The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (2024)

Contestants enjoy experimenting with flavors and sharing their creations

By Valerie Jarvie | Special Contributor

Published December 9, 2015

It’s been a special year from the start: This is the 20th anniversary of the Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest, in which readers submit their very best recipes to win press and prizes.

Since 1996, home bakers have been coming through each year with an amazing array of cookie recipes. The 2015 contest brings the total to 300 winning recipes published, and nearly $30,000 raised for Dallas Morning News Charities, which benefits the hungry and homeless.

Trends this year include modern, intense flavors such as coffee, liqueurs and cayenne pepper. Buttery caramel continues to be on a roll. Many bakers utilize unusual ingredients such as pretzels, freeze-dried pears and even barbecue sauce to catch the judges’ attention.

“You can’t just enter a basic chocolate chip cookie now. It’s got to be unique and interesting,” said Vicki Scott of Dallas, who has been entering since the very first year of the contest.

Scott was one of approximately 60 contestants asked to bring cookies for a final judging Nov. 5 at Central Market on Lovers Lane. As the event commenced, Stephen Butt, senior vice president of the Central Market Division of HEB, made a surprise announcement: In recognition of former Dallas Morning News food editor Cathy Barber’s 20 years of service heading the contest, prizes were to be doubled this year, much to the delight of everyone in the room.

The top three awards in each of five categories (Bar, Decadent, Decorated, Easy and Family) were Central Market gift cards of $300, $200 and $100 for first, second and third places, respectively. Suzy Cravens was awarded a $300 gift card for her win in a sixth category, Cookie Man, which is judged on looks alone. Señor Snowy, Cravens’ festive sugar skull snowman, replaces last year’s dapper fox as the new contest mascot.

The panel of culinary professionals judging noted the artistry and effort demonstrated by entrants.

“This is about cooking from the heart,” said chef Tre Wilcox.

Joining the pros was our “You Be the Judge” essay contest winner, Dr. Bill Tedford, a retired professor from Southern Methodist University, who remarked on how much he learned. “I was paired with a pastry chef who pointed out the techniques to me. It was a heck of a lot of fun,” he said.

Contestants enjoyed a cookie and recipe exchange as the judges met behind closed doors to select winners. Many repeat contestants in the group have developed friendships over the years. There were also a number of newbies who submitted recipes for the first time.

“I was surprised to get chosen [as a finalist],” said Mia McCallum, 54, of Murphy. “Even if I don’t win, it’s a thrill to be here.”

“It’s my favorite time of year,” said avid baker and 12-year participant Randy Pruett, 60, of Dallas. “The spirit of sharing and camaraderie is a nice kickoff for the holidays.”

Veteran contestant Scott sums it up: “The contest is an event that has gotten bigger and better and more fun every year. Baking enthusiasts look forward to it,” she said. “For most contestants, having a recipe in the paper is the closest we’ll get to having a cookbook published. And, readers get new cookie recipes they know are tried and true.”

Valerie Jarvie is a Dallas freelance writer.

Slideshow: May the judging begin

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (1)

Suzy Cravens (center) reacts as she is announced winner of the "Cookie Man" category during The Dallas Morning News Holiday Cookie Contest at Central Market Thursday, Nobember 5, 2015 in Dallas. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (2)

Judges Karen Cassady (left) and Deidre Miller rate entries. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (3)

Judges Karen Higginbotham (left) Kristen Massad rate entries. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (4)

Judges Melissa Higgs (right) talks to Tsuki Caspary Brooks during The Dallas Morning News Holiday Cookie Contest at Central Market. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (5)

Judge Melissa Higgs writes down her notes on entries. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (6)

(From left) Judges Michelle Rodarte, Martin Vandiver and Tre Wilcox evaluate entries. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (7)

A small sign on Sandra Entrican's entry advises judges not to eat the whole cookie. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (9)

A person grabs an entry for the Easy category. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (10)

People flock to a table for the "cookie grab" during The Dallas Morning News Holiday Cookie Contest at Central Market. (G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (11)

Joyce Denton (left) and her daughter, Becky Denton, look over their spoils following the "cookie grab."(G.J. McCarthy/The Dallas Morning News)

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (12)The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (13)

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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (14)

2015 Winners

Lillian Greenslade, Fort Worth

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (15)

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (16)

Greenslade is a well-known figure in area baking competitions, having won both Cookie Contest recognition and Best Competitor at the State Fair (multiple times). She grew up in San Antonio in a big family. Her mother did not like to bake, but Greenslade liked sweets, so she taught herself when she was a teenager, starting with a pie from a recipe on the back of a pecan package.

