When We Energies reached out to Milwaukee Mag and asked if one of us editors would be interested in participating in a cookie-tasting contest to celebrate the release of their annual cookie cookbook, I jumped at the opportunity. Because, first of all, cookies. And second, I come from a long line of We Energies Cookie Book lovers.
You see, every year for Christmas – okay, at least for the last few years – my grandma (Hi, Grandma! I know you’re reading this!) gives my sister and me throwback Cookie Books from years past. And my great-grandma gave a few of her Cookie Books to my mom (Hi, Mom!) over the years, too. We are a Cookie Book family, as many Wisconsin families are, and I’m proud to be the fourth generation keeping up the tradition. And I couldn’t help but laugh when I texted my mom that I was going to this event and she responded, “get a free cookbook or 3.”
(Spoiler alert, they aren’t available yet so I did not grab my mom a cookbook or three.)
The beloved Wisconsin cookbook tradition dates back to 1928, when the company released its first book as a way to promote electric baking appliances. Today, the Cookie Book features holiday recipes, often around a theme. This year, to celebrate its 95th anniversary, it includes favorite recipes from local police officers, firefighters and EMTs. And for the first time, there are recipes for dog treats.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of teaming up with Drew Burgoyne of CBS58 – who you can read more about in our August issue’s feature on Milwaukee meteorologists – and Officer Todd Clementi of the West Allis Police Department to throw down against other teams of media and first-responders in the first ever We Energies Great Cookie Book Taste Off.
We were tasked with tasting cookies from this year’s Cookie Book and determining the ingredients inside them. Dear reader, it was no easy feat, especially when we were up against tough competition, including TMJ4’s Susan Kim, who in 2019 was the only person to cook every single cookie in the book and received a literal certificate for it – which she brought with her to remind us. I was intimidated to say the least.
Nevertheless, we persisted. I tasted those cookies with a fierce precision, straining my palate much harder than I had expected. Burgoyne dissected the cookies with his bare hands, in search of clues. And Clementi’s deductive method consisted of small, exacting bites to ferret out each ingredient.
We started off strong, guessing all of the ingredients correctly in the first cookie, which we later found out was Cornflake Chocolate Chip Crunch. Moving into round two, we ripped apart the Lemon Kiss Cookie and again, guessed correctly.
And then, in round three, they threw a change-up at us. We had to guess which ingredients were not in the cookie. It was an Orange Slice Cookie, we later learned, and we guessed every single ingredient correctly … except for ONE. And it was, I admit, my fault. I was certain there was no condensed milk in it, but there was. I will think about this mistake forever.
However! Our team made it to the tie breaker round: a game of We Energies Cookie Book related trivia. And then we tied again. So, admittedly, it was a bit anticlimactic. But! I spent an hour of my day eating cookies and talking with lovely people. And we all had fun.
Plus, I got a certificate for winning. So that’s sitting on my desk now.
I can attest to the fact that at least three of the cookies from the 2023 Cookie Book are delicious. And even though it wasn’t part of the competition, nor did you ask for it, here is my definitive ranking of the three cookies I tried, with no explanation:
- Lemon Kiss Cookie
- Cornflake Chocolate Chip Crunch Cookie
- Orange Slice Cookie
Needless to say, I’m excited to try more once I get my hands on the book and bake a few.
The books will be available starting Nov. 1 in-person and digitally. The distribution schedule for in-person pickup is here.
