Meet the bakers behind the 2025 Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest winning cookies

Holiday baking is all about tradition. And one of the traditions of the Star Tribune’s annual contest is to ask contestants to tell the story behind the cookie. This year, the stories are as compelling as ever.

For the second year, we have an elementary schooler among our winning bakers; he was inspired by a local cookbook author and the Minnesota winter. Two bakers are familiar to those who follow the baking competitions at the Minnesota State Fair; both are past Supreme Baker winners, and one has made our cookie tray for the first time. Two friends with a shared love of reading and mixology crafted a cocktail-inspired recipe, and our final baker is passionate about baking, even though her winning recipe is a no-bake cookie.

All of these recipes belong on your holiday cookie tray and are delicious additions to our Cookie Finder. Find their recipes — and all the other past winners — at startribune.com/cookies.

Baker: Smith Schuster, Minneapolis

The scoop: Chocolate-espresso shortbread cookies as dark as a Minnesota winter night, with gold sprinkles twinkling like stars. Inspired by Zoë François’ Granny’s Espresso Shortbread and adapted from a recipe by Rosemary Molloy of anitalianinmykitchen.com.

Sweet inspiration: Ten-year-old Smith, a fifth-grader at Lake Harriet Elementary, attended last year’s Cookie Wonderland event, where he met François and snapped up a copy of her book “Zoë Bakes Cookies.” The first cookies he made from the book were caramelized white chocolate sables, which was the jumping-off point for this year’s winning cookie.

Mix and match: “I liked the caramelized chocolate and the shortbread going together, and then I saw the granny espresso cookies and those looked good. I love chocolate, I love shortbread and I love espresso, so then I thought why don’t I combine them all into one really good cookie?”

Room for experimenting: Smith toyed with the idea of caramelizing chocolate or caramel and rolling it into the cookie dough, but simplified it for the contest to make it an easy Christmas cookie that still looks pretty. He also tried versions using all black cocoa, which was “really bittersweet,” but settled on a mix of black cocoa and Dutch process cocoa. For the sparkles, Smith also experimented with gold leaf and his recipe lists that as an option. He ultimately preferred easier-to-find gold sprinkles.

Judge’s comments: “Very beautiful, and very sophisticated for a 10-year-old!” “It’s almost like biscotti in that it has that texture you want to eat.” “What a way to embrace the darkest season.”

A cookie household: Mom Summer Chevalier Schuster says they are steady cookie bakers throughout the year, and right before the holidays she’ll splurge and pick up cookies from a bunch of local bakeries. “If we baked cookies in advance, would they even last until Christmas? No, we have a family of six. They’d be gone the day we make them.” But when they do bake, Smith is fond of the classic peanut blossoms and buckeyes.

Beyond cookies: Smith says he got his start making cake and cupcakes from a boxed cake mix. But he’s in the big leagues now. “For baking, I like a carrot cake, and I like shortbreads. Making them, rolling them into a log and cutting them is really fun. And for cooking, I like making a stir-fried rice.” (Carrot cake has been Smith’s birthday cake of choice for quite some time, mom reports.)

Outside of the kitchen: Reading, play with friends, the trampoline and video games are all some of his favorite activities. He plays the cello, too.

Baker: Candy Freeman, Melrose, Minn.

The scoop: A chance encounter with a new ingredient inspired this blue-ribbon baker to create something entirely new.

Freeman was in San Francisco with her husband when she happened upon a coffee drink flavored with pistachio butter. Always on the hunt for new ingredients, she was thrilled to find the product on the shelf at her hometown Walmart.

“I constantly learn,” she said. After poring through her nearly 500 cookbook collection, she pulled together some of her favorite techniques and flavors for the final entry. “I made the recipe once and they were just so good!” And the little foil cups make a pretty addition to any cookie platter.

Marjorie Johnson stamp of approval: Freeman is a regular at the Minnesota State Fair, where she’s entered baked goods every year since 1996 — even winning the coveted Supreme Baker award in 2023. Through the years, she got to know Marjorie Johnson, who is perhaps the best-known State Fair baker of all time (Johnson passed away this fall). “She was a good friend of mine,” said Freeman. “I would love to be telling Marjorie about this. Last year I gave her some and she thought that these were so good they should win.”

