Muppet would love this winning recipe
Phil Potempa could have used Cookie Monster’s help as the sole judge for the annual Spring Intramural Baking Contest at the Hammond campus of Purdue Northwest. This year’s theme was chocolate chip cookies.
Usually when I do my annual judging for Purdue Northwest Intramurals Director Matt Dudzik at the Hammond campus for the Spring Intramural Baking Contest, I’m always part of a judging panel.
However, for this year’s “baker’s dozen” 13th annual bake-off event last month in March, the lingering COVID-19 pandemic forced me to be a lone judge who could have used some help from the always munching Muppet, Cookie Monster of “Sesame Street”.
This year’s theme was chocolate chip cookies and they’ve always rated top on my list for an after school sweet treat while I was growing up, with equal appeal to my older siblings too. (Our parents never did, and still don’t, care for chocolate chip cookies.)
Narrowed down to a final four contestants, the winner for the 2021 competition is Autumn Wireman of Wheatfield, a freshman student studying psychology. In addition to her first place honors and title, Wireman also received a collector’s tin of Double-Tree Hotel’s famous chocolate chip cookies created by Christie Cookie Co. established in 1983.
As for fuzzy blue and cuddly Cookie Monster, he shares my same grand old age of just over half-a-century this year, having made his debut on the first episode of “Sesame Street” in 1969 in a segment with Kermit the Frog about the letter “W” (the letter was made of Styrofoam and he quickly gobbled it up).
Prior to his public debut on the PBS educational series, creator Jim Henson tested out an earlier version of Cookie Monster, with the same googly, ping-pong ball eyes and voracious appetite, for a couple TV commercials for food products. However, this early puppet monster incarnation had GREEN fur and sported sharp pointed teeth!
On the episodes of “Sesame Street” I grew up within the 1970s , I wasalways impressed that in most of Cookie Monster’ s segment she gobbled up (and crumbled up while che wing) REAL cookies for the TV cameras to capture, as well as capturing the attention of young viewers like myself. In 1971, “Sesame Street” created a hit song when Hen son directed a segment featuring Cookie Monster, as voiced by Frank Oz, singing a song written by Joe Raposo about the alphabet titled “CIs For Cookie,” which was subsequently sold as a record and on a popular album.
On the episodes of “Sesame Street” I grew up with in the 1970s, I was always impressed that in most of Cookie Monster’s segments he gobbled up (and crumbled up while chewing) REAL cookies for the TV cameras to capture, as well as capturing the attention of young viewers like myself.
Actress Candice Bergen later sang the song during her visit to “Sesame Street” in March 1990.
After 2006, amid the media outcry about record levels of childhood obesity in the United States, “Sesame Street” was prompted to change Cookie Monster’s eating habits, including his admission that he also loves eggplant, a revelation later applauded by first lady Michelle O ba ma when she joined President O ba main the White House from 2009-2017. At this same time, “Sesame Street” also began airing segments billed as “Healthy Habits for Life,” featuring the Muppet characters such as Cookie Monster talking about healthy habits, eating properly and regular exercising routines.
In a 2007 appearance on Martha Stewart’s daytime syndicated television show, Cookie Monster shared his new menu philosophy to the lifestyles and kitchen guru explaining: “Cookies are only a ‘sometimes food.’”
In moderation, winner Wireman’s classic chocolate chip cookie recipe is a delicious reward and includes simple ingredients available on the cupboard shelf of most family kitchens.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org or mail your questions: From the Farm, P.O. Box 68, San Pierre, IN 46374.