Tag: Minnesota State Fair baking competition

Best Cream Pie Winner: Blackberry Mojito Cream Pie

This Blackberry Mojito Cream Pie won our best cream pie contest at the 2022 Minnesota State Fair. The award-winning pie combines a luscious key lime filling with a blackberry mint purée you swirl on top.

There’s a classic graham cracker crust at the bottom and homemade whipped cream on top. You finish this beauty with fresh blackberries and fresh mint as your garnishes. It makes for a striking presentation.

Blackberry Mojito Cream Pie

“Exceptional” was how the deciding judge described this creative key lime pie. And each slice is gorgeous.

Melinda Chapel is the pie’s creator. She was bursting with pride upon learning she won.

Melinda says you can make the pie with fresh or frozen blackberries. We used fresh in our trial and loved the results. You’ll want to make the fruit purée in advance. You could also pre-make the graham cracker crust.

You muddle fresh mint leaves for the blackberry purée. Mint is also featured in the filling, which you make with fresh key lime juice steeped in mint leaves. Sweetened condensed milk and egg yolks do the magic of sweetening and setting the filling. The result is nothing short of perfection.

Run, don’t walk, to the grocery store for this winning recipe’s ingredients. And if you’re looking for more Minnesota State Fair winning creations, use the search option and enter “Minnesota,” from any page on our blog. The MN Blackout Cake has been especially popular.

-Cyndi

1st Place Creative Cookie at Minnesota State Fair

These Crispy Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies are a 2022 blue ribbon winner, a 1st Place creative cookie at the Minnesota State Fair.

Betsy Faber created these for one of the new 2022 special contests. Here’s what hers looked like. Perfection!

Betsy won $100 in King Arthur Baking Company gift cards and lots of accolades.

These Crispy Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies are exceedingly delicious. The cookies themselves are candy-like and the filling is magical. They are said to blur the line between candy and cookie.

Recreate these award-winning cookies today! Be sure to follow the recipe because Betsy gives lots of tips and tricks. Here are a few we found to be extra important.

Using no oil peanut butter is key. You want a brand that is 100% peanuts. No sugar, oil or anything else added. Otherwise the oil makes them spread out to thinly. You want them thin and solid but definitely not brittle.

Be sure not to overheat the “dough” part. It will harden once it’s heated by the time in the oven.

The dough really spreads out when in the oven so spread them out when baking.

Admittedly, this cookie takes some finesse to make. We botched our first batch and had to chop them into chewy toffee cookie chunks. They ended up being a perfect mix-in for homemade ice cream.

You are going to want to make these time and time again!

Enjoy!

-Cyndi

p.s. We updated this post with additional text and new photos after our testing activities.

Minnesota State Fair Baking Competition Winners Announced

Minnesota State Fair 2022 Baking Competition Winners Announced

Blue Ribbon Group special contests celebrate the best in home baking & cooking
Find the complete Creative Activities Building winner list here
Take in daily live demos/tasting Events in the Cambria Kitchen, starting with Kowalski’s Markets opening day

Minneapolis-St Paul, August 25, 2022 – Please join the Blue Ribbon Group in congratulating all the talented and creative entrants in our Blue Ribbon Special Contest Series at the Minnesota State Fair.

Splenda Magic Baker “Low-To-No Sugar Showdown” Winners

1^st Place – Gina Walker of Savage for “Gina’s Sugar-Free Gourmet Banana Bread”

2^nd Place – Billie Holterman-Schniepp of Cottage Grove for “Low-Sugar Apple Coffee Cake”

3^rd Place – Christina Bergstrom of Twin Lakes for “Peaches & Cream Coffee Cake”

Kowalski’s “Great Chocolate Cake Contest” Winners

1^st Place – Michelle Seyward of Woodbury for “MN Black Out Cake”

2^nd Place – Erin Dooley of St Paul for “Tribute to Mexican Hot Chocolate Cake”

3^rd Place – Colleen Jensen of Woodbury for “Merry’s Chocolate Orange Cupcakes”

Kowalski’s Supreme Sourdough Contest Winners

1^st Place – Guillermo Guardia of Minneapolis for “Peruvian Sourdough Croissants”

