Four home cooks compete to see who has the greatest burger recipe in the country. The winning cook takes home $25,000 and gets their recipe put on the menu at TGI Friday's nationwide.
Four home cooks compete to see who has the greatest dessert recipe in the country. The winning cook takes home $25,000 and gets their recipe put on the menu at TGI Friday's nationwide.
Four amateur bakers compete to see who has the greatest cake recipe in the country. The winning baker takes home $25,000 and gets their recipe put on the menu at TGI Friday's nationwide.
“Cookie nerd” is how Mindy Segal describes herself—and it’s a serious understatement. The Chicago-based pastry chef and restaurateur once spent years developing the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe (it’s “the measure of a great pastry chef,” she’s said), and in 2015 she published a cookbook entirely devoted to cookies, from peanut butter peanut brittle and malted-milk spritz to peaches-and-cream thumbprints and everything in between. The title Cookie Love, of course.Cookies are only Segal’s beginning. At her restaurant, Hot Chocolate, classical desserts get clever twists: There’s cucumber-yogurt sherbet with the blackberry-blueberry tart, her icebox brownie comes with chamomile cream and fernet hot fudge, and she serves nine (!) variations on the titular wintertime beverage. It’s that combination of creativity and attention to technique—honed early on at Charlie Trotter’s and Marché—that won her an Outstanding Pastry Chef award from the James Beard Foundation. Recently, Segal has turned her talent toward the world of weed, partnering with Cresco Labs to develop Mindy’s Edibles, an entire line of cannabis-infused treats, like brittles, granola bars, bites, and hot chocolate.For her first Panna recipe, however, Segal went for an all-star—the cinnamon-sugared Snickerdoodle, a hit in the 19th century and just as popular today, with kids and adults alike. Mindy's Restaurant:Hot Chocolate (Chicago, IL)Mindy's Book:Cookie Love (2017)
Food Network searched for the Ultimate Cookie Recipe. After a nationwide recipe contest, nine finalists competed in three rounds: Chocolate Cookie, Spice Cookie and Dessert Bar Cookie. A panel of food experts determined whose cookie was the best. See who walks away the winner of $25,000!
COMPETITORS: Chocolate Cookie
Jennifer DietrickRecipe: Grappa infused Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Cookies Hometown: Hellertown, Pa.
Ashley BermanRecipe: Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies Hometown: Astoria, N.Y.
Rob Standley -- Winner!Recipe: Radical Rob's Chocolate Chip Cookies Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
Spice Cookie
Sean LaFondRecipe: White Beer Cookies Hometown: Urbana, Ill.
Nancy VaziriRecipe: Persian Pistachio-Cardamom Thins Hometown: Frankfort, Ill.
Camilla Saulsbury -- COOKIE GRAND PRIZE WINNER!Recipe: Exotic Spice Cookies with Ginger, Cardamom and Rose Water Hometown: Nacogdoches, Texas
Dessert Bar CookieColita RussRecipe: Pineapple Cheesecake Bar Hometown: Antelope, Calif.
Susan ScarboroughRecipe: Sweet and Salty Double Nut Toffee Brownie Bars Hometown: Fernandina Beach, Fla.
Camilla Saulsbury -- Winner!Recipe: Oaxaca Fudge Bars with Cashew-Crumb Topping Hometown: Nacogdoches, Texas
Food Network searched for the Ultimate Pasta Recipe. After a nationwide recipe contest, nine finalists competed in three rounds: Spaghetti and Meatballs, Stuffed Pasta and Lasagna. A panel of food experts determined whose pasta dish was the best. See who walks away the winner of $25,000!
COMPETITORS: Lasagna
Elizabeth Morath -- PASTA GRAND PRIZE WINNER!Recipe: Summer Eggplant Lasagna
Sonali RuderRecipe: Spanakopita Lasagna Hometown: New York, N.Y.
Laura KonenRecipe: Meat-za Hometown: Fond Du Lac, Wis.
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Ying CompestineRecipe: Spaghetti with Lion's Head Meatballs Hometown: Lafayette, Calif.
Elaine Jones -- Winner!Recipe: Mediterranean Pasta with Lamb Meatballs Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah
Cecelia WardRecipe: Chicken Gravy and Meatballs with Multigrain Spaghetti Hometown: Troy, N.Y.
Stuffed PastaMichelle Herrigel -- Winner!Recipe: Mama Mirabella's Ham and Cheese Ravioli Hometown: Pottstown, Pa.
Lorraine StevenskiRecipe: Stuffed Manicotti with Fresh Marinara Sauce Hometown: Clearwater, Fla.
Amy ThorsonRecipe: Stuffed Shells with Chicken and Arugula and Creamy Alfredo Sauce Hometown: Marietta, Ga.
Food Network searched for the Ultimate Cake recipe. After a nationwide recipe contest, nine finalists competed in three rounds: Chocolate Cake, Cupcakes and Birthday Cakes. A panel of food experts determined whose cake was the best. See who walks away the winner of $25,000!
COMPETITORS: Chocolate Cakes
Janice Kollar -- CAKE GRAND PRIZE WINNER!Recipe: "Really Good" Chocolate Layer Cake Hometown: Atlantic Highlands, N.J.
Erin Renouf MylroieRecipe: Anniversary Chocolate-Buttermilk Layer Cake with Toffee and Toasted Almonds Hometown: St. George, Utah
Jaclyn EspositoRecipe: Individual Molten Chocolate Coconut Cakes Hometown: Aventura, Fla.
Cupcakes
Kelly MadeyRecipe: Orange Chiffon Cupcakes with Meringue Buttercream Hometown: Quakertown, Pa.
Lorie Roach -- Winner!Recipe: Tres Leches Coconut Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream Hometown: Buckatunna, Miss.
Channon MondouxRecipe: Gingerbread Cake with Brandy Sauce and Whipped Orange Flower Cream Hometown: Portage, Mich.
Birthday CakesDoreen Howarth -- Winner!Recipe: Put the Lime in the Coconut Cake Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Marie BelfiglioRecipe: "Honey, I'm Peanuts About You!" Cake Hometown: Chandler, Ariz.
Debra ScruggsRecipe: Tropical Pound Cake Hometown: Toney, Ala.