BRATTLEBORO — Building a Better Brattleboro (BaBB) and Youth Services announce a chance for area residents to show off their baking and decorating skills and compete for valuable baking prizes from King Arthur Flour.
On Sunday, Dec. 2, at 3 p.m., judges will announce winners of the first annual Brattleboro Gingerbread Baking Competition at the River Garden on Main Street. The event kicks off BaBB's Decemberfest, a month-long celebration of downtown Brattleboro's merchants and restaurants.
There are three gingerbread contests scheduled:
• Kids Gingerbread Decorating Contest: This contest will be for the best looking gingerbread cookie decorations. Young cookie decorators (under 18) can use their favorite cookie cutters, sprinkles, sugars, and icings to impress the panel of judges. These entries will be viewed, but not eaten.
• Best Tasting Gingerbread Cookie Contest: An all-ages contest to prove who's baked the most delicious gingerbreads.
• Gingerbread House Competition: Can you build an edible structure using gingerbread and other decorations? This contest decides the greatest gingerbread architects among us.
Local celebrity judges include caterer, cake expert, artist, and owner of Purple Chef Catering, Sharon Myers, and Windham County Sheriff and cookie lover Keith Clark.
Do you like to bake, but have no appetite for competition? All area bakers are encouraged to bring extra holiday cookies to donate to the community bake sale happening while the contests are underway. Proceeds from the sale support Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Windham County, a program of Youth Services.
Official rules:
Email your name, age (if under 18), home address, mailing address, telephone number, and which contest or contests you wish to participate in, to [email protected]. All baked entries should be dropped off between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 at the River Garden. Entries must use King Arthur Flour. Additional local ingredients are encouraged.
Entrants may enter more than one category. Professional bakers are encouraged to enter the Gingerbread House competition. Contestants can enter more than one contest, and may enter multiple entries in a single contest.
King Arthur Flour will provide prizes for the winners. There will be first, second, and third prizes awarded in each category. Entrants may enter more than once, but only win once, in one category.
As for what kind of gingerbread to use, hard or chewy, organizers leave that up to the entrant, but recommend hard for decorating, and either for the taste contest.