“I don’t cook, but I bake,” she says. “My husband, Joe, doesn’t care about food. He eats only to survive. But he will eat dessert. He is very disciplined and has just a bite.”

Her winning cookie recipe is one she’s had so long that she doesn’t remember the origin, but she had confidence it was a good choice. “A recipe that starts with butter makes my ears stick out and my eyelashes flutter,” she says. Greenslade will be baking quite a few more of her Salted Caramel Butter Bars this season.

Between them, the Greenslades have five children and 11 grandchildren, ranging in age from 3 to 19. She’ll be sending cookies their way, especially to her stepson, Joseph, who is training to be a Navy test pilot in Maryland.

Runners up

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (17)

Second Place

Pretzel Almond Strawberry Bars

Joyce Denton, Plano
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (18)

Third Place

Shortbread Turtle Cookie Bars with a Shortbread Streusel

Rex Poland, Dallas
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (19)

2015 Winners

Jiab Wasserman, Dallas

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (20)

Latte White Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate Ganache

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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (21)

This first-time entrant had never baked before moving to the U.S. from Thailand to pursue a master’s degree 25 years ago.

“Thailand is tropical, very hot. We don’t bake much. Thai desserts are steamed bean cakes,” she says.

She learned to cook after marrying. She started by following recipes, but was soon trying to make baked goods healthier using ingredients reflecting the cuisine of her native country. Her husband, Jim, a high school history teacher at Parish Episcopal School, and their sons, Journey, 19, and Ben, 20, had “their fair share of experiments,” as she puts it. She substituted coconut milk for cream, and incorporated beans and tofu into her baked goods.

She relaxed those standards for her entry in the Cookie Contest. Starting with a Japanese-green-tea-based bar recipe she found online, she tweaked it by subbing espresso with a simpler instant coffee powder to achieve the best result. “I thought about adding pumpkin, but Jim suggested I keep it simple.”

No doubt, Mr. Wasserman’s class will be hoping he’ll bring a batch of his wife’s Latte White Chocolate Brownies With Chocolate Ganache to school. And Jiab, a credit card risk analyst with Bank of America, has already gotten requests for cookie gifts from friends. “No more tofu pie,” she says.

Runners up

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (22)

Second Place

S'mores Bars with Marshmallow Meringue

Carol Adamek, Dallas
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (23)

Third Place

Caramel-Stuffed Brown Butter Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies

Vicki Carlisle, Dallas
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (24)

2015 Winners

Debbie Zuke, Garland

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (25)

Peppermint Brownie Latte

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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (26)

The longtime contestant and repeat winner is part of the support staff for the Dallas County Community College District. Her baking journey started with a cake-decorating class 20 years ago. For the past 10 years, designing and decorating cookies has been her specialty. She finds online tools particularly helpful, citing websites such as Sweet ambs.com and Sweetopia.net, as well as YouTube and Periscope video tutorials, as great sources for learning new cookie decorating techniques and products.

A fondness for lattes provided the idea for her Peppermint Brownie Latte entry this year, paired with her favorite chocolate cookie base and peppermint-flavored icing. “I love Starbucks,” she says. No cookie cutter, no problem: Zuke created a guide to cut the dough by sketching the outline on heavy cardstock, laminating it and cutting a stencil with an X-acto knife.

Zuke and her husband, Paul, have a daughter, Leslie, a granddaughter, Aanae, 10, and grandson, Evan, 8.

She has participated in the contest for many years and reflects back on it with awe. “If you look back at the timeline posted [below], it’s amazing how the contest has evolved.”

Runners up

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (27)

Second Place

And To All A Good Night

Sandra Entrican, Carrollton
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (28)

Third Place

It's A Happy Holiday When Pigs Fly

Suzy Cravens, Coppell
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (29)

2015 Winners

Karen Barker, Garland

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (30)

Citrus-Glazed Fig Thumbprints

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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (31)

Barker grew up in a home in which her mom was always in the kitchen. She and her sister, Lisa Welch, watched the Food Network regularly and often helped their mother bake what they saw on TV.

Now married, Barker frequently makes sweet treats for her husband, Ray, and their circle of friends. “We can’t possibly eat all I make, so I share them. I know a lot of cookie monsters,” she says.

It’s her second win since entering the contest in 2012, when her Spicy Molasses Cookie charmed the judges and was awarded first place in the Family category. “People remember it and still ask me for them.”

This year’s entry, Citrus-Glazed Fig Thumbprints, started with preserves she made from the abundance of fruit from a fig tree in her yard. “I just started gardening, and I was trying to think of ways to use all those figs,” she says.

