Written and Photographed by JACKIE KENNEDY

Multiple tabletops were spread with fresh-baked cookies when celebrity judges showed up in September to judge the seventh annual Newnan-Coweta Magazine Bake Your Best Christmas Cookie Contest.

Honing down the 17 entries to determine first, second and third place winners in two categories, Traditional and Decorated, was quite the challenge. But local artists who judged this year's contest – Bob Shapiro, photographer; Bonne Boyd Bedingfield, cake sculptor; and David Boyd Jr., painter – were up to the task.

All admitted a deep appreciation for cookies, regardless of the time of year, and dug into the many batches of home baked goodness, taking notes as they munched, and gently arguing over the merits of texture, crunch and use of fruit products.

In the end, the judges agreed on the top three winners in each category and proclaimed Brittany Thompson’s Red Velvet Macarons with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing as this year's Grand Prize winner.

The Grand Prize gift basket, stuffed with generous donations from local merchants and individuals (see sidebar), contained items valued at a total
of $600.

For the first time in the history of the cookie contest, The Newnan Times-Herald and Newnan-Coweta Magazine named a Staff Pick. Kathy Brown’s Oatmeal Lace Cookies tickled the taste buds of publishers, reporters, ad reps and designers who agreed it deserved some love. So, Brown was presented with a  special gift basket as well.  

Several of this year’s winners said they’re already thinking about next year’s contest and trying to determine which recipe they’ll submit in September. Keep an eye open for details on the 2025 contest, which will be judged by local musicians.

GRAND PRIZE WINNER & 1st Place Traditional

RED VELVET MACARONS WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM CHEESE ICING

Brittany Thompson, Newnan

1 cup almond flour

¾ cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

2 large egg whites

¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon red food color

Filling, recipe below

Pour almond flour, powdered sugar and cocoa powder into a food processor and blend for 1 minute. In separate bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat egg whites and cream of tartar together until white and foamy. Increase speed to high and continue to beat egg whites while gradually adding granulated sugar one tablespoon at a time. Beat egg whites until thick, shiny and soft peaks form. Mix in red food coloring at high speed. Fold dry ingredients into egg whites in two steps, until batter looks like wet sand.

Gently scoop mixture into a piping bag and snip off about ¼-inch of the end. Flip cookie sheet upside down and place mat/parchment paper on top. You can either pipe onto a special macaron mat or draw 1-inch round circles and place under parchment paper. You will need to pipe at a 90-degree angle. Remove paper circles from under mat prior to baking.

When piping is complete, tap baking sheet on counter 10 times to gently release any air bubbles. Allow to rest for 20 minutes until a film has formed over the batter; you should be able to touch batter without it sticking to your fingers. Bake at 300 degrees for 11 to 12 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely. When cool, add filling to complete cookies.

Filling

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

¼ cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

4 cups powdered sugar

¼ cup white chocolate chips, melted

In medium bowl, combine cream cheese and butter;  mix well with hand mixer, then add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix powdered sugar into cream cheese mixture. When all ingredients are mixed well, add white chocolate chips. Icing is best refrigerated prior to piping macarons.

Match up the size of your macarons and pipe a small amount of icing onto one macaron shell; place another shell on top of icing to complete macaron.

1st Place Decorated

1725 GINGERBREAD

Birdie Black, Senoia

1  cup sweet cream butter, chilled

2 duck eggs, chilled (or 2 chicken eggs 

and 1 yolk)

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

½ cup granulated sugar

⅓ cup molasses

1 tablespoon Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon allspice

Royal Icing, recipe below

In mixing bowl, cream butter, eggs, sugars, molasses and vanilla bean paste. In separate bowl, stir to combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices. Gradually add flour mixture to creamed butter mixture until well combined.

Roll dough to ⅜-inch thickness on lightly-floured counter. Cut out desired cookie shapes and place them on a Silpat-lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.

Remove cookies from oven and let sit 5 minutes before placing on baking rack to finish cooling. When cookies are completely cooled, decorate with Royal Icing and desired edible decorations. If giving as a gift, be sure to allow icing to dry completely before packaging.

Royal Icing

6 tablespoons meringue powder

1 cup warm water

⅓ cup vanilla corn syrup

1 tablespoon clear vanilla extract

½ tablespoon cake batter emulsion

½ tablespoon marshmallow emulsion

2 pounds powdered sugar, sifted

Food coloring gel and edible decorations (I mix food color

with extract to hand paint details.)

In mixing bowl, whisk together meringue powder and water until mixture is frothy, resembling the appearance of soap suds. Add corn syrup, vanilla extract and emulsions to mixture; beat on high until egg whites are at stiff-peak form. Gradually add powdered sugar. Icing will be thick. Start with a thick mixture and thin down consistency with small amounts of warm water until you get the consistency you need for outlining, piping or flooding.

2nd Place Traditional

CHOCOLATE CRINKLE COOKIES

Rutledge Center Cooking Club, Newnan

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

2½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1¼ cups granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

⅔ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

In medium bowl, combine cocoa, sugars and oil. Beat eggs in, one at a time, and stir in vanilla. Slowly stir flour mixture into chocolate mixture. When combined, cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 30 to 45 minutes.

Using a cookie scoop and your hands, roll 1¼-inch cookie dough balls. Roll each ball in powdered sugar and place them on prepared cookie sheet with about 2½ inches between cookie dough balls. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes. Let cookies cool 2 minutes before removing them to cookie-cooling racks.

