The Bitten Word

Thanksgiving 2016: Pie Challenge Results!

Bittens, it's pie time!

Hundreds of you signed up and completed the Thanksgiving 2016 Pie Challenge -- we have loved reading your reviews and seeing your photos!

For those of you catching up: A few weeks ago, we asked Bittens to sign up to bake a randomly assigned pie. We had scoured the November issues of food magazines and selected 7 pies from 7 magazines -- each with a bit of a twist on traditional Thanksgiving flavors. Readers had one week to bake and rate their pies and submit their results. 

We've tallied up the responses. Below, you can review the pies ranked worst to best by the Bitten Bakers themselves. There are some real surprises in the results -- and some pies we really want to try. 

To all of you bakers who participated, thank you! We hope you had a ton of fun and maybe got inspired or excited for Thanksgiving cooking. We've compiled some of your comments here Zagat-style, but we'd love for you to share more of your experience in the comments!

 

Let's get to it:

 

#7: Virginia Peanut: The “Disappointment”
From Martha Stewart Living

Photo credits, clockwise from top left: Melissa B., Kathy G., Marissa M., Joy B.

Bitten Bakers "loved the Pate Brisee” in this “fun twist on the traditional Pecan Pie.” But the final results are “VERY rich” and “VERY sweet.” Plus, it's “hard to find Lyle’s Golden Syrup.” One tip: “For heaven’s sake, don’t omit the cayenne. The pie needs it.” You may be happier if you "stick with your favorite pecan pie" instead.

Average Bitten Rating: 2.9 out of 5

Get the recipe 

On Grandfathers and Egg Custard Pies

Last week, my grandfather Tot passed away.

We wrote about Tot and his passion for Egg Custard Pies years ago here on the blog, so I wanted to share the news with you Bittens. I don't share the news of his passing in sadness; my grandfather lived a happy life, marked with laughter and bringing joy to hundreds of others. He loved his community deeply, and did wonderful acts of kindness, big and small, for those he came across in his life. 

I've never spoken about this here on The Bitten Word, but I have a somewhat complicated relationship with my family. Without going into all of it right now, I'll sum it up by saying that we speak very infrequently, and it's a source of great sadness for me. But my grandfather, especially in his final years, showed me great kindness, and was welcoming in ways that surprised me. I'll always remember him and be thankful to him for that.  

And in my memories, he loved to eat. He had strong opinions about where to buy the best country hams. He loved making mutton. He was the only Kentuckian I know who actually made burgoo at home. And he cranked out hundreds of these Egg Custard Pies during his life, giving them to friends and serving them to guests as a way to show his love for them. 

We've been thinking a lot about Tot, and Egg Custard Pie, over the last few days.  We plan to make a few and give them to friends. If you're in a pie making mood, we'd love for you to do the same. And if you keep the pie for yourself, as Tot often did, just think about something nice you'd like to do for someone this spring. Tot would love it. 

~ Clay 

The Chocolate Cake That Cures Everything

We're sharing this chocolate cake with you today not to cure something, but to celebrate something.

This week marks the beginning of the ninth (ninth!) year of The Bitten Word.

It's our blogiversary, y'all! 

We're celebrating eight full years of The Bitten Word in two ways this week, beginning with chocolate cake. Later in the week, we'll share some reflections on the past eight years. Last year's reflections are a doozy, and this year's are shaping up to be something you won't want to miss. 

But first: cake.

When we heard a historic snowfall was on its way a couple weeks ago, we rushed to the supermarket, not for bread and milk, but for cake ingredients. If we were going to be trapped inside, we were going to be trapped inside with a massive chocolate cake. 

This "Chocolate Cake That Cures Everything" was among the recipes we most wanted to make from Ruth Reichl's My Kitchen Year. She promised that it made a massive cake.

And she wasn't kidding. 

Holiday Cookie Challenge Day 3: Spiced Brown Butter Linzer Cookies

Bon Appétit (December 2015)

We did not take this photo of these beautiful Spiced Brown Butter Linzer Cookies.

This photo was taken by #BittenCookieChallenge participant Linda, who reported that the cookies are "time consuming but not difficult and the dough doesn't roll out easily. But this was a festive cookie to make, bakes evenly and overall tasted good (soft interior, slight crunchy exterior and right amount of spice)."

