As a surprise, Markus had made me little Mini Canteen business cards and he even invented a neat way to wrap each cookie.
I made the dough during the week and kept it in the freezer. I needed to make 50 cookies for sampling and 3 special ones for the celebrity judges. On Saturday morning I woke up early and baked away. I was worried about having enough, but ended up with over 100! Markus helped me fold and prepare each little packet. He even made cute little recipe cards to place beside my display!
We were the first people to sign in at the event (I guess I was pretty excited!) and after I had set up my samples we had quite a bit of time before the sampling began. There were two rounds, one for cookies, bars, and raw foods and one for cupcakes, cakes, and professional bakers. See some great photos here.
Even though there were only supposed to be fifty samples, I was glad I had prepared extra because there ended up being closer to three hundred samplers lining up for the treats! I didn't get to try everything, but some of the treats were delicious! Especially the Nanaimo bars (which one a few prizes) and the Mini Cinnabons. A few hours later everyone sat on the floor of the gymnasium to hear the judge's picks for the various prizes. After I didn't win best cookie or runner up in my category, I was a bit bummed but was still having a good time cheering for the winners.
And then I won a prize! Out of all the contestants (forty in total) the judges picked my treat as most memorable!
My prize pack included a subscription to Veg News, some chocolate from Boardwalk Chocolates, a cook book, a beautiful home made ribbon, and bragging rights! Then Markus won some cookies for answering a sports question correctly!
It was so great to see everyone else's great treats and meet other bakers in my city. I wish I had more pictures of other people's offerings, but there is a facebook page if anyone is interested in seeing some of the other entries!
Hey - Congrats on winning most memorable cookie. They look great. I am Charlie's mom and he is always telling me about your great cooking. I am also trying to reduce the amount of gluten in my diet. I tried a great cake recipe from Red Velvet Chocolate Heartache. There was an article in the Globe with a recipe for a great cake with a toffee topping the week on Sept. 12. The recipes use vegetables to reduce the amount of sugar, most are gluten free and I am sure could be converted to dairy free as well. I will watch your blog. This is the first time I have ever made a blog comment.
ReplyDeleteGreat job Nina!!! of course you were the first to arrive at the bake off. You never told me about this! How exciting :) I'm very very proud of you. I want to try them now...
ReplyDeleteps. I just made some cookies and accidentally doubled the butter measurement... oops! they are devine though... i think i get the trick to this baking business... xo