2^nd Place – Karen Cope of Minneapolis for “Beer & Cheese Sourdough Bread Twist”

3^rd Place – Molly Abbattista of Minneapolis for “Sourdough Focaccia Barese”

Blue Ribbon “Best Peanut Butter Cookie” Contest Winners

1^st Place – Betsy Faber of St. Paul for “Crispy Creamy Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies”

2^nd Place – Emily York of Hopkins for “Peanut Butter & Chocolate Macarons”

3^rd Place – Sheila Mullen of Woodbury for “Salted Caramel Nougat-Filled Peanut Butter Cookies”

Blue Ribbon “Best Cream Pie” Contest Winners

1^st Place – Melinda Chapel of Rosemount for “Blueberry Mojito Pie”

2^nd Place – Randy Ferguson of Randolph for “The Pie-phrodisiac” (Chocolate Almond Coconut Pie)

3^rd Place – Rachael Hood of St. Louis Park for “Blackberry Smash Cream Pie”

Blue Ribbon “Salad Bowl Tournament” Winners

1^st Place – Amy Ellenberger of St Paul for “Lemony Summer Kale Salad”

2^nd Place – Mia Bremer of Minneapolis for “Herby Tortellini Harvest Salad”

3^rd Place – Ellen Joseph of Minneapolis for “Peppery Greens with Shrimp, Soba Noodles & Crunch Herbs”

3 Cricketeers “Energy Bars & Power Balls” Recipe Contest

1^st Place – Amy Ellenberger of St. Paul for “Magic Chai Power Balls”

2^nd Place – Tiffany Mainella of Rochester for “Apple Pie Energy Balls”

3^rd Place – Eamon Whiteaker of St. Paul for “Cherry Chocolate Almond Energy Balls”

Find the Minnesota State Fair’s complete Creative Activities Building winner list here. During the fair, visit the Creative Activities Building to view entries across all baking classes and categories. To get involved:

Sign up for Creative Activities Mailing list (Under Participant tab at MNSTATEFAIR.org)
Follow Blue Ribbon Foodies on Instagram or Facebook

Thank you to the brands that made this Minnesota blue ribbon contest line-up possible:

@splenda

@kowalskis_markets

@kingarthurbaking

@3cricketeers

@thesaladgirl

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Almond Blueberry Coffee Cake (Sugar-Free)

This Almond Blueberry Coffee Cake (Sugar-Free) recipe is one of the easiest and most delicious quick breads I’ve ever made.

It features – you guessed it – almonds and blueberries. We used sliced almonds and loved the end result. There’s a light crunch when you dig in, creating a delightful texture contrast.

Blueberries abound

The bread portion is tender and filled with blueberries, which hold up well and provide a pop of fruity sweetness in every bite. We used fresh blueberries, but frozen would work well too. The batter is thick and spreadable. Because of this, the blueberries suspend throughout the quick bread and don’t sink down to the bottom, as they do often in other quick bread recipes. Here’s a look at the batter before I added the topping.

How is this recipe sugar-free?

Thanks to the Splenda granulated sugar, this recipe is sugar-free. It bakes fast and gets a beautiful golden brown color. That color comes from tossing sliced almonds in egg white. With the Splenda granulated sweetener added, that combo gives the coffee cake that fantastic, aforementioned texture contrast.

This type of recipe is called a quick bread for a reason, as it’s quick to make. It took me barely an hour from start to finish.

This almond blueberry coffee cake (sugar-free) creation was inspired by this one, from Splenda. I substituted heavy cream for 2%, but either will work. With no sugar, this recipe is diabetes-friendly. It’s ideal for my mother, who has type 2 diabetes, which she controls with her diet. According to my calculations, each serving has about 20 carbs, which makes it a sweet-treat that’s relatively low in carbs, especially compared to ones with sugar.

Upcoming recipe contest

Watch for more sugar-free desserts in the coming months as we experiment more with zero calorie sweeteners. Plus we have a 5 state fair recipe contest in the works with Splenda, so stay-tuned for more details on that this summer.

