Tag: award winning recipe

Coconut Curry Mango Cake

At the 2021 Minnesota State Fair baking competition, no one could have predicted how tasty this Coconut Curry Mango Cake was going to be, including me. With surprising ingredients and a colorful exterior, the cake stood out for its perfectly balanced flavors, rich taste, and tender yet firm texture.

Recipe credit goes to Maggie MacIntosh. She used a Cooks Illustrated coconut cake recipe as a starting point and began experimenting.

Creative Cake

Garam masala, turmeric, mango nectar, and mango crystals are among the unique ingredients Maggie features in this award winning cake. Between that creativity, how well she combined all the ingredient amounts, and how perfectly she baked the cakes, this Coconut Curry Mango Cake really stood out. Plus Maggie nailed it with the coconut aroma, in both the cake itself and the frosting. The mango filling was a colorful element that added yet another dimension to the cake. Well done!

Maggie won 1st place in our Blue Ribbon Best Coconut Cake Contest with this cake. She wins $100 in King Arthur Baking Company gift cards. Here’s a shot of Maggie and her daughter, celebrating her win and all the fun the fair has to offer. Congratulations Maggie!

Judging Criteria

If you’re curious about the winner selection process, here’s the judging criteria.

Unique, innovative, creative recipe……………………………………………25%
Appearance, color, presentation………………………………………………..25%
Texture, internal appearance…………………………………………………….25%
Flavor, aroma…………………………………………………………………………. 25%

Coconut Curry Mango Cake – Step by Step

Want to re-create the magic of Maggie’s coconut curry cake and its mango filling? We walk you through it with a detailed overview, including photos.

Here’s everything that goes into the batter, from the cake flour and spices, to butter, sugar, and eggs.

You starting with whipping the egg and egg whites before adding cream of coconut, water, and extracts.

Next, you mix the dry ingredients: cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, garam masala, and turmeric.

Then you mix in the butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Once you slowly combine everything together……you divide the batter between your prepped 8-inch pans. It makes a nice thick batter. Spread it around.

While those bake and cool, get your filling ingredients together. Whip that up.

Do the same with your buttercream frosting.

Whip it good. It should form stiff peaks. Here’s a shot when it’s reaching perfection.

Last, you slice each cake in half to get 4 equal layers, then assemble everything together. A great tip from Maggie was to pipe the frosting on the edge of each layer to help hold in the filling.

We didn’t get shots of this, but applying a crumb coat–thinly frosting top and sides of cake before fully frosting the cake–prevents a messy look.

Finishing Touches

To finish, sprinkle toasted coconut on top and press into sides of cake. This will give the cake a classic look, like this.

Or you can opt to dye the toasted coconut in one or more colors and decorate in circular patterns on top (as winner did).

These resemble the colors Maggie used: yellow, orange, and red.

And this is her stencil she used decorating the top of her cake.

Feel free to reach out to us direct if you want help re-creating the multi-color decor Maggie used. We have additional notes from our test runs and Maggie we can share.

If you love this cake’s concept but want a faster, easier version of the recipe, stay tuned. We are working on a sheet cake version of this magical Coconut Curry Mango Cake we will share later.

In the meantime though, this cake makes a fun fall baking experience. Fun fact: some of our tasters thought the curry/turmeric combo was a tastier, gingery pumpkin spice. Give it a try and see what you taste.

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Put these Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies on your must-make baking list. Their flavor shines bright with Chambord black raspberry liqueur, along with orange zest, chocolate chunks, and fresh red raspberries.

Minnesotan Rachael Hood created the cookie for the Blue Ribbon Drop-Style Cookie Contest at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair (a Blue Ribbon Group sponsored contest). She won 1st place and $100 in King Arthur Baking Company gift cards.

I also arranged for Rachael to showcase her cookies on a TV spot with me on KARE 11 Saturday, the NBC affiliate in Minneapolis. Yay for hometown PR! We had an absolute blast.

