Illinois State Fair Cookie Contest
State fairs have long been the highlight of the summer for many people. This year, Hodgson Mill played an important part in one very tasty competition!
Since 1853, the Illinois State Fair has been delighting Illinoisans with fun rides, great food, and displays of agriculture. From Springfield, to Chicago, to Du Quoin, the fairgrounds have welcomed thousands almost every year, even during the Civil War.
2017 is the first year the Illinois State Fair hosted a cookie recipe contest and Hodgson Mill was thrilled to asked to sponsor. (And we got to provide official cookie taste testers & judges!) From fruit-filled to chocolate drizzled our judges enjoyed cookies from all over the state. Here’s what a few of our judges had to say:
“It has been years since I went to our State Fair, so the scale was a bit mind-boggling. I’m also not used to tasting that many cookies first thing in the morning – we walked out of the Arts & Crafts building into the hot summer sun with quite a sugar rush on!” laughed Erin Goldstein, Marketing Brand Manager. “We had a lot of fun judging, though, and I hope the participants had just as much fun entering. Maybe we’ll expand and do a whole wheat bread contest as well in 2018!”
Diana from our Customer Service said, “It was great to see our flours used in so many tasty recipes! To narrow it down to just three winners was hard to do with so many great entries. I look forward to seeing what next year brings!”
One amazing perk of sponsoring this contest is that we get to share these wonderful cookies with you!
Blue Ribbon - The judges’ favorite was decidedly the Chocolate Revel Bars, submitted by Jone S. of Chapin, IL. These fudgy, chocolate-butterscotch bars have a real “wow” factor when you bite into them – from the sweet crisp crust to the melting chocolate-butterscotch filling to the crunchy oat topping, the judges’ vote was nearly unanimous. Link to Recipe
Second place – Strawberry Cream Cookies by Amy W. of Pleasant Plains, IL. These delicate, crumbly cookies with just the right amount of sweet strawberry jam were quite a contrast to the first place winner, but we thought they were so well done they deserved a place in the top three. Link to recipe
Third place – Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies by Victoria G. of Girard, IL. This chewy, toasty twist on the classic cookie just explodes with the nutty flavor that browned butter adds. Well worth the extra time they take to make, and certainly deserving of a spot in the top three entries! Link to recipe
You can find Illinois State Fair Cookie Contest and other recipes from Hodgson Mill by visiting the Recipes page.
