WINNERS IN THE 2014 HOLIDAY COOKIE CONTEST:
First place:
Second place:
Third place:
Honorable Mentions:
A last-minute decision to enter this year’s Dayton Daily News Holiday Cookie Contest has resulted in a grand-prize win for a Miamisburg woman. It’s the second time Jean Schaney has taken top prize.
Three times the usual number of bakers — and 80 dozen cookies — showed up for this year’s competition.
The cooks — mostly women as well as a few men and children — arrived at the Cox Media Center in Dayton on a sunny Monday morning, each with a dozen of their favorite freshly baked and decorated cookies in hand. They came from throughout the Miami Valley and as far away as Minster.
Judges included folks from the community — artist Julie Beyer, community volunteer Greg Sample, and Bryan Bucklew, president of the Greater Dayton Hospital Association. Staff members from Cox Media Group Ohio also participated in the judging.
Winning again
In 2010, when the newspaper decided to reinstate its popular baking contest, Schaney’s Hungarian Butter Cookies — a Linzer-style cookie with apricot preserves, a sprinkling of finely chopped walnuts and a dusting of confectioner’s sugar — wowed the judges.
“I’ve never won anything before. I’m thrilled,” Jean told our reporter in 2010 after learning she’d won the top honor.
Schaney admits she was shocked and “very humbled” once again when her Caramel Snickerdooble Bars took the cake (or cookie) this year in our blind tasting.
Unlike the winning Hungarian Butter Cookies she’d been making for decades at Christmastime for her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, Schaney said this year’s cookie was a quick undertaking — only a weekend from start to finish. On Saturday, at a Kroger store, Schaney purchased a copy of the “Taste of Home Holiday Baking Special Edition for 2014.” On Sunday, she selected a recipe from her new cookbook and baked the cookies for the first time. On Monday she delivered a dozen of the bars for the judges’ consideration. A few days later she learned she’d won first prize.
“Caramel and snickerdoodle are a good combination,” concludes Schaney, a self-taught baker who began to enjoy baking after her retirement.
Cookie judge Greg Sample couldn’t have agreed more. He said he had fond memories of his mother’s and grandmother’s holiday Snickerdoodles and therefore considers himself a “subject matter expert.”
“But these are slightly better than my grandmother’s because they’ve added a filling,” he admitted after tasting Schaney’s creations.
Schaney says recipes are fascinating. Her bucket list includes putting together a book of favorites for her family.
But it seems like her love of the baking art is already being transmitted to future generations; Schaney said among her “fierce competition” for this year’s contest were cookies baked by both her daughter and granddaughter.
But when it comes to cookies and her love of baking, Schaney says it’s not really about competition.
“Love for family and friends will be found in boxes of cookies from my kitchen this year, as Christmases past,” she said.
Here’s is Jean Schaney’s winning recipe for Caramel Snickerdoodle Bars
The recipe, from the “Taste of Home Holiday Baking Special Edition for 2014,” makes four dozen cookies.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cans 13.4 Nestle La Lechera dulce de leche
12 oz. white baking chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup heavy whipped cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper, letting ends extend over sides by 1 inch.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into cream mixture. Spread onto bottom of prepared pan.
3. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle 3 tablespoons of the mixture over batter. Bake 25-30 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
4. Spread dulce de leche over crust. In a small saucepan, combine white baking chocolate, cream and corn syrup; cook and stir over low heat until smooth. Cool slightly. Spread over dulce de leche. Sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar, refrigerate covered at least 1 hour.
5. Lifting with parchment paper, remove from pan. Cut into bars. Refrigerate the leftovers.
‘Cookie Madness’ in Troy
Our second-place winner, Stefanie Swift, says some people call this time of year her “cookie madness.”
“I currently bake anywhere between 1,800 and 2,000 cookies every year,” says Swift, who heads for the kitchen the first of November and has completely filled her deep freeze by Christmas.
The Troy woman, who dreams of starting her own cookie business someday, says she loves baking for the holidays and sharing the special treats. Each year, she delivers cookies to friends, family and local townspeople and ships them as far away as Las Vegas.
“I began baking Christmas cookies as a child along with my Grandma,” Swift explains. “As I got older, I started baking on my own and started to stray from the favorites and try new recipes. Every year, I make it a goal to find new recipes to add to the collection of favorites.”
