New Year's Bakeoff Queen Named

Happy 2014! I'm a little late in reporting the results of the New Year's Bakeoff! This year was our FIFTH annual bakeoff! Here's a little summary of our results:

2009: Cinnamon Rolls Winner: Ali
2010: Pie  Winner: Bobbi
2011: White Wedding Cake Winner: Ali
2012: Fried Chicken Winner: Ali
2012: Potato Salad Winner: Holly
2013: Homemade Pizza  Winner: Holly
2014: Biscuits and Gravy  Winner: Emily

This year, we had these two pint-sized chefs to help us so it was extra fun!

So, I do love me some biscuits and gravy but honestly, I never order them at a restaurant. I will get them in a breakfast buffet, but I never order them from a menu. Probably because I love dippin' eggs and toast and bacon the most!

We all decided to make biscuits together....we learned from reading multiple blogs and multiple recipes that in the end, a biscuit is a biscuit.  But, then again....maybe not:

Turns out that you should really keep an eye on your biscuits. Lesson learned. Biscuit recipe can be found here: http://pintsizedtreasures.com/2013/10/15/southern-buttermilk-biscuits/

My gravy recipe can be found here: http://lasvegasfoodadventures.wordpress.com/2010/01/06/sausage-gravy-and-biscuits/

As you may know from the bakeoff challenge, we always have secret ingredients. This year's secret ingredients were an onion (me); a recipe detected from chicken scratches written by a drunk girl at a bar (Emily); and cayenne red pepper (Ali).

Honestly, I loved my recipe but for people who do not like onions, it was heavy on onions.  But, the truth is I loved ALL of our recipes. Ali's sauce was a little thinner; Emilys had a little gravy seasoning from a packet in it so that added some spice; and I used mixed sausage and bacon so that made it a little different. But, in the end, this was probably the "easiest" baking challenge for us yet. It didn't take all day and all of our recipes turned out.  

But, in the end, there's always one winner and I'm happy to say that it was Emily.  Newly engaged and almost an "official" member of our family...it was well-deserved.  I'm also happy to say that Joey loved the biscuits and gravy, and next time my family is here overnight, I plan on making them. Joe is not the biggest fan of them but he claimed to like them too!

Congrats Emily on becoming the 5th Annual Bakeoff Champion!!