Amanda from Madison, WI (2017 Week 2: Cookies)

Baker

Amanda

Location

Madison, WI

Baking Challenge

Iced Cookies

Give your cookies or gingerbread creation a name based on the flavors and decoration – and tell us about your recipe.

Maple Bacon Shortbread: So, here’s the deal…I hate royal icing. I think it’s flavorless and hard and does not add anything to a cookie aside from some pleasant aesthetics. I wanted my shortbread to taste GOOD. My shortbread is made with Wisconsin bacon and pure maple syrup and my "icing" is tempered bittersweet chocolate. They taste divine. The contrast of the sweet maple syrup and chocolate with the salty bacon is perfect. You can taste all the flavors and one is not overwhelmed by another.

Now that you survived this challenge, what words of wisdom do you have to share?

Presentation matters, but not as much as flavor. If I had to do something over again for this challenge I would have paid more attention to how I rolled the shortbread so that it was more uniform. Some pieces towards the end of the roll were smaller than the ones in the middle and that could have been avoided with a little more care.

Tell us about how you added a Wisconsin twist.

I used Wisconsin bacon from the Dane County Farmers Market!

How did you do?

Pleasantly satisfied.