We give you... TEAM CHICAGO!!!

General Bake-Off Update at the Bottom:

On Monday afternoon, Grizzled received TeamChicago's entry. Since TeamChicago surprisingly lives in... Chicago... they were able to deliver it in person. There was no worry about the overly zealous UPS men hurling their package across freight stations. There was no worry about the USPS sitting on it while taking their break. No, it was delivered by one of the actual team, Shannon.

TeamChicago consists of 3 people. The afore mentioned Shannon of see glass run, Officer Gleason of One Pretentious Bastard and last, but certainly not least... blogless Von. Lots of baking was done by Von so I wish I could link to her, but I can't. The rest of the baking was done by Shannon. What Officer Gleason did other than tie himself to the right people... well, that's his deal. Maybe he brought libations and words of encouragement to tired bakers.

TeamChicago was a lot of talk at the beginning of this bake-off (see above photo). Oh yeah, they had it in the bag. They had won even before it had started, blah, blah, blah. I expected to open up their entry and find nothing, but hot air! I was wrong. What Grizzled and I did find were GOODS BAKED WITH BUTTER!!! A butter hammer if you will, but a loving hammer at that.

We will start with Von's awesome contribution to this quest:

Pumpkin/Cranberry Bars with Browned Butter Frosting (did I mention butter?)
Malted Milk Ball Cookies
Tripple Chippers

The Pumpkin bars were visually the most alluring. They were a gorgeous pumpkin orange with maroon bits of cranberry. We tried those first. They were INCREDIBLY moist. They were quite good. Our only complaint was that the frosting was so sweet and strong in flavor that it tended to overwhelm the bar. Don't get me wrong, the frosting was quite tasty, we both just preferred the bar portion solo. It had a wonderful pumpkin/cranberry taste. I wonder if you could use less frosting... Still, it was an interesting contribution.

Next, the Malted Milk Ball cookies. Grizzled loves malted milk balls and loved these. I liked them as well. These were another chocolate cookie that was amazingly light. They were cakey and not overpowering with sweetness as malted milk balls can sometimes be. There was also a hint of malt in the cookie. I don't know if this was residual malt from the decorative malt ball put on top of it of if there were actual ground malt balls in the batter. They were good. They were mellow. They were a nice surprise.

Next, Von's Tripple Chippers. Grizzled and I both agreed that if you were on death row and needed one cookie to fill all cookie needs, this would probably be it. This was a chocolate chip cookie made with BUTTER and 3 kinds of chips (milk chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch). They were heavy duty. You would not need more than one. They were really, really rich and sweet. Again, if you want bang for your buck and need just one cookie to blow your skirt up, eat one of these and broccoli will suffice for the rest of the week.

All of Von's items were excellent.

Now, we move on to Shannon. Shannon's contribution was shortbread, not just any shortbread, but shortbread that came from a recipe from Scotland. A recipe that was handed down through generations. Kathleen, you were correct. Grizzled and I did burst into random samplings of Brigadoon while noshing.

Shannon's shortbread was divine. Shannon's shortbread was magical. Shannon's shortbread was RICH!!! And.. have I mentioned BUTTERY???

Shannon included 3 varieties: Plain, Cranberry/Oat and Mocha. I loved the plain. There is no need to gild the lily. The plain was just awesome. It was indeed "short" as it should be and not doughy. It was subtle and rich and wonderful. I loved it and am very appreciative that I got a chance to try it. Grizzled loved it as well, but preferred the Cranberry/Oatmeal. We both liked it, but felt it could have used more cranberries. The oats were an interesting addition to the flavor and texture. It did work and almost made the shortbread lighter which isn't a bad thing. Our least favorite was the Mocha. The only reason being we felt the chocolate chips were superfluous to an already awesome and rich shortbread. It was not bad, we just felt the chocolate was not needed. Again, why gild the lily.

Shannon also added her charming little paintings to the top of each entry. Guess which one we got and which ones went to UC and AG. :)

TeamChicago rocked!!! They had an awesome entry. Only time and number-crunching will tell where they land. In the meantime though, thank you for baking!

Bake-Off Update: The Western Judges now have 7 entries in hand. Number 7 came from none other than, Mendacious D!! For those of your keeping track, the arrival positions are as follows: Mandos, Claire, TeamChicago, Brando/TLB, Snag, Pinko Punko, Mendacious D.

Add Team Billy Pilgrim/Zelmo to the list. UPS just threw... I mean gently set it on my doorstep.

