Remember about our Olympic giveaway last month? After compiling all entries from comments, Facebook fans, and (mostly) newsletter subscribers, we ended up with 442 entries. Whew!

So what I did to randomize the process in the fairest manner I could make it, is to have all entries on a spreadsheet.

There were double entries for the subscribers and fans, and single ones for the comments–as stated in the ‘rules’.

I added an additional column for the randomized sequence, which I generated through the Sequence Generator. Then I copied the resulting list into the new column, so that each entry will have a random number assigned to it. Sounds fancy, but it’s really simple.

I picked one random winner through Random.org again…and the winner is — Shawna, a longtime newsletter subscriber!

You will receive an email from me. :) Congratulations!!!

- – - – - – - – -

Now let’s move on to the German Chocolate Cake that doesn’t have anything to do with Germany, but has everything to do with chocolate and caramel decadence.

I'm sorry if I just met you! Clearly it's a sign that I should make up for all the lost years and make you every month. (Good thing my doctor doesn't read this blog.)

Hail be to Samuel German who created Baker’s German’s Sweet Chocolate for the Baker’s Chocolate brand, for which this recipe was created. Got it? Eventually the ‘s was dropped. [This convolution reminds me of none other than Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Mmm...]

So you see friends, if you are like me, you can stop wondering why in the world Germans have some coconut in their cake. Excuse my ignorance. The first time I ate this cake was right after I baked it. No joke.

It might not look like much, that light brown on dark brown action. I have to say, I have mistakenly underestimated this cake before I took a bite.

Was I the last person to discover this cake? It’s okay. You can tell me the truth. I’m totally fine with that. As long as you think it’s completely alright that I make this several times a month to make you jealous until you make it yourself. If not, head over to Bakery Nouveau in West Seattle which, according to @Lovelylanvin, makes a really good one!

Because. What could be better than moist and fluffy chocolate cake layers with custard-y caramel filling with coconut and pecans?

Four of my most favorite things in the world--chocolate cake + condensed milk cooked with eggs + coconut + pecans--in one life-altering bite.

I just could not stop eating it. I blame the cake entirely. I haven’t been on a scale since this cake was baked, but I’ve gone back to running regularly. That’s how guilty I feel, but oh so good! It’s a required indulgence.

The recipe for this cake was adapted from this lovely, lovely book:

Rose’s Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum (she blogs!)

I love Rose’s meticulously detailed recipes that hold your hand through the whole process of preparing, baking, and assembling the cakes. I’ve made a few already from this book and I highly recommend it! No, this is not your last-minute go-to cake book. You need to plan ahead, not only to read the recipe carefully and check that you have all the ingredients, but also for making the cakes. They’re not quick fixes, but you will be rewarded with cakes that you didn’t think could possibly come from your own kitchen. They are indeed heavenly…amazing! cakes.
Go get it if you really want to bake cakes that impress.

   Get the recipe for the German Chocolate here (PDF download included)

TWO YEARS.

Who knew we’d still be –
…here?!
…blogging about food?
…enjoying this much more than when we started?

And who knew we would –
…get to meet so many great people online and in person?
…STILL BE HERE? Oh, I already asked that. *pinch*

Not us! We’ve just been taking it one day at a time. We have had our share of lulls, hiatuses, and blogging blocks, but we’re still here with renewed passion and interest in food blogging.

THANK YOU for being there!

A special Thank You goes our families and friends who supported us from the very beginning, and for reading and leaving comments when nobody else did. Those are truly what kept as going.

I would also like to give a shoutout to those who have been here since our first two months: Tea, Patricia, Katy, Hillary and Maxine and RowdyFood. Thank you!

The past two years have been as sweet as pie. :-)

Two more years in the food blogging world shouldn’t be too bad then, eh?

To celebrate our blogaversary, we are giving away $50 in ChefsCatalog.com** shopping money! It’s all yours to pick a gift for yourself or that special foodie in your life.