Let’s get back to the cookie itself. If you are intrigued by this cookie, read on for some insights about it and how you can recreate the recipe.

Key Ingredients

With these Raspberry Chocolate Chunk Cookies, the Chambord liqueur is key. It plays off the other ingredients so well, making for a terrific flavor combination that subtle, but not too subtle, and so well balanced with citrus and chocolate elements.

I especially love the cookie’s scent you take in with each bite and the delicious lingering aftertaste.

Chambord – if you aren’t familiar with it – is a liqueur that combines XO Cognac and French spirits with Madagascan vanilla, honey and Moroccan citrus peel, making it an ideal flavor enhancer for these cookies. It originated in France, the Loire Valley specifically, in the 1600’s. Back then, with the many King Louis of the time, it was popular to sip cognac or liqueurs at fancy French meals.

Fast forward to today, the Chambord brand is owned by the same folks who own Jack Daniels. I was surprised to learn that in addition to black raspberries, they infuse blackberries and blackcurrants into it. You can find it in a variety of sizes. Since I had to go to a couple of stores to find it,I recommend calling ahead, especially if you want a specific size.

Bake Like a Blue Ribbon Winner

As always, before I add a recipe to this Blue Ribbon Foodies blog, there’s a baking test run. Walk through the recipe with us here and then give it a go yourself. The cookies are delicious and highly recommended.

Here’s everything that goes into the cookies (minus the food color), including the liqueur, fresh Driscoll raspberries, orange zest, and all-purpose flour from King Arthur Baking Company.

You first sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Next you cream the butter and sugars before adding in the remaining wet ingredients and mixing until smooth. Sorry, no pic. I was too excited to get these into the oven! Finally, add the pre-mixed dry ingredients, and stir just until combined.

Then all that remains prep-wise is to chop the raspberries and gently mix everything together.

Put both the fruit and juice in the dough.

Your dough should come out a bit like this.

Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoons onto a parchment lined baking sheet. You’ll bake these 12-14 minutes at 350 degrees F.

To experiment and to use ingredients already on hand, I varied from Rachael’s recipe just a bit. I used all semi-sweet chocolate chunks instead a combo of dark and milk chocolate and did not chop them fine, opting for larger chocolate pieces. I also used a different red food coloring. Here’s how mine came out!

Rachael chopped her chocolate by hand and smaller. She also used McCormick’s red food coloring. Do both those things and you’ll match the color of Rachael’s cookie dough and end product.

What a delight these were to bake and eat. We invite you to bake and share these cookies, or anything from our recipe collection. If you do, be sure to post a pic on Instagram or Facebook. Be sure we can follow along, by tagging:

@blueribbonfoodies
@mnstatefair
#blueribbonbaking2021
#kingarthurbaking

Hey Hey! You never know when we might do a giveaway!

-Cyndi

Best Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

This Best Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipe from Kathleen McCarron took first place at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair. Kathleen won top honors in the Blue Ribbon Best Fruit Pie special contest (and won $100 in King Arthur Baking Company gift cards). Her pie has a delicious, flaky crust you make with shortening, cold water, and of course, flour, sugar, and salt. The filling is chopped rhubarb and sliced fresh strawberries, making for a sweet, slightly tart taste to every bite.

Read on for some insights direct from Kathleen with our Winner Q&A:

What is your secret to baking great pies?

For me, the secret to a great pie is having a great crust. I love my family’s recipe, and rarely bother to use anything else, but (a perfect pie crust) is fairly tricky. It took me a number of years and at least a dozen pies to actually get the technique right, as judging exactly how far to cut the shortening into the dry ingredients took practice. To me, the effort is worth it because it tastes so good. We’ll sometimes bake the crust on it’s own with a bit of cinnamon sugar and eat it like cookies.

What can you tell me about your strawberry rhubarb pie and how the recipe came to be?

