Original Recipe- and I don't mean KFC!

(post, Maggie Restivo)

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Last week a magical flier appeared outside of my bakeshop classroom door. It proclaimed that Pama Liqueur was holding a recipe contest on Facebook. The challenge: to create an original recipe using at least 3 tablespoons of Pama Liqueur. The recipe had to fit into one of three categories- appetizers, entrees, or desserts. The prize: An all expense paid trip for two, to the 2010 Food and Wine Class in Aspen. After a few minutes of excited discussion about how cool it would be to win, we read the fine print and realized we had 6 days to develop and submit our recipes. The time restrictions began to sink in. Many of my classmates declared there was no way anyone could develop, perfect, and submit a winning recipe in less than a week. Only two of us remained determined to meet the challenge.

In reality it wasn't that dramatic. Myself and a classmate were just really super excited about the chance to win a trip to the 2010 Food and Wine Classic in Aspen.

We wanted to make a Pama Liqueur paper using a technique we learned from the chef that runs our molecular gastronomy. The plan was to take that paper and do some kind of a play on phyllo dough for a dessert. After two days of planning, and with two days remaining to gather our ingredients, test of recipe, take pictures, and submit it online, we realized how impossible that would be. So Pama paper turned into Pama ladyfingers, which turned into Pama ladyfingers soaked in a Pama simple syrup, and that turned into Pama ladyfingers soaked in a Pama simple syrup with a drunken whipped cream. Then we took a deep breath, kicked a few more ideas around and decided that some toasted almonds and a Pama chocolate ganache would be a nice garnish.

We felt our flavors and textures would be great together but we just had to figure out how to present it. That's when my classmate came up with the idea of layering it like a tiramisu. The next day after class we set up in the back of our class room and got started. We only had one chance to get it right, and we had to remember to write it all down to make it a standardized recipe.....Two and a half hours later it was born: Pamamisu!!

So if you have a facebook page follow the link to check out my first ever recipe collaboration and don't forget to VOTE while you are there!
Vote for Pamamisu

Thanks for all the support!