Comments

[billy pilgrim]

We would have delivered from Milwaukee, too, except for that Restraining Order.

[Von]

I blush. Thanks! I'm glad you liked them! (And look for a von-blog to link to, coming in 2008)

[The Uncanny Canadian]

I can't wait for the new arrivals. I was super sledged by the chocolate hammer of PP/GC last night, but am looking forward to Team Chicago, Snag, and MenD's goodness. Poor AG will not get to have any malted milk ball cookies, because those are going esophogeal the second I open the box ....

[blue girl]

Malted Milk Ball Cookies??!!

*I* totally bow to THAT!

I want some!

[Von]

BG - As soon as this cookie carnage is over, I'll be all nice again. I will provide you with the recipe! I would send you some now, but they are a favorite around here, and they're all gone....

[almostinfamous]

cookie carnage is right. i feel a distinct attraction towards the computer screen right now

[Jennifer]

BG- they're good. They're mellow, sweet and salty with a hint of malt. Mmmmmm.

aif, I wish I could share some with you. There's more than enough.

UC- Pinko's chocolate hammer was indeed a hammer, but was very sophisticated.

[The Uncanny Canadian]

Oh Team Chicago, you totally misspelled RULEZ. I'm really disappointed.

[Pinko Punko]

I would like so say that there are ways of getting male into a cookie without smashng up innocent, loving malt balls. I also accuse Team Chicago of laying claim to the Team of Destiny mantle and I shall throw of their weighty yoke and lift my head proudly, after slaking my thirst on the blood of their cookie corpses!!!!!!!

[Von]

Oh, but the malt balls I used were far from innocent and loving. I did the world a favor, crushing up those bad boys. And yeah, I enjoyed it.

[fish]

PP why do you assume the malt balls are male? Is that question answered within the question itself? Or not?

and not overpowering with sweetness as malted milk balls can sometimes be.

I have no idea what this sentence means. I can under stand each word individually, but strung together like this they lose all meaning.

[Jennifer]

fish- I cranked this out in the wee-hours without enough coffee and with too much residual sugar in my blood. Cut me some slack. At least these people baked... and at least I'm attempting to keep up with their effort and generosity. If you want to get all Miss Doberstein on me and whap my knuckles with your yardstick, go ahead, but it's not a sentence-structure-off.

[Kathleen]

/cry. my cookies were supposed to arrive yesterday.

CHUCKLES MUST HAVE INTERCEPTED MY SHIPMENT

[Jennifer]

Ok- Dr. fish emailed me and let me know his issue was not with my poor sentence structure, but was with my questioning malted milk balls being sweet. I had thought that, but then my blood sugar roller coaster took over and I lashed out... Dear Gawd! I'm only on entry #3!!! I need a broccoli intervention.

[Shannon Erin]

You tell him Jennifer!

[fish]

I will win by shipping a dozen bottles of insulin. Take that BAKERS!!!

[Jennifer]

fish- that's been your diabolical plan all along, hasn't it?!?!

[fish]

15 years of post secondary education ought to be good for something...

[The Uncanny Canadian]

Team Chicago arrived yesterday, and AG was already all over those, but I'll leave her to make her own judgements. From my end, this was an incredibly strong entry and proof that great things can happen in teamwork. The pumpkin bars were my favourite. I didn't have the problem that Jennifer did with too much sweetness, and found the sophisticated flavours all balanced nicely. The texture of the bar was just heavenly, and I am having a hard time letting AG have at the 2nd bar. The malted milk ball cookies were very interesting. I kind of expected them to have more malted ball crunchiness, but instead they were infused with malted ball flavour in a nice all-round cookie form. I do worry that Von may have exhibited cruelty in her treatment of the malted balls. Perhaps keeping some in halves on top of the cookie would be the right compromise. The triple chip was stellar. It remains crispy and buttery to this day, and the toffee nicely balances the chocolate to make the emphasis on the cookie and not the chip. Nobody to date has made a traditional chocolate chip cookie, so this was actually a pleasant variety. Shannon's shortbread is totally the real deal. To the point where AG was eyeing me suspiciously upon eating a 2nd piece. I haven't yet tried the cranberry variety, but the mocha was my favourite. I personally find plain shortbread a little too uniform, so anything that spices that up is very welcome. I'd also like to add that the presentation throughout was absolutely lovely, including the personalized Chanukah art. Great job Team Chicago. You guys rool!