Attention bakers! Enter our home baking challenge
If you're more a baker than a cook, you might have felt left out of our Cook of the Week Challenge. To spread the contest chances around, you're invited to enter an original recipe in the Daily Herald Baking Challenge by Oct. 21.
You can enter your best original recipes in one or all of the five categories.
This year, the categories are: oatmeal raisin cookies, coffee cake, carrot cake, sandwich cookies and blueberry muffins. Bakers must be 18 years old; entries in multiple categories are welcome.
To enter, submit your recipes at www.dailyherald.com/contest/baking-challenge.
Baking experts will review the recipe entries and invite the bakers of the top two recipes in each of the categories to present their treats to a panel of judges Nov. 5 at an event at Novak and Parker Home Appliance in Mount Prospect.
That evening, Daily Herald judges will select one finalist in each of the five categories to go on and compete at the America's Baking and Sweet Show finals Nov. 13-15 at the Schaumburg Renaissance Hotel.
Each finalist at the Nov. 5 event will receive a prize and one recipe will be awarded Best of Show and a grand prize that's yet to be determined.
Daily Herald subscribers will be invited by email to the event, which will include refreshments, music and holiday baking demonstrations from Daily Herald Baking Secrets columnist Annie Overboe and from the people at Thermador.
The theme for the America's Baking and Sweets Show in Schaumburg is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and audience members will get in on the fun with a "Golden Ticket" prize giveaway. There will be vendors and food for those attending, making it a tasty affair for all. Tickets are available at www. americasbakingandsweetsshow.com/.
For bakers that advance to the show in Schaumburg, your recipe will be created by test kitchen staff and will compete against others from across America in your category for a chance to win prizes and special recognition.
At the America's Baking and Sweet Show, one winner from each category will receive: more than $200 in prizes from Lekue USA; $220 in prizes from Good Cook, $220 in prizes from T-FAL and a gift certificate valued at $79.99 from Massage Envy Schaumburg.
For more about the America's Baking and Sweet Show rules, visit the website at americasbakingandsweetshow.com.
Building a better sandwich: Arlington Heights' own Joanne Carroll has created her Turkey Beet Sandwich, landing her recipe a spot in the finals of the Brownberry bread "America's Better Sandwich" contest. She entered in the Love, Healthfully sandwich category. You can help Joanne win some real dough, a $25,000 grand prize, by voting daily at www.AmericasBetterSandwich.com. For every vote cast from Sept. 21 through Oct. 18, Brownberry bread will donate a loaf of bread to Feeding America, its charitable partner.
Finale tickets: The Cook of the Week Challenge finale Nov. 2 is a chance for local restaurants and food manufacturers to share samples of their products. There will be celebrity cooking demonstrations, cocktails, goody bags and a raffle for audience members. Meanwhile, four finalists and their sous chefs will be on hand in an intense evening of cooking, creating and plating a beautiful dish for the judges. For tickets, visit events@dailyherald.com.
• Contact Food Editor Susan Stark at sstark@dailyherald.com or (847) 427-4586. Be her friend at Facebook.com/Susan Stark Daily Herald.