Baking the world a better place: “If a recipe doesn’t work by the second try, I’ll throw it away,” said Freeman. But she loves to share — both her baking successes and all the knowledge she’s gleaned. “I’m never a recipe snob. I will always share my recipes.” She’s hooked on the thrill of competing, but more so the chance to share what she’s made. “Everyone in my little town comes up to me and asks what I’m making. I bake and I give it away.” She says bakers are the best people, and Minnesotans love to bake. Putting a little sweetness and generosity in the world is the kind of good we all can share, Freeman said.

Judges’ comments: “Unassuming but delicious — well-balanced and great texture." “You can’t eat just one.” “It’s like pistachio is having a big moment right now, so lean right into it.” “It’s very festive, too.”

Baker’s tip: Freeman said that the Grand Mariner could be optional, but urges bakers not to skimp on other ingredients. Use quality butter, brown sugar and “I just love Ghirardelli chocolate.” (Joy Summers)

Bakers: Kelly Holland and Teza Vakoc, Plymouth

The scoop: Two book club friends, inspired by an Elin Hilderbrand novel, put a literary twist — and a shared love of mixology — into a new cookie.

Literary inspo: The idea sparked during a neighborhood book club discussion of “The Five-Star Weekend.” A Paloma cookie appeared in the novel, and Holland wanted to replicate it. She started by developing a grapefruit-forward cookie. “We all thought it was great, but it was not really a Paloma,” she said. “It probably should have had some lime in it as well.” That’s when Vakoc suggested a tequila-infused frosting. The two divided the work — Holland on the cookie, Vakoc on the buttercream — and spent a day swapping versions, tweaking citrus levels and testing salt-to-sugar ratios until the components finally clicked. “We both had a bite and looked at each other like, oh gosh, this is really good,” Vakoc said.

When they started developing the garnish, they approached it the way you’d engineer the perfect salted rim. “We were cautious” at first, Vakoc said. “But where we landed is, we wanted to give you that blast of salt, which we felt really ended up complementing the sweetness and the citrus in the cookie.” The final mix brought the crunch and sparkle they wanted.

How mixology led to friendship: Their collaboration was rooted in an early pandemic friendship built on cocktails. They live a few doors apart in Plymouth’s Creekside Hills neighborhood, but their conversations first started online.

“We were complimenting each other’s cocktails we were posting on Instagram — like, ‘Wow, that’s a really cool syrup that you made,’ or ‘What is your favorite gin?’” Holland said. That shared interest in mixology made a cocktail-inspired cookie feel natural.

Why a cocktail can be a holiday cookie: The duo believes it fits the season surprisingly well. Grapefruit is a winter fruit (both Holland and Vakoc like to put winter citrus in their kids’ stockings). And the cookie’s shimmer gives it a celebratory edge. “It hits a lot of those holiday, feel-good, special moments, in a mature and kind of elevated way,” Vakoc said. It also is the perfect pairing for a morning-after-the-holiday brunch sipper, “like you’ve made it to the finish line and it’s time to relax and unwind,” Vakoc added.

Bakers’ tip: Salt crystals matter. The garnish relies on larger, crunchy crystals — not finely ground salt — to avoid overpowering the cookie. As Holland put it, “Salt can vary wildly. Taste your mix and adjust it to what you’re using.” They also note the cookie works beautifully with a nonalcoholic frosting: Swap tequila for grapefruit juice, or even a zero-proof tequila to preserve the citrus-and-agave profile. The salt topping goes a long way to evoking that cocktail flavor, no matter what’s in the frosting. (Sharyn Jackson)

Baker: Frannie Seitz, Minneapolis

The scoop: A wintry mix of chocolate, mint, pretzels and caramel that was inspired by Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar Bake Club Peppermint Bark Snaps. Homemade caramels take this quick, no-bake treat over the top, and crushed candy canes make it pop on a cookie tray.

Baking by sleuthing: “Whether I’m cooking or baking, I love to get inspired by what I see out there,” Seitz said. When she first saw Milk Bar’s minty version on Instagram, there was no recipe. “But I could kind of decipher what the layers were within it, so I made it my own.” Her original cookie used now-discontinued Nabisco chocolate wafers, so Oreo Thins are the new base. “Now they’re even more sugar-loaded, but they’re delicious.”

