J.League clubs across Japan participated in Another Levain Cup, their annual recipe contest featuring the "Levain PRIME SNACK," a key product of Yamazaki Biscuits Co., Ltd., the title sponsor of the 2021 J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP.

With each club using the “Levain PRIME SNACK” crackers as a main ingredient, the teams demonstrated their creativity and hometown pride, submitting a variety of sweet and savory recipes that in many cases featured local delicacies and club-specific iconography.

For a third consecutive year, V・Varen Nagasaki took the crown, coming in first place with their tasty, crunchy treat that uses crushed Levain PRIME crackers in a blend of mashed potatoes, chopped onion, and ground beef, which is then fried until golden brown.

The other places on the podium were reserved for Kashiwa Reysol and Oita Trinita. Reysol’s sugary, iced biscuits were a hit that earned second-place honors with a set of creative club designs. Check out these amazing yellow-and-black biscuits with Yuta Kamiya!

Third-place Oita Trinita earned the bronze with “Oita Prefecture Shine Berry Red Sandwiches,” which blend local grapes, raspberries, and sweet potatoes into a “trinity of deliciousness” that holds together a complex PRIME SNACK sandwich. Now, that's a sweet, produce-packed treat!

You can see all of the recipes from Another Levain Cup below and be sure to tune into the final of the actual 2021 J.LEAGUE YBC Levain CUP on October 30th, live on YouTube!

V・Varen Nagasaki ingredients:

Levain Prime Snack

Eggs

Flour

Oil (using olive oil from Nagasaki prefecture)

Potatoes (using new potatoes from Nagasaki Prefecture)

Onion

Ground beef (Nagasaki Wagyu beef)

Salt and pepper

Recipe:

Finely chop onions.

Put potatoes in a heatproof bowl, cover with plastic wrap, microwave at 500W for 5 minutes, and mash with a masher while it's still hot.

Saute ground beef over medium heat.

As the color of meat is changing, add chopped onions and saute over medium heat.

When the onions start to soften, add salt and pepper, and when the meat is cooked, remove from heat.

Add meat into mashed potatoes, mix, and roll into desired size.

Crush the Levain Prime Snacks into small pieces.

Put on flour, beaten egg, and crushed Levain Prime Snacks to the dough.

Pour the oil into a frying pan and heat to 200°C. Deep-fry for about 3 minutes until golden brown, then drain the oil.

Arrange on a plate and finish!

Kashiwa Reysol ingredients:

Levain Prime Snack - 10 pieces

1 tablespoon dried egg white*

150g powdered sugar with oligosaccharide

2-3 tbsp water (add little by little to adjust texture)

Food coloring of your choice (gel type is recommended)

*If you don't have dried egg white, egg whites are a substitute

Recipe:

Sieve dried egg white and powdered sugar with oligosaccharide into one bowl.

Add water a little by little and mix all together with a fork or similar tool until the mixture is no longer powdery.

Mix with a hand mixer (on high speed) for at least 5 minutes, and adjust the consistency so that it bows slightly at the corners.

Put the icing cream in a container and cover with a wet cloth to prevent it from drying out.

Divide the icing cream into small portions and color them as you like. Fill the cornet with one third of the icing cream as it is (for lines), and soften the rest by adding a little water and fill the cornet (for filling).

Cut the tip of the cornet with scissors and draw on the Levain Prime Snack, squeezing out the lines with the hard cream and the fills with the soft one.

Let it dry thoroughly overnight and you're done!

Oita Trinita ingredients:

Levain Prime Snack - 2 pieces

2 Shine Muscat grapes from Oita Prefecture

1 raspberry from Oita Prefecture

50g "Beni Haruka" sweet potatoes from Oita Prefecture

Fresh cream

Recipe:

Sandwich sweet potatoes — specifically, Oita Prefecture's famous brand ""Beni Haruka"" — between two pieces of the Levain Prime Snacks.

Put whipped cream on top of the Levan Prime Snacks, and then decorate the top with two Oita Prefecture Shine Muscat grapes, cut into four equal pieces each, for a total of eight pieces in a circular shape.

Lastly, top the center with an Oita Prefecture raspberry to complete.