Tag: Blue Ribbon Foodies

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

Sweet Savory Pear Dessert Pizza

This Sweet-Savory Pear Dessert Pizza features an unexpected ingredient combination that works deliciously.

Sweet Meets Savory Ingredient Combination

There’s cream cheese and brown sugar, as well as onion, bacon, and pecans, plus a mix of provolone and mozzarella cheese. The gorgonzola cheese is key. It is buttery and has a bite to it. Pair all that with the sweetness of fruit and honey, and you’ve got an amazing, unique, and award-winning dessert. In fact, this “best recipe” won 1^st place at the Minnesota State Fair. It’s another all-time favorite from our archives.

Recipe credit goes to Lynda Decker. She won the “best dessert pizza” that Fleischmann’s Yeast sponsored back in 2013. One of her tips is to try a flavored honey like raspberry honey, which she got at a Minnesota farmer’s market.

Delicious Crust, Creative Toppings

You start with an easy homemade pizza crust that you brush with butter and brown sugar. Make the dough ahead of time (two hours before baking or the day before). You par-bake the crust then add your toppings: a cream-cheese-brown-sugar layer, pear slices, onion, bacon, and two cheeses, including that slightly funky gorgonzola. You finish it with pecans and a drizzle of honey. Altogether it is a lot of ingredients, but wait until you taste it! Wow.

I was blown away when I first tasted this Sweet-Savory Pear Dessert Pizza. It is both creative and tantalizing to taste. This is a must make for any cheese lovers out there, as well as any foodies that like complex flavors, texture contrasts and surprising ingredient combinations.

Blue Ribbon Winning Recipe

At judging, long-time Minnesota State Fair Judge Mary Bartz shared her expert opinion about this pizza. (This pizza recipe has) a powerful combination…a savory and fruity sweet topping over a thin, tender, yet chewy crust…a dynamic result!

Be sure to bake this one up soon!

-Cyndi

Note: This is an edited repost from our former website, StateFairRecipes.com.

Chocolate Orange Coffee Crinkles

These Chocolate Orange Coffee Crinkles have both cocoa powder and dark baking chocolate in them. Their fudge-like flavor will satisfy all those choco-holics out there. Chocolate crinkle cookies are classic, but this recipe reinvents them into something unforgettable. With the surprise additions of orange juice, orange zest, and instant espresso powder, this cookie turns into a multi-dimensional, complex, and completely scrumptious sweet treat. They are an utter delight to eat.

Since you roll the balls of dough in powdered and granulated sugar, they “crack” open as they bake to show off the chocolate inside. This crinkle effect also gives them a distinctly festive and fun appearance. You are going to want to bake these winning cookies again and again, for the holidays or ANY time of year. They pair great with coffee, so wow your friends next time you invite them over for a cup of java.

Betty Crocker and blue ribbon recipes from our archives were the inspiration for these Chocolate Orange Coffee Crinkles. We started with Betty’s Chocolate Crinkle recipe, added butter, upped the chocolate ingredients, changed from white to brown sugar, and made a few other modifications. We also looked closely at some orange chai crinkles that won at 2013 Washington State Fair. Since we’re huge citrus fans, we decided to showcase the orange flavor with the zest of an orange, plus its fresh-squeezed juice. Wow! After some test runs and tweaks, this has become a huge favorite. You can easily change up the flavors by changing the extracts. A raspberry version was popular around here also. We simply left out the orange elements, and used a raspberry extract and extra vanilla.

Top tip with these chocolate orange coffee crinkles: Be careful not to over bake. They should be moist and fudgy. No one likes a dry cookie that’s supposed to be rich and tender. Also, for an intense chocolate flavor, be sure to use a 70% cacao dark baking chocolate. We used Ghirardelli and loved the chocolatey taste it gave the cookie.

If you want more holiday themed recipes, check out this shortbread and this pound cake.

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Potato Chip Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

These melt-in-your-mouth Potato Chip Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies are an award winning cookie. They won first place, top honors indeed, at the San Diego County Fair. With some potato chips and a few pantry staples, you can easily recreate these at home. They’ll taste like something off a high-end patisserie menu.

Recipe credit and blue ribbon bragging rights go to Alberta Dunbar of San Diego. She won the 2014 Gold Medal Flour Cookie Contest for this crazy good cookie creation. There are some home bakers out there who bake year-round and practically non-stop. Alberta is one of them. I dare say she is legendary. She has more award ribbons than she can count. This recipe for Potato Chip Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies is a blue ribbon winner and will wow anyone who tries them. Get making these! You won’t regret it.

And if you are looking for more amazing sandwich cookies, check these s’more themed ones out, or simply search for sandwich cookies in the search field.

-Cyndi

Circus Crunch Cookies

This Circus Crunch Cookies recipe makes for a perfect sweet treat you can prepare in 15 minutes. Within an hour, you’ll have several dozen blue ribbon winning cookies on your hands. It makes a huge portion: about 50 cookies, so you’ll have plenty to freeze for later. In fact, I packaged and froze 6 each (in raw dough form) in several freezer bags and had fresh baked cookies at my fingertips for several weeks. You’ll want to keep this cookie recipe in heavy rotation.

Circus Crunch Cookies recipe credit goes to John Joseph Yanek who won with them at the 2014 Great Allentown Fair, 1st place in the Gold Medal Flour cookie contest we managed for several years. We’re guessing you’re going to go crazy for this cookie like we did.

Bake it great!

Cyndi

Blue Ribbon Lemon Meringue Pie

Quite a while back we tested some recipes in a vintage cookbook and discovered this fantastic Blue Ribbon Lemon Meringue Pie. The “cookbook” was more of a booklet but a wonderful recipe roundup, none the less. The publication was titled, “Great State Fair Recipes…A Collection of Minnesota State Fair Sweepstakes-Winning Recipes from 1906 to 1975.” What a find this gem was!

Cakes, cookies and breads (three highly popular categories at fairs) make up most of the booklet’s collection, all with Minnesota State Fair roots. We found the blue ribbon lemon meringue pie in the “church recipe” section. It is a tried and true recipe, sure to become a family favorite.

We tweaked the recipe a bit, using only shortening for the crust versus half butter and half lard, plus added salt to the filling. The pie came out perfectly.

That testing day was a year or two ago. Somehow the pics and recipe kept getting set aside instead of posted, so my apologies. Here it finally is!

If you love lemon and meringue, this is a great “go to” recipe. For another citrus sweet treat, check out this other favorite of our here. It is an epic recipe and also quite easy to make.

One last note, if you are one to make MANY pies at a time, which many of you are, I now have a recipe that makes 40 pie crusts. Yes it’s true. It was in this same recipe publication. If you ever need 40 pies crusts at once, just drop me a line!

Cyndi