Thursday, February 12, 2009

The People Have Spoken!

All eight of my blog readers (including me) voted on the dessert of choice for tomorrow's office contest. Unfortunately, it's a dead-even tie between the pear tart and strawberry shortbread. As project manager of the February 2009 Kick-Ass Office Dessert Contest, I will weigh in and choose. And the winner is: Pecan Shortbread Strawberry Bars!

Why? B
ecause they are delicious and easy. Jesse has insisted that he make them, so that he can honestly take credit for (what certainly will be) the best-tasting non-chocolate dessert. I will play sous-chef for the evening, working my fingers to the bone to finely chop the pecans and melt the butter to the Master Chef Jesse's stringent guidelines. Also, I will play behind-the-scenes-supervisor to keep Master Chef Jesse on task, as he tends to develop early-onset senility in the kitchen. Organizing iTunes and setting up the proper cooking soundtrack often takes precedence over mixing in all of the proper ingredients and setting the oven/stove at the correct temperature.

After spending most of the morning editing articles for APT's online publication, creating delicious things in the kitchen will be a welcome relief. In addition to the Pecan Shortbread Bars, I plan on whipping up a batch of homemade granola. I have found several recipes online (both from Mark Bittman as well as other sources) that are much healthier than the stuff we buy in the grocery store. Needless to say, the homemade stuff is also a lot cheaper.

I'm excited to experiment with flavors and find a recipe that is just perfect!

7 comments:

Nightrain said...

Dude, I totally missed the vote, although I already voted in the comment section for the Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake... Ya'll be making a real humdinger of a mistake by passing up the opportunity to show off your bourbon cooking.

Brasilliant said...

Well, the cheesecake was awesome, but public opinion did not swing in its favor. We did share the bourbon pumpkin cheesecake with two other couples, so I feel that it had appropriate time to shine.

Aron said...

If you like your granola, can you post the recipe? I've looked for some good ones, but haven't felt inspired yet.

Brasilliant said...

Certainly! I just finished our first batch and it is pretty darn tasty. I'll post my amended recipe sometime this weekend.

ve1cro said...

Not to brag, but I am sort of a big deal deal when it comes to tasting desserts. I'll be right over!

How did they turn out?

Brasilliant said...

Well, the cheesecake was awesome. The shortbread is in the oven, so we'll see how that turns out (but Master Chef Gelwicks never fails to make a good dessert). Maybe, I'll bring some to LA when I visit in March. YAY!

ve1cro said...

Yes, please!