“Hot & Spicy” defeated “Crunchy Rolls” on Friday to be declared champions of Chopped University, a cooking competition hosted by Troy University Dining Services (TDS).

The competition followed the same format as the Food Network television show “Chopped.”

The two teams survived the first two rounds of the contest to make it into the final round, where they competed to make the best dessert using donuts, M&M’s, peanut butter cookies and ricotta cheese. The contestants could also include any ingredients that they could find around the dining hall.

The “Hot and Spicy” team decided to use the ingredients to craft peanut butter pancakes with ricotta cheese and M&M’s topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce.

The “Crunchy Rolls” team took a different route, opting to turn the M&M’s and ricotta to make a chocolate syrup to drizzle over the donuts.

In the end, the judges decided that the “Hot and Spicy” team’s decision to top the pancakes with ice cream paid off enough to give them the victory.

“The ice cream really did a lot for it,” judge Michael Wonderly, TDS operations manager, told the team. “I was worried when you finished so early that the pancake wouldn’t be warm, but it tastes really good.”

Wonderly said that the like the crunch provided by the donuts in the pancakes and also like the color of the inside of the pancakes, the melted M&M’s creating a rainbow of colors in the dish.

Sabrina Weinschreider and Emaghan Parker were the winning duo that competed as “Hot & Spicy.” The team has competed in competitions before and both Weinschreder and Parker have had first-place dishes at the Alabama National Fair.

Parker said that they were both confident and nervous about the competition.

“Our competitors had a lot of talent, especially ‘Crunchy Rolls’,” said Parker. “They were the ones we were most afraid of.”

The team almost didn’t make it out of the first round, where the challenge required using tortillas, sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese and peaches in an appetizer.

“We knew appetizers weren’t our thing,” Weinschreider said. “We were grateful to make it through that round.”

Instead, team “Chopped & Screwed” was eliminated in the round, but judge Jackie Harris, TDS chef, warned the team that they were close to elimination.

“Chopped and Screwed” competitors were Tony Chavez, McKenzie Kayler and Jacob Grant.

Parker and Weinschreider made a grapefruit and soy sauce stir-fry with chicken breaded in Rice Krispie Treat cereal in the entrée round.

Students Jasmyn Gray, Deaira Skanes and Stephanie Willis, competing as team “One K,” were eliminated in the entrée round.

“Crunchy Rolls” members were Gerron Kent, Betsy Chisholm, Kasey Gossman and Nakaia Mays.

Elizabeth Chisholm, TDS marketing manager, said that the event was a big success and that they are hoping to hold the competition again next semester.

Parker and Weinschreider said they want to come back and defend their title.