Author: Cyndi Harles

Mocha Cake & Cupcakes

Mocha Cake & Cupcakes: If you want to be a blue ribbon baker, bake this Minnesota State Fair 1st place winning recipe. The batter has both freshly brewed coffee and espresso powder in it, plus cocoa powder. As a result, the cake’s flavor is out of this world. The thick, rich and creamy buttercream frosting is phenomenal as well.

Dahna Jacobson, a repeat winner in multiple divisions, absolutely loves this mocha cake recipe, originally a cupcake recipe from the Brown-Eyed-Baker. She adapted it into a layer cake.

The mocha chocolate cake immediately became Dahna’s go-to recipe and she went on to win multiple Minnesota State Fair ribbons with it, including one in 2023. Ten years in – 2014 was her first year competing – and she already has 12 ribbons total, including 3 blue ribbons, mostly for various cakes, but also quick breads. Dahna keeps photo boxes celebrating her achievements, like this one.

About her state fair baking experiences, Dahna shared, “I’m most proud of my first ribbon because I entered a single cake that year and really didn’t expect to win. I had never entered any baking competitions prior. Also, my first blue ribbon has a funny story. When I arrived at the fairgrounds, my white cake had shifted and was smushed on the side… I rushed home and made a fresh batch of buttercream and re-frosted the cake and it ended up winning first place!

TV News Appearance

We invited Dahna to showcase this favorite mocha cake recipe of hers on KARE 11 News (NBC-Minneapolis St Paul), live at the fairgrounds. Here’s a link to her appearance. Find it here.

This mocha cake & cupcakes recipe makes one double layer cake, 32 cupcakes, or about 64 miniature-sized cupcakes. You simply adjust the pans and baking times for the different versions.

Put this is the must-make pile for your next home-baking adventure. It’s a winner!

-Cyndi

p.s. Love the buttercream? Try these, also cupcakes, or type in “buttercream” as a search option for numerous more options.

Best Fresh Salsa at the Minnesota State Fair

The Best Fresh Salsa at the Minnesota State Fair features Bushel Boy vine-on tomatoes as the star ingredient. We love Bushel Boy tomatoes because they are always so vibrant in color and obviously picked at the perfect time for ripeness. They consistently taste juicy, look plump, and have the ideal texture inside, during any month of the year. That’s because they are grown in high-tech greenhouses, which means it’s tomato season every day of the year. Plus, they are local to us (in Minnesota and Iowa) and buying local always feels good.

This is a must make recipe for any tomato lover or salsa fan. Start with Bushel Boy tomatoes for this award-winning recipe, which is a twist on classic pico de gallo, aka salsa picante.

Wayne Detzler created this fresh salsa for the new Bushel Boy Fresh Salsa Recipe Rally at this year’s Minnesota State Fair (2024). He won the blue ribbon (1st Place), big-time bragging rights, and $200 in local grocery store gift cards. We invite you to make this best fresh salsa at the Minnesota State Fair

One of Wayne’s secrets to winning was using homemade hot honey in the recipe. He also uses Mexican oregano (dried/ground), for its citrus elements. Red bell pepper, both white and red onions, and cilantro all add to the salsa’s bright colors and taste.

When you re-make this winning recipe — and you should, because it’s so full of flavor, color and nutritious ingredients — here is some advice, direct from Wayne.

Winning Tips

Use Bushel Boy vine-on tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes first, then let them drain (in strainer or on paper towels) while you prep the remaining ingredients. This makes the salsa so fresh-tasting and you avoid excess liquid that can take away flavor and make it harder to scoop.
Dice the tomatoes, bell pepper, and onions in small and consistently sizes. This makes the salsa easily scoop-able. In fact, the judge loved how Wayne’s salsa practically clung to the chip.
Use only the cilantro leaves, not the stems, and take extra care to do a clean chiffonade cut.
Mike’s Hot Honey (store bought brand) is a good substitute for homemade.

You can find Bushel Boy tomatoes at most Minnesota grocery stores including Kowalski’s Markets, Lunds & Byerlys, Cub Foods, and Festival Foods, as well as Hy-Vee stores in Iowa.

The new Bushel Boy Fresh Salsa Recipe Rally called for tomato-forward, fresh-tasting and crowd-pleasing salsas. Drop off and judging took place before the fair opens, with winners learning results opening day. Here’s the winner list, in total.

