2010 Cookie Contest: Cookie wonderland

When Susan Fields was about 6 years old, she won the last Cranberry-Pecan Crescent in a game of marbles with her brother.

Her version of her grandmother's Cranberry-Pecan Crescents won the majority vote from the judges in the Southeast Missourian Season's Best Holiday Cookie Contest.

The judges -- Southeast Missourian columnist Susan McClanahan, Cain chef James Cain and 5-year-old Nolan McGuire -- said the cookie's shape and taste were festive. The cranberries made one judge think of Christmas. The fact it was crunchy outside and chewy inside was also a point in its favor.

Martha Maxton's Pink Cloud Angel Cookies won second place and Jodi Thompson's Mrs. Rahm's Gum Drop Cookies took third. Nolan gave Dana Johnston an honorable mention for her Belgian Chocolate Waffle cookies.

Fields said the recipe for Cranberry-Pecan Crescents passed from her grandmother to her aunt and ended up in her box at some point. She said the cookies were present through most of her childhood.

"We just loved them. We would fight over who was going to get the last one," she said.

Fight, or bet on a game of marbles.

Fields said her then-12-year-old brother challenged her to a game of marbles, winner takes the cookie.

"Well, I was pretty good at marbles back then and so was he," she said. "But I beat him."

Now Fields makes her own crescents at Christmas. She substitutes dried cherries for cranberries and makes them near Valentine's Day and said she sometimes makes them at Thanksgiving.

The judges described her recipe as "complex" and "moderately difficult" but worth the extra effort.

"It's time-consuming in that you have to roll each piece out," Fields said, but the finished product will please most audiences.

See the Cranberry-Pecan Crescents recipe and the other recipes that made the top 10 on Pages 6C and 7C.

charris@semissourian.com

388-3641