Christmas treat contest

Cookies and more in friendly competition

Last year’s Christmas cookie contest was expanded to include other treats as well for this year’s competition for baking supremacy. Twenty-one bakers submitted 26 different treats for judging by an esteemed panel of cookie connoisseurs comprising Councillor Corey Engelsdorfer, Evan Nash, Kate Vader and Purolator driver Craig Logan, who said he had been training furiously for this event. With 26 treats to taste, the judges could have no more than a nibble of each in order to survive the entire sweet ordeal. The leftover pieces were placed in a Tupperware container for later snacking at leisure.

The judges kept up a running commentary through the process, looking at the presentation and describing the taste and texture of each of the offerings, for the benefit of the livestream audience. The judges had high praise for an unusual matcha cream cookie, and a chocolate truffle treat received the strongest reaction. “That’s a pudding cookie,” said Kate. Evan practically waxed poetic. “This glutinous glob of chocolate is right in my wheelhouse,” he said with a contented sigh. There were chocolate chip cookies aplenty in various guises, melt-in-your-mouth shortbreads—eliciting a “Holy smokes” from Evan—an intricately decorated snowflake cookie, and a banana bread. Last year’s winner—the Christmas crack cookie—was in very strong contention, but this year’s winner was a butter tart in a unanimous choice. The tarts were made by Lynn White, a long-time Wellington resident.

In total, the bakers submitted 40 boxes of cookies and Christmas treats. These will be given to the Storehouse Food bank for distribution in the Christmas hampers. While the judges had a fun time in the competition, it was an apparently exhausting enterprise. “I think I’m going to have a little lie down now,” said Evan.