That’s the way the Christmas cookie crumbles.
Tammy Jobbins, reigning champion of the Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Cookie and Candy Contest, was unseated last week by Martha Mackowiak in the adult cookie category and by Charlotte Olerud in the adult candy category.
Jobbins won first place in the adult candy competition last year, and swept three of the top four categories in 2012.
Mackowiak’s almond tea cookies narrowly edged out Jobbins’ “Cranberry Cashew Jingles” after a tiebreaker. Judges Michael Marks, Kalani “Mr. K” Kanahele, and Mark Patterson ultimately decided Mackowiak’s “light and buttery” almond cookies beat out the heavier cranberry jingles, which took second.
“If you want to sit down with a glass of milk and pound a bunch of cookies, this is the one to have,” Patterson said of the almond cookies.
Mackowiak said she decided on the almond cookies because they were simple but delicious. She also discovered a secret while making the batch for the competition.
“I’ve made them in the past without sifting the flour and without sifting the powdered sugar and they are typically heavier, but this time I sifted and they turned out lighter,” she said.
Mackowiak almost didn’t enter the competition this year, as it’s a holiday tradition she often undertook with her daughter Sasha, who graduated from Haines High last year.
“With my daughter being gone at college, it’s a little bit harder to get into the Christmas thing this year,” Mackowiak said. “That’s part of why it was so rewarding. I kind of made myself do it, and I won.”
Charlotte Olerud dominated the adult candy competition, taking first place for her double-layer fudge and second place for her caramels.
Olerud said she submitted the candies as a service to the Visitor Center, which uses the entries to feed families during its open house and pictures with Santa the following day.
“They need some stuff to feed the people and I thought I’d help them,” Olerud said. “I was very surprised (to win). I expected Tammy to win. She always does such a good job.”
Olerud came across the recipe for the double-layer fudge in a recent issue of Taste of Home magazine. Both layers – the top flavored with peanut butter, the bottom with chocolate chips – involved a lot of marshmallow cream and sugar, she said.
The Jobbinses didn’t go home empty-handed. Tammy Jobbins’ daughter Natalie prevailed in the youth cookie and candy categories with her “Christmas Blossoms” and “Christmas Fudge.”
Jacob Weerasinghe took second in the youth cookie category with his cherry double chocolate peppermint cookies.
Organizer Tammy Piper said the contest had a record low number of entries this year, though she didn’t know why. “I just don’t get it,” she said.
The contest drew 13 entries: seven adult cookie, three adult candy, two youth cookie and one youth candy. That’s down from 17 last year and 26 in 2012.
Judge Kanahele said the decline in participation was disappointing. “I was expecting to have a lot of samples.”