Barnes & Noble My Cookie Story Awards Ceremony

Today I had the pleasure of attending the My Cookie Story Contest awards ceremony at Barnes & Noble Otay Ranch. Local author and super mom, Jessica McGeHee, won the national contest with her "Taste of Home" cookie bar which represents the places that her family has lived over the years as part of being a military family.

I had to opportunity to talk to Jessica and she explained to me that cooking was an important part of her family while growing up. Cooking was a form of love and she wanted to express that in her story and cookie. With the help of her eldest daughter they were able to come up with something that they feel is home. The different ingredients represent the states her daughter has lived in as part of a military family, including marshmallows from their first snow in North Carolina, to course bits of sugar on top representing the sandy deserts of Arizona. 

A $5,000 prize check was awarded to Jessica from Neil Strong, Vice President of Cafe Operations for Barnes & Noble. In attendance were Jessica's husband, three children, friends, and other local community members.

After the awards ceremony was over we were given samples of the cookie bar. Now this cookie is not exactly the same version that Jessica had created but I heard it was close and retained the same key ingredients which are marshmallows, bacon, dark chocolate chips, white chocolate, and caramel.

Taking a bite into it was a blissful experience. You get a nice overall savory bacon and chocolate flavor that is balanced by the other ingredients. I was kind of surprised because I thought it was going to have a heavier marshmallow taste based on its heavy appearance. This works out for me though because I'm not much of a marshmallow kind of person anyway. I was able to grab a few samples to take home for Lynn but I'm not sure if they'll still be around by the time she comes home tonight!

Once the samples had made their rounds everyone in attendance was eager to know when it would be available for consumers. We were told that they were still working out recipe, supply, and logistics but that the cookie will be available nationwide during the holiday season later this year. Although most people seemed pleased by that, I was totally heart broken on the inside. I really have to wait till the end of the year?! I want some more now! *Looks at samples saved for Lynn*

Fortunately, there are plenty of other alternative cookies and pastries you can get now at the cafe. Funny, I never really considered going to Barnes & Nobles for anything other than books and magazines. I might just have to stop in now and then to get me a few treats!

Congrats to Jessica for packaging precious memories into cookie form to win this amazing award! =)

Additional event photos below:

* Cookie Goddess Mode Activated *