DEVILISH DESSERTS CONTEST: CHAFFEE WOMAN HAS MOST `DEVILISH' OF THE CHOCOLATE DESERTS

It's a dirty job, but somebody's gotta do it.

And on Saturday, six judges and eight semifinalists converged on the Southeast Missourian to pick the winner of the Devilish Desserts contest.

When the cocoa powder had settled, Rosemary Ross of Chaffee and her Butter Pecan Turtles -- a yummy, chewy brownie-like confection -- emerged the winner.

"I got the recipe from a newspaper and I've tried it every year at Christmas time," Ross said. "It's a very simple recipe."

Ross said she's not quite a chocoholic. "I like sweets, period," she said.

Judges voted Rachel Palis's Chocolate-Candy Cheesecake second and Larry Vandergriff's Sinfully Easy Peanut Clusters third.

Palis, a Cape Girardeau woman, said her cheesecake got the name "because there are two Snickers bars in it."

She said she found the original recipe in a cookbook advertisement, but had to change the crust mixture when she couldn't make chocolate wafers and wound up modifying a few other ingredients as well.

"So it's my recipe now," Palis said. "I've made it for Christmas. I've made it for guests."

"I like to cook is what I like doing," she said. "Being diabetic, I don't eat a lot of what I cook. I give most of it away that I make."

Vandergriff, a Jackson resident, says he isn't really a chocoholic either, but his wife, Rhonda, is. He said he inherited the peanut cluster recipe, "but I fine-tuned it."

Tinkering is a great culinary tradition. Necessity is the mother of invention, and let's face it, chocolate is a necessity. We like inventive cooks almost as much as we like chocolate.

The other five semifinalists and their entries were Joann Brucker, Chaffee, and her Chocolate Mountain Cookies; Jane Barks, Cape Girardeau, and her Kookie Candy; Chris Beasley of Tamms, Ill., and her "Chris's Brownies" recipe; Sharon Gill, Cape Girardeau, and her Chocolate Surprise Cupcakes; and Tammy Hendrickson, Cape Girardeau, and her Mini Oreo Cheesecakes.

More than 180 chocolate dessert recipes were entered in the Devilish Desserts contest, proving once again that chocolate strikes a primal chord in all of us.

The chord was sounding loud and clear in the judges Saturday. The panel included Judy Lueders and Mary Gosche of the University of Missouri Extension Service; Melba Moore, a 15-year veteran of the candy counter at Famous Barr; Dr. Tom Harte, co-founder and former owner of My Daddy's Cheesecake in downtown Cape Girardeau and a professor at Southeast Missouri State University; Mary Ann Pensel, retired commercial foods instructor from Cape Vo-Tech; and the Southeast Missourian's own Susan Elayer, a self-confessed "chocolate hound."

Entries were judged on presentation, eye appeal, aroma, taste and texture.

Once the contestants were shooed out of the judging area, the frenzy began. Lueders called it "getting down to business."

The judges assured us, once they could speak again, that there is a science to picking the winner.

"You can tell a texture for instance," Gosche said. "Not only taste, but texture, is real important. If it's supposed to be crunchy, it should be crunchy. If it's supposed to be creamy, it should be creamy."

"With chocolate, we have to keep in mind that there's so many different kinds, and that's going to make a big difference," Pensel said.

Narrowing down 186 recipes to eight semi-finalists was quite a task in itself. Many of the recipes submitted were tasty, but similar. In the end, the judges picked more unusual desserts in a variety of categories, such as cupcake, brownie, cheesecake, candy, etc.

Entries included dark, milk, sweetened, semi-sweet and bitter chocolates.

Butter Pecan Turtles

2 cups flour

1 1/2 cup brown sugar firmly packed

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup pecan halves

2/3 cup butter

1 cup milk chocolate chips

Mix flour, 1 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup butter on medium speed with electric mixer until well blended.

Pat into 9x13 inch pan, sprinkle with pecan halves.

Cook 2/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils, boil 1/2 to 1 minutes. Pour evenly over pecans and crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 22 minutes until caramel bubbles and crust is light brown.

Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with milk chocolate chips. Allow chips to melt and swirl slightly with fork as they melt.

Cool complete and cut into bars.

Rosemary Ross

Chaffee

Chocolate-Candy Cheesecake

1 1/2 cups crushed chocolate graham crackers

2 tablespoons sugar

1/4 cup margarine, melted

2 Snickers candy bars, coarsely chopped

2 (8 ounce) pkgs. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped cream or "Cool Whip"

Combine first 3 ingredients; press mixture evenly onto bottom and 1 1/2 inches up sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

Sprinkle chopped candy bars evenly over bottom; set aside.

