- On Monday at 4 p.m. I was one of five judges sampling entries from six Redlands bakers who accepted the challenge to create the best dessert in town using Girl Scout cookies as an ingredient.This was a most excellent way to be on the clock.
- Girl Scout Cookie Throwdown - Activities and Events in Redlands CAGirl Scout Cookie Throwdown - A weekend activity and event directory listing in ... This dessert may be a cake, cupcake, pastry, desser...
- I sat next to Lorin Grow, the owner of Furry Face. She donated the first prize, which was a $200 donation to the Redlands Animal Shelter in the winner's name.She is from Hawaii and likes coconut just fine, which I cannot relate to.She sat next to Girl Scout Troop 470 leader Crystal Collier Colbert, and chef Lee Burton and former restaurant reviewer for the Redlands Daily Facts Tabetha Wittenmyer completed the judging lineup.About Redlands website owner Deborah G O'Hara introduced me as a baker, which tickled me. I am an avid baker and cook at home, but no kind of professional.I wasn't about to argue, though, and jeopardize the joy that lay in my immediate future.The front dining room of Martha Green's Eating Room was reserved for the event, and spectators were cheering on their favorite bakers.
- The first contestent was a la minute. Owner Ryan Beck made five varieties of ice cream sandwiches for each judge.Get a napkin because I'm going to put a photo below this sentence and it's going to make you drool.
Here we go. A la minute is first. Sandwiches: pic.twitter.com/hoXipwFUVu/hoXipwFUVu- Let me give you a tour.That dark one is a Thin Mint sandwich with mint chip ice cream. Going clockwise, the small one is a Peanut Butter Sandwich with chocolate ice cream filling -- one of my top three favorite things of the entire event. The next is a lemonade cookie sandwich with candied Meyer lemon zest -- the second of my overall favorites of the day. Then there's a Caramel Delights sandwich rolled in coconut, which I confess I did not try. Andlast, a Shortbread cookie with fig gelato.
We filled out our score sheets, assigning up to 20 points for several categories, including appearance, taste, incorporation of cookie and texture. This more difficult than I expected.I just really wanted to go hide somewhere with my lemonade sandwich and make yummy sounds.Angels' Wing came out next and gave us these gorgeous slices of Caramel Delights (or Samoas) cheesecake. This baker works out of the Fox Events Center, and she makes a mean cheesecake. You can see I was scooping under the layer of coconut for my bite.She made the crust out of Shortbread cookies. Now I have this motto: All cheesecakes crusts should be made out of Girl Scout Shortbread cookies. 
Just realized this cheesecake by angels wings didn't get tweeted pic.twitter.com/GpMinN2sJv/GpMinN2sJv- Next up was Brewcakes. Owner CJ Sillers who co-owns the bakery with his sister Sarah Sillers, is all over town. I most recently saw him at Chocolate Fantasy, but I've seen him working booths at all the other events too: the food truck festival, Oktoberfest, the Optimist Car Show and even Primavera in the Gardens at the University of California, Riverside.He brought a peanut butter chocolate parfait, inspired by my favorite kind of Girl Scout cookie, the Peanut Butter Patty, regionally known as the Tagalong.
Brewcakes used my favorite cookie-- the peanut butter patty! Delicious! pic.twitter.com/6ynw25fHqK/6ynw25fHqK- His chef Natalie Mesa used an India Pale Ale shortbread cookie she made from scratch."We wanted to make it more Girl Scout Cookie inspired, instead of using it," CJ said in a phone interview after the contest.
Then there are layers of peanut butter mousse, dark and milk chocolate ganache with a little bit of frangelico. There was a Peanut Butter Patty stuck in the top.This completes the trifecta of Toni Momberger favorites from the event.I brought the leftovers of everything home to my daughter and husband and they agreed it was outstanding. 
Yeah this is the best day if my life. pic.twitter.com/WA3r1vwz2c/WA3r1vwz2c- I gave Lorin my phone and she took this picture of me glowing with happiness eating my peanut butter parfait.The next entry was from Cakewalk. It was a giant caramel apple with mint frosting, rolled in Thin Mints. We each got a slice.
Cakewalk made thin mint caramel apples. pic.twitter.com/1kWspkgruR/1kWspkgruR- You can't go wrong with Thin Mints, and I love fresh fruit even more than I love chocolate and bacon, which is a ridiculous lot. At this point I was getting a little bit full.Cakewalk owner Erik Martinez announced he was kicking in another $100 to the Animal Shelter. I heard next year there will be a secondary competition for donations. Right on.Next up our hostess Martha Green brought her double entry, a Caramel Delight cheesecake and a shortbread, coconut and pineapple igloo. Alas, these desserts were a coconutfest.I took a bite of each and then went after the berries on the igloo.Also I stole Lorin's.
Doughlectables has two entries. Lots of coconut. Sigh. pic.twitter.com/B41t4FAyWq/B41t4FAyWq- The final entry was a Thin Mint cake by Heather Philipp Paul of Sugarbird Desserts. I had been looking forward to this, as it was described in detail in a story about her cinnamon rolls that I had edited two hours before the Throwdown.Look at this piece of art:
Last entry, Sugarbird's thin mint cake. I am so full. pic.twitter.com/gr6SEwwyzf/gr6SEwwyzf- At this point I was full to bursting, so I took only a small bite and declared the rest of it a present to my reporter, Kristina Hernandez, who was licking her screen after I Tweeted this pic.
@tonimomberger OH MY GOD! PLEASE BRING ME A SLICE!!!- We judges had a conference and quickly learned that the Brewcakes peanut butter parfait was the most common favorite.Congratulations to all the competitors, and to me, for scoring such a sweet gig.
- This shows two Redlands Police officers representing the animal shelter, Lorin from Furry Face, and winner CJ Sillers, accepting the check for the shelter.All recipes will be available on the About Redlands website.
As seen on
redlandsdailyfacts.com
Girl Scout Cookie Dessert Throwdown a sweet gig
'About Redlands' sponsors a competition among Redlands bakers, invites Redlands Daily Facts editor Toni Momberger to be a judge
Embed
Show Templates
