The Brooklyn Chocolate Experiment: I Won!!!!!

Well, all my hard work paid off - I won 1st prize from both the judges and the audience at the Brooklyn Chocolate Experiment!  My winning entry was a Thai Chili-Lime Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Cone: 70% dark chocolate coconut milk ice cream infused with Kaffir lime leaves and Thai bird chilies served in a hand-rolled cocoa-ginger-Thai basil tuile cone and topped with crushed coconut milk peanuts.

photo credit: Always Hungry NY 

Vote for me in Bon Appetit's Blog Envy Bakeoff!

To celebrate the holidays, Bon Appetit magazine is holding a virtual holiday recipe bakeoff. They've invited food bloggers to submit their best holiday recipe and it's up to readers to decide which ones are the best in a variety of categories.

From Bon Appetit: Readers will vote for the tastiest-looking treats in each dessert category—cakes, cookies, pies, and more. The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen will bake the top scoring dessert in each category and select an overall winner. The winner will receive a trip for two to New York City and dinner with Bon Appétit Editor-in-Chief Barbara Fairchild and Restaurant Editor Andrew Knowlton.

I've entered my Pumpkin Tiramisu, which I've made the traditional Italian way with ladyfingers,  and pastry cream but revamped for Thanksgiving to include pumpkin, bourbon, and maple syrup.

Voting began on November 1 and ends on December 13, so please head on over to Bon Appetit's site and vote for me!

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Last night I was craving something warm and pumpkiny but there was nothing in my fridge to satisfy said craving. This meant that I was going to have to make something, but I didn't want to invest too much energy into it. (Remember that I am remarkably lazy when it comes to cooking for myself.) The solution: bread pudding.