I first made this pie at the request of my father-in-law. I asked him what dessert he would like me to bring for a Father’s Day celebration, and he said that strawberry rhubarb was his favorite. After a quick google search, this one looked the best to me, as it had the least amount of sugar and he mentioned liking a tarter pie. I then doubled the cinnamon and substituted my family’s pie crust.

Do you have any helpful tips for someone making your recipe?

The trickiest part is the crust. Cutting the shortening to the size of small peas is important. A pastry cutter is faster, but it is possible to do this with a fork as well, as I did that for years. Leaving time to chill is also important, if you don’t rolling out will be more difficult.

Presentation is important. What are some of your tricks?

If I’m honest, I’ve always focused on taste first, presentation second. People will ooh and aah when something looks pretty, me included, but they only come back for more if it tastes good. Once I’m happy with the flavor, my next goal is usually to make it neatly, though sometimes I can’t even manage that. I almost didn’t turn this pie in because the juices burst through, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to try. And I won despite the untidiness!

What is the worst disaster you have had in the kitchen and how did you deal with it?

My family has a recipe for an apple cake with fudgy frosting that’s to die for. My mom had always made it as either a bundt cake or in a 9×13 pan, but I decided to try making it as a three layer cake. The first layer came out fine, but I didn’t leave time for the frosting to set before turning out the second layer, and the cake itself was too loose to hold together anyway. It was just this mound of broken cake and gloopy frosting. Unfortunately, I was making this cake for my sister’s birthday party, and didn’t have the time or ingredients to make anything else. Instead I just shoved some candles on top and apologized. Everyone at the party had a huge laugh, as this was by far the ugliest thing I had ever baked for them. Still tasted great!

Who does most of the cooking in your home?

I am both the cook and baker in my home, though both of my children are very interested in what goes on in the kitchen, particularly my son. There are times that I’m rushing to get dinner on the table, and it just doesn’t work to have a three year old helping. I have to promise him that he can help me make a dessert after we eat, and then he’ll happily mix together a box of pudding for us to enjoy.

What are some of your favorite family recipes?

I’ve always loved my mom’s apple pie, which is funny because she thinks it’s nothing special. She also makes a wonderful chicken salad and beef stew. For myself, I have a chocolate chip cookie recipe that I love, and there’s peach and apricot pie I’ve made that gets really great reviews. This summer I’ve been experimenting with fancy burgers, and I also once made a beef Wellington that had the flavors of Rouladen that was particularly superb.

What advice would you give young people wanting to cook/bake more?

The biggest advice I can give is to read the recipe all the way through! More than once, I’ve gotten stuck when I realize that a step I had just skimmed over was actually far more intense or difficult than I initially realized.

Also, it helps to have someone you can talk to about cooking, but who won’t step in and take over. I first really learned to cook during the summer after my senior year of high school. My parents told me that I was in charge of dinner on Tuesday nights. Inevitably, I would end up calling my dad 2-4 times over the course of the day to ask questions. What does this step mean? It calls for this cut of meat, but can I use this instead? I’ve watched mom make this before, but I’ve never seen her do this step, can I skip it? I think he really looked forward to those calls, and both of my parents were very encouraging about the meals I made. I think I only needed to throw the whole thing out once and declare a pizza night instead.

What has been your biggest win in recipe competitions?

I think this blue ribbon is my biggest win to date.

What do you do for work?

Before the pandemic, I worked at the University of Minnesota in the Theater Department as a draper in the costume shop and as an adjunct professor. Lockdown decimated the theater industry, so now I am back in school working on my Initial Licensure/M.Ed degree for English Education.

Other hobbies besides baking?

I don’t have much free time between school and family, but I like to sew, particularly cross stitch.

We highly recommend Kathleen’s winning pie. Happy baking ya’ll!

-Cyndi

Lemon Loaf Pound Cake

This luscious Lemon Loaf Pound Cake is a citrus lover’s dream. That’s especially true if said citrus lover also loves moist, flavorful cakes that are easy to make. The amazing aroma of this cake comes from combining vanilla extract, lemon extract, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and lemon zest.

