Originally published in the Asbury Collegian, 14 October, 2011
By Courtney LeMay, Copy Editor
Besides being the copy editor here at the Collegian (oh, and swimming my legs off most every day), I use my spare time pursuing my hobby of cooking. This usually takes the form in me using the toaster to make a bagel in the caf, but on the rare occasion that I really do have “spare time,” I’ve been known to cook up a great deal of deliciousness. In fact, last semester I won the Iron Chef Asbury competition by successfully combining both secret ingredients — that is, hot sauce and chocolate — into some semblance of a meal.
It was with this great victory in mind that I decided to pursue yet another cooking championship at this past weekend’s Glide-Crawford/Trustees Cookout, hosted in the ever-so-lovely GC courtyard. I am a very competitive person; a bake-off was right up my alley. As my mind scrolled through the myriad of recipes tucked inside my brain (what can I say? My family has its own cookbook; I’m not kidding.), I decided upon my path to success: lemon bars. After all, these lemon bars had placed second in the Garrard County Fair a few years ago, and they had been a huge hit at, well, some sort of family gathering this summer. Yes, lemon bars were the way to go. I just knew it.
Soon I had amassed all the necessary ingredients: yellow cake mix, butter, sweetened condensed milk, powdered sugar, lemon pie filling mix, and obviously, lemon juice. Next, to find a working oven. That oven was found in the basement of Trustees, and as Quinn so kindly allowed me (supervised) access to their kitchen, all that was left to do was bake.
I think it’s the assistants that make all the difference when cooking. Find a good sous chef, and you’ll be set for life. Or something like that. My fellow bakers were Zack Brewer and Richard Rutledge, I’m proud to say. After what felt like hours of work (mostly just waiting for the oven to preheat, actually), the bars were ready to come out of the oven, and I left my creation in the capable hands of Sous One and Sous Two (can I call them that?) for the icing process.
I did not see the final product until the day of the contest, but when I plated those squares of lemony goodness, I knew. Today was the day that my lemon bars reclaimed their rightful place at the top of the food chain. Today, victory was ours.
…
I ended up sweeping the “Best Appearance” category with my delectable cheesecake brownies. Turns out, the real secret to successful baking is chocolate.