1st Place: Wayne Detzler for “Fresh Salsa”
2nd Place: Megan Sanders for “Mom’s Classic Salsa”
3rd Place: Amy Ellenberger for “Smoky Fresh Salsa”
Best Canned Picante or Salsa-Hot: Kristin Schulte
Best Canned Picante or Salsa-Mild: Mark Addicks

If you are looking for the runner up-winning recipe featured on opening day at the Minnesota State Fair, find it here on Instagram or submit a request to be emailed the recipe, here.

Enjoy!

Cyndi

Homemade Salted Nut Rolls

Homemade Salted Nut Rolls: if you love Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll candy bars, you are in for a treat. This recipe makes the best homemade salted nut rolls. Seriously. The BEST! Everyone who tastes them absolutely loves them.

They are the perfect combination of sweet, salty, chewy and crunchy. Plus, you can make them a variety of ways. We like the classic, log form, because they are so cute on a stick. However, with Salted Nut Roll Bars, you just have to shape the nougat into one portion.

But first, let’s talk about overall helpful tips and tricks. This is a fun recipe. You just may get your hands messy, but the caramel is so tasty to clean up.

Preparation Tips

To get started, get yourself A LOT of salted peanuts. A LOT. They’re what makes this treat so fabulous.
I usually make at least two cans of the caramel at a time so I have it on hand
Make these homemade salted nut rolls in two stages if desired, by freezing the marshmallow “nougat” after you have formed the logs
Avoid some messiness by using forks to work with the logs for the caramel and peanut layers
Experiment with how you like the nutty exterior. With a rough chop, you’ll need to press the peanuts a bit to adhere them to the inner layers and you’ll get a big crunch. With a finer chop, you get more coverage but a more chewy, less chunky bite.
Consider making recipe as is first, especially if you want the classic taste and look, and go from there.
The recipe “as is” has, in our experience, the best nougat to caramel and peanuts ratio. It also tastes the most like the Pearson’s salted nut roll candy bar, which I love.
Try variations on the recipe, like the “low sugar version” where you sweeten cream cheese with honey or a sugar substitute, then use a sugar-free caramel ice cream topping.
You can opt to use min or full size marshmallows instead of marshmallow fluff. About 3 cups would work, plus 3 cups of powdered sugar, a stick of butter (8 tablespoons), a teaspoon of vanilla, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Then there is, of course, the no-fuss version made as a layered pan of bars.

This Five Boys Baker recipe was my initial attempt at trying to replicate my favorite candy bar. The recipe’s filling, made with marshmallows, was delightful. That said, I ended up going with a simpler marshmallow fluff version with a different process and shape. Plus, the biggest difference is my go to caramel hack: boiling sweetened condensed milk in an unopened can, then simmering for two hours. SO EASY!

Yet another variation to try would be shaping the nougat into small round shapes (instead of logs) before dipping each in caramel and tossing in a bowl with peanuts. Salted nut balls, anyone? =)

Yet another, shorter variation is making this recipe into bars.

Whatever way you make these, you are going to love them! They are truly my obsession. Same with this nutty tart you can make into cookie cups or tiny tarts.

-Cyndi

Blue Ribbon Foodies at the Minnesota State Fair

Blue Ribbon Foodies at the Minnesota State Fair: The Blue Ribbon Group took over the Creative Activities Building’s Cambria Kitchen at the Minnesota State Fair on August 25, 2024. As a result, we shared many tastings and great baking tips all day long. If you caught our demonstrations and complementary tastings and want the recipes, you are in the right place. Here is what we featured and the links to each recipe.

Nutty Honey & Seed Tarts

This is an all-time favorite we have many in many forms. It originally won “best pie” in one of our contests at the Wisconsin State Fair.

Hummingbird Cake

This is a specialty cake created by our fellow Blue Ribbon Foodie, Jackie Thesing @SweetGirlTreatsMN.

Salted Nut Roll Bars

This is an original creation for our baking friends everywhere, especially ones who like homemade versions of great candy bars.

Almond & Banana Snacking Cake

You can’t go wrong with any type of banana bread. This one is thick and thoroughly delightful. It comes from Ryan Ceresnak with @TheNerdyBakerMN.

Lemon Coconut Balls

The perfect citrus sweet treat you can make with or without macadamia nuts. Heather Pfeiffer won a blue ribbon for this cookie at last year’s Minnesota State Fair (2024).