A dynamic duo: “My husband [Alec Arthur] is the one that always makes the caramels every year for friends and family, so we love to put those in for a little bit of an extra treat,” Seitz said. “It’s a labor of love — they take four hours to make. We usually do a double batch, and once he gets all that done I know it’s go time."

Judge’s comments: “This one’s all about the kids.” “You might think that you’re too good for this cookie, but you aren’t.” “It’s like a present with a bunch of surprises inside.” “It tastes like it’s an updated cookie from the ‘90s, which we can all think about. It’s nostalgia.”

A great friend to have: Seitz says she cooks out of necessity, but baking is her passion. Each year, she has friends and family choose their celebratory treat. “They always get to decide,” she said. “And if they come up with something new, I love that even more because then I get to try a new recipe ... and it feels like a challenge that I’m always up for.”

Speaking of challenges: A layered crepe cake for her mom’s birthday or Mother’s Day several years ago ranks among the most complex things she’s made. “It was also a challenge to not turn it into the Leaning Tower.”

Love at first bite: When she and her husband met more than a decade ago, he baked her Marry Me Cookies, a rendition of oatmeal chocolate chip and brown butter. “Now those have been a tradition for any event between the two of us,” she said. They married last year, and she baked them for him. “I kind of turned it around and made it full circle.”

A family of bakers: Both of Seitz’s grandmothers loved to bake; one was an ornate baker and decorated cakes for birthdays, the other a baker who had several recipes in community and church cookbooks. “One of her classics is a zucchini bread that everyone in our family loves to make for every holiday,” she said. “My husband randomly baked that for me the day before I went into labor a few weeks ago, and that’s what got us through the delivery and postpartum, which was so sweet. I think she knew she needed to be with us through that moment.” (Nicole Hvidsten)

The scoop: A buttery shortbread cookie with a creamy caramel-like filling and peppery finish. The cookies are a modification from Paola Velez’s “Bodega Bakes” cookbook.

A State Fair baker: Cope is not new to entering baking contests. As a regular Minnesota State Fair contestant for the past 30 years, she constantly experiments with recipes for cookies, cakes, breads and other categories.

Banner year: Cope walked away with two 2025 State Fair sweepstakes awards in the International Baking (for her puff pastry sweet rolls) and Yeast Breads, Sweet Dough (for her cinnamon rolls) categories. She was also crowned with the prestigious Supreme Baker title for overall excellence. “It was a very good year for me,” she reflected.

Perennial cookie contestant: Cope is also a fierce Star Tribune cookie contest competitor, entering at least a dozen times. In 2016, she was a finalist for her Almond Ricotta Bars and received the People’s Choice Award at a tasting event at the Star Tribune headquarters. Her strategy is to study past cookie winners to identify common themes as well as draw inspiration from in general. This year, she came up with seven recipe contenders that included global, herbal, citrusy, tart and boozy notes and whittled it down from there.

“Some of the more unusual ingredients they contained were basil, spiced rum, guava preserves, tart cherry juice, champagne, muscovado sugar and black pepper,” she said.

She also rolled the dough thinner and made the cutouts smaller. “I wanted to make it festive to include on a holiday cookie plate,” she said. “I personally like smaller cookies, because then maybe you could try two instead of just having one.”

Judge’s comments: “Such a good cookie.” “A great thing to have at the end of the big meal.” “It’s a socializing cooking — you want to have people over for coffee." “They feel special.”

Rolling with it: In addition to the cookie-cutter method, Cope added that alternatives to the recipe are to form small balls with the dough and flatten with a measuring cup. Or, take the entire batch, form it into a wheel and slice thin. To make them even more decorative, “cut the dough with a fluted pastry wheel.”

No matter which method, the baking time is generally the same as long as you adhere to the ⅛-inch flat rule. Meanwhile, depending on the size of the cutouts, the amount yielded per batch can vary by as much as half. “I ended up getting 40 sandwich cookies when following this recipe precisely, but you can do whatever shape,” she said. (Nancy Ngo)