sandwiches: round 03: sweet sandwiches theme

The Side: fresh mint tea.

The Entrants:

Dave's Stonehenge Ruins (toasted open face; adam's peanut butter; cayenne chocolate flakes; currants; currant jam rimmed on left and right).

Dave's Pan-Galactic PBC (toasted open face; adam's peanut butter; chocolate chips; re-toasted; swirled; second addition of peanut butter).

Angelica’s The Weird Sandwich Girl Grows Up (cream cheese, carrots, dried cranberries, cinnamon)

Angelica’s The Weird Sandwich Girl Flashback (smooth peanut butter, current jam, dried apricots, poblano hot chocolate shavings)

Sandwich Making Soundtrack: Talking Heads - Stop Making Sense

The Mix-it-up:

Angelica on Stonehenge Ruins – this one had me with the first bite. The toasting of the bread disguised its rice origins and produced a wholly satisfying crunch. The light dusting of chocolate flakes and sprinkling of currents produced a surprisingly tasty mouthful, but it was the jam edging that stole the show. My favourite of the night, hands down.

Dave's take ~ i was surprised at how much i liked this creation. It had to be eaten in the right direction to get the currant jam into each bite, and the whole currants themselves had to placed just right in order to get into each portion, but the effort was worth it.

Angelica on Pan-Galactic PBC – pretty to look at, a pleasure to eat in small doses…maybe I was just getting sugared out by sandwich number four of the evening. Once again, the toasting of the bread and extra round of broiling brought in high marks for texture.

Dave's take ~ Agreed: this was a choc-full experience, bite to bite, and would not easily be consuked regularly. But for a blue moon special, i will certainly revisit. The order and phasing of the heat is pretty important, and attention is required for optimal results. On this evening, it was a great finisher, but would not stand up against the more complex and interesting Stonehenge Ruins.

Angelica on The Weird Sandwich Girl Grows Up – this was something even I would have considered weird as a kid, but a few years older, this was a weird sandwich with class. A little subtle, but I liked it.

Dave's take ~ More cranberries, i wanted for this ambitious entrant. i very much liked the mixture of cream cheese and carrots, seeing the potential for various additives to build on this base. More cinnamon and cranberries, and this could stand over any mid-afternoon summer day sandwich.

Angelica on The Weird Sandwich Girl Flashback – a re-interpretation of my childhood sandwiches (the classic being PBJ w/currents, on rye), this sandwich had the prettiest colours of the night, but lacked the right proportions…too much jam and too many apricots…much too sweet for an evening sandwich, but with a cup of coffee, this could be my kind of breakfast sandwich.

Dave's take ~ Certainly, this was a flashback. But the scale, in common constrast with other childhood revisitations, was increased. i too would have held back on the volume of jam and apricots and increased the number of hot chocolate flakes. Big points from me for Angelica's daring and bravery with ingredient combo - perhaps it's true that mastery is more easily achieved when one is started on the path at a young age.

The Outcome:

AS: Pan-Galactic, by a mile; WSG Grows Up my runner up
DM: The Pan-Galactic followed by WSG Grows Up