Homemade Honey Nut Granola

Fun fact: this recipe earned a teenager his first food-related blue ribbon win! (Yay Lars!) You sweeten it with honey. As a result, it’s not overly sweet, which lets the nuts and oats shine. We served this on top of yoghurt for fairgoers and it was a total hit! You will want to make a double or triple batch of this!

Zucchini Bread Mini Muffins

Another winning creation, from another recipe shared by blue ribbon baker Heather Pfeiffer.

It was a fun scene and we hope you enjoyed all the deliciousness!

Please follow us social media: Blue Ribbon Foodies on Instagram and Facebook. And we hope to see you at next year’s Minnesota State Fair, which runs August 21 through Labor Day, September 1, 2025! Blue Ribbon Foodies at the Minnesota State Fair is bound to return in some way or another. Until then, keep on baking!

This post was updated Sept 4, 2024 with recipe images.

Zucchini Bread Mini Muffins

Zucchini Bread Mini Muffins: you make these delightful treats with classic quick bread ingredients. The zucchini and vegetable oil give the muffins a terrific texture, a quality also helped also by using both baking soda and baking powder. The hint of cinnamon is delicious, as are the walnuts. They give a delightful chewiness to the muffins. If you are not into nuts, simply leave them out!

These zucchini bread mini muffins are a delight to eat and make. You can make them into regular size muffins or a loaf, and with or without walnuts. Your choice! Whatever way you make this winning recipe, you will love it!

The recipe comes from Heather Pfeiffer, who used the recipe and placed second for zucchini bread at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair. It was featured in recipe demos and tastings at the 2024 Minnesota State Fair, hosted by the Blue Ribbon Group in the Creative Activities Building’s Cambria Kitchen. Heather’s main tip with the recipe is to drain but not squeeze the grated zucchini before mixing it in. Don’t miss Heather’s blue ribbon winning cookies, also on this site here. And if you love quick breads, this one is a must try too!

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Lemon Coconut Balls

Lemon Coconut Balls: a blue ribbon winning recipe at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair.

These are another must bake cookie. Delightfully easy and deliciously perfect. You can make these lemon coconut balls with or without macadamia nuts.

Recipe contest goes to Heather Pfeiffer, pictured here with Blue Ribbon Group founder, Cyndi Harles.

Heather has won numerous ribbons at the fair. We invited her to showcase these cookies at our demo day event at the state fair. They were a huge hit!

Find all the recipes we featured in the Creative Activities Building, Cambria Kitchen, here.

Pepperoni Pesto Bites

Looking for a crowd-pleasing after-school snack for the kiddos or an impressive brunch dish? This recipe for pepperoni pesto bites is another blue ribbon winning creation you can make at home. We did a trial run and they were a huge hit with our tasters. Seriously.

One bite into these savory pepperoni pesto bites and you will want to make these again and again.

Put this in the “must make” file. They make great party appetizers and the recipe is easy to follow! You will love the ingredient combination and how great the dough tastes. Plus, they are super portable, making them great for eating on-the-go. Because of that, they are perfect for brunches and potluck gatherings.

These Pepperoni Pesto Bites originate from the 2013 Washington State Fair. Recipe credit goes to Kim, who won a Bisquick-sponsored state fair recipe contest.

If you’re a big fan of Bisquick, you are in the right spot. We ran a Bisquick-sponsored recipe way back when. Big tip off here: Do a search for “Bisquick” on our main blog page and you’ll find some absolutely delicious and creative recipes that are all award winning creations. Go ahead. You go win in the kitchen too.

-Cyndi

2024 “Top 30 State Fairs” List

New: 2024 “Top 30 State Fairs” List

Do you love state fairs like we do? Check out our new 2024 “Top 30 State Fairs” list. This second annual compilation is based exclusively on two factors: per day attendance numbers (total 2023 attendance divided by total days open) and their baking competitions (history of past Blue Ribbon Group special contests). Our other criteria? They have to take place the second half of the year, the Blue Ribbon Group official state fair season.

Attendances ranged from 27K to 153K for per day averages (based on top 30 list). That is A LOT of people through the gates each day. All take place in the second half of the year, with the majority happening in August and September. The State Fair of Texas has the highest total attendance – 2.5 million – but since it’s spread out over twice as many days as Minnesota and others, it lands in the 4^th “best state fair” spot.