Holiday gifts from the Barkers this year will include baskets of the cookies packaged with Bundt cakes, breads and jars of preserves.

She is planning to enter the contest again next year with her sister Lisa in tow. “She came with me this year for support. Now she’s got the bug to compete.”

Runners up

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (32)

Second Place

Hazelnut Balls

Terry Mosher, Grapevine
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Third Place

Almond Butter Drops

Pamela Woodberry, Dallas
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (34)

2015 Winners

Linda Davenport-Miller, Plano

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (35)

Mocha Treasures

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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (36)

Davenport-Miller started baking at age 6, when she ordered a children’s cookbook for a dime from the Imperial Sugar Co. A natural gas marketing manager for Denbury Resources, she is a year-round baker who frequently makes cookies and Bundt cakes for co-workers, friends, her daughter Erin, 29, and son Stuart, 25. Her best tester, though, is her fiancé, Bob Carroll, who is very supportive but also very truthful. “I cook for compliments,” she says, “but I tell him I want him to say so if he doesn’t like a cookie.”

She often creates recipes from scratch. The inspiration for her winner this year, Mocha Treasures, started with cacao nibs (bits of raw chocolate beans before sugar is added). Davenport-Miller developed a recipe with a coconut/coffee/chocolate flavor profile, gave it an appealing name, and then decided on which category seemed the best fit for the cookie’s heart-warming taste and appearance, made prettier by rolling in raw sugar.

“My motto is presentation is everything. It looked like pixie dust sparkling,” she says. “The cookie is simple, but the flavors are strong and unique.”

She sent a test batch to Bob’s office. The feedback that came back was: “Don’t change a thing.”

The judges thought so, too. This is her third first-place win since she began entering the contest in 2008.

Runners up

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (37)

Second Place

My Grandmother's Welsh Tea Cookies

Paula Bonchak, Bonham
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (38)

Third Place

Almond Polenta Cookies

Vicki Scott, Dallas
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The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (39)

2015 Winners

Suzy Cravens, Coppell

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (40)

Señor Snowy

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (41)

She did it again! For the fifth year in a row (sixth time total), Cravens made the winning Cookie Man, this year a merry sugar skull snowman.

“I didn’t know what I was going to submit until a week before the entries were due,” Cravens says. “I was wracking my brain for an idea and then noticed how many sugar skull decorations I was seeing online. I’ve always loved Dia de los Muertos and have skeletons and sugar skulls in my house year-round.”

Cravens sketched several designs before she came up with a version that she thought was fun but not too scary. “I always use a lot of texture, but had to hold back, telling myself ‘less is more.’ I didn’t want him to get lost in the translation.”

Cravens estimates she spent about 38 hours making the seven cookies she submitted to the judges. She credits her grandmother for teaching her to bake and Wilton classes for launching her skill in cookie decorating. Cravens and her husband, Gary, have two daughters, Kendall, 25, and Mallory, 23. Cravens also took home a third-place win in the Decorated category for a fanciful flying pig cookie this year.

Runners up

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (42)

Cookie Man

Paula Bonchak

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (43)

Cookie Elf

Sylvia Mata

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (44)

Christmas Horse

Bernadette Winn

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (45)

Lone Star Cookie Armadillo

Dianne Ragain

The Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest: Meet the winners, try the recipes (46)

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Have a favorite?

Who's your favorite Cookie Man ever? Is it Little Tex, the one with the glittery red chaps? How about the trumpeting angel, or the oh-so-realistic Sock Monkey, with delicate "stitches" pressed into his icing? Or maybe you have a soft spot for last year's Festive Foxy.

The contest itself goes back to 1996, but Cookie Man — who has at times actually been Cookie Woman — wasn't added until 2001. Love them? Hate them? Pick your favorite cookie from the 14 past winners in the cateory.

Up or down vote each cookie and see what percentage of voters agree with you.

Editor: Erin Booke

Video: David Guzman

Designer: Hannah Wise

More cookie coverage from The Dallas Morning News
Tasty treats: Get the winning recipes from the 2013 Holiday Cookie ContestThe cookies entered in the 2013 Holiday Cookie Contest included a range of flavors as diverse as the state of Texas.Video: 2014 Holiday Cookie ContestWatch as cookie bakers from across the D-FW bring in their best offerings in hopes of winning.Holiday Cookie Contest 2014 WinnersFlavors that pop; a fantastic fox; fun, family and friends — this year’s Dallas Morning News-Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest delivered all these and more.
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