Fair cookies

This is Bonner County Fair week, and the contest is on! My friend Jenny and I have agreed to square off in a hot competition in the cookie department. I can't even remember how it started. That doesn't matter. What matters is that we win. A lot of times they might give more than one blue ribbon, so it's possible we can both come home happy.

Actually, there's no losing in this contest. First, to get a plate of good cookies, a batch with lots of samples to choose from must be made. With my snickerdoodles yesterday, I tried three different methods to get the best-shaped, best tasting products possible. I tried molding them to make them perfectly round; that bunch came out of the oven too flat and too fakey looking. Who wants to eat a fakey cookie?

I stuck a little nutmeg and less than a pinch of cloves in with the sugar and cinnamon coating. When that didn't seem to have enough zip, I added more cinnamon. I also resorted to just dropping them on the sheet with a spoon and knife and praying for some well-shaped results. In between oven segments and while I was out of the kitchen, Bill snatched one. He assured me later that his pilfered sample had an "imperfect" top.

When the batch was finished, about a dozen cookies could be considered for assembling the most uniform collection. I'll decide that later today. Once the selection period has ended, we have more than two dozen tasty snickerdoodles to feed on for the next week or two.

I'm also entering my Appaloosa cookies in the Fair. I used to call them Cedar Post cookies, but since they're spotted and since I work for a different publication than the high school newspaper these days, they became Appaloosa cookies. In fact, the folks down at the Appaloosa Journal like them so much, they even included the recipe in a recent edition. I'm not divulging the secrets until AFTER the Fair and only IF they get a blue ribbon.

Most folks who've tried the Appaloosa cookies tend to remember them. So, I'm hoping that string will continue when the judges bite into one from yesterday's batch this Tuesday at the Fair. Bill has sampled one or two, and I've sampled three or four. They'll do. Even if they don't win a blue ribbon, they'll get eaten. We've got almost three dozen of them left for upcoming nibbling.

I'm sure Jenny's family has been enjoying the rewards of this Bonner County Fair cookie stand-off as much as Bill has. I've eaten Jenny's cookies before, and I know I'm up against a formidable foe. She's got the touch; ya can't eat just one of Jenny's cookies. So, the judges are in for a treat, for sure.

We'll both win, regardless of ribbons, because of the spirit of this competition. Jenny stays alive because of chemo-therapy and a strong, stubborn will to win. I'd like to think a little cookie competition with an admiring friend at the Fair may help too!

Good luck, to my friend and hero, Jenny. When this is over, we'd better save a couple of those extras, sit down on one of those benches in the main exhibit building, eat our cookies and revel in how great life can be, especially at the Fair.