The recipe – which is based on this Minnesota State Fair blue ribbon winning cake – also calls for butter, whole milk, eggs, and sifted flour among its classic ingredients.

Grab a bag of lemons and make this winning recipe. You’ll marvel at its deliciousness.

-Cyndi

Citrus Swirl Cookies

These colorful and fragrant Citrus Swirl Cookies taste as great as they look. They’re buttery and tender, yet firm, and so flavorful too. Their scent is illuminating. They are an epic icebox cookie. They are the bomb. That’s our take and we’re sticking to it. And seriously, just wait until you catch their lovely aroma!

Recipe credit goes to Karen Cope, a long-time blue ribbon winning baker at the Minnesota State Fair, which is where she won “best cookie” with this recipe in 2016.

The kaleidoscope-like look of these Citrus Swirl Cookies is eye-catching. The technique of twisting colorful dough together may remind you of tie dye clothing. That method makes the recipe more involved than your average cookie, but it’s worth the effort. And once you have that part down though, you’re golden. Bake like a blue ribbon winner and make these!

Secret Ingredient?

Ask any blue ribbon baker their tips for baking winning entries in competitions and most often you’ll hear “great ingredients.” That applies to this winning cookie as well. Karen speculates that using Fiori Di Sicilia made her cookie stand out for its distinct and delicious aroma. Fiori Di Sicilia (flower of Sicily) is a combo of vanilla and citrus. Our friends at King Arthur Baking Company sell a delightful version, plus they give great tips about using and storing it here.

Baking Tips

Some helpful points about Karen’s recipe:

If using Fiori di Sicilia is not an option for you, Karen suggests replacing it with a teaspoon of vanilla and a half teaspoon each of lemon and orange extracts
This recipe makes about 6 dozen cookies. If you don’t want to bake them right away or all at once, freeze the dough or portions of it (prior to slicing).
If you freeze any portion, simply thaw in the refrigerator the night before you what to bake them.
Be careful not to overbake these cookies. You want them tender and not dry.

By the way, we had a fun time brainstorming alternative names for this cookie, just for fun. A couple favorites were: Karen Cope’s Kaleidoscope Cookies and Tie-Dye-For Sweet Treats. Ultimately we stayed with the original/best title.

Enjoy-

Cyndi

p.s. If you’re into cookies that are awesome and artistic (aka “require a bit more work”), be sure to also try the copycat Girl Scout cookies we previously shared.

Best Banana Bread Recipe

There’s a reason this Best Banana Bread Recipe is an award winner. It makes the best homemade banana bread ever!

Everyone I know loves a thick slice of this classic quick bread, as in quick to make, no yeast needed.

This recipe makes a tender, flavorful, and aromatic bread. I love mine, slightly warm, with a smear of peanut butter.

Recipe credit goes to Marge Knight who placed second at the Erie County Fair by Buffalo, New York (Aug 11-22, 2021). Marge ‘s recipe was from a Clabber Girl Baking Contest we ran in 2001. Yes, we went deep into our archives for this one! It’s such a classic!

Classic Bread, Staple Ingredients

The key to success and baking the best banana bread is simple. It’s ripe bananas. Maybe even a bit over-ripe. I like to use ones where the skin has turned brown in spots and the banana scent is strongest. Here’s what you need in total for this recipe. No surprises.

bananas (of course =)
sugar
butter
eggs
water
flour
baking soda
baking powder
salt

Make sure your baking soda and powder are fresh enough to do the heavy lifting in this recipe.

Metal or Glass?

The above shot shows two loaves I recently baked: one in a metal pan, the other in glass. I like the look of the bread baked in a rectangle pan. The squared off edges make for a nice appearance, however, I prefer the glass pan for how evenly the bread bakes. Look at how evenly and perfect it bakes all the way through.

This best banana bread recipe is one you can go to time and time again. It’s also a good launching point for adding mix-ins. Chocolate chips are always a big hit. Coconut might be my favorite addition. I know some people are coconut averse, but it’s a go-to ingredient for me.

