One of the highlights to my year includes judging the annual Dessert First charity fundraiser for the Girl Scouts of West Central Florida.

The fifth annual event took place last night at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club, in St. Petersburg.

Eight local chefs created Girl Scout Cookie-themed desserts using Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Tagalongs, Dulce de Leches and Do-Si-Dos. Along with the judges’-choice “Golden Whisk” award, attendees voted for the “Silver Whisk” award. The event aimed to raise $50,000 for scouting activities in central and north-central Florida.

Chefs participating this year included:

* Richard Bottini of Six Tables in Tampa

* Ben Bowman of Mitchell’s Fish Market

* Craig Chapman of Soul Restaurant Group

* Britt Golson of Cafe Dufrain

* Tyson Grant of Parkshore Grill

* Jonathan Luft of InterContinental Tampa

* Mike Moreland of Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club

* Adam Hall of Maggiano’s Little Italy

Co-judge Ernest Hooper at the St. Pete Times and I agreed that every one of the desserts was tremendous this year. Every one. But our judges’ choice this year went to Richard Bottini at Six Tables, whose Guava Butter Tart with Dulce de Leches was outstanding. (The industrial-sized recipe is at the bottom of this post.)

For the record, Bottini couldn’t be there - his wife Amy said something about having to serve dinner to customers or something frivolous like that - so she handed out the desserts in his place.

Unlike some of the other desserts, which sprinkled the cookies on or used them as a crust instead of as a central ingredient, this tart (pictured above) was a great use of the new Girl Scout Dulce de Leche cookie and local guava flavor. Surrounded by a moat of orange citrus glaze and it was a perfect mixture of flavors and texture. Perfect serving size as well, too. A larger version would have been too much.

The people’s choice went to Mike Moreland of the Renaissance Vinoy, who created a light Samoas cake that had all kinds of creamy, delicious textures and layers.

I commented to Mike how surprised I was that a dense cookie like the Samoas, which has heavy coconut in it, could get so fluffy.

I was serious when I said that each one of them had great qualities.

Britt Golson’s Thin Mint Truffle was silky smooth.

The Thin Mint Bailey’s cupcakes were a great idea. You can never go wrong with Bailey’s.

Tyson Grant’s dessert was such an awesome combination of textures and flavors. The peanut brittle was delicious. Paired with berry caviar and the Tagalong mousse, it was one surprise after another.

I always look forward to Maggiano’s desserts. Their Do-Si-Do cheesecake was extremely creamy.

Jonathan Luft’s meringue pops were probably the most difficult to do, considering he had to freeze the meringue, drip hot chocolate on the pop, sprinkle it with cookie, freeze again, roll, drape with more chocolate, dust with cookie and freeze again. It was a great combination of light meringue, decadent chocolate and cookie.

It’s a horrible photo, but I enjoyed the Dulce de Leche Cookie Pudding by Craig Chapman. With the raspberries, caramel, creme fraiche and mint, it was a great deconstruction that let diners combine however they liked.

To see more photos of the desserts and the evening, click here.

GUAVA BUTTER TART WITH DULCE DE LECHES

1 pound butter

8 cups brown sugar

4 eggs

8 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 boxes Dulce de Leche cookies, cubed

1 pound guava paste, cubed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Crema butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time to incorporate. In a separate bowl, fold together guava, cookies, butter and sugar. Sift flour and baking powder and fold in just until well-mixed.

Pour into buttered and floured pan and bake until set but moist. Allow to cool and enjoy.

Serves 6 to 8 persons.