There’s rarely a month that goes by when we aren’t thinking about cookies. And while readers haven’t even baked this year’s winning batch of cookies, we’re already planning the 24th annual Minnesota Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest.
But as we close out this year’s contest by crowning five new cookies — one winner and four finalists — and start the holiday season on a sweet note, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at how it’s done.
First, review
After mingling with bakers at our annual Cookie Wonderland event, we talk about ways we can improve both the contest and event. A conversation with a reader, for example, led to the creation of a separate cookie contest email address and an automated response confirming that entries have been received.
Call for entries
As soon as the Minnesota State Fair ends, the contest begins. Bakers are given about six weeks to hone their recipes, although many start fine-tuning long before that. Our first entry arrived the week we announced the contest, but the three days before the deadline are the busiest. (Let’s hear it for the procrastinators!)
Culling entries
Taste editor Nicole Hvidsten and assistant Taste editor Nancy Ngo spent hours reading all the recipes and stories. We pay attention to originality, similarities to past winners and the story behind the cookie. We began with about 150 entries and sent 24 recipes to the final testing round. If there are similar entries, like four cookies featuring flavors of Dubai chocolate, it’s a good sign that one should make it to the final round — but only one.
The baking
As soon as we have our finalists, we send the recipes to the chefs who lead our judging — retired pastry chef Amy Carter and culinary instructor Matt Deutsch. The 24 cookie recipes are baked in Deutsch’s classroom at Burnsville High School, which has several baking stations. Carter and friends shop for ingredients throughout the week. (This year’s list included 24 pounds of flour, 15 pounds of sugar, 14 pounds of powdered sugar, 7 pounds of brown sugar, 16 pounds of butter and five dozen eggs.) On a Friday afternoon, a team of bakers and student helpers ascend and mix up all the doughs, noting any details that would help us evaluate. The following morning, the crew returns to bake all the cookies and complete the finishing touches.
The judging
Next, the panel of judges arrives. We rotate every year, with the only constants being Carter, Deutsch and the Taste staff. This year’s panel also included cookbook authors Zoë François and Sarah Kieffer, who is also a Star Tribune baking columnist, Star Tribune Food & Culture editor Sue Campbell and Jeanne Lasko, who won the opportunity through the Minnesota Les Dames d’Escoffier auction. This year, we kept the stories and bakers’ identities under wraps until we narrowed our two dozen cookies to a dozen. Then the questions and debating began. We left the school two hours later, full of both cookies and enthusiasm for this year’s winner and four finalists.
The photographing
We lock in the food photography-styling team of Dennis Becker and Lisa Golden Schroeder in the spring; the talented team photographs the cookies in Becker’s Roseville studio, working in tandem with the Star Tribune’s photo editing and Taste teams. It takes four-plus hours to do the shoot, and that doesn’t take into account the baking and setup done beforehand.