Nuts can get a mixed response with my family, but they do give a nice texture contrast. And a lot of people like them: walnuts, pecans etc. I also like blueberries added to banana bread for pops of sweetness. We’ll also share a blue ribbon winning recipe for that version coming up, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, hit the kitchen and bake this best banana bread recipe. We also featured this banana bread with Greek yoghurt in it and banana pudding mix. You’ll love that one too. Both are so moist and yummy. Homemade, baked-from-scratch banana bread is the best! Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Strawberries & Cream Cookies

These Strawberries & Cream Cookies are a best cookie recipe winner from the Delta Fair in Tennessee. They feature instant oatmeal in the cookie itself and strawberry jam with cream cheese and whipping cream in the oh so delicious filling. They are amazing to taste when you first make them, then phenomenal when they sit and soften a bit.

Now THIS is a jazzed up oatmeal cookie. Epic! For this winning recipe, start with butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda and strawberries and cream instant oatmeal, like Quaker.

Once you have baked and cooled the cookies, make a filling out of cream cheese, sugar, strawberry preserves, and heavy cream. Sandwich them together with the filling inside.

Strawberries & Cream Cookies: Blue Ribbon Winner

This winning recipe comes from the Delta Fair in Memphis. Cindy Dunn won a blue ribbon with it in 2016. It has become an all-time favorite around here. (Right up there with these boozy sandwich cookies.)

It is decadent and so delicious! And one of the cool things about it is, that after it sits, the texture completely changes, drawing on the moisture of the filling. It bursts with flavor and literally melts in your mouth when you eat it. Tasty! Try your hand at these today!

Happy Baking!

Cyndi

Toasted S’more Cookies

These Toasted S’more Cookies are a delightful twist on the ever-popular and tasty campfire treat. In fact, some say it elevates the s’more into something that belongs in a fancy patisserie. At the same time, these blue ribbon winning cookies are easy to make.

The cookie dough has finely ground graham crackers, of course. The other dough ingredients are classic: butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, flour, and salt. Once baked, you top the cookies with a rich marshmallow meringue and a small bar of chocolate. You dot the top of the cookie with the meringue first, to hold the chocolate bar/block in place.

Then pipe on the top portion. The key ingredients in the meringue are egg whites (at room temperature), marshmallows, sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, and cream of tartar. To finish off the cookies, you use a kitchen torch for the toasted marshmallow look. You’ll feel like a culinary pro. By the way, we have a Jo Chef brand torch and love it.

Recipe credit goes to Terri Treft. She won 1^st place with this Toasted S’more Cookies recipe at the Iowa State Fair back in 2016. Her win is quite an accomplishment given one of the Iowa State Fair’s claims to fame. They have the largest competitive food division in the country. They host more individual baking contests than any other fair in the country. So, nice work Terri!

Pro Tips

You can opt to a make the cookies and frosting ahead of time, then assemble just before serving. The frosting will keep about 2-3 days in the fridge.
Another tip: we made our cookies small so it made a good size batch: 42 cookies. If you prefer a larger cookie (and therefore, less assembly time), go ahead and bake them bigger. Just adjust the baking time a tish longer and the amount of chocolate you put on each.

Blue Ribbon Foodies! This is a fun recipe you are going to want to make again and again.

And if you’re really into s’more themed treats, be sure to try these double chocolate cookies and these favorite no-bake treats.

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Sourdough Polish Rye Bread

This Sourdough Polish Rye Bread won first place at the Minnesota State Fair back in 2016. That tells you how delicious it was. We’re still thinking about it after all these years =) Caraway seeds and molasses flavor this rye bread to perfection.

Loving to Bake

Randy Bush created this best-ever bread recipe. His father was a baker, so naturally, Randy picked up his mad baking skills and carried on his love of bread. Randy was inspired to develop this particular bread when a friend – who was originally from Poland – said he missed the breads from home. He perfected the recipe. The response was so positive, he had to see how it would stack up against others who also baked as a hobby.

