Incline Village, Nev., siblings Sequoia and Reeve Denton took First Place in the Tahoe Weekly’s 5th Annual Christmas Cookie & Holiday Treats contest.
Entries were scored on appearance, texture and flavor by the Tahoe Weekly staff, along with our special guest judge, 4-year-old Anna Ganong.
“You had me at candy cane,” commented one judge on the winning entry named “Christmas love it is …”
The chocolate, heart-shaped cookies were inspired by candy canes, said 10-year-old Sequoia of the winning creation. Mom Phoebe says Sequoia and her 6-year-old brother Reeve came up the idea on their own and did all the baking themselves, joking that the homeschooled kids watch a lot of cooking shows.
“Chocolate peppermint Christmas love,” another judge noted of the cookies. “You can tell how much fun these guys had making these tasty cookies.”
Stephanie Maisenbach of Homewood won 2nd Place in the contest with her English Toffee, and took 3rd for her Snickerdoodle Cookies.
The judges all enjoyed the butteriness of the toffee. “It melts in your mouth,” noted one of the judges.
Our award-winning bakers also previously placed in our Cookie Contest. Sequoia took 2nd Place in 2014 for her “The 12 Reindeers of Christmas” cookies, while Stephanie took 3rd Place in 2014 for her Butter Cookies. Both recipes are available at TheTahoeWeekly.com.
Thank you to all the delicious entries that we received this year. We look forward to enjoying more delights at the 6th Annual Christmas Cookie & Holiday Dessert Contest in 2017. Happy Holidays!
1st Place
Christmas love it is …
Sequoia & Reeve Denton
1 stick reindeer unsalted butter
¾ cup Santa sugar
1 egg
¼ tsp. elf peppermint extract
1¼ C snowflake flour
½ tsp St. Nick’s baking soda
1/3 Ms. Clause’s cocoa powder
¼ tsp holly salt
½ tsp ornament baking powder
1 candy cane from the evergreen tree
⅓ C semisweet chocolate from us
Bake with love at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 Polar Express minutes.
2nd Place
English Toffee
Stephanie Maisenbach
1 lb. butter
2 C sugar
4 T water
Bring all the above to a boil. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until amber color.
Turn onto foil. Break when hard about an hour. Taste better if it sets overnight.
3rd Place
Snickerdoodle Cookies
Stephanie Maisenbach
1 C butter
1½ C sugar
3 large eggs
2¾ C flour
2 t cream of tartar
2 t Vanilla
1 t baking soda
Pinch of salt
Mix all above ingredients, roll about 1-inch balls in following mixture. Put on cookie sheet bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
Roll in a mixture of 3 T sugar, 3 t cinnamon.
Thank you to our judges: Anna Ganong, Alyssa Ganong, Priya Hutner, Anne Artoux & Katherine E. Hill
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Try the tasty creations from our past Cookie Contest winners:
2015
2014
2013
2012
