What exactly is an adventurous cookie?

Because I happened across this contest. Too bad I didn’t find out about this earlier, but there’s still almost a month to go, so there’s time to develop some great entries!

This contest is offered by Scharffen Berger and entries must be sandwich cookies that include Scharffen Berger chocolate plus one or another of twelve “adventure” ingredients. The “adventure ingredients” include coconut milk or coconut cream, sweet potato, tapioca or tapioca flour, tequila, banana, chili pepper, pine nuts, cornmeal, Sumatra coffee, fresh ginger, yerba mate (which I’d never heard of but turns out to be the dried leaves of a tropical holly (Ilex paraguariensis), which are used as a tea), and cacao nibs.

So, doesn’t that sound like fun? In the first round, cookies are judged equally on “showing creativity and a spirit of adventure”, use of chocolate, taste, and ease of preparation.

In the final round, cookies are judged more heavily according to whether they show creativity and “a spirit of adventure” and taste, less heavily according to ease of prep and overall appearance.

Creativity I get, but “a spirit of adventure”? What could that be?

You’ll notice that all the “adventure” ingredients are tropical. I’ve got some cookies in mind to enter, and I’m tempted to give all my entries names like “Mayan End of the World Dark Chocolate Cookies”. Don’t you think that might earn the cookies points for adventurousness?

I’ve never entered a baking contest before! I’m kind of excited about this one, though, and spent several hours last night playing around with recipes. So far the cookies I have in mind include pine nuts, coconut milk, fresh ginger, chili, and sweet potatoes. (Not all in the same cookie!) I’m pretty sure I will not be using any of the other “adventure” ingredients, though coffee would be easy to add to a chocolate cookie, so maybe.

I need to try out some of the recipes I have in mind. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find willing tasters! If they turn out great, I’ll post the recipes. If I manage to develop a winning recipe, hey, I’ll definitely post that recipe here!