Help me become a blue ribbon baker

[MUSIC PLAYING] CATHY WURZER: OK. We have a series on the program called Professional Help, because we all need a little help to get through life sometimes, right? From everyday questions to more complex problems, we're asking the experts to lend us a hand. Throughout the series, we're going to hear some direct advice for us not so direct Minnesotans. Here's Minnesota Now Producer Alanna Elder.

ALANNA ELDER: There are people living among us in Minnesota with special talents. You may be one of them. You may even know one of them, without realizing that at home, in a drawer, or on a wall, they have ribbons declaring their jam, pickles, or cookies the best in the state, at least for that one year.

The Minnesota State Fair is coming up. And that means if you've been dreaming of a blue ribbon, this could be your moment. But it's a massive event with specific rules. Plus, it seems kind of mysterious. What gives one cookie an edge over the competition, especially with so many excellent and well-practiced bakers out there? So let's get some professional help.

KAREN COPE: Well, my name is Karen Cope. And I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When I was nine years old, I entered the county fair and got my first blue ribbon.

I continued to enter at the county fair. And I was doing really well there. And I thought, well, I should maybe dive into the big pond. So I started entering at the Minnesota State Fair.

ALANNA ELDER: Since her first state fair competition in the 1990s, Karen has been named Supreme Baker four times. And as for how many ribbons she's won total, it's hard to say.

KAREN COPE: I can take a picture of my boxes of ribbons.

ALANNA ELDER: How many boxes of ribbons do you have?

KAREN COPE: Well, it kind of depends on the size of your box, too. But I probably have two or three boxes of ribbons.

ALANNA ELDER: When we talked, Karen was already working on her fair entries, which were in various states of preparation. She's competing under Creative Activities, which is where most of the baking contests are housed. And she's also entering separate contests for using honey.

KAREN COPE: Today so far, I've made two of my honey entries. So I made honey granola and my honey-spiced nuts. I have some doughs mixed up, which I plan on baking off after we finish.

I find some cut out cookies, like a shortbread, and then I have a filled cookie, which I do as a cut out version. Those cut better when the dough is cold. So I mixed that dough up the other night, and I planned on getting those baked off today. And then I also have some refrigerator cookies, like the slice and bake ones. And that, the dough has to be chilled, too.

ALANNA ELDER: Karen has just over a week before she has to deliver her cookies on August 17. And the honey entries are due three days after that.

KAREN COPE: I'm a little different than one of my friends who competed for the fair. She would pull an all nighter. And she would make all of her entries in one day. And the other thing that's different about her is she doesn't necessarily weigh and measure everything.

I'm very precise. I like to weigh my ingredients. And I like to give myself plenty of time to think and just, you know, make sure my stuff turns out as best as I can. And then I freeze a lot of my entries. There's certain things that don't freeze.

So sometimes, for some categories, I have three different entries as possibilities. Then based upon whichever one I think turns out the best, that's the one I'll enter. So I definitely overbake if I have time.

ALANNA ELDER: If you want to register for a bee and honey competition, by the way, you have about four hours to do that. The deadline is today. And registration is closed for the other baking contests. But Karen says it's not too early to think about next year.

KAREN COPE: So usually after the state fair, I am so tired of baking. The last thing I want to do is be in the kitchen. But then after that, I get recipes from all over the place, and I just start making them. Or if I get some strange idea, there's actually some other recipe contests throughout the year I've entered. I'm experimenting a lot and feeding the neighbors and asking people for their opinions.

ALANNA ELDER: Speaking of opinions, she's learned a lot from reading the judges comments.

KAREN COPE: So you end up with a score sheet that tells you so many points for flavor, appearance. And they are very picky about stuff. I've heard too much frosting, too dry, the flavor was off. And initially when I started entering at the fair, I didn't win anything. And they said all my stuff had an off flavor to it.

Well, apparently my leavening was old. And so I'm kind of a fanatic in replacing my leavening. It's kind of like when I'm baking for the state fair. I try to use the highest quality ingredients I can find and make sure everything is fresh. Because I don't want to lose points for stupid things.

ALANNA ELDER: In that same vein, Karen recommends reading the state fair instructions very carefully.

KAREN COPE: There's nothing worse than being disqualified for something. For shortbread cookies this year, the diameter cannot exceed 2 inches. And I heard the logic around that is for displaying.

ALANNA ELDER: The good news is you don't need to deliver a whole batch of whatever you're making. Karen is only submitting four or five cookies, depending on the contest. And that means she gets to cherry pick.

KAREN COPE: I'll mix up a batch of cookie dough, and one pan I bake might look different from my next pan. And I think it has something to do with the hydration and the dough sitting. And the other thing they're looking for is consistency. So if you have some that look a little browner on one pan than the other pan, that's probably not going to be a good idea to mix the two on the plate.

ALANNA ELDER: Also, she says, prepare to be a little stressed on delivery day and come up with a good way to transport the goods.

KAREN COPE: It can be a zoo up there. And it's not uncommon to be standing in line for an hour just to get your items checked in. And during that time you're worried that you're going to drop your entries, or something's going to happen to them. It's a little nerve wracking.

ALANNA ELDER: There can be 100 people entering one contest. And that's why Karen is thinking about how to make her entries not just uniform and legal, but also unique.

KAREN COPE: The contest for light rolled cookies, they don't want frosting on them. And to try to make my entry stand out, I did some experimentation where I made a vanilla dough, and then I dyed with food coloring some of that dough. And I did cut outs from the dough, and I replaced it with the colored dough and kind of created a canvas. And then I cut out cookies out of that.

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ALANNA ELDER: To recap, if you want to win a ribbon at the state fair, start working and experimenting early. Read the rules carefully. Get feedback. And make a plan for transporting your entries safely. And Karen has one more piece of advice for beginners, especially. Start with something you've made before, maybe a specialty of yours. Hers, for example, is cookies. What's yours? For NPR news, I'm Alanna Elder.

CATHY WURZER: I wouldn't even try this. I wouldn't even dare to give any of my baked goods to a judge. You can hear our new series called Professional Help every other Thursday right here in Minnesota Now. Or if you missed one, you can find the whole collection on mprnews.org.