Chocolate 'Treasure' takes grand prize in cookie contest
Well, I don't think there is a person in the world who wouldn't like a great chocolate-chip cookie. And surely there's not one who could possibly resist these prize-winning cookies. Even well after the tasters' "duties" were completed, this pile kept dwindling and dwindling!
For the last couple of months I issued a challenge to readers to send in their best chocolate-chip-cookie recipe. I knew there would be a lot of cookie bakers out there and, wow! - were there a lot of entries! About 150 or so.
The only requirement for the recipe was that it contain some sort of chocolate chip. The grand-prize winner is Dave's Chocolate-chip Treasure Cookies. David Vargas of Seattle submitted the recipe for these melt-in-your-mouth cookies.
They have a fun twist like that of those Magic or 7-Layer Bars graham-cracker crumbs and sweetened condensed milk stirred in, some coconut, walnuts and semisweet chocolate chips tossed in. Voila! You have baked up some of the best cookies my tasting panel and I have ever sunk our teeth into.
Vargas, 38, who owns an insurance agency, says, "I learned everything about the kitchen from my mom. I have five sisters, but I'm the one my mom taught the family recipes to. Cooking is one of my greatest joys, especially baking. I love to bake, cook and entertain.
"This recipe comes from a paperback cookbook I found. I've updated it from the original, adding more nuts and coconut (all my friends tell me it's better with more coconut). I don't think a single year has passed that I haven't made these cookies at least once. When I start to make a batch, for some reason all the neighbors in my condominium seem to need something."
Then there were the other fabulous cookies. First runner-up is from Karla Bocek, who says, "At my church's annual bake sale, my cookies are labeled simply `Karla's Cookies' and their reputation is such that the entire batch is sold in no time." Bocek uses two kinds of chocolate and ground oatmeal, which distinguish these from the Toll House recipe. "The oatmeal makes them moist and chewy without giving them the taste or texture of an oatmeal cookie." Our tasters loved them.
Jodi Mirante sent in the second runner-up recipe. She describes Auntie Helen's Chocolate-chip Cookies as having "a shortbread kind of texture." Mirante says, "I have made these many times, but at 95 years old, Auntie Helen has me beat." We found they bake up nice and light.
Our remaining top three runners-up each had a fun twist to them, too.
For instance Stefany Dybeck's Honey-roasted Peanut & Chocolate-chip Jumbles are super with the added big crunch of whole, salted, honey-glazed peanuts and the peanut-butter chips.
An orange accent
Meribah Smith's Citrusy Chocolate-chip Cookies have a ton of candied orange rind in them. Be sure to use a good-quality candied peel or make your own. We loved the citrusy bits mixed with cut-up, slightly tart dried apricots.
And if you are a super chocoholic, you will love Nancy Van Ess' recipe for Chocolate Whoppers. They are the ultimate in a chocolate cookie: Semisweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, chocolate chips and coffee give these extra sugar-caffeine buzz power, a big flavor punch and a chocolate pow.
Now a little about our tasters. (It's a hard job tasting all these cookies but you know someone has to do it!)
In addition to myself, of course, there was Charlotte Rudge, my sous chef, who also had the job of baking off, re-testing and baking some of the top 25 cookies. I'm not sure if she ever wants to see another cookie in her lifetime, but the rest of the tasters had a ball.
A mixed jury
A crowd of restaurant and food-company clients who were in the studio for meetings were pressed into service. I enlisted a book publisher who dropped by. And a telephone repairman, a cooking-show production team, a food research and development technician who was dropping off some samples and our "handy guys" - who are super cookie-monsters and can't believe that this is our job. All got the "Here, eat these" command, as did just about everyone else who came through our doors for three days.
And, it's quite interesting - especially considering the vast assortment of our tasters - that the preferences were pretty unanimous. So we whittled it down to our top six cookies.
There were many differences in recipe styles. Most common was the addition of oatmeal into the recipes. We also had one from Eddie Edgecombe with crushed peppermint candies, and there were dried cherries in Cathy Barton's recipe. Although neither made the final six, they were delicious.
If reading these recipes puts you in the baking mood, why not whip up a batch of each and turn your family, friends and neighbors into cookie testers, too. That's a great excuse to try them all.
Copyright 2001 by Kathy Casey Food Studios (Chef Kathy Casey is a food, beverage and restaurant concept consultant and freelance food writer. She is the owner of Kathy Casey Food Studios in Seattle. E-mail info@kathycasey.com.)