The Cookie Takedown!

I was all set to start sharing my recipes from my Thanksgiving extravaganza today, but then I had to go and get distracted by a food competition.

I know I said that The Food Experiments National Championship was going to be my last competition (and yes, I know I have yet to post my recap of it), but when I heard that  The Cookie Takedown was happening in a few weeks at one of my favorite venues in the city and my favorite venue for a food throwdown, The Bell House, I couldn't resist entering my favorite cookie recipe.

A sneak peek of what I'm making for The Cookie Takedown

The Cookie Takedown is on Sunday, December 18, at 3 pm at The Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  $15 gets you 30 cookies and an hour of Bulleitt Bourbon eggnog (if you're into eggnog - I can't drink that stuff - but Bulleitt Bourbon is good stuff, and I don't drink just any brown spirits).  Vegetarians, this is one of the best food competitions for you to go to because you'll probably be able to eat most of the offerings (although I'm sure there will be a few bacon-studded cookies...).

Get your tickets now before it sells out - which it will, and soon, at that.  I will be wearing my sparkliest holiday finest and serving up some seriously delicious cookies, so I hope to see you there!

Italian Old Fashioned Doughnuts - a winner at the Brooklyn Booze Experiment!

Who knew that turning a classic cocktail comprised of just a few simple ingredients into a little doughnut would be such a hit?  Apparently it was - my Italian Old Fashioned Doughnuts won 1st place from the judges as well as the Theo Prize for embodying the spirit of the competition (no pun intended) at Sunday's Brooklyn Booze Experiment.

When I saw the theme, the first thing I thought of was transforming a classic cocktail into a dessert.  I'm not sure why that immediately popped into my head, but, for whatever reason, it did, and I was determined to do so.  

Italian Old Fashioned Doughnuts - Brooklyn Booze Experiment

Today I'm competing in the Brooklyn Booze Experiment at the Bell House and here's what I'm serving:

Blood orange ricotta doughnut dusted with bitters-scented sugar and filled with Rittenhouse Rye-infused dark chocolate ganache

The Old Fashioned is, as its name suggests, a seriously classic cocktail.  Minimal in its construction, a good Old Fashioned is comprised of rye whiskey, sugar, bitters, and a twist of orange peel and is then stirred along with a few chunks of ice.  There are no maraschino cherries here, so don't let anyone try and put one in your drink when you order one of these!  And bourbon is often used, but rye is the authentic spirit.  It's a simple drink, but, as with anything, if you use the best ingredients, you'll be rewarded with something delicious.

Because I love Old Fashioneds (and bourbon and whiskey), I decided to transform them into a dessert.  I had planned to make a filled shortbread cookie, but my think tank (aka my husband) came up with the idea of a filled doughnut, and here we are.

To give this treat an Italian slant, I made ricotta doughnuts and flavored them with blood orange zest.  Another Italian twist is the flavoring of the sugar coating the doughnuts.  Instead of using Angostura bitters, I went the route of Italian Amari (which encompasses a wide array of bitter, herb-based spirits ranging from Averna to Ramazzotti) and created a spice blend evocative of the flavors of those bitters, which was then mixed with the sugar used to dust the doughnuts.  Last, but most certainly not least, the doughnuts are filled with a dark chocolate ganache infused with rich, peppery Rittenhouse Rye.  In combination, all these elements taste just like a classic Old Fashioned cocktail, but in doughnut form.

So there you have it.  The Italian Old Fashioned Doughnut.  I hope you love it as much as I do!

Frosty's Flipped Fruitcake and The Brooklyn Holiday Experiment

Poor fruitcake. It's always the butt of jokes this time of year, and, unfortunately, for good reason: it's usually dense, booze-soaked but somehow dry in texture, and filled with frightening artificially colored candied fruits. But fruitcake doesn't have to be such a disaster. It can be good - even delicious - if it's approached with a fresh perspective.

Photo from Metromix NY

Last week, I reinvented fruitcake for The Brooklyn Holiday Experiment and with great results - the judges awarded it third place.  Redemption for fruitcake! 

Brooklyn Roots Experiment – I won!

Another Brooklyn Food Experiment, another win!

The theme of the most recent Brooklyn Food Experiment was Brooklyn Roots, so competitors made dishes that reflected Brooklyn’s culinary past and present by either making something representative of Brooklyn or using ingredients made or grown in Brooklyn. I did both – I made a version of the classic Brooklyn Blackout Cake and used ingredients made in Brooklyn.

This time I got 1st place from the judges, an impressive group comprised of Ed Levine (editor of Serious Eats), Frank Castronovo (Frankies 457 Spuntino), Melissa Clark (NY Times), and Sherri Eisenberg (author of the Food Lovers Guide To Brooklyn).  I find it amusing that my two wins have come from chocolate desserts - I think it's a pretty well-known fact that I am not a chocolate person, but apparently I know how to make great desserts with it.  Strange, indeed.

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