To enter:

• Leave a comment on this post. (gives you 1 entry)
  This is not a requirement though: it would help us a lot if you let us know what you like about the site right now, what you’d like to see more (or less). We would love to get your feedback!
• Subscribe to our brand spankin’ new Monthly Newsletter (gives you 2 entries)
  Be the first to know what’s going on at Gourmeted.com, which recipes will be featured for the month, and what nifty gadget we’re loving (and giving away exclusively to newsletter subscribers). We’ll be adding different features according to the month’s theme. We put a lot of work into our newsletter to make it worthy of a spot in your mailbox each month, and we highly encourage you to subscribe. This is our little pet project that we’ve been wanting to launch for almost a year now, and it’s finally here. It’s free, spam-free, and it’s 100% homemade. :-) If you’re already a subscriber, you automatically get 2 entries — ho, ho, ho!

Contest deadline is December 14, at 11:59PM PST time. Winner will be announced on December 15 to give ‘em enough time to shop. =) That’s it…good luck!

[**DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT A SPONSORED OR PAID ADVERTISEMENT. WE DID/WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY KIND OF REMUNERATION FOR CONDUCTING THIS CONTEST.]

As I mentioned in our newsletter, I am going to share the Foolproof Flaky Pie Crust recipe that I’ve been using for months now. It’s pie-idiot-proof, as far as I’m concerned. Before I found this recipe, I’d cower in the corner at the mere mention of making pie. Not anymore. The pie at the beginning of this post was a mango pie I made last summer. This is a Dutch apple pie I made last spring:

Oooh lala!

FOOLPROOF FLAKY PIE CRUST RECIPE (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated)

Ingredients for one 9-inch Double-Crust Pie or two 9-inch Single-Crust pies

• 2 1/2 cups (or 12.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, chilled and cut into 4 pieces
• 1/4 cup vodka, cold (no substitutes)
• 1/4 cup water, cold
• 1 teaspoon sugar (use for double crust pie)
• egg white of 1 large egg, beaten

Preparation

There are 3 ways to combine the pie pastry ingredients: using a food processor, stand mixer with flat beater paddle attachment, or by hand using a dough blender/pastry cutter.

1. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and sugar.Food processor: Use 2 one-second pulses.
   Stand mixer: Mix on low speed for  4 seconds.
   By hand: Whisk using a whisk or dough blender, in a medium bowl.
2. Add butter and shortening and combine until homogenous, cottage cheese-like crumbs form. For all three methods, it’s important not to overwork the dough. Butter and shortening needs to be distributed in small pieces and everything should be covered in flour. Once you get that consistency, stop. Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl as you go.Food processor: Pulse for about 10 seconds.
   Stand-mixer: Mix on low to medium speed, for 10 to 15 seconds.
   By hand: Cut butter and shortening into the flour in short strokes.
3. Add remaining cup of flour and combine until the mass of dough has been broken up.Food processor: Pulse 4 to 6 times.
   Stand mixer: Mix on medium to low twice, in 4-second intervals, scraping the sides of the bowl between mixing.
   By hand: Cut additional flour into the mixture, going around the bowl twice, while scraping the sides and bottom.
4. Sprinkle cold water and cold vodka over the mixture. Fold dough to combine ingredients using a rubber spatula. Scrape the sides and bring to the middle until the dough becomes slightly tacky and sticks together. Remove from the bowl and transfer onto a non-stick pastry sheet, pie mat or parchment paper.
5. Divide and shape the dough equally into two balls. Flatten each into a 4”-diameter disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 45 minutes, and for up to 2 days.
6. To bake: Adjust oven rack to the lowest position, and place a rimmed baking sheet on it. Preheat oven to 425°F.
7. Remove dough from the refrigerator and place on a floured work surface. Roll dough into a 1/8”-thick 12”-inch diameter circle. Wrap the dough loosely around a rolling pin and transfer onto the center of a 9-inch pie plate. Leaving a 1-inch overhang around the plate, gently press dough where the side of the plate meets the bottom. Leave the overhang and return to the refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes.For DOUBLE CRUST (top and bottom crust) pie: Roll the  other dough into a 12”-diameter 1/8”-thick disk between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Refrigerate as well. Make your filling while the crusts are being chilled.
8. For SINGLE CRUST pie: Take dough from the fridge and trim the overhang using kitchen shears, leaving about 1/2 inch extending from the lip of the plate. Fold the overhang under itself. Edge of the fold should be level with the edge of the pie plate. Flute the edges or press the tines a fork against them. Refrigerate the dough in the plate for 15 minutes.Remove pie plate from the refrigerator and line with aluminum foil. Fill with pie weights or pennies, and bake on baking sheet for 15 minutes. Remove weights and foil, and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes until the crust is golden brown and crisp. Make your filling while the pie crust is baking, and pour into the crust once baked. Bake according to the instructions for your type of pie.
9. For a DOUBLE CRUST (top and bottom crust) pie: Take the dough-plated pie plate and the dough between parchment out of the fridge. Place filling into the pie plate with dough. Peel the parchment from one side of the other dough and carefully place that side on top of the filling. Gently peel off the second parchment sheet. Trim the overhang of the two dough layers using kitchen shears, leaving ¾” from the edge of the plate. Fold the two ends of the dough underneath the lower dough and make sure the edge aligns with the rim of the plate. Flute edges using your thumb or forefingers, or press them with the tines of a fork.  Cut four 2”-long slits on top of the dough using a sharp paring knife, they should radiate from the center area, but not connected to each other. Brush the surface with the beaten egg white using a pastry brush and sprinkle white sugar on top of the dough curst. Bake on preheated baking sheet for 45 to 55 minutes until crust is dark golden brown. Cool on a wire rack for at least 1 ½ hours.

Did YOU win the Gourmet Fall Cheese Tasting Party Giveaway?

Here is the list of the qualified entries:

1    Maria
2    The Food Hunger
3    Ashley
4    Nikki
5    The Duo Dishes
6    Carole Resnick
7    Kristen J
8    Amy I.
9    Deeba
10    Sunita
11    Laura
12    Wendy
13    NOelle
14    NOelle
15    Victoria
16    Heather in SF
17    Wendy R
18    Wendy R
19    Lisa Cain of http://www.snacksnoop.com (Yes YOU! )
20    Sharon

Lisa, these are all yours:

• Mariposa Gourmet Two-Toned  Wooden Cheese Board w/ Wine & Cheese Access. (Board is made of Natural Wood.)
• Cheese Markers
• Customized Cheese Rating Cards w/ Pens (Party of 10) – customized with your name and date/year of party.
• Alouette recipe cards for entertaining
• Alouette coupons for Baby Brie, Spreadable and Crumbles
• Slow Down & Savour Tips

Please email me at gourmeted /at/ gmail /dot/ com with your US mailing address plus the name and date/year of the you would like to be printed on the cheese rating cards and the pens. You can skip the date/year if you like.

Thanks for joining everyone!

Apple Crumble Upside Down Cake

Four taste-testers don’t lie: this is some heavenly combination! A layer of light and moist cake underneath a generous overlay of sweet apple chunks and plumped up dried cranberries, then the coating of  crunchy, buttery cornmeal streusel… I mean, could it get any better than that?

All it took was a bite...

When you think about it, it’s a cake, that’s a pie, that’s a crisp! Haha. Oh, and  just one of the many ways to enjoy the gifts of the Fall season that I so love.

Speaking of Fall...we’re excited to collaborate with Vault Communications and Aloutte Cheese for a fantastic Fall Wine and Cheese Party Giveaway! It’s been a while since we’ve thrown a contest, oh dear. But check it out!

Gourmet Fall Cheese Tasting Party Giveaway

• Mariposa Gourmet Two-Toned  Wooden Cheese Board w/ Wine & Cheese Access. (Board is made of Natural Wood.)
• Cheese Markers
• Customized Cheese Rating Cards w/ Pens (Party of 10) – customized with your name and date/year of party.
• Alouette recipe cards for entertaining
• Alouette coupons for Baby Brie, Spreadable and Crumbles
• Slow Down & Savour Tips

That’s right, you’ll get all of these lovely items (a $150 value). Wine, wine glass and fruits not included. ** IMPORTANT: PRIZES CAN ONLY BE SHIPPED IN THE U.S. **

To enter, just answer this question in the comments section:

How do you slow down and savour life’s moments?

If you tweet about it, let us know in the comments. Each legitimate and unique comment to this post qualify as one entry.

Contest ends October 29, at 12 noon. Good luck!

[Contest disclosure: We have received the same items from Alouette Cheese, c/o Vault Communications. We have no advertising/sponsorship commitments with either company.]

Oh, and here’s the recipe:

Apple Crumble Upside Down Cake

It’s a cake, that’s a pie, that’s a crisp– light, moist cake underneath a generous layer of sweet apple chunks and cranberries, sprinkled with the crunchy and buttery cornmeal streusel.

Ingredients [Serves 8]

Apple Filling

• 3 medium-sized apples, peeled, quartered, chopped into ¼ x ½  x ½ -inch chunks and fills about 5 cups. Use what you have on hand or your preferred variety. (I used Okanagan Fuji apples.)
• 4 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• pinch kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon triple sec liqueur (optional)

Crumble/Streusel topping

• 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted

Cake

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Place the rack in the lower-middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.

2. Butter bottom and sides of a 9-inch round, 2-inch-deep nonstick cake pan; set aside.

3. For the apple filling

• Mix brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Toss the apple chunks in it.
• Melt butter over high heat on a Dutch oven until it begins to turn amber in color and the milky froth from the butter has almost cleared (don’t allow it to burn).
• Add the apples into the pot and reduce heat to medium-high. Stir with a wooden spoon and cook for about 5 minutes.
• Add the cranberries and stir. Cover for another 5 minutes or until the apples begin to soften and break down in the steam. Juice will collect on the bottom of the pan.
• Remove from the heat and pour over a strainer with a large bowl underneath to catch the juice.
• Pour the juice back into the Dutch oven over high heat and mix it with heavy cream and triple sec liqueur (if used). Stir until the mixture is reduced and thickened. It’s done when you drag your wooden spoon on the bottom of the pan and it leaves a trailing line. Turn off the heat and toss the apples and cranberries in it.
• Transfer the fruits and any remaining liquid into the prepared cake pan. Lightly press into an even layer. Set aside.

4. For the crumble/streusel topping:

• Mix flour, brown sugar and cornmeal in a medium bowl with a fork. Drizzle melted butter while continuing to mix it until it forms pea-sized chunks.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the streusel mixture evenly on top of it.
• Bake it in the pre-heated 425°F oven for 5 minutes. Watch closely once you hit the 4-min mark. It might start to burn depending on your baking sheet.
• Take it out of the oven and set aside to cool on a trivet for 5 minutes. Toss the crumble with a small spoon to prevent it from burning if it is already getting dark. Set aside.

5. Decrease oven temperature to 350°F with the rack in the same position.

6. For the cake:

• Whisk flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
• Beat the brown sugar and eggs in a large bowl until thick and homogenous, for about 45 seconds.
• Slowly beat in butter until thoroughly combined. Add heavy cream and vanilla and continue to mix. Pour flour mixture and blend until just combined.
• Pour batter into the cake pan and spread evenly over fruit.
• Bake in the pre-heated oven until cake is golden grown, about 35 to 40 minutes. When you insert a toothpick into the center it will come out clean.
• Cool pan on wire rack for 20 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the cake pan.
• Carefully invert cake pan onto a large plate, and allow the cake to cool for another 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Enjoy with some vanilla ice cream, fresh whipped crème or crème fraîche on top.

So now is the moment of truth! We have a winner for the MixMyGranola Contest:

Here’s how we picked the winner out of all the comments, tweets, blog posts and newsletter subscriptions: First we listed everything on a spreadsheet: 1 entry for each except for the newsletter, which entitled each entrant to 2 entries. That means their email address were entered twice in the list. Next, I put the list in the List Randomizer to make it fair for everyone. I will not paste the entire list here because of the email addresses.

After the list goes through the List Randomizer and has numbers 1-97, I used the Number Generator to pick a number in that range:

It picked 88. Who could that be? **DRUMROLL ** Continue Reading

Say hello to my new morning companion: MixMyGranola granola. It’s delicious, all-natural and preservative-free, comes in sexy packaging and it’s made just the way I like it. Did I just say sexy? Can’t blame a girl for liking good packaging.

We love granola. Dan snacks on it, and I enjoy mine with yogurt. So we were more than happy to accept Raoul’s offer to try their product. Raoul, Andreas and Matt are the guys behind MixMyGranola.com, the hip new website that lets you customize your very own blend of granola.

The idea is simple: Choose one of the delicious organic, all-natural or low-fat granola bases. Then choose from more than 50 ingredients like fruits, nuts, seeds, and extras, including all-time classics like cranberries, blueberries, almonds and organic raisins, or unique ingredients such as hemp seeds, organic gummy bears and goji berries to create your individual granola mix – exactly the way You like it. Then, be creative and give your mix a name and check out.

Dan and I were like kids in a candy store when we created our own granola mixes. Go check out the website and you’ll see what I mean. I love that we could see the actual nutritional information (and cost) of our granola mixes as we added each ingredient.

Each personalized granola mix came in a (sexy) sleek 16-ounce recyclable tube that is similar to a Pringles container. And the labels look like these:

Each mix you create has a unique Mix-ID that identifies your particular blend. This allows you to re-order the same mix for faster check out next time if you want to stick to the same one. I like that a lot.

We were amused by the extra ingredient included: “lots of LOVE“. I kid you not, and you can see above for yourself. We also noticed that our mixes were prepared and signed by Andreas, complete with a happy face. I love all these small details. It is always a treat when you come across products made with love, passion and pride.

Now let’s move on to our MixMyGranola mixes! Show and tell time…

Joy’s Granola:

Pretty colorful, huh? It was a fantastic blend of salty and sweet, if I may say so myself. I picked the organic granola as my base and added goji berries (the red-orange that stands out), dried bing cherries (big dark dried fruit on there), amaranth seeds (the tiny bird seed-like seeds on the lower right corner), pistachios, sunflower seeds and cranberries. I absolutely loved MY blend — I mean, I was afraid that I would finish it in a day!

Dan’s Granola:

Dan’s mix is sweeter with the French vanilla granola as the base, combined with cranberries, roasted almonds, amaranth seeds, honey smacks, cocoa crisp bite. He loved his crunchy-sweet blend.

Do they really taste like they’re made with lots of love? You bet!

Dan and I love this great and excellently executed idea for custom granola mixes. My only problem is — Why didn’t we think of this first?! Haha. This is a perfect solution to our (obvious) differences in granola preference. I also think it would be great as a gift for the people who seem to have everything. For them, you need to create a need, and what better way than to introduce them to something healthy (and looks hip!) they didn’t know they’ve been deprived of.

We loved the granola so much that we thought YOU might want to try them! Soooo…

We’re giving away a $25 gift certificate to MixMyGranola.com!!! :-)

That would get you about two custom granola mixes, including delivery. Isn’t that great?!?!?!

Ok, there are several things you can do to enter the draw for this yummy prize:

1. (For 2 entries) Sign up for our brand-spanking new monthly newsletter. We’ll include index card-size printable recipes, cooking tips, household cleaning, organization, and productivity tips, featured ingredients, our favorite kitchen tools and gadgets, discounts and giveaways, and much more!

2. (For 1 entry each tweet) Tweet this:

Win $25 to create your own granola blends at MixMyGranola.com http://foodurl.info/18h3 from @gourmeted  #gourmetedMMG

** Don’t forget the hash tag #gourmetedMMG. That will help us track your tweets. ** [Max. of 3 tweets to be honored as entries per user to avoid spamming the twitterverse for a week.]

3. (For 1 entry) Blog about it. Link to this contest on your blog post. [Max 1 entry per blog]

4. (For 1 entry) Leave a comment with an answer to this question: What do YOU like in your granola? :-) [Max 1 comment per person.]

Winners will be randomly drawn. Contest ends next week, March 3, 2009 at 5pm PST.

Good luck!

** The giveaway prize was generously provided by MixMyGranola.com. Thank you, Raoul! **