Bound for Blue Ribbon Glory

Randy entered his Sourdough Polish Rye Bread in the Minnesota State Fair ‘s annual baking competition, sometimes referred to as the unofficial baking Olympics of Minnesota. Well, Randy nailed it like an Olympic gymnast because the judges voted it #1. They noted how enticing the aroma was and how truly perfect the texture was. In other words, Randy’s home-baked bread was a home run.

Pro Tip

Plan accordingly if you’re going to replicate this award-winning recipe. Randy makes his mature rye starter over the course of a few weeks, by combining a tablespoon each of rye flour and water, and adding the same to that each day for at least two weeks. You will have enough to use, plus extra to keep maturing if needed.

Do you love bread baking? Do you want to further develop those baking skills honed during the pandemic? Give Randy’s Sourdough Polish Rye Bread recipe a go. One taste and you’ll know why its worth the time and effort. And if you’re looking for more blue ribbon breads, try these biscuits or this olive nut bread.

Enjoy,

Cyndi

Minnesota Honey Cheesecake Recipe

This Minnesota Honey Cheesecake Recipe won first place for best cheesecake at the Minnesota State Fair, two years in a row (2018 and 2019). One taste and it will be love at first bite. The thick graham cracker crust pairs perfectly with the rich, creamy and dreamy cheesecake itself. Learn how to make this blue ribbon winning dessert with the step by step recipe below. Recipe credit goes to Med Nodzon of St. Paul.

What You’ll Need

Meg’s recipe comes out so moist and delicious. Round up these items to get started.

8 1/2 inch springform pan
Minnesota honey
Cream cheese
Sour cream
Sugar
vanilla
eggs

With a pound and a half of cream cheese, you know this cheesecake is going to be divine. There’s a memorable tang to it also, thanks to the sour cream. For honey, we used our local The Beez Kneez brand in our test run and loved its flavor. You can use a different size pan also. Just be sure to adjust the baking time.

We had Meg make her award-winning recipe so we could photograph it. It arrived looking perfect.

We took Meg’s suggestion of adding pecans on top. Chop, chop!

We all went nuts for how great this all tasted together.

Just look at how dense yet creamy this slice is! You will delight in every bite.

Bake Like a Blue Ribbon Winner

Want to make a state-fair-winning Minnesota Honey Cheesecake on your own? Here are a few tips from Meg to re-create her cheesecake like a champ. The advice is especially helpful if you want a smooth top and texture to the cheesecake.

Don’t overmix the batter.
The water bath is key if you want to avoid cracks in the top. The added moisture ensures every forkful is creamy and dreamy. You pour boiling hot water into an outer, larger pan with the cheesecake in its own springform pan ‘floating” inside. It’s more sitting than floating, but you get the idea. Wrap the bottom twice with aluminum foil to seal it.
Turn the oven off as soon as the edges have firmed up. The cheesecake will have a jiggly center and look like only about an inch and a half around the parameter is cooked. Leave it set in the oven to finish setting up. Leave the oven open a crack, using a small spatula to hold the door partially ajar. Allow it to cool to almost room temperature before chilling it in the fridge 6 or more hours, for best results.

By the way, if you love cheesecake like we do, make this epic raspberry pie at some point also.

Meet the Maker

Meg entered her first baking competition at the fair in 2013. Her granola bar won 3rd place and she was hooked. She entered every year after (except 2020), making anywhere from 4 to 13 entries. The most ribbons she won in a single year was nine. Her best ribbon was 1st place for gluten-free chocolate mint sandwich cookies, which also won the sweepstakes (best overall in its category).

While winning ribbons is a thrill (the more the better =), Meg says she also simply loves the process of it all, including the baking trial runs. Sharing “failures” with co-workers is a highlight too. She appreciates how they are always honest about which items they like best. Because that’s a win on its own.

Make Meg’s cheesecake today for a tasty blue ribbon baking experience.

Enjoy-

Cyndi