2025 CIA Cookie Bake-Off
Author Annie B. Milostan ’25 is a Baking and Pastry Arts major.
For the last seven years we have been hosting a cookie bake-off for students. Last year I was fortunate enough to be able to visit and taste all the amazing cookies, this inspired me to want to be a part of the competition this year! My friends and I decided we wanted to do banana chocolate cookies, so we went through the process to apply to the competition.
To participate in this competition, you must have a team, come up with a cookie flavor, create a recipe, make and submit a presentation, and wait to see if you made it. Once you’ve made it, you have a few requirements before you’re cleared to compete . One of them is making a storeroom and Amazon order, staying within a budget, $200 for storeroom and $100 for decorations. Then before you know it, it is cookie prep day! Teams showed up at 6:30 a.m. and we had until 11 a.m. to do all the prep work necessary for 500 cookies for guests and 13 cookies for the judges. Every team came in and got straight to work dividing jobs among teammates and from noon to 2 p.m. we set up our cookie stands and decorated. The next morning, judging started at 11 a.m. and doors opened at 1 p.m. to family, friends, and students to come taste and vote for their favorite.
Every team made over 500 cookies, and we all sold out in under an hour! We still had to wait until 2:30 p.m. to hear who won. My team won the Professionalism Award—an award for sportsmanship in and out of the kitchen, and cleanliness. The next two awards were won by the Rye Guys, they had a rye cookie with strawberries and cream. They received the Showmanship Award for their booth and presentation, and they also won the People’s Choice Award. Both awards were voted on by guests and friends.
Then it was time to see which three teams were the judge’s favorite… drum roll please… in third place was The Stinger Sweets, they had a snickerdoodle cookie sandwich filled with a hot honey frosting. In second place was the Tortured Cookie Department with a chai cookie filled with a white chocolate rum ganache. And in first place was the Pistachio Perfectionist with a Dubai chocolate inspired cookie. It was such a perfect weekend getting to be creative and spending time with friends and fellow classmates in a fun environment. I can’t wait to see what cookies are at next year’s cookie bake-off!
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