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    Home » Food & Dining

    How to Host a Bake-off for Kids

    Published: Feb 12, 2020 · Modified: Aug 1, 2023 · by Renée B. · This post may contain affiliate links.

    Winning Recipes from Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off | The Good Hearted Woman

    Here's everything you need to know about how to host a bake-off for kids! Our list of proven tips for planning and organization, plus tons of ideas for presenting a successful, tasty bake-off.

    Clear plastic cups filled with chocolate-mint cookies, whipped cream, and strawberries.

    Bake-offs are a fun and exciting way to encourage kids to practice their baking skills. They make a great birthday party theme, and are perfect for large groups, too. This post addresses the four important most questions to consider when hosting a kid's bake-off:

    1. What kind of Bake-off will it be?
    2. Who decides who wins?
    3. How will winners be decided?
    4. What kind of recognition will be awarded?

    A few cookie seasons ago, Mr B and I had the opportunity to judge a local Girl Scout Cookie Baking Competition. The competition was open to any Girl Scout from our community. We certainly learned a lot from our experience!

    How to Host a Bake-off

    • What kind of Bake-off will it be?
    • Who decides who wins?
    • How will winners be decided?
      • Judges
      • People's Choice
    • What kind of recognition will be awarded?
    • Additional Considerations
    • Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off Winners
    Collage of three different kinds of cupcakes.

    What kind of Bake-off will it be?

    Specifically, what is the bake-off challenge? In the case of our bake-off, the specific challenge was to create a dessert using at least one variety of Girl Scout cookie as a primary ingredient.

    Answer the following questions to clearly define your challenge:

    • Who can enter? Our bake-off was open to any registered Girl Scout.

    • Can contestants have more than one entry? Can a contestant enter more than one recipe? If there are multiple categories that a contestant is eligible for, can they win with more than one entry?

    • Is this an individual competition, or can contestants work in teams? 

    • Must recipes be fully cooked at home, or must they be completed at the competition?

    • Is there a theme or primary ingredient? We had both a theme (desserts) and a primary ingredient (Girl Scout Cookies).

    • How much of each recipe must a contestant provide on the day of the contest? 

    Each Scout who entered our bake-off was asked to provide two batches of their recipe: one for Judges to observe for appearance, presentation, etc., and a second for tasting by judges and event goers.

    After the judges made their determination, the first batch was offered up for tasting by the crowd as well.

    Long table of tasting samples at bake-off.

    Who decides who wins?

    Will you have a panel of Judges? Do the attendees get a vote? 

    For our Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off, the hosting troop assembled a panel of five judges. Because of my long history with the hosting troop, I was asked to be a Judge. However, the last minute I handed that esteemed privileged over to Mr B so I could wander the bake-off freely.

    (Passing the Judge's torch to Mr B ended up being a good move for a number of reasons. Most importantly, it allowed me time to walk around and take pictures of all the sweet entries. It also saved me from the imminent tummy ache that would plague him for the rest of the day.)

    Matching Cake & Dress - Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off

    This Mini-Martha-in-training even matched her dress to her entry - "Naomi's Tagalong Storm Cake." ↑

    How will winners be decided?

    It is important to clearly define the points and systems upon which the entires will be judged ahead of time.

    If you are hosting a bake-off, you will need to figure out how the winners will be picked. I won't try to tell you how to run your circus, but this is the system that was used for our Bake-off, and it seemed to work pretty smoothly.

    Judges

    For our bake-off, each Judge was given a clipboard, pencil, and instruction sheet outlining a scoring system for assigning points to each point system for scoring each entry. Each contestant was assigned a number for judging.

    Entries were judged on three elements:

    • Taste
    • Presentation
    • Use of Girl Scout Cookies

    Submissions were judged in each of these categories on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest.

    Judges posing for a group photo.

    Competition was divided into three Divisions, based on age. Three overall winners were then chosen from the winners of each age bracket. An Ultimate Winner was then chosen from the Division winners, for a total of ten winners.

    Judges hard at work. (collage)

    While I wandered from table to table taking pictures, Mr B spent his time hunching over his clipboard, carefully evaluating each tasty bite that was brought to him by his assigned assistant. Together with his fellow judges, he crunched, munched, nibbled, and savored samples from each of the nearly twenty entries.

    We found ourselves judging not only what the Scouts made, but their use of the cookie as well. Did they get the ingredients in? Could you taste those ingredients? That made it interesting. It also made it challenging for us, because we challenged ourselves to see if the cookies came through in each dish, or if they were just sprinkled on top.