Cheers,

Cyndi

Prize-Winning Parmesan & Chive Scones

These homemade, aromatic, prize-winning parmesan & chive scones are simply the best savory scones, in more ways than one.

You will relish their phenomenal taste and tender yet firm texture. Their golden brown appearance is drool-worthy for sure. If you love savory scones like we do, be sure to bake these soon! They are perfect for weekend brunches and snacks in between meals.

This remarkable recipe comes from Amy Ellenberger.

Amy won “Best Scones” at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair with this recipe. One taste and you’ll know why this one is a winner.

We asked Amy what her secret to winning was. In her words: “Because scones are a fairly simple baked good (as in few ingredients), it is important to use the best quality ingredients, as there isn’t much to hide behind. For this recipe I like to use (Minnesota-based) Hope Creamery butter, a sour cream (like Daisy) that doesn’t contain thickeners and other artificial ingredients, garden fresh chives, and high-quality Parmesan cheese that is freshly grated.”

Step by Step Tutorial

Take Amy’s top tip and begin with the best ingredients.

You start by mixing the dry ingredients with the cheese and chives.

Next, you cut in the cold butter. By the way, Amy’s family buys Hope Creamery butter by the case.

At this stage you want to see the chilled butter in tiny clumps, roughly the size of peas.

You also use both sour cream and buttermilk in the recipe, plus an egg.

Mix the sour cream, buttermilk and egg smooth, then combine that mixture with your flour mixture.

Once everything is together, you want a shaggy look to the dough.

Be careful not to overwork the dough. Shape it into a flat circle. You want it 1 ½ inches thick.

Then cut out the scones. You should get 12 (2-inch size) rounds (or squares if you prefer that shape).

As your final step, you brush each with heavy cream, then sprinkle with parmesan, a pinch of sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper. You also want to chill them 30 minutes at this stage.

From Amy: Don’t skip the chilling step. This ensures the butter is solid and won’t leak out of your scones during baking.

After the chill time, the only thing to do is wait for them to bake (at 350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 25-30 minutes.

Prize-Winning Parmesan & Chive Scones: every bite will be pure delight. Seriously. Hit the kitchen and bake these now!

-Cyndi

p.s. Scones are best eaten shortly after they are baked. However, you can opt to freeze the dough to fresh bake the scones later (ideally within 2 months). Or you can freeze them after baking. Just pop a frozen one in the microwave for about 30 seconds before you nosh.

Blue Ribbon Beer Bread

Say hello to this award winning Blue Ribbon Beer Bread. The recipe features the pilsner Wonderstuff, from Bauhaus Brew Labs in Minneapolis, along with cheddar cheese, rosemary, and honey. A thick slice of this bread solo or with a swipe of butter is pure bliss. It’s tender but hearty, and has a beautiful golden brown exterior.

The recipe comes from Cortney Carlson who won “best beer bread” with it at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair.

This was her first blue ribbon win ever! In fact, she had only competed one other time, in 2019 for a special sugar cookie competition. Cortney shared, “Nothing came of the submission, but it ignited my interest in competing.”

Her recipe is easy to follow and replicate. It also great starting point for variations. After tasting and loving Cortney’s Blue Ribbon Beer Bread, we tried a cheddar, chive, and jalapeño version. It was really good also.

Winner Q&A

We caught up with Cortney for a Q&A recently. Read on to learn about her backstory.

BRG: What can you tell us about your Blue Ribbon Beer Bread recipe and why you chose it?

Cortney: While you’d think most people just KNOW they are submitting their (insert favorite recipe here… sugar cookies, sourdough, etc.), I actually stumbled across mine. When the categories for baking categories were released, I scanned the list for something to jump out at me. I like to try new recipes, new areas of baking, new techniques… so I didn’t go into this with a plan or recipe.

Immediately beer bread jumped out at me. My experience with bread was virtually nonexistent, but all the breweries around town, especially coming from Northeast Minneapolis? Not so much a mystery to me (hehehe).

Knowing little about bread, I looked at dozens of different recipes. I looked for types of beer bread, what types of things people added to them, and then just dove in. I liked the idea of adding an herb…I tried different cheeses, different styles of beers, and went back to the drawing board the more I tried things (that’s a MN nice way of saying the first attempts were gross). Once I started researching the right things, things started clicking and here we are. I landed on the attached final recipe.