Top 30 State Fairs List - Best State Fairs

Big E Fair Added for 1st Time: Lands in Top 10

New to our “Top 30 State Fairs” list is the Big E, the biggest fair in Massachusetts. I lands in the # 8 spot. The Big E is considered America’s only multi-state fair and is the largest in the whole NE region. As a result, we count the Big E as a state fair. It represents all of New England with entertainment, unique foods, competitions, and more. Per research, the Big E’s Massachusetts State Exhibition Hall literally pays homage to all six New England states: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. We have had many cookie contests at the Big E in years past. Welcome to our best state fair list Big E!

The other biggest changes with our list:

Attendance leapt at many of the fairs, especially at Kentucky (up 14 percent) and at Wisconsin, Ohio, and New York, among others
Total attendance for all 30 top fairs jumped from 22.2 million fairgoers to 23.5 million
We narrowed the top 30 list to only have official state – or multi-state – fairs.
At the same time, we added 20 runner-up best fairs, an Honorable Mention list.

2024 Honorable Mention U.S. Fairs:

For the first time, we also compiled an “honorable mention list” of sorts, to include the largest county and regional fairs we have worked with over the years. This gives our list greater/deeper representation of the entire country. Six land on the West Coast. Six land in the Northeast. The rest span the entire continental U.S.

Daily average attendance numbers range from 94K to 10K per day, which is how they are ranked here.

Since 2006, Blue Ribbon Group has managed special recipe contests at large state, county and regional fairs. Find a collection of winning recipes at BlueRibbonGroup.net and featured on BlueRibbonFoodies on Instagram and Facebook.

Homemade Twix Shortbread Cookies

We admittedly got a bit addicted to these Homemade Twix Shortbread Cookies. I personally grew up a fan of Twix, the caramel and milk chocolate cookie bars…and the peanut butter version. A variation on this recipe won “best new entrant” at the 2014 L.A. County Fair. We used the recipe Nellie won with as our inspiration for our own version.

We ended up making these cookies a second way also, as creative thumbprint cookies.

They turned out tasty both ways, but the thumbprint version did a bit better holding the caramel center.

Baking Tips/Tricks:

The top tip for making these homemade Twix shortbread cookies is to make the indents deep in the cookie dough, as they spread out and puff up quite a bit when you bake them. We didn’t do this in the first version but wished we had.

For the caramel, be sure to use a low shallow pan inside a larger one when you are turning the sweetened condensed milk to caramel. While you can buy premade caramel or dulce de leche, this simple version is oh so yum and easy if you have the right pans. Another option for the caramel filling, is to boil the whole can of sweetened condensed milk, unopened for two hours. This has become my go-to way since it requires less attention to detail.

Once you taste the richness and perfect texture of these cookies, you will go crazy for them too. The recipe makes a pretty large batch…about 40 cookies. The quantity is enough, so plenty to share with others, if they last that long.

If you’re looking for more candy-bar inspired sweet treats, check out our Butterfinger blue ribbon winning cookies.

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Nutty Seed & Honey Tart

This Nutty Seed & Honey Tart will fulfill any nut lover’s dreams. This is because the tart packs in a ton of nuts. It has almost a pound of mixed nuts, plus sliced almonds and pistachios. You can’t go wrong with that many nuts. It’s nutty how many nuts it has! With our upcoming “Nutty Cookie Contest” at the Minnesota State Fair (find the deets here), this recipe immediately came to mind. You can make this recipe into nutty cookie cups or even tiny tartlets.

Let this all-time favorite blue ribbon recipe be your inspiration too! Here’s what it looked like when it was entered at the fair.

Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds are this pie’s other “crunchy” ingredients. You could opt for pepitas, instead of pumpkin seeds. Vary up the ingredients however you want. Cashews and whole almonds would work well in this recipe too.

This award-winning tart is sweetened with clover honey and brown sugar. Almond extract gives the tart a flavor boost. Butter and cream in the filling give just the right amount richness. The amounts are perfect.

The recipe comes together easily, especially with a pre-made pie crust. If you want a homemade piecrust, find one of our favorites here or do a shortbread crust like we did.

Altogether, this Nutty Seed & Honey Tart makes for a delicious dessert you’ll be proud to serve. It’s sweet, but not overly so, and the texture is unforgettable. It’s both rich and chewy.

Award-Winning Recipe

Recipe credit for this blue ribbon winning tart goes to Elaine Mason who won first place with this recipe at the 2013 Wisconsin State Fair.

The contest was a pie baking championship that Pillsbury sponsored. It ran for 18 years and remained popular the entire time.

This Nutty Seed & Honey Tart is an all-time favorite. One taste and you will know why.

Enjoy!

-Cyndi