2nd Place Decorated

SUGAR COOKIES

Susan West, Newnan

2 cups salted butter, room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 cups flour

3 tablespoon cornstarch

Icings, recipes below

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add flour and cornstarch a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix at low speed until flour is completely incorporated and dough comes together. You will know it's done when the dough pulls away from edge of bowl and it clumps together on the paddle.

Roll to desired thickness between parchment paper and cut into desire shapes. Remove excess dough. Freeze cut out shapes for 10 minutes. Transfer to room temperature pans.

Bake on ungreased baking sheets with parchment paper or mesh non-stick baking mats. Bake for 9 minutes, then rotate pans and bake an additional 3 to 4 minutes. Every oven is different, so watch carefully. Leave on pan to cool.

When cooled, decorate with Royal Icing and Stiff Royal Icing, recipes below. Start by adding a No. 1 or No. 2 tip to pastry bag. Fill pastry bag with Royal Icing to pipe outline of each cookie. Then start flooding from the center of the cookie until the entire area is covered. Use a toothpick or cocktail stick to spread icing in small circles until it fills the cookie. Gently tap the cookie to help the icing spread evenly and bring air bubbles to the surface. You can pop bubbles with the toothpick, too.

When cookies are completely dry, pipe a poinsettia on each cookie. Start with filing a pastry bag with Stiff Royal Icing. Use a leaf tip to pipe 6 poinsettia leaves on the cookies and go back with a second layer of 4 poinsettia leaves. Using a clean Wilton 352 tip, I fill a small pastry bag with green Stiff Royal Icing and add a few small leaves to the side. Finally, pipe a small amount of yellow Stiff Royal Icing and put a few dots of icing on the center of each flower.

Royal Icing

4 tablespoons meringue powder

2 tablespoons clear vanilla extract

¾ cup warm or room temperature water

2 pounds powdered sugar

2 tablespoons corn syrup

Place meringue powder in mixing bowl. Add vanilla extract to warm water; pour into mixing bowl with meringue powder. Using a hand-held whisk, whisk mixture 1 to 2 minutes until foamy.

Add powdered sugar and turn mixer on low speed with paddle attachment. Mix, watching to make sure all ingredients are incorporated. Add corn syrup and mix 15 to 30 seconds on low until incorporated. When mixture reaches a thick, honey-like consistency, turn mixer to medium and mix 3 to 5 minutes; set a timer to remind yourself because overmixing causes icing not to fully dry on cookies. Typically, icing is ready at the 4-minute mark. Mix until there's a thick consistency and icing starts to pull away from the sides and stick to paddle. From this recipe, you will color the icing and mix in more water in smaller blows to get icing to desired consistencies.

Stiff Royal Icing

2    pounds powdered sugar

6    tablespoons meringue powder

¼   tablespoon salt

¾   cup very warm water

2     tablespoons clear vanilla

¼    cup light corn syrup

Place powdered sugar, meringue powder, salt, water and vanilla in mixing bowl, and give a quick hand stir with whisk. Turn mixer on low and mix 10 to 15 seconds to incorporate; scrape down. Turn mixer to medium and mix 3 minutes; scrape down. Add corn syrup and mix on medium for 1 minute. From this thick consistency, you will color icing and mix in more water in smaller blows to get icing to desired consistencies.

3rd Place Traditional

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE MACADEMIA NUT COOKIE

Karen Illobre, Franklin

½ stick butter, softened

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar 

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup plain, all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup cocoa

1 (12-ounce) package milk chocolate chips 

1½ cups Macadamia nuts, chopped

Mix butter and sugars until smooth; add egg and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa; stir. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Chill dough for 30 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. 

3rd Place Decorated

NANA’S CHOCOLATE CUT-OUT COOKIES

Brianne Grubbs, Meansville

¾ cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 egg

¼ cup light corn syrup

¾ cup cocoa

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together shortening, sugar and egg until well mixed. Stir in light corn syrup and cocoa. In a medium size bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Slowly add dry mixture to shortening mixture until well mixed and forms a dough. Chill for 1 hour or overnight in an airtight container.

Roll out dough and use your favorite cookie cutters to cut out cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, being careful not to overcook. Makes about 2 dozen medium size cookies.

Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing coloring of your choice

Sprinkles and other decorating items

Mix frosting ingredients  together, starting with 2 tablespoons of milk and adding more if needed for consistency. Mix in icing coloring, ice the cookies and decorate as desired. If frosting gets too hard before all cookies are iced, put it in the microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.

Staff Pick

OATMEAL LACE COOKIES FROM AUNTIE JANET SOLDATI

Kathy Brown, Newnan

1 egg, beaten

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats,
uncooked (not quick or instant)

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup unsalted butter, melted

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon vanilla

Mix together all ingredients. Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil, bright side up. Drop batter by teaspoonfuls onto foil; I use the smallest cookie scoop, not quite full. (If mixture is too runny, refrigerate for 20 minutes; mixture should be the consistency of peanut butter.)

There will only be about 6 cookies per baking sheet because, as they bake, they spread out and are very thin. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes; edges should be golden brown. Slide aluminum foil with cookies off the cookie sheet and let cool for 5 minutes. Peel off foil and store cookies in an airtight container. Makes 3 dozen.

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Arthur Murphey Florist

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