LEICESTER — The Summer Alive! Camp at Leicester School held their first ever baking championship on Tuesday, July 31. Inspired by Leicester alumni Adam Young, who won Best Baker in America this spring on the Food Network show of the same name, the camp decided to hold its own baking show.
Three teams of four to five campers on each, aided by a junior counselor, had a station equipped with everything they needed plus access to a pantry of ingredients, microwaves, and mixing station. The theme was cookies. Each team had 75 minutes to mix, bake and decorate the cookie of their choosing. The twist was that they were each given a mystery box of ingredients that they had to incorporate into their recipe.
They were each given passes – one pass they could use was if they wanted to trade an ingredient with another team, one pass for three minutes of internet time, and one pass was for help by either calling a friend, asking an adult, or three minutes with the chef. Brenda Trombley and Michael Joyce, both staff at Leicester School, and Chef Tim from Blueberry Hill served as judges.
The teams were judged on teamwork, presentation and taste. Everyone had fun, worked together and made three tasty and very different cookies. The judges were impressed.