Bragging Rights Earned in 2016 Cookie/Candy Contest!

Adding candy to the 2016 Great Cookie and Candy Contest was a brilliant idea.   Thanks to Heidi White and Toni Brown for the suggestion!  This year's entries were top notch, but out of the pool of amazing competitors rose some clear winners.

This year, our judges were Annie Gill, Tom Jaynes, Mark Hand and Rhea Deroian.

The 2016 Contestants

Cookies

Candy

Brittney Vorndick's Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies Brittney Vorndick's Almond Joy Cookies Erin Popov's Oatmeal Cranberry Lemon with White Chocolate Chip Cookies Erin Popov's 3 Ingredient Lemon Cookies JaNel Moore's Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies Kathy Lanio's Almond Vanilla Butter Cookies Kerry Cantwell's Blueberry Cream Cheese Cookies with Lemon Glaze Lance Lee's Peppermint Macarons Mary Kennery's Busy Week Cake Mix Cookies (four varieties) White Chocolate Nutella Chocolate Chips Peppermint Nathan Hardin's Almost Double Chocolate Chip Cookies Toni Brown's Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies

Kathy Rexrode's Toffee Bars Meredith Lewis's Coffee Marshmallows Meredith Lewis' Soft Caramels Stesha Little's White Chocolate Toffee

Fabulous prizes were awarded to the winners!  Let's begin with the cookie winners.

And the winners are:

Best Texture / Most Fluffy: 
Erin Popov's 3 Ingredient Lemon Cookies

Erin took home a new Durham Tech keychain.

Best Cookie to Eat Fireside with Girl Scouts:
Toni Brown's Chocolate Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies

Toni took home a new scented candle.

Third Place:

Brittney Vorndick's Almond Joy Cookies

Brittney won a new Post-It note dispenser.  Good job, Brittney!

Second Place:

Lance Lee's Peppermint Macarons

The Winner of the
6th Annual Great Cookie Contest:

JaNel Moore's
Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

And now for the candy winners!  JaNel took home the prized Wooden Baby Deer Spoon.

Most Creative / Innovative:
Meredith Lewis's Coffee Marshmallows

 

Meredith took home a new Burt's Bees lip balm.

Second Place:
Kathy Rexrode's Toffee Bars

Kathy won a new box of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer bandages.

The Winner of the 

FIRST Great Candy Contest:

Stesha Little's White Chocolate Toffee!

Stesha also won a prized Wooden Baby Deer Spoon.

Please congratulate our winners when you see them on campus!

Here are a few recipes for you to try at home!

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Meredith Lewis's award-winning Coffee Marshmallows

Adapted from thekitchn.com

Ingredients:

For the gelatin bloom:

3 packets unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon instant espresso

For the marshmallows:

3/4 cup water

1-1/2 cup granulated sugar

1-1/4 cup corn syrup

Pinch kosher salt

For the coating:

1-1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup cornstarch

1 tablespoon instant espresso

Directions:

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JaNel Moore's award-winning Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon rum extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

2 cups shredded carrots

3/4 cup raisins

FILLING:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1-1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

2 tablespoons crushed pineapple

Additional confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. 
2. In a large electric mixing bowl with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and extracts.  
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, ginger and nutmeg.  Gradually add to flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix well.  Stir in walnuts, carrots, and raisins.
4. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour.
5. Scoop rounded teaspoons of dough and roll in granulated sugar. 
6. Place balls 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Flatten slightly with a glass.
7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 9 - 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
8. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, confectioners' sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.  Stir in walnuts and pineapple.  
9. Spread over the flat bottoms of half of the cookies; top with remaining half of the cookies.  Sprinkle both sides with additional confectioners' sugar for decoration.  Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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Kerry Cantwell's Blueberry Cream Cheese Cookies with Lemon Glaze 
Find the recipe here at therecipecritic.com