BRG: What do you think your secret to winning was?

Cortney: The only thing larger than the amount of foods on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair is the Minnesota pride that you can feel in the air the entire twelve days of the fair. My recipe included ingredients made or headquartered in Minnesota. From local beer, honey, and cheese, to Pillsbury flour and rosemary grown at home… every part of that bread was a nod to people (myself) who say “ope” several times a day.

BRG: What is the worst disaster you’ve had in the kitchen and how did you deal with it?

Cortney: I’ve experienced the most average disasters – burning things, undercooking things, messing up a recipe, missing key ingredients, etc. The thing I’ve learned about kitchen disasters is that while it’s so disappointing and frustrating that day, the greatest lessons I’ve learned in the kitchen have come from the time I did it wrong.

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

Cortney: Learn your staple dinners/desserts/contributions to potlucks, but don’t stay there. Try new areas of cooking. You like pie but have never made one? Try it. And know that you may not knock it out of the park the first try, but the more you try the more you will learn and can apply to the next recipe.

Great advice Cortney! Now everyone, get ready, set, and bake this bread!

-Cyndi

p.s. If you’re into breads, be sure to bake this blueberry winning recipe and this whole wheat winner.

Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting

If you love crunchy, flavorful, and rich-tasting sweet treats, look no further than these Cashew Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting. They were a top finalist in our Blue Ribbon Drop Cookie Contest.

Everyone who tastes these winning cookies raves about the frosting. Browning the butter was one of the winner’s secrets to success. Browned butter has a rich, nutty aroma and flavor. As a result, everything it goes into tastes divine, truly. Also, these cookies have a crispy addictive texture thanks to the whole cashews you bake in them.

Recipe credit goes to Gwen Benson who made these cookies for the 2021 Minnesota State Fair.

Gwen won the Blue Ribbon Drop Cookie Contest that we sponsored, placing third overall. She began entering her baked goods at the fair 5 years ago as something to do with her daughter Lynsay. Gwen now has four state fair award ribbons for baking and 9 for crafting. Impressive!

Gwen says this cashew cookie recipe originated with Land O Lakes, but she has seen variations on it over the years, including a version passed around in her family, which was her main inspiration.

Excellent & Effortless Recipe

With classic ingredients, these cashew cookies with brown butter frosting are a breeze to make. Seriously, you will love how easily they come together. Check it out. Follow along as we walk you through the steps. Easy peasy!

You start with brown sugar and butter, mixing until creamy, then add the egg and vanilla.

To that mixture, you add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and baking soda), alternating portions with the sour cream.

You mix in the whole cashews last, by hand, reserving a portion for garnish.

We made our batch with just over a tablespoon of dough each, so small, to total 55 cookies. You bake them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for just 10-12 minutes.

The frosting’s star is browned butter, but it also has powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla.

Once baked, you finish the cookies with frosting and a sprinkling of finely chopped cashews.

Yum! Enjoy!

-Cyndi

Cinnamon Cookie Butter Cookies

These Cinnamon Cookie Butter Cookies won best sandwich cookie and best overall cookie at the 2021 Minnesota State Fair. Their creamy filling, phenomenal flavor, and utter deliciousness will wow you with every bite.

A Winning History

Joan Kinsley was the winning Minnesota State Fair baker. She adapted a Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest winning recipe that Annette Gustafson won with in 2020. Joan first entered the state fair baking competition in 2014, had a win, and was hooked on the annual tradition.

Joan’s version is a linzer look-alike with an opening on top so you see the inside filling inside, which is thick, creamy, rich, and absolutely divine.

We invite you to make them for the holidays and check out our step-by-step tips for reproducing these blue-ribbon-winning Cinnamon Cookie Butter Cookies. Did I mention that outstanding filling? =)

Special thanks to Joan fore re-baking her cookies for me. Same to the our friends at the Star Tribune for their recipe use permission and to Annette. We look forward to learning what more about this year’s Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest winners!

