Cookie Contewst Winners

Treats and cookies take top prizes in reader contest

We always look forward to tasting the entries in our annual Alabama Living Christmas Cookies & Treats Contest, and this year we had more than the usual number of submissions.  In fact, the “treats” outnumbered the cookies! Not that the judges minded. Congratulations to our winners of the prizes of $100, $75 and $50, which will come in handy for them at Christmas time. We hope you enjoy making some or all of these prize-winning goodies for your family this season! 

1^st Place (Posthumous) Cyndi Swinea Huntsville, Baldwin EMC

Cyndi Swinea of Huntsville loved to cook for her family and friends, and her recipe for “Peanut Butter Topped Toffee Bars” was one of her most delicious. Sadly, Mrs. Swinea passed away Oct. 18 without knowing that her recipe had won first place in our Christmas Treats and Cookies contest. Her husband, Rick, says knowing his wife of 42 years had won the prize helped to brighten an otherwise sad day. “I can’t say enough about her,” he says. “She was the light of my life.” She had retired from the Redstone Federal Credit Union after 34 years and enjoyed spending time with her four grandchildren. “She was a giver with a heart of gold,” he says, and was involved in many community projects. Knowing she’d won the top prize in our recipe contest would have made her happy, he says. “She loved to cook and she liked to make that one.”

Peanut Butter Topped Toffee Bars

• 2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed firmly
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups pecans, finely chopped
• 2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Topping:

• 1/2 to 3/4 cup peanut butter chips
• 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and arrange rack to the center of oven. Beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and beat again. Blend in vanilla. Whisk flour with salt and gradually stir into sugar batter, fold in pecans and spread mixture evenly in a greased 15×11-inch baking pan. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden on the edge. Remember: Bars will continue to cook, so do not let edges get too dark. Remove from oven and immediately top with chocolate chips. Allow 2-3 minutes for chips to soften and spread evenly over the bars. Melt peanut butter chips and vegetable shortening and stir to blend. Use a spoon to drizzle over the top of the chocolate. Cool completely.

2^nd  Place Sylvia Clark Bay Minette, Baldwin EMC 

Sylvia Clark will be the first one to tell you that her winning entry, White Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball, is “rich, rich,” so she advises not to eat it with a “decadent” cookie, as it would be overwhelming. Rather, “use any kind of mild cookie,” like graham crackers or other bland cracker to complement the sweetness of the buttery cream cheese and powdered sugar blend.  Sylvia entered it in our contest because the cheese ball is “different” and her husband and four granddaughters especially like it. The retired high school guidance counselor and English teacher has previously won Cook of the Month honors for her jambalaya recipe (November 2024).

White Chocolate Chip Cheese Ball

• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped, sweetened, dried 
• cranberries
• 3/4 cup lightly toasted, sliced almonds
• Ginger snap cookies or graham crackers (or both), for serving

Beat together cream cheese, butter and orange extract until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Stir in white chocolate chips and cranberries. Cover and refrigerate until firm enough to handle, about 2 hours. Place mixture on plastic wrap and shape into a ball. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Before serving, roll in almonds. Serve surrounded by cookies, graham crackers, etc. Decorate with peppermint sticks and candy canes.

3^rd Place Jim Archuletta Hartselle, Joe Wheeler EMC

Jim Archuletta loves to cook and create in his kitchen, and this recipe was the result when he announced, “I’m going to invent the crispiest cookie ever!”  So he started adding ingredient after ingredient, from Special K cereal to orange juice to coconut and nutmeg. “My wife told me not to put nutmeg in there, but I did anyway,” he says. “Once I get started I keep adding stuff. I saw the contest and anything I saw that looked or sounded like Christmas, I threw in there. I didn’t know how they would turn out. I’d never made them before!” His chewy, crunchy cookie took third place honors, prompting one judge to say they taste “just like Christmas morning!” Archuletta, a retired Decatur police officer who now works as a school resource officer, says the next time he makes the cookies he’ll add another touch of Christmas: a topping of crushed candy canes. “Doesn’t that sound good?”

Christmas Morning Happy Cookies

• 1/4 cup salted butter
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• 2 tablespoons orange juice concentrate, thawed
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 11/2 cups Special-K cereal (NOT cornflakes)
• 2/3 cup golden raisins (may substitute craisins if you like)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats 
• 1/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes 
• red and green decoration sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar. Add egg, vanilla, orange juice concentrate and orange zest. Mix well with electric mixer. 

In a separate large bowl, with a spoon, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, Special-K, raisins (or craisins), rolled oats and coconut flakes. Mix until combined well, then add to sugar mixture. Mix well with large spoon.

Using a nonstick cookie sheet or parchment paper, drop by spoonful into sheet and sprinkle each with both red and green decorator’s sugar. (Leave enough space in between drops, they more than double in size.) Bake for 9 minutes or until brown. Makes 3 dozen cookies.