– Holy Guacamole Tomato Salsa, Peach Butter, and Rhubarb and Strawberry Jam
– Classic Vegetable Casserole with French-Fried Onions, Macaroni & Cheese and more
– Apple Bread Pudding, Chocolate Caramel and Peach Crisp
– Irish Coffee for a Crowd, Mulled Wine and Ruby Red Cider

– Don’t have a slow cooker? Try this 3-1/2-quart one from Rival.

Enter Dorot, an Israeli-based company specializing in fresh-frozen herbs. They are packaged in what look like tiny ice cube trays, four by five inches, filled with 20 bouillon cube-size nuggets. While frozen herbs will seldom equal fresh ones, these handy substitutes are light years beyond dried herbs, and occupy little freezer space.

The choices include crushed garlic or ginger and chopped basil, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley and red chile peppers, as well as Asian, French, Italian and Mexican herb mixes. Some freeze better than others; we liked cilantro, ginger and parsley the best.

The compact trays stack neatly in the freezer. While they’re a terrific convenience any time of the year, they’re especially nice to have around in colder months, when garden-fresh herbs are in short supply. They’re also great for people who can never use up a large bunch of herbs. No one will know you didn’t take out the cutting board and chop away. Frozen, they should keep their flavor for up to two years. The products are certified kosher. Click here to read the full review.

Here’s more versatility: You, the baker, add the sweetener of your choice—sugar, evaporated cane juice or agave—which makes these products an ideal choice not only for celiacs, but for diabetics and other consumers with dietary concerns.

See gluten-free foods reviewed by THE NIBBLE.

The Nibble Editors were on hand to taste the cakes and bonbons, along with delicious Pol Roger Champagne, one of our favorites. Although we didn’t have a vote, we did have an opinion.

– The pastry chefs seemed to take on their own theme of mousse and gelee: almost every cake we tasted was made of layers of mousse, mousse and more mousse, sometimes with gelee. It got to the point where we felt we were in a mousse competition, and wanted to send out for a piece of flour-based cake! If this is any indication of pastry trends, ladies and gentlemen, the retro mousse cake is back.

– A panel of highly esteemed chefs judged the competition; none of our favorites took an award. Note that our favorites were based on taste rather than appearance, as all of the cakes were attractive. Awards were given to the overall entry, which focused on the “showpiece” sculpture, as well as the cake and the bonbon.

– First place went to Ajith Saputhanthri, of Russo’s On The Bay restaurant in Howard Beach, NY. His showpiece, called “Curtain Call,” featured a hand-carved solid chocolate sculpture depicting intricate folds of a theater curtain and theatrical mask sculptures. His cake was a combination of Earl Grey tea chocolate mousse and a pomegranate-raspberry-hibiscus gelee, and his bonbon included lime and bittersweet chocolate. Salvatore Settepani took second place with his “Phantom Of The Opera”-themed showpiece and passion fruit, hazelnut and ginger-white peach cake. Third place went to Andrew Chlebana for his “Homage To Broadway” showpiece and tropical caramel-chocolate cake.

– We were disappointed to see that our favorite cake didn’t receive even honorable mention status. We were wowed by the cake made by Jose Manuel Hernandez of Fiamma Restaurant in New York City. It had a top layer of milk chocolate gelee and a middle of passion fruit gelee on top of—gasp—a real piece of hazelnut cake. The sweet-tart contrast of chocolate and passionfruit and the tempered, non-overpowering sweetness really, well, took the cake. Chef Hernandez, please invite us down for some more!

Despite our critique, we know how hard each of these pastry chefs work, and how committed they are to creating beautiful desserts for their customers, and how much time and sacrifice went into their entries. We look forward to next year’s competition.

Create an original dessert recipe using Fairytale Brownies (which come in a multitude of inspirational flavors). What do you win?

– Grand Prize: A year of brownies—a Special Occasion Dozen sent to you or a gift recipient of your choice every month for a consecutive year. Retail value including shipping equals $562.20.
– 1st Runner Up: 9 months of brownies—a Special Occasion Dozen sent to you or a gift recipient of your choice every month for 9 consecutive months. Retail value including shipping equals $421.65.
– 2nd Runner Up: 6 months of brownies—a Special Occasion Dozen sent to you or a gift recipient of your choice every month for 6 consecutive months. Retail value including shipping equals $276.30.

Contest deadline date is Sunday, May 31, 2009, and your entry must include a photo. Contest details are at http://blog.brownies.com/blog/internal-hidden/0/0/fairytale-brownies-receipt-contest/n.

Read our review of Fairytale Brownies.

Discover the history of the brownie, an American invention.