Secrets to Success

Joan estimates she made these cookies 5-6 times before entry drop-off at the fair. She spent hours tweaking ingredients and altering the thickness of the dough and the filling. She also adjusted baking times, temperature, and what kitchen tools she used. This seems to be a popular process among successful state fair blue ribbon baker, especially with recipes they’re new to. It pays off.

To achieve the “perfect bake” Joan keeps the dough chilled throughout the entire prep process: before rolling it out, afterward with the scraps she re-works, and even while the cut dough waits its turn in the oven.
Hint: Handle the dough as little as possible. It’s much easier to transfer and work with when chilled.
Joan prefers baking them on parchment that sits on a silpat baking mat with an air bake pan underneath.
You can opt to cut out the cookies an inch apart, directly on the parchment you’ll bake them on. This way the shapes stay fully intact because you’re not touching or moving them.
Joan uses an adjustable rolling pin (for an exact thickness) and a Linzer tart cookie cutter.
Joan also bakes her cookies 1 sheet at a time.

Step by Step

You make the cookies with flour, cinnamon, salt, butter, and brown sugar. Set out your butter ahead of time as you want it room temperature. Also, allow enough time to chill the dough at least 30 minutes.

When mixing the dough, it’s ready when the ingredients are just fully combined and clumps start to form. Like with pie dough, avoid over-mixing.

Pressing the dough out before chilling makes for an easier roll out. And seal it in plastic wrap. Ultimately you end up rolling it out between parchment layers.

Joan uses an adjustable rolling pin with rings to make the dough exactly 1/6th inch thick.

With the first portion of dough, you cut the cookie “bottoms.”

With the second portion of dough, you cut the cookie “tops” with the center cut out.

Tip: cut out, then chill the unbaked cookies again and they will be easy to move with an offset spatula. Bake them an inch or more apart.

You sprinkle all with a cinnamon/sugar mixture before baking, giving them some glitter and glam.

Then, simply keep a close eye on the oven. You want the bottoms to barely start to brown, which takes 12-14 minutes.

The filling features Biscoff cookie butter (available at most grocery stores in the peanut butter section), along with butter, and powdered sugar. I could eat this stuff by the spoonful.

Joan pipes hers on before spreading it even with an offset metal spatula.

All these tips and tricks were the secrets to her baking success.

The last thing you need to do is enjoy these better-than-anything blue ribbon cookies.

Happy baking!

-Cyndi

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

Blue Ribbon Group Serving State & County Fairs for 20+ years

Tag: Minnesota State Fair baking competition

Best Cream Pie Winner: Blackberry Mojito Cream Pie

Blackberry Mojito Cream Pie

1st Place Creative Cookie at Minnesota State Fair

Minnesota State Fair Baking Competition Winners Announced

Minnesota State Fair 2022 Baking Competition Winners Announced

Blue Ribbon Group special contests celebrate the best in home baking & cooking

Find the complete Creative Activities Building winner list here

Take in daily live demos/tasting Events in the Cambria Kitchen, starting with Kowalski’s Markets opening day

Splenda Magic Baker “Low-To-No Sugar Showdown” Winners

Kowalski’s “Great Chocolate Cake Contest” Winners

Kowalski’s Supreme Sourdough Contest Winners

Blue Ribbon “Best Peanut Butter Cookie” Contest Winners

Blue Ribbon “Best Cream Pie” Contest Winners

Blue Ribbon “Salad Bowl Tournament” Winners

3 Cricketeers “Energy Bars & Power Balls” Recipe Contest

Almond Blueberry Coffee Cake (Sugar-Free)

Blueberries abound

How is this recipe sugar-free?

Upcoming recipe contest

Prize-Winning Parmesan & Chive Scones

Step by Step Tutorial

Blue Ribbon Beer Bread

Winner Q&A

BRG: What can you tell us about your Blue Ribbon Beer Bread recipe and why you chose it?

BRG: What do you think your secret to winning was?

BRG: What is the worst disaster you’ve had in the kitchen and how did you deal with it?

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

Coconut Curry Mango Cake

Creative Cake

Judging Criteria

Coconut Curry Mango Cake – Step by Step

Finishing Touches