Swift, super-excited to learn that her Buttermilk Sandies had been chosen as a Dayton Daily News winner, said there’s a funny story behind them.
“I actually made the recipe up after I tasted a cookie from a fancy bakery several years ago and loved the flavor but decided that it needed one thing — REAL BUTTER,” she confides. She said she “played around” with various ingredients before coming up with the final recipe that has now become a family favorite.
Originally from Central Pennsyvania, Swift says when she was growing up a cookie table was always very popular at weddings.
“This is a tradition that originates in Pittsburgh,” she explains, adding that people often ask her if the cookie table replaces the wedding cake.
“No, we have both!” she informs them. “I have baked cookies for many weddings over the years, including my own!”
Cookie baking has become a “huge” part of her family’s Christmas tradition.
“Many family members have certain favorites, and I enjoy making ones that I know each person likes,” explains Swift, who takes a picture of her cookie tray each Christmas Eve to see how it changes each year.
But the real joy, she says, is in the giving.
“I love baking the cookies, and I love the look on people’s faces when we deliver them,” she said.
Stefanie’s Buttercream Sandies
Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter
¾ cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
Frosting:
½ cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk
2 to 2½ cups confectioner’s sugar
Directions:
Cream butter, confectioner’s sugar and vanilla. Add flour until combined. Stir in nuts. Chill for 1 hour.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls, place on an ungreased cookie sheet and gently flatten. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly brown on bottom. Cool completely.
Sprinkle cooled cookies with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and frost however you like. I like to use a piping bag with a large star tip and add sprinkles.
Devouring Snowmen
Jennifer Brumby’s yummy little snowmen were a definite hit with judges and were named the third — place winner in this year’s contest.
“They are fun and quick to make,” the Washington Twp. baker says about the basic cookie she makes year-round using chocolate chip cookie dough and dark chocolate Reese’s cups. She adapts them for the holidays by frosting the edges with melted white chocolate, sprinkling edible white dust on the chocolate to resemble snow and painting faces — using black gel for coal eyes and mouth and orange gel for a carrot nose.
“These mini snowmen melts are great treats because they are perfect for any holiday festivity and are a durable cookie to ship in the mail,” says Brumby, who credits her grandmother with teaching her to bake at a young age.
She taught me, “if you can read, you can cook,” remembers Brumby, who says her grandmother traditionally began baking holiday cookies in November and making a different cookie each week.
“She stored the cookies in her wine cellar until the holidays,” Brumby says. “She made platters of cookies for family, friends and neighbors.”
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Mini Snowmen Melts
Ingredients
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup white sugar
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
2 cups white chocolate chips (reserve ½ cup)
1 package of mini white chocolate Reese’s Cups
white edible dust or sprinkles
1 tube of black food gel
1 tube of orange food gel
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl, combine flour, soda and salt. Mix well, set aside.
In a large bowl with a mixer, blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix until it forms a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until fully combined.
Add the flour mixture, macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips, and blend on low speed until just combined. Do not over-mix.
Drop by rounded spoonfuls into mini muffin tin. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Move immediately to cooling rack.
Place one mini white chocolate Reese’s Cup in the center of each cookie. Gently press down.
When cookies have cooled completely, remove from tin.
Melt remaining white chocolate chips using a double broiler.
Frost edges of cookie with melted white chocolate. Sprinkle edible white dust on top of chocolate to resemble snow. Paint snowmen on each mini Reese’s cup, using black gel for coal eyes and mouth and orange gel for a carrot nose.
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Special honor
A special award went to Tracy Turner of Troy for her plate of gorgeous sugar cookies with royal icing. They won Best Decorated Cookie for the 2014 contest.
Judges were impressed by the colorful red-and-green beauties that were shaped and decorated to resemble tree ornaments, Christmas trees and even mittens.
Thanks all around
Our thanks to all who participated in this year’s contest. The judges had their work cut out for them this year. There were so many delicious and beautifully presented cookies and such a variety of flavors.
Note that we do not test the recipes, but present them exactly as they’ve been shared with us by bakers.
Cookies that remained after the judging were sold to employees, with proceeds benefiting Valley Food Relief.
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