Tag: State Fair of Texas

Chocolate Parisian Macarons

These blue-ribbon-winning Chocolate Parisian Macarons feature a rich chocolate ganache filling between two delicate, airy cookies made with just 5 main ingredients: almond flour, egg whites, powdered sugar, salt, and unsweetened cocoa powder.

Winning Success: Then & Now

Dallas-Fort Worth native Racene Mendoza created this recipe to taste like the macrons of French patisseries. Mission accomplished! Perfected after an endless number of trial runs, the recipe led her to a 1^st place win at the State Fair of Texas (Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship, 2011).

Fast forward 9 years and Racine has opened her own 100% vegan pastry shop in the Dallas area, Reverie Bakeshop. How delightful! We’re thrilled for her. If you find yourself in North Texas, be sure to stop in and support our fellow Blue Ribbon Foodie.

I can’t get enough of sandwich cookies these days. Remember those homemade dulce de leche, caramel sandwich cookies? These macarons rank up there with that state fair winner from Iowa. Both are patisserie-level in quality. Bake macarons like a blue ribbon winner with Racine’s recipe below and our preparation tips.

-Cyndi

How to Win at Making Chocolate Parisian Macarons

Crystal–my niece and fellow blue ribbon foodie–is a macaron enthusiast. I mean, she obsesses–in a good way–about perfecting any batch she makes. She jumped at the opportunity to test-run and photograph Racine’s winning recipe. She took a deep dive into them. From Crystal:

Macarons are known for being tricky to make, but this recipe proves otherwise. The macaron shells require just five ingredients.

The great thing about these little cookies (besides the ease of making them) is that they aren’t overly sweet. The macaron shells are slightly sweet and have a subtle hint of chocolate. This works perfectly when paired with the rich chocolate ganache filling you make with Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Chips and heavy cream. The end result is a balanced flavor that will please any chocolate lover.

Macarons Made Easy – Tips & Tricks

Racine’s recipe is so easy to follow. Here are some highlights and general tips about making macarons that may prove helpful:

Find and use a printable macron template, free online, to trace onto parchment paper. Another option is a macron baking mat with a size guide: like this one at Sur la table. Having your macron shells all the same size helps to match each top and bottom together for each cookie.
The recipe notes how long it should take to do certain steps, and to take more time if needed. When making the meringue with the egg whites, salt, and sugar, it’s more important to achieve stiff peaks than it is to beat them for a specific amount of time.
Make sure you don’t over mix or under mix the batter. Once it starts to come together, there are three tests you can do.

Test for Success

The Ribbon Test. Drop batter off of the spatula into the bowl. It should flow into a ribbon (some say it should flow like molten lava). If the batter falls off in clumps, that means you need to mix it a little more. Do another 3 or 4 folds and then do the ribbon test again.
The Figure 8 Test. When dropping the batter off the spatula, see if you can easily draw a figure 8 with the batter.
The 10 Second Test. Once the batter is flowing easily off of the spatula or you are able to draw a figure 8, watch how long the batter takes to incorporate back into itself. If it takes about 10 seconds, your batter is a good consistency.

The best tip about making macarons, however, is to just dive in,and have fun with the process. Remember that they will taste amazing no matter what! And you luckily have a great recipe to make the process easier!

-Crystal

Winning Ginger Sugar Cookies

These winning ginger sugar cookies are packed with flavor provided by ground cloves, cinnamon, molasses, butter, and of course ginger. That combination of ingredients makes this cookie extra special and extra tasty.

Crispy & Chewy

Our test run of these winning ginger sugar cookies produced a delightful sweet treat that was both a little crispy on the outside and wonderfully chewy on the inside: a winning combination. And an added bonus? They are super easy to make. As the final step before baking, you roll them in sanding sugar for a sparkling finish.

State Fair of Texas Winner

Recipe credit goes to Karen Woo who won at the wonderful State Fair of Texas with them. Karen placed third, which is a big achievement given how popular baking contests are at this fair. If you love ginger, you will love this contest-winning cookie!

Got a Thing for Ginger?

Try these Citrus Ginger Pinchies too, a Minnesota State Fair one-of-a-kind blue ribbon winning cookie .

And don’t miss this Double Ginger Cake recipe. It will wow your taste buds and sweet tooth.

