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!
Congratulations to the winners! Your recipes dazzled our senses and knocked us of our feet. You’ll be receiving special badges to place on your site and declare you success! Let me just point out that the true winners are you and I because we now have 17 outstanding peanut butter recipes to try!
1st Place. Holycraptheseareamazing Cookies from Susan over at Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy.
2nd Place. Peanut Butter Cookies Loaded for Bear from Ferdzy over at Season Ontario Food.
3rd Place. Exotic Spiced Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies from Dee over at Choos & Chews.
All Entries:
– Hazel Butter Cookies with Cocoa Butter Truffle from Straight Into Bed Cakefree
– No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies from Coconut & Lime
– Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies from Down Home Dieting
– Peanut Butter Pistachio Choc. Chip Cookies from More than Words
– Peanut Butter Toffee Crunch Cookies from Foodaphilia
– Dark Chocolate & Peanut Dreams Cookies from Mon’s Appetit
– Peanut Butter Meltaways from Gluten A Go Go
– Peanut-Butterscotch Bites from CookiePie
– 3 Choices Peanut Butter Cookies from Addicted to Cooking
– Protein Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Office Fit
– Peanut Butter Bird’s Nest Cookies from me, The Peanut Butter Boy
– Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies from Life, Love and Food
– Old-Fashioned Chunky Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies from Boscoe the Cookie Doctor
Honorable Mention:
– Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies from Baking Blonde receives the “Blonde Award” for submitting brownies.
Thanks to all of the contestants for the wonderful entries! It’s time to stock up on peanut butter folks, the next Peanut Butter Exhibition is almost upon us…