Tag: Gold Medal Flour Cookie Contest

Espresso Salted Caramel Turtle Sandies

These Espresso Salted Caramel Turtle Sandies are another all-time favorite cookie from our archives. With state fair season upon us, the timing is perfect for trying new recipes. Give this one a shot. Maybe perfect it for a cookie to enter at your fair this year.

The espresso powder the recipe calls for gives the cookie distinction. It is in the cookie dough, along with mini chocolate chips and pecans, which add another dimension to the cookie. Once baked, you add a caramel drizzle, made from caramel bits. You finish the cookies with some flair: a sprinkling of chopped pecans and a drizzle of bittersweet chocolate chips.

Espresso salted caramel turtle sandies won first place many years back at the Ohio State Fair, 2014, to be exact. Recipe credit goes to blue ribbon winning baker, Janet Gill.

Janet wanted to compete with a new take on the famous Pecan Sandies many of us know. Mission accomplished! With its mocha flavor and delicious drizzles, Janet created quite an epic cookie and deserves major kudos.

My mom who baked our test run with me said to note that tasters should chew slowly and luxuriously to enjoy all the delightful dimensions of this cookie! I agree. Find out for yourself and bake these today! And if you love pecans, be sure to try this other Ohio State Fair winning cookie for Toasted Pecan Honey Squares.

-Cyndi

Lemon Lavender Cookies

Lemon Lavender Cookies. Don’t those sound delicious? They are from Indianapolis hobby baker Jennifer Dickie, who won several special contests we organized at the Indiana State Fair. Jennifer grows her own lavender and puts it into her cookies. She says they’re deceivingly simple but have a big wow factor when people taste them. They are a light, delicate cookie and not overly sweet.

4 Main Ingredients:

Butter
Powdered sugar
Flour
Salt

Ready to make these lemon lavender cookies? Here are the main steps:

Beat the butter until fluffy, then slowly add the powdered sugar, flour and salt, mixing until just combined.
You stir in the zest and dried lavender by hand.
Last, you chill the dough before rolling out with granulated sugar, then cut into desired shapes.

Jennifer suggests dipping your cookie cutters in granulated sugar for easier release. Once baked, which you do for about 20 minutes, you allow them to cool. As an optional finishing step, you can make a simple glaze for on top.

Another great thing about these cookies, you can customize them by changing up the flavors, like we did, morphing them into holiday shortbread. Get creative with the flavors and colors to have various version of this cookie. You are going to love them!

-Cyndi

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Candy Bar Cookies

These Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Candy Bar Cookies were so fun to make. My elation came from experimenting and making them in a variety of ways…and of course tasting and sharing them with others.

In their previous form, these hailed from the Big E Fair, where Francis, a local “contester” won a blue ribbon with her Grandma’s Favorite Cookies. As an aside here: the Big E is not a state fair technically, but it is a huge and highly regarded fair in the Northeast, and we love great fairs! Anyway. I digress. Back to the cookie!

Salted caramel is pretty much a “sure thing” as a crowd pleaser…and we all loved this one. I’ve adapted the recipe some, but it’s inspired by what the winner Francis made. I also renamed it to Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Candy Bar Cookies. Originally they were titled: Grandma’s Favorite Cookies. The delicious cookie dough has both chocolate chips and chunks of chocolate-caramel candy bars (think Cadbury Caramello).

You top each cookie with a sprinkling of sea salt before you bake it. I finished these with a caramel drizzle. I will never tire of the salty/sweet combo. And when I say never, I mean never!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Candy Bar Cookies – Step by Step

See the full recipe below, but for some inspiration, here are the main steps. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Separately, mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking soda) and add them to the wet ingredients.

Then add the chocolate chips and candy bar chunks.

I used a knife to incorporate the candy bar chunks more evenly throughout the dough. It worked great. About now it looks like this.

Spoon out the dough and roll into balls. I did mine about 1 1/2 inch round in size.

Place them on your prepped baking sheet, flatten them slightly with the bottom of a glass. Then add a sprinkling of salt. As a result, all the flavors will really “pop.”

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 12-14 minutes, or until a slight brown shows up around the edges. I like a crispier cookie, at least on the outside, so the first time around I put mine in on the longer side. I experimented with another batch and did smaller cookies that ended up tasting like an amped up Chips Ahoy.

Another time I took them out on the early side for my peeps who like their cookies more tender. My final batch I baked the dough into mini muffin tins. Perfect for topping with ice cream.

This was how I served them as dessert to friends who gave them a huge thumbs up. They have already asked when they can come by again for “seconds.” And that pleases me to no end.

-Cyndi

p.s. If you love variations on the classic chocolate chip cookie, be sure to also try this Oreo-infused version, here.