We bow down to Linda, because, well, here's the photo we took, which documents just how far we got in making these cookies:

Yep, that's our dough, all crumbly and impossible to roll out. We are actually somewhat embarrassed to be posting this photo, given that it was our third consecutive cookie fail in one day. But by this point in the baking endeavor, we knew it was time to call it quits (or consider divorce). 

Obviously we failed, but plenty of better-skilled Bitten Bakers did not. Here's what they had to say:

Holiday Cookie Challenge Day 2: Bourbon Bow Ties

Food Network Magazine (December 2015)

About the time things were falling apart with those Gingered Sugar Cookies, things were also taking a turn for the worse with our second cookie challenge entry: Bourbon Bow Ties.

We'd selected these cookies because they are 1.) adorable and 2.) fried, which we thought would make for an interesting cooking experience. 

Fried cookies? With bourbon?!  Why not! 

Here's why not.

Holiday Cookie Challenge Day 1: Gingered Sugar Cookies

Martha Stewart Living (December 2015)

It's 10 days 'til Christmas, and everything seems a little off-kilter this year.

Instead of St. Nick, we've got Krampus. Instead of a white Christmas, we've been sweating it out here in D.C. (It hit 71 degrees on Sunday!) 

Our Christmas tree fell down. Our Christmas cards got lost on their way from the printer. Zach has a head cold. 

Nothing is working as it should!

Including, by all accounts, all three of this year's Cookie Challenge recipes...

 

English Muffins

Food Network Magazine (October 2015)

We have completely fallen for "The Great British Baking Show," which has to be the most charming thing on television right now.

If you're unfamiliar, it's a BBC show that's rebroadcast on PBS here in the U.S. It's home cooks taking on weekly baking challenges, but it's perhaps the most pleasant, drama-free reality television we've ever encountered.

Don't expect anyone to throw a pie here: It's all incredibly civil and absolutely delightful. Each episode features 3 baking challenges, and someone -- or sometimes two people, depending on the whims of the judges -- goes home. 

The judges, whose names are Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood (yes, really), are keen but kind in their critiques. 

In episode 2 of this season, the contestants were asked to make English Muffins (and yes, they referred to them as "English Muffins," even though they're in England). Here's what the judges were looking for: beautifully browned tops, with browned bottoms and white around the edges. Soft texture, with a good crumb structure and a muffin that's baked all the way through. As Mary put it: "I love the feel when I touch them, the sort of squidge at the sides."  

We don't know much about squidge, but we were inspired. And then lo and behold, Food Network Magazine had a feature about making English Muffins at home. We dusted off our baking gloves and got to work.

Skillet Blueberry Cobbler

Garden & Gun (June/July 2015)

 

[UPDATE: We tried a different Skillet Blueberry Cobbler we liked much better: Read about it here!]

 

What is it about foods cooked in cast-iron skillets that are so darn appealing to us? 

"Cook it in a skillet" is as good advice as Put an Egg On It: It just makes everything better.

Or maybe that's just our Southern showing?

At any rate, Zach's mom was here a few days ago, and the three of us spent the weekend doing what we do best: eating and chatting and eating some more. We did a bit of cooking, too, including a meal that was topped off by this Skillet Blueberry Cobbler from Garden & Gun. 

Wrapping Up Cover-to-Cover Holiday Cookies: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

 

 

 

First, we hope you'll join us in congratulating all of our bakers who made the Cover-to-Cover Holiday Cookies Project such an amazing success. More than 500 bakers signed up to make 25 cookie recipes. That, friends, is a lot of cookies. 

You can explore all the cookies by clicking the photos above (or the links below), but before you do that, let's give a few Cover-to-Cover Holiday Cookies Project Awards. 

THE GOOD

All the bakers. Seriously -- we didn't give you a lot of time to complete this challenge, and hundreds of you rose to the occasion. Thank you so much for participating! We loved seeing how your cookies turned out. 

Bakers who bought special equipment. This is above and beyond. A number of bakers shared that they purchased cookie presses and other equipment in order to make their assigned recipes. That is some serious dedication.

A winning cookie? We'd love to name a sure-fire hit among this crop of cookies. There's a lot to love -- and many bakers loved their cookies, but there doesn't seem to be a resounding hit with all the bakers. Can you pick a winner? 

