart stand mixer and other goodies (audience choice prizes) or an electronic handmixer (judge’s choice) or baking pans (honorable mentions). Oh yeah, there were cookies galore!

Unfortunately I didn’t get to partake in as many cookies as I would have liked since I was so busy serving the masses. One of the nicest compliments was seeing people nod after taking a bite of my cookie knowing that it hit a soft spot. One attendee, who was friends with the ladies giving out Pistachio Chip Chip cookies said my cookie was the best of all! One of the ladies manning their table came over to me and said “My friend said your cookie was the best one here. And he’s my friend!” I was aghast and flattered and psyched up!

The Cookie Takedown is a major cookie bonanza. There was an abundance of salty sweets from the salted peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (one of my faves for the perfection of something simple), salted chocolate chocolate chip cookies, one of the winners of the audience prize was a sea salted chocolate chip cookie. There was a Frankencookie (peanut butter cookie atop a brownie atop a chocolate chip cookie). There were bacon cookies, Drunken Chocolate Pig (chocolate, maple, sea salt, bacon) and a cookie with maple drizzle. A Miso Awesome cookie, yes miso in cookie along with chocolate. There was the Fluffer Nutjob (which also placed) and a cookie that was smothered in fluff (homemade mallomars) hiding the bit of cookie underneath. There was chewy gingerbread and thyme toppings and potato chips with chocolate chips (pistachio chip chip) and pistachio cookies with pomegranate buttercream and...so. many. cookies!

What was my cookie you ask? I made a maple almond praline cookie. As a fan of Vermont, and especially Vermont maple, I saw that Trader Joe’s had maple sugar! I purchased some and when I found out I was no longer on the waiting list for the Cookie Takedown but an official entrant I went to Trader Joe’s and bought a crapload more in addition to maple syrup and stocked up on maple extract.

This is a chewy cookie and the maple is there but not too intense. Being that maple itself is a subtle flavor I don’t think you can overdo it, however, you definitely need a balance of maple and non-maple ingredients. I rolled the almond in grade A dark amber maple syrup and then in light brown sugar to make a sort of praline and put that in the middle of the cookie so it’d crust up while baking. Along with the chew you get a nice crunch. I got many compliments from those outside of the competition as well since I had leftovers.

Something to also note...you have to make a few hundred of these. I made close to 300 over the course of two nights. And (thanks for the tip, Angela!) made dough for five straight days and refrigerated it so I could bake over two nights rather than try and balance making dough and baking. Luckily the dough I made handled well being refrigerated for several days making baking go smoothly. I made 150+ on Friday night and 120+ on Saturday night. With maple in baked goods the flavor has to settle. You will not taste maple right out of the oven, but after everything’s been sealed for a few hours and you open that sealed container anew BAM you are hit with it. And it is wonderful.

So after two hours of serving cookies, tasting cookies, drinking some strong eggnog, and chatting with attendees and contestants the judges deliberated and Matt counted ballots from audience votes. We all gathered on stage and introduced ourselves (and our confections) and waited to hear the results.

Admittedly, I felt a bit confident. I knew the cookie was good, but being up against 29 other cookies, well, you wonder how good.

Unfortunately again, friends, I did not win. The big winner was Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen who won both the judges top prize and the audience prize for her French macarons. Yes, maple got beat out by the French. But they were well done and I don’t know if I’d have the patience to make those bad boys, especially several hundred in my own little kitchen.

Do I wish I’d have won? Sure. But mostly I wish I’d gotten to taste more cookies! Seeing everyone set up and hearing them say them onstage I was disappointed I didn’t get to try more. Lucky audience members and judges. People worked hard on their cookies and the other takedowners were super nice and complimentary. It was good vibes all around on a rainy day and warm fuzzies. My cousin had a bunch of fun and again, Matt knows how to host an event and treat his people so he made it extra awesome.

I may do the Cookie Takedown again next year, may not. I didn’t feel too stressed about it do to good prep but who knows. Maybe next year I’ll just sit back, relax, and with eggnog in one hand and a plate of cookies in the other take in all the goods.

Sidenote: Because I was so busy distributing cookies to the public I didn’t get as many pics as I’d like but here are some great ones from Brooklyn Exposed (you can see Angela and I in one!). And SeriousEats has a nice slideshow of the event.

How to have a successful cookie (and bar) competition!

