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All-American Recipe Wins 2016 Grilled Cheese Academy Recipe Showdown

9/15/2016

Grand Prize Winner Combines Apple Pie, Churros and Wisconsin Cheese for Ultimate Sweet and Savory Treat

Madison, Wis. – After a record-breaking number of entries to the 2016 Grilled Cheese Academy Recipe Showdown, the judges have chosen a winner. The All-American, created by Grace Gutierrez of Longmont, Colorado, beat out over 2,000 entries with its innovative combination of sweet and savory flavors to win the Gold and a $15,000 grand prize.

Gutierrez paired Wisconsin aged cheddar and mascarpone with a gooey homemade apple pie filling layered atop churro-battered challah bread. Guttierez is a baker and artist and drew inspiration from her Hispanic heritage and favorite sweet treats: churros and spiced apples. She plans to use her $15,000 grand prize to return to school.

Gutierrez's creation wasn't the only grilled cheese to shine among the competition. The Silver award-winning sandwich, The Bloody Mary, features a medley of Wisconsin cheese curds, mozzarella and parmesan topped with a Bloody Mary relish of heirloom tomatoes, celery leaves and bacon, and served on homemade parmesan-olive bread. The Bronze award-winning sandwich, The Speakeasy, raises a glass to Wisconsin havarti and gouda, paired with caramelized bourbon-brown sugar apricots, candied bacon, marmalade-mustard spread and fried sage leaves, all served on buttery slices of pumpernickel. The Silver and Bronze winners received $5,000 and $3,000, respectively.

Judges from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board also named three Judge's Choice sandwiches. The Cocina, The Southern Charm and The Beale Street each received $1,500, inclusion in the 2016 Grilled Cheese Recipe Showdown Book of Champions and a Wisconsin cheese gift basket.

Presented by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and Wisconsin cheese, the Grilled Cheese Academy Recipe Showdown invited contestants from around the country to create the tastiest, most unique grilled Wisconsin cheese sandwich. Now in its fifth year, the contest collected 33 percent more recipes than in 2015 – resulting in 2,288 creative entries from cheese-lovers throughout the U.S.


Download a photo of The All-American. To view all of the winning recipes, including the Judges Choice winners, visit GrilledCheeseAcademy.com. Complete recipes for all of the winning sandwiches are also available for download in the Grilled Cheese Academy's 2016 Grilled Cheese Recipe Showdown Book of Champions.

For additional grilled cheese recipe photos or information, contact Abby Despins at adespins@wmmb.org or 608-203-7235. For more information about Wisconsin cheese, visit EatWisconsinCheese.com.