A Blue Ribbon Day

Baking up a new State Fair Tradition…

The Minnesota State Fair is a big darn deal, and my family cannot get enough! We go several times during its run and sometimes twice in one day. This year, we have a whole new reason to love the fair: the annual baking competition.

I’ve always wanted to enter some of our family-favorite baked goods, dreaming of seeing them in all their glory on display in the Creative Activities Building. I know that earning a ribbon is a long shot. In fact, there were more than 3,000 entries this year alone. It’s like playing the lottery, but that never stops me from buying a ticket. Half the joy is the anticipation of winning!

I registered for a modest four categories (out of more than 80!) and asked my mom to join me for the day, supervising as I made a few of my favorites from her recipe box: the One and Only Chocolate Cake, French Cream Chocolate Mint Bars, Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies and Shortbread Cookies.

It was a whirlwind 24 hours. We sifted mountains of powdered sugar, deployed my teenager to the store for more ingredients (twice) and used So. Much. Butter. 

With the baking complete, we measured and scrutinized each and every cookie and bar as we tried to find the perfect sets of four to submit. I never realized how hard it is to cut 2 x 2 bars in a straight row, or the stress of finding four cookies that are symmetrical in size and shape. Yikes, I wished I had done a few practice runs!

After packaging up our precious cargo, I hauled it over to the fairgrounds and got in the registration line with several other happy bakers. Some carted wagonloads of their treasured baked items and others had one lone specialty. All were eager to tell each other about their entries…so much excitement and anticipation in the air, so many beautiful, blue ribbon-worthy baked goods. Why have I never done this before?!

Regardless of the outcome of this year’s baking competition, the real prize was spending the day with my mom as I got to bake, laugh and learn from the best baker I know. You could say we had our own blue ribbon day— baking up a new State Fair tradition.