Blue Ribbon Biscuits

These Blue Ribbon Biscuits – made with buttermilk, butter, coconut oil, and baking powder – are based on a State Fair of Texas winning recipe. (Hey there Big Tex). Bake these and you’ll see how easy great biscuits are to make.

Back in 2015, Krysabelle Gilbert of Lindale, Texas made these blue ribbon biscuits and won “best of show.” She called them “Butter ’em up Biscuits” and they won out of 27 entries in her division. Nice work!

Most Popular Baking Categories at Fairs

Baked goods that year, as always, were a popular competition category. (You may recall the Texas winning Lemon Chess Pie from 2015 on our sister site; also yum). It was a big year. Check out what was entered at the State Fair of Texas that year overall. These were all made at home by amateur bakers, aka hobby bakers, people who don’t earn a living baking.

231 cookies
189 cakes
169 pies
158 breads

Whew! That is a lot of baking! It is also so inspiring.

Home-Baked is Best

Whenever I make home-made biscuits, from scratch, I ask myself, “why don’t I make these more often?!” So, when I had leftover buttermilk from another recipe, I dug out this blue ribbon biscuit recipe, a classic. With just 7 ingredients, all staples in my pantry, and 40 minutes to spare, it was game on.

I greased the pan with butter and measured out my portion for the dough. Then I realized I didn’t have any shortening on hand. (So much for a stacked pantry…) No worries though. I love baking with coconut oil and had plenty of that. I simply replaced the shortening with the same amount of coconut oil.

Overall, I ended up increasing the butter and coconut oil “shortening” amounts from Krysabelle’s version. After combining those two ingredients into the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and sugar), I added the buttermilk and egg. I mixed it just until it was combined. That was something Krysabelle emphasized. Don’t overmix. If you want a tender fluffy biscuit, just follow that rule. Other than that, biscuit dough is hard to mess it up. I like that in a recipe.

Anyway, within 15 minutes, my biscuits were ready for the oven.

When they came out, 13 minutes later, they smelled and looked amazing. I let them sit a couple minutes. Then, with oversize spatulas, I moved the entire batch out of the pan and onto a wire rack. I waited a long 5 or so minutes, then smothered one with jam to eat. Delicious!

Great for Brunch Buffets

I hope you try your hand at these soon too. They work great on a buffet table or for a biscuit bar where people can build their own savory (gravy or sandwiches) or go the sweet route with various jams and jellies.

If you want to round out a Texas State Fair winning recipe theme with your brunch. Search the blog for “Texas” and you’ll find a few options, both sweet and savory.

-Cyndi

Spicy Chicken Hand Pies

These Spicy Chicken Hand Pies are portable and packed with fantastic flavors. The savory chicken filling is seasoned with curry powder, allspice, jalapenos, onions, and garlic. Recipe credit goes to Pamela Woodberry, who says the savory pies are Jamaican-style, made with a recipe handed down from her mother. The aromas alone will make your mouth water. They did ours. Pamela won top honors at the 2013 State Fair of Texas with this culinary creation. It was a family-themed contest supported by the Bisquick baking brand.

We loved how Pam paired the spicy chicken hand pie with the sweetness of a fruit chutney dipping sauce. A beloved chutney of ours is Stonewall Kitchen’s mango chutney. Serve it with your favorite.

Spicy Chicken Hand Pies – Preparation Tips

Here are a few preparation tips for those of you making these spicy chicken hand pies:

If you don’t have Bisquick on hand, make you’re own with just four ingredients: flour, vegetable shortening, baking soda, and salt.
You can double or triple the homemade Bisquick mix to use for other recipes like these bruschetta-themed biscuits.
Got extra homemade mix? Refrigerate it. Put a date on it and use it within 3 months.
In a rush? Using a rotisserie chicken for the filling is a great time saver. Simply remove the skin and bones, then dice or shred the chicken.
If you’re hot for heat i.e. a big fan of spiciness, feel free to up the cayenne, curry powder, and jalapenos to fit your taste and tolerance.
You can freeze any leftover pies. Cover in plastic wrap. Place in a freezer bag, removing any extra air, and freeze.
To serve leftover pies, thaw in fridge, remove plastic wrap, and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Warm them in pre-heated 300 degree oven until heated all the way through, about 10 minutes. Shortcut version of this is to thaw and heat in microwave. However, the crust is much tastier with the oven method.

Definitely give this recipe a try. You will wow your friends and family with them!

-Crystal & Cyndi