Happy New Year Reader(s)! Now that we've been through the worst of the snowfall this winter let's look on to happier times. Late last year I got to thinking... what with the worsening recession and the rise of unemployment I was wondering how, in times of financial constraints, one can have a fun and successful party where no one will think about the dire straits of our country? Something that has united me and those around me has always been the effect of good food, particularly yummy baked goods. So, it only made sense to have a cookie (and bar) competition to celebrate my birthday, the beginning of a new year, hopefully the end of the recession, and above all sugar-infused treats!

I have to tip my hat to Jason Lam, the man behind MeSoHungry, who hosts an annual cookie competition before the Christmas holiday. And hearing how successful his parties had been I thought "Hot damn it's solidified!" I'd have a cookie (and bar) competition and hope my friends would be kind enough to participate. The bars came into play when a friend of mine mentioned a preference for making them. Plus, I didn't want to be prejudice against bars because they're so damn delicious.

Once the plan was set I got to thinking how this could all work out...

Step 1) The Contestants! Luckily I have many baking inclined friends or those who are just into trying new things. Some are into cooking/baking to wow the masses, like my husband, while others were happy to do me a solid and get some accolades in the process.  If you're throwing a competition and don't have enough entries then there may be trouble afoot and you may have  lie and say Paula Deen is going to be there and give out heaping amounts of deep-fried goods to all who attend. I won't say I didn't politely urge some people into baking, especially if I knew they could bring it and bring it hard.  There were about a dozen or so contestants resulting in a might fine spread. And all were more than happy to partake.

Step 2) Location, Location: I've had my birthday party at Stone Creek Bar & Lounge for the past few years because the service is phenomenal and the back room is spacey. I reserve ahead of time and usually get the room on the date I request. With no time constraints, a private room and bar the party can go all night long! You should look into where you can have said competition ahead of time and hope it can hold all the aspiring bakers and empty bellies. Also try to negotiate pricing or learn of fees beforehand.

Step 3) Advertise! I made sure to contact people ahead of time and let them know this was a "COOKIE PARTY." Of course this doesn't stop people from looking at you with raised eyebrows wondering how they'll get "real food." I couldn't help but stare at some people as I emphasized the words "Baking party!" as they headed out to try and find protein and vegetables or whatever leaving perfectly good sugary goods behind.

If you're really nice have some finger foods available for consumption before everyone digs into the sugary pile. (I'd also recommend asking or strongly urging people who don't enter the competition to make donations to help pay for healthy spreads like crudite, chicken fingers, or cheese and crackers for people to nosh on before the competition begins or even to help cover costs for the room/space if there's a set fee.)

Step 4) Prizes! What good is a competition if you just get glory "in name"? Yes, we compete for the accolades but dang it if I weren't also in it for prizes. The Olympians of yester-year used to get a simple olive branch wreath. Now they get medals that they can show off and pimp themselves regularly for endorsements of various foods and athletic apparel. Prizes are the way to go so try to find some that will make your guests happy or at least smile. In my case I offered different tiers of movie passes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, which really made people excited about entering. Even those that didn't rank for the top prizes got a cute lil' button proclaiming their badassness in the kitchen. Or as my friend BLee says "official cookie aficionado, JBH approved." Heck yeah!

Step 5) Democracy! This is America dammit (the U. S. of A.) and as such the competition was a democracy. Just because it was my birthday party doesn't mean I was fit to judge. My husband entered for crying out loud how am I expected to be impartial? So I made ballots AND labels so people could be voted on appropriately. We wouldn't want any Indecision 2000 stuff going on at a cookie party as things could get dangerous with a few dozen people on a sugar high.

And those are my steps to having an awesome and democratic cookie/bar competition. Follow said steps, allow the masses to enjoy the spread, stand back and watch the good times roll, then repeat as necessary.

As you can see from the pictures the entries were vast and awfully tasty. There were vegan options and none, many bar entries, and things I'd never think would taste good in a cookie like cardamom. Who knew?

The winners of my inaugural 2010 competition were as follows and you can get the recipes for these tasty treats online by clicking on their respective links:

1st place: Key Lime Coconut Bars made by the lovely mistress behind Dessert Landscape!

2nd place: Orange Citrus Bars made by my hubby!

3rd place: Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies made by my co-worker KP!

Other entries included Amaretto Bars, Good ole Chocolate Chip Cookies, Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal "amazingness" Cookies, Vegan Cardamom Pistachio Cookies, Lemon Bars, Sugar Lemon Cookies, Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies, Banana Tart, Cookie Concoction (a colored sugar cookie with a spice-laden surprise), and so on and so forth.  Some were family recipes others were open to the public but all and I mean all were good.

Thanks again to everyone who participated and came out for a successful birthday celebration and competition! See you next year!