Beat cream cheese at high speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy; add sugar, mixing well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in melted chips and vanilla. Beat until blended. Spoon over candy layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and run knife blade around edges of cake. Let cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 8 hours. To serve, remove from pan; cut into wedges. Put a dollop of whipped cream on each wedge and decorate with shaved chocolate or small wedges of another Snickers bar. 8-10 servings.

Rachel Palis

Cape Girardeau

Sinfully Easy Peanut Clusters

1 pkg. (12 ounce) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 pkg. (2 lb. 4 oz.) almond bark

1 (16 ounce) jar dry roasted, salted peanuts

Under low heat in non-stick pan, slowly melt almond bark and chocolate chips, blend thoroughly. Mix in peanuts. Spoon onto waxed paper, cool. Makes 70-100 pieces depending on size made.

These candy clusters will melt in your mouth and taste as if you spent hours in the kitchen.

Larry Vandergriff

Jackson

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

2 (8 ounce) pkgs. Philadelphia brand cream cheese, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon flour

2 eggs

2 tablespoons Kahlua coffee flavored liqueur

1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate pieces

12-18 Oreos

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line cup cake pans with paper liners.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and flour at medium speed on electric mixer until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in liqueur.

Melt 1/2 cup chocolate pieces. Add to cream cheese mixture, mixing until well blended, then stir in remaining chips.

Place 1 Oreo in bottom of each paper lined muffin cup. Fill each cup with chocolate cream cheese mixture (note: fill muffins cups almost to the top).

Bake 25-30 minutes or until set. Cool before removing from pan. Chill. Garnish with whipped topping and chocolate chips, if desired. Preparation time: 15 minutes plus chilling time.

Cooking time: 30 minutes.

Note: You may omit the flour and liqueur for 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Tammy Hendrickson

Cape Girardeau

Surprise Cupcakes

Filling:

8 ounce cream cheese

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup real chocolate chips

Batter:

Duncan Hines Devil's Food Cake Mix or Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix

Prepare cake mix as directed. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full of cake batter. Place 1 teaspoon filling mixture on top of cake mixture. Bake 15-20 minutes in 350 oven. Cool and frost with favorite chocolate frosting.

Sharon Gill

Cape Girardeau

Brownies

2 cups sugar

1/3 cup cocoa

1 cup butter

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cup nuts

1 1/2 cups flour

Mix by hand: Combine ingredients as listed leaving flour to last. Spread evenly in greased pan or use cooking spray. Cook at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes (do not over cook.)

Icing

4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine

4 tablespoons milk

1/3 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix and spread on brownies as soon as they come out of oven, sprinkle finely chopped nuts on top.

I use a 11 1/2 by 15 inch pan for baking brownies.

Thelma C. Beasley

Tamms, Ill.

Chocolate Mountain Cookies

Have ready 24 large marshmallows that have been cut in half.

1 3/4 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup soft shortening

1/2 cup evaporated milk

2 tablespoons water

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped nuts

Sift into a bowl the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add shortening, milk, water, egg, and vanilla. Beat 3 minutes with a mixer or by hand. Stir in the nuts. With a teaspoon, drop mixture onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes in the center of the oven. Cookies will be slight soft in the center. Take from oven and quickly place a marshmallow half on top of each cookie. Return cookies to the oven for about 2 more minutes. Take from oven and let stand until cool Frost with the icing below. Makes 4 dozen.

Easy Chocolate Frosting

1 (6 ounce) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk

In heavy saucepan stir over very low heat the chocolate chips and evaporated milk. Take from the heat and stir in powdered sugar until it is smooth. If frosting becomes too thick or spread easily, add a few drops of evaporated milk.

Joann Brucker

Chaffee

"Kookie" Candy

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa

1/2 cup half-and-half

1 stick butter

Boil sugar, milk, cocoa and butter for 2 minutes, timing after mixture comes to a full boil. Take from heat and add:

2 1/4 cups Quick Quaker Oats

1/2 cup peanut butter (smooth)

1 cup nuts

1 tablespoon vanilla

Mix all together and drop by teaspoon on waxed paper.

Hint #1: Mix sugar and cocoa before adding milk.

Hint #2: Have oats, peanut butter, nuts and vanilla measured and ready to go as it sets FAST.

Jane B. Barks

Cape Girardeau