Author: Cyndi Harles

Oatmeal Cookie Sliders

Oatmeal Cookie Sliders: chewy oatmeal cookies sandwich a creamy rich filling in this blue ribbon winning cookie from the Arkansas State Fair.

Oatmeal cookies are a classic. The reason why is they are delicious and easy to make. So are these oatmeal cookie sliders.. I love it when winners put a fun spin on an quintessential cookie. A couple other all-time favorites are these “slider-like” sweet treats and these “twisted” peanut butter cookies.

Recipe credit goes to Rhonda Hull, who took first place for them back in 2014. One taste and you will agree: they are a winner! The mouth feel of these cookies are marvelous and you will not want to stop at one.

-Cyndi

Toasted Pecan Honey Squares

These simple and scrumptious Toasted Pecan Honey Squares are a winning sweet treat. They come from Cheryl Adkins, a home baking exhibitor at the 2015 Ohio State Fair. She won second place for these shortbread cookie bars topped with a pecan-pie type “filling.” They recall the beauty of a classic pecan pie and remind us how tasty it is to add pecans to any dessert, like with this THIS cheesecake.

With just 8 ingredients, you’ll have these out of the oven in no time!

The hardest part of this toasted pecan honey squares recipe is waiting long enough for them to cool. They are tender and chewy with just a touch gooey… and oh so good!

-Cyndi

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

The classic peanut butter cookie is reinvented with these Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies. Minnesota State Fair contester Loretta Ratajczyk created these. The simple but inventive additions of chocolate, chopped peanuts, and crushed vanilla wafers, paid off! Loretta won 1st place and blue ribbon bragging rights in our special cookie contest back in 2013 .

What also makes these peanut butter cookies so incredibly tasty is her addition of almond flavoring. Just wait until you try these! They are also easy and fun to make. In fact, my daughter Olivia enjoyed helping me this time around. Check out the steps below to see how we put together these award-winning cookies.

Step-By-Step: Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

While your oven warms up (set to 375 degrees F), mix together the sugars, butter, shortening, peanut butter, and egg.

Here comes what I like to consider the “secret” ingredient- almond flavoring, instead of typical vanilla. Once the batter is mixed, add it in. It really gives the cookie a fantastic flavor. Next combine the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt to the mixture. Get everything mixed together and shape dough into walnut sized balls. Olivia was a fantastic helper during this step.

Dip tops into sugar. Place sugared dough balls on a baking sheet, sugar side up. Crisscross tops with a fork. This step in making peanut butter cookies always makes me think of making them as a child. It’s classic.

Bake 10-11 minutes, or until lightly-browned. Allow to set 5 minutes on cookie sheet. Remove and fully cool.

Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

While cookies are cooling, prepare the topping ingredients. Grind together the peanuts and vanilla wafers. I used a food processor for a finer texture. You could also put the ingredients in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second increments. Loretta has a great tip: to thin the chocolate she adds a generous tablespoon of solid shortening when melting the chocolate. Here is my toppings station.

Dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate. To apply the peanut and vanilla wafer topping, you can either dip the cookie into the mixture, or set the chocolate dipped cookie on a parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with topping. Refrigerate a few minutes for a quick set. I recommend this, because you won’t want to wait to bite into these cookies!

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Another great winner’s tip is to save any leftover peanut/wafer mixture. It can be frozen and used for other desserts. Bonus!

Here’s Olivia proudly displaying her hard work:

Thank you Loretta for a wonderful recipe!

-Crystal

Note: This was previously published on our former website, StateFairRecipes.com. Find another all-time favorite from our archives with this epic cookie here.

Coconut Peanut Butter Power Balls

Coconut Peanut Butter Power Balls: one taste of these and you will think you won the lottery. They are scrumptious and satisfying; perfect for midday snacks or noshing before a workout.

They are also “no-bake,” come together in minutes and can easily be customized with your favorite ingredients.

You don’t even use a stovetop. You use one single bowl instead.

One could even consider these coconut peanut butter power balls a “healthy cookie.” We are fine with a loose definition of the term “cookie.”

These nutritious treats have wheat germ, flaxseed, oatmeal, and coconut oil. Vanilla, honey, maple syrup, and salt will round out all the flavor. Use unsweetened shredded coconut, zero-sugar chocolate chips, and peanut butter made only with peanuts, no oil or sugar added. That way, the recipe becomes a diabetes-friendly treat. You can feel good about eating them. Yay for guilt-free foods!

Preparation Tip

I often do the last mixing by hand, with either food gloves on or freshly washed hands. It helps to squeeze the “dough” tightly in your hand before shaping. You literally squish the “dough.” With this method, you get everything evenly distributed so you can taste all the ingredients in each bite.

I like to toast the coconut and vary up the shapes sometimes. Just be sure you use enough honey and coconut oil, so they can hold together and stay tender. You can also tailor the ingredients to your tastes as well, like add protein powder, chia seeds, and spice blends. Search for more variations on this creation by entering “power ball” in the search bar here, or anywhere else on the site.

I ate A LOT of no-bake cookies growing up. These “Power Balls” have that same chewy texture I love and crave. AND they help you power through the day as an on-the-go snack.

For a final tip. We invite you to come up with your own variation on this recipe. Then look for ways to “healthify” your favorite cookies, cakes, pies, and breads. Find some great tips here.

