The Chicago’s Best TV show visited Forest Park again on Nov. 1, filming Twisted Cookie as part of a cookie crawl to be aired in the coming weeks. Host Elliott Bambrough said viewers nominated Twisted Cookie, 7401 Madison St., to be featured in the themed episode, which will feature five restaurants from across the city and suburbs.
“Based on what I’ve seen today, they actually offer something that’s unique, which is the cupcake cookies,” Bambrough said. “So that obviously appealed to our audience. Our producers saw it and were like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy and interesting, let’s go and check them out.'”
Bambrough spent the day learning how to make Twisted Cookie’s turtle cookie cupcakes, which are a variation on the classic turtle confection. When he talked to the Review, he hadn’t yet finished making the cookie but said the frosting tasted “insanely good.”
“If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you can’t go wrong. You stack two cookies and put chocolate cheesecake frosting inside. I mean that is a defining moment for me,” he said.
Bambrough said Chicago’s Best has previously visited Junction Diner, Shanahan’s and many other Forest Park establishments. He said he’s also involved with the local nonprofit Opportunity Knocks, which works with young adults with learning disabilities.
“We’ve been out with Chicago’s Best to Forest Park many times before in the past, so it’s a community we know and a community that we love,” he said. “Support local mom-and-pop stores, those are the ones that are doing some serious good in the community. Shop local and help this area become even bigger and better than it is.”
Owner Joana Fischer said she found out Chicago’s Best would feature Twisted Cookie on Oct. 30, two days before they came out to tape the show. She said she loves the show and, when she saw online that Bambrough wanted to do a cookie crawl, she rallied fans to nominate her business.
“We create cookies with a twist. We have some traditions, but a lot of the things I try to come up with I want to give them a twist,” Fischer said. “We’ve turned a cupcake into a cookie, we’ve turned pies into cookies, we’ve recently turned cheese cake into cookies. So it’s just taking the dessert idea and trying to do something creative and fun with it.”
CONTACT: ntepper@wjinc.com
