Update: I completely forgot to include someone in the roundup, my good friend Naomi from Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried. I think it was because she informally submitted it and it just blew past me when it came to judging time, but it was completely my fault! I apologize! You’ve been added to the listing/collage and if anyone else is missing, let me know!
This was tough. Tougher than I thought. Kristina from The Chocolate Peanut Butter Gallery, e from Foodaphilia and I put on our chef hats and deliberated long and hard. We each voted on our favorites and compiled an overall top 3.
How did I choose? Well, the only recipe I actually made was Daphne’s delicious Peanut Butter Pistachio Chocolate Chip Cookies, so I couldn’t rely on my tongue in that sense. My method was to stare at the picture (if there was one) and imagine biting into the cookie while tasting each ingredient. In a way, I did follow my tongue: I voted for the recipes that made my tongue water the most (and I mean this literally, now I know how dogs feel). To be honest, it was torture. I meditated, separated myself from my surroundings and focused on those pictures until I could taste them, only to realize shortly after that there was no cookie stimulating my taste buds, only a strong imagination touched by a hint of crazy. Each time I got disappointed and a little more depressed. By the end, I had to brush my teeth for two reasons: 1. So the fictitious cookies wouldn’t taste good anymore and 2. To prevent me from raiding the kitchen and polishing off my peanut butter collection – speaking of which, last night I had a 10:00 craving and ate the remaining 1/4 of a jar of the apple pie peanut butter I made in that post. And not with a spoon, with a knife (that’s where the touch of crazy comes in).
In truth, we loved them all. Every recipe offered something different and unique. We received 17 entries in total – 15 of which were eligible to win since e and I participated for fun. We loved the choices offered by Marie-Lies, the peanutty presentation by Boscoe, Amanda’s and Gregg’s health factor, the fruit-sweetened vegan-ness of Rosie-Anne’s cookies, the multi-layered depth of Natalie’s and Naomi’s cookies, and the dark chocolate combinations of Dee’s and Monica’s cookies. I could go on and on about each recipe, but I think it’s about time we announce the winner of the First Peanut Butter Exhibition!
