SEE THE WINNERS OF THE 2017 HOLIDAY COOKIE CONTEST
Readers deliver delectable dessert blueprints.
Every family has its favorite holiday traditions.
And so many of those traditions include cooking and baking together with one another.
Sharing recipes. Swapping cookies. Gifting cookies.
This beloved holiday pastime is at the heart of the annual Dayton Daily News Holiday Cookie Contest.
The winners of this year’s contest all had two things in common: a true passion for baking and sharing delicious baked treats with family and friends.
“I’m a huge baker,” said Roxanne Williams of Springboro, the first-place winner in this year’s contest for her scrumptious Peachy Pistachio Icebox Cookies. “I cook and bake all of the time. Baking is my favorite thing.”
This was her first time entering, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity after a little encouragement from her family and friends.
“My mom was over-the-top for these cookies,” she said. And that tradition continues. “I’ve made these a dozen times this year, at least.” She expects now she might have to make them even more for family, friends and her co-workers at the Montgomery County Probate Court.
Like Williams, this year’s second-place winner has a true passion for baking.
“I’ve been making this cookie for 18 to 19 years in our family,” said Carol Foltz of Miami Twp., a firsttime entrant. “It’s been a family tra-
dition. We first discovered this cookie at a wedding and thought there was nothing else like it. We added it to our Christmas cookies. We make around eight kinds every year. This cookie is so interesting.”
The secret ingredient in her Potato Chip Cookies? None other than Dayton’s own Mikesell’s chips (regular or wavy)!
Geni Thurin of Dayton is no stranger to the cookie contest. She has entered almost every year and has won a prize or an honorable mention multiple times.
“Every year, I look for a new cookie to try and one that could be a popular taste,” she said.
“I usually test out a few different kinds and ask people to try them all. I enter the one or two people can’t stop eating.”
This year’s third-place winner was a Pinterest find: Salted Caramel Butter Bars.
“My mom and I made cookies for years when she was alive,” she said. “We’d make cookies at her house and pack them up as gifts.” This cookie will definitely be on her giving list this year, she said.
The top three winners of the cookie contest, selected by a panel of judges from the Dayton Daily News staff, each received a Kroger gift card (and cookie bragging rights, of course).
“I love this contest,” said Jim Bebbington, Dayton Daily News editor and senior director of premium content.
“The top 10 are almost always fantastic. The recipe that wins each year stands out simply by a thin sliver of deliciousness. They’re all good.”
Ron Rollins, director of digital content for Cox Media Group Ohio, including the Dayton Daily News, said after years of judging this contest, he finds himself often making the same joke.
“’You know, it’s true: Journalism isn’t for the faint of heart.’ Which is just a silly way of saying, ‘I can’t believe we get paid to come to work and eat these amazing cookies.’ And they are amazing. What I like is the variety our local bakers send in to tantalize us – the range of different cookie and taste styles is really broad, very imaginative and a lot of fun. This year’s entries were especially good. If I had a single bit of advice for future contestants, it would be this: Your cookie doesn’t have to look great to taste great. Sometimes the winners are fairly unassuming on the plate, but when you take a bite you know it’s something special. And of course, thanks to everyone who entered.”