COOKIES FOR SANTA AND EVERYONE ELSE; JUDGES PICK COLLOSAL COOKIE CONTEST WINNERS

Some people spend the holidays with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads.

We like cookies. And so did 119 other people who sent in their favorite recipes for the Southeast Missourian's Colossal Cookie Contest.

Our celebrity panel of cookie connoisseurs included Tom Harte, food columnist for the Southeast Missourian and co-founder of My Daddy's Cheesecake in downtown Cape Girardeau; Susan McClanahan, director of the Cape Girardeau Senior Center and cookbook aficionado, Wes Kinsey, current owner of My Daddy's Cheesecake and Judy Lueders, nutrition columnist for the Southeast Missourian and a nutritionist for the University of Missouri Extension Service.

The entries were narrowed down to 11 semi-finalists, and when the judges were done sampling -- hey, somebody's gotta do it -- Denise Bailey's Santa's Whiskers cookies were the winners.

Harte called Bailey's recipe "heavenly," and the judges liked the shortbread cookie's festive name and appearance.

Bailey, who lives in Jackson, said her entry is a family heirloom.

"My grandmother gave it to my mother, and I've recently gotten married and I started collecting recipes from my mother," she said.

Baking is a family tradition, she said.

"I like to bake and whenever I have time, I do bake a lot. Usually around the holidays, I bake more often than I do the rest of the year," she said. "Every Christmas, all the girls in the family get together and we'll go to the grocery store and do our shopping and we come home and get started. Then on Christmas Day, everybody gets to enjoy all the cookies and candies and desserts."

Bailey, a trainer at Main Street Fitness in Jackson, gets to work off the fruits of her labors.

Carol Bierschwal of Cape Girardeau won second place with her Nutty Chocolate Caramel Bars, which feature an entire jar of caramel ice cream topping.

And Marjorie Swan of Pocahontas won third place with her recipe for Nina's Rich, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies. Judges liked the variety in the recipe, which includes oats, rice cereal, pecans, coconut and sunflower seeds.

Other semi-finalists included: Helen Parker-Calhoun of Bell City; Denise McDowell of Jackson; Marianne Schroeder of Cape Girardeau; Sandy Minter of Cape Girardeau; Judy Reed of Jackson; Carolyn Pickens of Jackson; Betty McCart of Cape Girardeau and Mary Jeanne Weber of Jackson.

The judges based their decisions on appearance, texture and flavor.

And a little holiday spirit didn't hurt.

"I think part of it was the extent to which they were Christmas-y," Harte said. "That was part of the factor, but flavor was our top one, and appearance."

The way cookies crumble depends in large part on the ingredients -- use real butter, Lueders advises, to keep cookies moist -- and proper cooking time.

"Don't overcook," Harte advised.

There's nothing worse than a burnt cookie.

And remember, McClanahan admonished, it's Christmas. "Don't skimp on the ingredients."