Cyndi

Rainbow Soba Noodle Salad

This rainbow soba noodle salad combines colorful produce (zucchini, yellow squash, snow peas, carrots, cabbage, and spring onions) with a flavorful ginger sesame dressing. It’s a winning recipe. In fact, we’ve been calling it one of our favorite “winner for dinner” creations.

Sensational Soba Noodles

I made this salad a few weeks ago after hitting a couple of my go-to farmer’s markets: the Lyndale Market, and Mill City farmer’s market. I got a boatload of vegetables plus these great buckwheat soba noodles from Dumpling & Strand, “Noodlers at Large.” Their artwork is awesome too.

These soba noodles are gluten-free and cook up in seconds, like 120 seconds. I really had only used them in one other recipe, a “fast food” one where I thawed some frozen peanut dipping sauce–I had made a quadruple batch last time around and put half cup portions in freezer bags–and simply mixed it in with some noodles and a tiny bit of water. It is like a 2 ingredient salad. Like I said: fast food.

This time however, I imagined something with a bit more heat and a lighter, vinaigrette-type dressing. That’s how this rainbow soba noodle salad came to be. I love the chili oil in it. It goes great with the sesame oil/liquid aminos combo. Well, the salad turned out delish and was a BIG winner at dinner. I had hosted a potluck party. I marinated and cooked some tempeh to go on top of the soba salad. Together those two elements make a vegetarian main dish for some, and a hearty side dish for others. By the way, I’ll have to share the tempeh recipe another time. I wasn’t able to snap any photos this time around.

I will definitely be making this rainbow soba noodle salad time and time again. It was so easy and flavorful. I hope you enjoy it soon too, and that you enjoy the rest of your summer!

-Cyndi

Best-Ever Chicken Satay

Without a doubt, this Best-Ever Chicken Satay recipe earns its title. The recipe makes the most delicious chicken I have ever tasted. Serve it with my spicy peanut sauce and you will think you have takeout from your favorite Thai restaurant.

I make this almost every week and have started making quadruple batches of the marinade to keep on hand. This has been going on for months. Plus, any time I serve it to family, friends or bring it to a potluck, it disappears fast. It’s my most requested recipe for everyday meals as well.

Step By Step

Check out this picture tutorial that walks you through making this best-ever chicken satay, step by step.

Fresh garlic. Fresh ginger. Fresh lime. Lemongrass. Pepper flakes. Curry. Cardamom. Such great flavors. Mix all that with some fish sauce, soy sauce, olive oil, and agave, and you got a completely delicious way to season your chicken. This is something you could make in bulk also and freeze. As a result, you’ll get dinner on the table fast. Tip: If you want to reduce the sodium, swap out the soy sauce and use liquid aminos instead. Bragg’s in my favorite. I also love the coconut version as well.

Once you have the marinade ready, you add it to your chicken. I like to use a sealable or disposable plastic bag. Glass and metal dishes work great also.

I usually let it marinade overnight but 30 minutes works too; then, it’s ready whenever you are.

This is where uniform size pays off. Cut the chicken breasts in matching sizes. As a result, each will bake at the same rate, all coming out tender and delicious.

You will definitely want to also make the spicy the peanut sauce shown below. Again, you will want to make this is bulk also. It is addictive, in a good way! Find the recipe here!

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Pineapple Coconut Cream Pie

This Pineapple Coconut Cream Pie is a 1st place winning recipe from the State Fair of Texas. It’s an all-time favorite from our archives, from a 2016 pie contest. Bake like a blue ribbon winner with this recipe. You will wow your friends, family, and your taste buds.

If you have never made a pineapple coconut cream pie this is a terrific recipe to start with because it’s got a great crust recipe and straightforward instructions for the two layers.

We did a test run and absolutely loved its flavors and its texture. The crust ingredients come together nicely and nothing beats a homemade pie crust. This version uses butter flavored shortening. If you prefer a butter/lard crust, try this one here.

Tip: use a pre-made refrigerated pie crust if making your own sounds too intimidating. It’s okay if you need a time-saving shortcut.

The filling in this pineapple coconut cream pie is sweet, rich, fruity, thick, and lush. The meringue whips up in a easy breezy wonderful way. It is velvety and that’s a good thing. The toasted top gives it a picture-perfect finishing touch.

Sue Rainey: Queen of the Crust

This award-winning recipe comes from Sue Rainey, a long time baking contest participant at the State Fair of Texas. Sue’s friends call her the “queen of the crust.” Baking is an art and her talents are plentiful.

Her top tips for perfect, flaky crusts: handle the dough as little as possible and use the least amount of flour you can when rolling it out. Sue also favors the intensity of vanilla from Mexico. She goes through giant bottles of it during her busiest baking times of the year: the State Fair of Texas and the year-end holidays.

Sue originally titled her creation “Paradise in Texas Coconut Pineapple Pie.” One taste and you’ll be in paradise yourself.

Enjoy!

Cyndi

Holiday Pumpkin Pie

This Holiday Pumpkin Pie recipe is a delightfully delicious creation. It features eggnog in the filling. Recipe credit goes to Loretta Greiner. She won a “Best New Entrant” award for it at the Iowa State Fair back in 2011. It makes the perfect addition to the dessert table. You can make it with your favorite pie crust recipe or use a pre-made one like Pillsbury. And if you’re looking for more holiday baking ideas, enter “holiday” into our search bar here.

Award-Winning Cookie!

Step-By-Step: Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

Preparation Tip

Sensational Soba Noodles

Step By Step

Sue Rainey: Queen of the Crust

5-Ingredient Low-Carb Keto Peanut Butter Cookies