finally, the contest winners

I have to apologize to all of my readers. It’s been a REALLY hectic few weeks, and I’ve been horrible about updating.

Nevertheless, the winners to the free sauce competition already know they won. The winners are:

Sydney Kania, of The Crepes or Wrath, with her variation of Jaay’s Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies, Rocky Road Cookies!

here is Sydney’s recipe (reprinted with permission):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
2. Beat together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg, then beat in the egg yolk. Beat in the vanilla.
3. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just moistened. Mix in the nuts, chips, and marshmallows by hand.
4. Roll into balls or drop by spoonfuls onto a greased and/or lined baking sheet, and press down on the cookies with your palm a bit to flatten (not too much!).
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges look golden brown. Remember that they need to cool on the baking sheet, so even if they don’t look quite set, it’s okay because they continue to cook after you remove them from the oven. Allow to finish cooling on a rack or on a different surface. Makes about 15-20 cookies.

And some photos (see the Crepes of Wrath for even more great looking shots!)

Sydney wins 2 jars of Javacue Sauce!

As a side contest, I also asked people on Twitter, Facebook and the BBQ Brethren to come up with barbecue-related haikus, with the prize of 1 jar of Javacue Sauce to win. Or, as someone put it, it’s poetry in the form of 5-7-5 syllables, and has to refer to smoking meat, so it’s not a haiku, it’s a hai-que! (sorry!) Also, keep in mind that the 5-7-5 form is a guideline, not an absolute for English haikus, or so I’m told.

It came down to 2 that I couldn’t pick between, so I named both of them winners. The first of them is from Clark Hodgson with the following:

In the pre-dawn chill
Lump crackles in the chimney
Silence, time with Him

The other is from Jim Groom, and goes:

Crusty bark sublime
Rub simple salt and pepper.
Lockhart at dinnertime.

If you know anything about Texas barbecue, Jim’s hai-que just says it simply. Both did a great job, and both will be receiving their Javacue Sauce!

Now that I’m a bit less busy, I’m going to be posting some more stuff. I’m redoing my sourdough starter, and I’m gearing up to try some new things on the big green egg.

Thanks to Sydney and other other entrants for the cookie recipe. I didn’t make them all, as I’m trying to NOT gain another 100 lbs this year, but they all sounded really great. And thanks to all that sent me hai-ques; it was fun to see how creative people could be.