 

THE BAD AND THE UGLY

We made some mistakes! First, we sent the wrong Lebkuchen recipe to the bakers who were making that cookie.Then we realized late in the game that the cookie we assigned from Saveur -- Sarah Bernhardt Cookies -- was in fact the wrong cookie and not in their December issue. Instead, we should have assigned these Icelandic Chocolate Cornflake Cookies. Maybe they're the hit cookie we've all been waiting for....

The Worst Recipe: We're going with Food & Wine's Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies. The accidental omission of 3 cups of flour in the online recipe gave our bakes big batches of goo. But hey, mistakes happen (see above). And it turns out that if you make them with the flour, they're a hit. 

The Runner-Up Worst Cookie: We're going with Orange-Almond Florentines with Cardamom, as bakers unanimously complained about how oily the finished product turned out. 

Thanks again -- and please join us in congratulating the bakers by leaving a comment on their posts.  

Explore the cookies, and find something delicious to bake this holiday season. And if none of these strikes your fancy, please share your favorite cookie recipes in the comments below.

Happy Baking!

~ Zach and Clay

THE FULL COOKIE LIST:

Chewy Salted Oatmeal Cookies (Food & Wine)
Chocolate-Hazelnut Shortbread Squares (Martha Stewart Living) 

Cinnamon Almond Stars (Martha Stewart Living) 
Cocoa Snickerdoodles (Food Network Magazine)
Gingersnap Sandwich Cookies (Food & Wine)
Gluten-Free Chocolate-Almond Thumbprint Cookies (Food & Wine)
Lavender Shortbread with Fruits, Flowers and Herbs (Bon Appetit)
Lebkuchen (Food & Wine)
Lime Icebox Cookies (Food Network Magazine)
Matcha-White Chocolate Sugar Cookies (Bon Appetit)
Milk Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Sandies (Food & Wine)
Noel Balls (Food & Wine)
Oat-and-Pecan Caramel Sandwiches (Martha Stewart Living) 
Orange-Almond Florentines with Cardamom (Vegetarian Times)
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Tassies (Food Network Magazine)
Peppermint-Candy Sugar Cookies (Martha Stewart Living)
Pignoli Cookies (Food Network Magazine)
Pink Grapefruit Shortbread (Food Network Magazine)
Pistachio Spritz Pinwheels (Martha Stewart Living) 
Raspberry Rugelach (Food & Wine)
Raspberry-Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies (Vegetarian Times)
Red Velvet Crackle Cookies (Food Network Magazine) 
Sarah Bernhardt Cookies (Saveur)
Thai Peanut Butter Cookies (Vegetarian Times)
Triple Chocolate-Cherry Cookies (Vegetarian Times)

 

Cover-to-Cover Holiday Cookies: Day 5

Taylor Swift, Kristin Stewart and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown walk into a cookie shop...

Okay, we don't know what the punchline is. But here's the point: When we prompted readers to join us in this Cover-to-Cover Holiday Cookie Project, we challenged you to be creative. To tell us about your cookie in just a couple sentences, but feel free to have fun with it. What might you eat with this cookie, we wondered? If your cookie were a celebrity, who would it be?

Boy, did you guys deliver!  We have loved all your creative and pithy writeups about the cookies you made. 

Today -- the fifth and final day of our weeklong Cover-to-Cover Holiday Cookie Project -- is no exception. The writeups for these five cookies include the aforementioned comparisons to Taylor, Kristin and Sen. Brown, along with cookies likened to "a Bollywood movie," "a French diva," and "a Nordic noir thriller."

We could not possibly have said it any better ourselves.

 

 

Raspberry-Hazelnut Thumbprint Cookies
Vegetarian Times

(This photo submitted by Karen & Liz)

 

Red Velvet Crackle Cookies
Food Network Magazine

(This photo submitted by Kristine)

 

Sarah Bernhardt Cookies
Saveur

(This photo submitted by Valerie)

 

Thai Peanut Butter Cookies
Vegetarian Times

(This photo submitted by John Heath)

 

Triple Chocolate-Cherry Cookies
Vegetarian Times

(This photo submitted by Stephanie W.)