We hope you haven鈥檛 had your fill of holiday treats, because we鈥檝e got some yummy news to share: the results of the second annual Staff Assembly Holiday Bake-Off. This year鈥檚 contest, an all-bars edition, drew 22 entries.
The bakers prepared their bars off-site, then, on Dec. 12, presented them for judging in the Student Community Center鈥檚 multipurpose room. The contest began with the People鈥檚 Judging, during which a panel of 66 volunteers tasted bite-sized pieces of every entry.
The tasting panel winnowed the competition to five bars for judging by Pauline Lestringant, a teaching assistant, Department of Food Science and Technology; Annegret Cantu, assistant specialist, Department of Viticulture and Enology; and Martina Sokolowsky, postdoc, viticulture and enology.
Each judge had five full-size bars to sample, and afterward the panel decided the results as follows:
1st place 鈥 Ed鈥檚 Fantasy Bar, a three-layered treat of shortbread on the bottom, salted caramel in the middle and chocolate on top. Entered by the Coffee House management team: Ed Andrade, facilities manager; Ray Arellano, assistant facilities manager; Kevin Elmore, BioBrew manager; Elisa Hagopian, kitchen manager; Levi Menovske, CoHo South Caf茅 manager; Kelli O鈥橠ay, production manager; Darin Schluep, director; Emily Weidemann, student employee manager; and Lauren Woods, front-of-house manager).
Hagopian, O鈥橠ay and Woods did the baking, using the Millionaire Shortbread recipe from Cooks Illustrated. To Andrade鈥檚 surprise, his fellow managers changed the name to Ed鈥檚 Fantasy Bar, in his honor as the 鈥淐offee House baked-good taster extraordinaire.鈥
鈥淭hat bar was sweet and tasty,鈥 Andrade told Dateline 69成人. 鈥淚t went well with a cup of coffee.鈥
Unfortunately, his 鈥渇antasy鈥 has come to an end 鈥 and everyone else is out of luck, too. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just a dream now, because we don鈥檛 offer it,鈥 he said. 鈥淢aybe some day. I鈥檒l have to work on that with the management crew!鈥 (The management team says the cost is too high and the bar takes too long to make).
Prize: $50 Amazon gift card donated by California Casualty and $20 Starbucks gift card donated by the Center for Musculoskeletal Health.
2nd place 鈥 Oatmeal Chocolate and Caramel Bar, by Lina Layiktez, director, Conference and Event Services. Prize: $50 Amazon gift card donated by the Thank Goodness for Staff Vendor Showcase.
3rd place 鈥 Raspberry Crumble Bar, by Kate Creveling, student affairs officer, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prize: $25 gift card donated by European Wax Center of Davis.
Rounding out the top five: Nanaimo Bar (with Nutella as an ingredient), by Tasha Miller, executive assistant, Community Resource Centers; and Orange Balsamic Molasses Bar, by Colin Joseph Goulding, analyst, Office of the Registrar.
The bake-off committee is gathering the recipes (from the bakers who are willing to share!) and will present the directions in PDF format, to be available via a link in the next Staff Voice (Friday, Jan. 13).