Coming down from my sugar high

I just recovered from a 40 dessert hangover from judging Desserts First with wordsmith Marty Rosen, writer of music, art and food for the Courier- Journal and the elegant Ann Evans, executive director of the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion.  We ate from 4:45p to 7p as Marty and Ann traded stories of a common dreaded childhood teacher and swapped restaurant recommendations.  The level of sophistication of the desserts we sampled was truly remarkable and all restaurants deserve to be applauded for putting on such a great show.

The creativity used to incorporate Girl Scout cookies was amazing. We tasted specialty desserts, drinks, pizzas, and appetizers including shrimp, crab cakes, and gumbo- all using Girl Scout cookies! But a few restaurants that really stood out.

Congratulations to the 2012 Desserts First winners (we didn’t have descriptions of what we were eating, so I apologize for any inconsistencies):

Judges Choice

• Golden Whisk award (best dessert)- Comfy Cow (see below)
• Golden Grater award (best appetizer)- The Blue Italian Grille (with a sweet and savory shortbread crab cake)
• Best Pizza- Coals Artisan Pizza (cinnamon dessert pizza, chewy and delicious)
• Best Drink- Consumers Choice Coffee (with a hot coffee infusing Samoa girl scout cookies)

Peoples Choice

• Best Dessert- Comfy Cow
• Best Appetizer- Jefferson Community College Culinary School (with a spicy shortbread sausage gumbo)
• Best Pizza- BoomBozz (Tag Along, chocolate peanut butter cream topped with a chocolate shell)
• Best Drink- Centerplate (with the kahunas to serve the only alcoholic drink at a Girl Scout show)
• Best Table Décor- Sweet Surrender 

Comfy Cow stole the show with their Holy 'Samoa', Batman!

There was no doubt in my mind that Comfy Cow should have taken home the ultimate prize as top dessert.  They made an ambitious two desserts during the competition, which could be risky if one dessert isn’t up to par.  Comfy Cow’s Tim Koons-McGee was sweet enough to share his recipes (PDF downloads) for the delicious Holy Samoa, Batman made with Dulce de Leche De Salte ice cream and Samoas, plus the pistachio encrusted Gettin’ Comfy in Savannah made with Savannah Smiles.

I was honored to participate in such a great event and look forward to taking a few weeks off from the sweets. 🙂

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