Just In Time For Summer! Margarita Moon Pie Takes $25,000 Grand Prize In Annual Scharffen Berger Chocolate Recipe Contest

HERSHEY, Pa., April 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker today announces the winners of The Chocolate Adventure Contest 2012—Sandwich Cookie Edition. As part of the contest, bakers of all skill levels were invited to develop an original sandwich cookie recipe using Scharffen Berger® Chocolate and at least one of twelve pre-determined "Adventure Ingredients." Home baker Merry Graham from Santa Clarita, Calif. claimed the $25,000 Grand Prize for her original Margarita Moon Pie recipe—a nostalgic yet refreshing, modern-day approach to a favorite childhood dessert.

The Margarita Moon Pie consists of a "margarita marshmallow," a handmade tequila-infused marshmallow studded with crystallized lime sprinkles that is sandwiched between two graham-flour and Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder cookies. The entire sandwich cookie is covered in melted Scharffen Berger 70% Bittersweet Chocolate that's touched by a subtle hint of coconut oil.

"I love The Chocolate Adventure Contest because it allows entrants to really delve into the creative process of baking—from researching recipes to testing ingredients," said Graham. "When the idea of a Margarita Moon Pie popped into my mind, I knew I had to create one. I thought it would be a fun sandwich cookie! Using Scharffen Berger Chocolate always increases the quality of my finished products, and the Bittersweet Chocolate coating used here really made this dessert come to life!"

The star-studded judging panel included some of the country's foremost baking and chocolate experts: Elizabeth Falkner, runner-up of Food Network's fourth season of The Next Iron Chef; Alice Medrich, award-winning cookbook author and chocolate expert; Matt Armendariz, food photographer and owner of MattBites blog; Angie Dudley, owner of Bakerella blog and creator and author of Cake Pops; and Marcia Gagliardi, founder of Tablehopper.com.

"This year's winning recipe embodies everything I love about The Chocolate Adventure Contest: a certain risk-taking in recipe development, a cleverness in concept and execution and of course, delicious results," said Alice Medrich, whose most recent best-selling cookbooks are Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies and Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. "The recipe takes the traditional moon pie, familiar to many of us from childhood, and enhances it with sophisticated flavor combinations and a modern sensibility using this year's adventure ingredients—in all, a real treat."

In addition to the Grand-Prize-Winning recipe, the following ten Culinary Honorees were recognized for recipes that embodied a spirit of adventure and a creative use of ingredients:

• Sweet Flaming Tacos by Annette Lorraine / Montpelier, Vt.
• Chocolate Sable Sandwiches with Sweet Coconut Jam by Richard Swanson / Waterford, Conn.
• Chocolate Banana Macaroon Monte Cristo Sandwich Cookies with Semi-Sweet Drizzle and Jalapeno-Blackberry Jam by Leah Lyon / Ada, Okla.
• Dirty Rice Sushi with Wasabi Pine Nut Filling and Coconut Caviar by Peggy Calhoun / Portland, Ore.
• Chocolaty Frozen Baklava Ice Cream Sandwich with Fig Ice Cream and Chocolate Honey by Julie Merriman / Seattle, Wash.
• Salvavidas (Bittersweet Cacao Rings with Tequila Lime Marmalade and Spicy Pine Nut Crumbles) by Jennifer Burke / San Francisco, Calif.
• Chocolate Cornmeal Alfajores with Spicy Coconut Milk Dulce De Leche and Tequila Flambeed Bananas by Linda Wang / Sunnyvale, Calif.
• Heartbreak Macarons by Kevyn Allard  / Menlo Park, Calif.
• MacDaddy Ice Cream Sandwiches by Candace Chan / Mountain View, Calif.
• Lemon Polenta Cookie Coins by Deborah Wegman / Laport, Minn.

Merry Graham receives a $25,000 cash prize, a custom selection of Scharffen Berger Chocolate and signed copies of Alice Medrich's Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies and John Scharffenberger and Robert Steinberg's The Essence of Chocolate, signed by John Scharffenberger. Each Culinary Honoree receives a special Scharffen Berger Chocolate engraved Apple iPad. All winning recipes will be featured on ChocolateAdventureContest.com, ScharffenBerger.com and TuttiFoodie.com.

For additional information about The Chocolate Adventure Contest 2012—Sandwich Cookie Edition, plus this year's winning recipes, please visit www.ChocolateAdventureContest.com.

Learn more about Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker at www.ScharffenBerger.com, and engage with an active community of bakers and chocolate enthusiasts on the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker page on Facebook or by following @ScharffenBerger on Twitter.

About Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker
Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker was established in 1997 in San Francisco, California, and first earned national recognition for its artisan-quality chocolate in 1998.  Producing bean to bar premium chocolates, Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is one of the world's finest chocolate makers.  All Scharffen Berger chocolate is composed of proprietary bean blends from up to nine different cacao-growing regions throughout the world.  Scharffen Berger chocolate has received recognition throughout the U.S. for its high quality chocolate. Scharffen Berger products are sold by retailers nationwide and through its website www.ScharffenBerger.com.  Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker is part of the Artisan Confections Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Hershey Company.  For more information, please visit www.ScharffenBerger.com.

About TuttiFoodie
TuttiFoodie is the guide for adventurous food and drink lovers nationwide who care about a sustainable world.  Each week, the site emails a brief, informative and witty tribute to an off-the-beaten-path food, drink, food-related book or blog, or culinary travel adventure. TuttiFoodie has been featured on NPR's Splendid Table, on popular foodie sites such as epicurious.com, chow.com, YumSugar and elsewhere.  The blogosphere tipped its hat to the site early on, with one San Francisco food blogger naming TuttiFoodie, "the Daily Candy of food."  For more information please visit www.TuttiFoodie.com.

SOURCE Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker