Cookie Takedown at The Bell House

The Bell House
149 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 643-6510







This was my first time attending a Takedown event, and I'm really glad I made the trip out in this lovely snow storm to try thirty different types of cookies!

The first thing I did was get my hands on some free eggnog before the first hour was up. Then I dove in. The cookies were all lined up in an arc in front of the stage, the line was in the middle and so it broke up the tables into two sides.
















This is the plate from side one. Top row: Chocolate whoopie pies with salted caramel & bourbon buttercream (this sounded so good, but I wasn't a huge fan, and it wasn't even a cookie!); Oreo cookie from Bean & Apple (one of my favorites); Leni's Java Stick (very yummy).
Middle row: Espresso cream-cheese sandwich (more cake than cookie); Aunt Helen's Gingersnaps (delicious).
Bottom row: Brownie Batter Cookie Dumplings with Espresso Dipping Sauce; Choco-ho-licks Cookies from Nicholetta's Eats & Treats; chocolate chip cookies from Lisa's Cookie Jar; & Triple Chocolate Cookies.















My second plate. Top row: Chocolate with ginger & other things (not bad); Stoners Paradise (cookie dough with M&M's); Niel Darkstrong's Lunar Cookies; Birdies Eye (jelly with sugar & rum- very good);
Middle Row: Death by Chocolate (included dark, bittersweet, semisweet & milk chocolate); Sweet Sues Cookie Crunch (like a candy bar); Chocolate Chip Bacon Peanut cookies; Dark & Stormy (a delicious and thin cookie that tasted like ginger- very good);
Bottom row: Oatmeal apple cranberry crumb cookies; Nacho MaMa's Cookies (cookies with orange buttercream, I wasn't a fan even though I thought they were really cute); Grandma Billie's Peppernuts by Meg(With Cookies); Rockaways by Jen Wanous (chocolate chips, butterscotch/peanut butter chips, pretzels & marshmallows); Not Ya Mama's Chocolate Chip Cookie.















Side two of the deliciously long cookie table.

















Not shown on my plate (they were gone before I got a chance to snap a picture!)are my favorites of the night, the Queens Crescents. I voted for them but they didn't win ;P They had ginger, walnuts, and powdered sugar.































Jen Wanous, baker of the Rockaway Cookies. You can see her recipe here.































Gingerbread House by the baker who also did Sweet Sues Cookie Crunch.






The crowd.

























From left to right: The awesome Takedown organizer who kept the event together (and made it look so easy!), Matt Timms.
The judges, Gabriella Gershenson from TONY and Renato Poliafito from Baked, who also sponsored the prizes (which included a bottle of rum or bourbon for all the entrants- one more reason I need to bake my sugar cookies for them next year).

The winners were broken up into two categories:
Judges Choice
1st Place: Choco-ho-licks Cookies by Nicoletta's Eats & Treats (nicholetta.canaras@hotmail.com)
2nd Place: Death by Chocolate ("Almost better than sex") by Tiana Lawrence (who dug herself out of Suffolk County just to be there!)
3rd Place: Oatmeal Apple Cranberry Crumb Cookies by Melissa Danchak

Peoples Choice
1st Place (A TIE): Not Ya MaMa's Chocolate Cookie by Emily Hanhan
1st Place: Nacho MaMa's Cookies by Lee Frank & Dan Piccoli
2nd Place: Oreo Cookie Cookie by Amy and Bean & Apple.

Make sure to get on The Takedown mailing list for future events. They'll be doing an aphrodisiac takedown for Valentines Day!