    - Mr B

    Mr B and I are both big Chopped fans, and I wasn't surprised that this influenced his role as a judge in the  competition. When Taste and Presentation scores were too close to make a call, Use of Cookie(s) tipped the scales.

    Tip for Would-be Bake-off Judges

    Mr. B's had one vital tip for would-be Girl Scout Cookie Bake-off judges: Drink water. Lots and lots of water.

    This is, unfortunately, a lesson he learned the hard way. Even though he and the rest of the judges were very careful to eat only a very small tasting from each entry, because he neglected to drink enough water, he spent most of the day following the competition with a very uncomfortable tummy ache.

    People's Choice

    Our bake-off also included a People's Choice Award.

    Each attendee was given a number of tickets (5). Individual voting boxes, each with the name of one recipe, were placed on a central table.

    Attendees circulated, trying samples of each recipe and then placing their tickets in the boxes representing the recipes they liked most. The recipe that received the most tickets won the People's Choice Award.

    What kind of recognition will be awarded?

    You can award anything from a handshake to a certificate to gift cards donated by the community. What I noticed as the prizes were award was, especially with regard to the younger kiddos, bragging rights were worth more than just about anything.

    Additional Considerations

    This certainly isn't an exhaustive list; there are plenty of additional considerations to make, including location and facility set-up, announcement of the contest, timing, and so forth. However, if you can get all these questions answered, you'll be off to a great start!

    Girl Scout Cookie Recipe Bake-off Winners

    For our GS Bake-off, the three top winners were:

    1. Samoa Cheesecake Bars (Bake-off Winner)
    2. Strawberry Thin Mint Cookie Delight (People's Choice)
    3. Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie (Our Personal Choice)
    • Plate with three Samoa Cheesecake Bars cut and ready to serve.
    • Clear plastic cups filled with chocolate-mint cookies, whipped cream, and strawberries.
    • Slice of whipped cream topped butterscotch pie on a hand-built plate, with remaining pie in dish in the background.
    See more Desserts & Sweets →

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    About Renée B.

    Renée is self-taught home chef with a penchant for creating healthy(ish) comfort food recipes, and adapting vintage recipes for the 21st century cook. In her spare time, she writes unfinished novels and songs about cowboys.

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    1. Sadia says

      January 13, 2020 at 7:25 am

      Thank you so much for sharing this! I'm a Girl Scout leader for older girls, and half my troop is super techy and loves to lead STEM-based events. However, I've been looking for an idea that engages the girls who have other interests, and hosting a bakeoff right after cookie sale season might be just the thing. Thanks for inspiring a leadership opportunity for some Cadettes and Seniors!

      Reply
    2. Hillary Harper says

      April 12, 2017 at 8:37 pm

      What a fun idea!!! I would have loved to be the taste tester 🙂

      Reply
    3. Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says

      April 11, 2017 at 5:52 pm

      How do you one-up a already good cookie? Make it into a cheesecake bar!!

      Reply
    4. Mary says

      April 11, 2017 at 4:13 pm

      I'm melting at what a cute idea this is! And I have to share this. When I found out I was having two boys (no girls) the first thing I thought was, "Oh no, I won't have Girl Scouts to raise!" 🙁
      I was a Girl Scout growing up and always imagined I'd have daughters to follow in my footsteps. Nope.
      Going back to this challenge, I love this. So darn cute. Thanks for sharing the pics and awesome looking recipes!

      Reply
    5. Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says

      April 11, 2017 at 3:58 pm

      I love this so much! Congrats to all of the winners and to Mr B for being a judge! BTW, I was also a Campfire Girl...and also a Girl Scout 😉 I loved both but stuck with Girl Scouts longer.

      Reply
    6. Jessica (Swanky Recipes) says

      April 11, 2017 at 1:24 pm

      Omgosh, I want to make these all right now! I only have a few boxes left now but can't wait to give these a try!

      Reply
    7. Jehan Hale says

      April 11, 2017 at 1:12 pm

      These are so creative! Neat way to use girl scout cookies, other than eating them. Lol

      Reply
    8. Dahn says

      April 11, 2017 at 12:49 pm

      wow, If I could only pick one of these for tonights dinner, the Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie sounds like it would be my favorite but I would have a hard time not tasting the Somoa Cheesecake Bars. They sound amazing

      Reply
    9. Chrisy @ Homemade Hooplah says

      April 11, 2017 at 12:45 pm

      All the submissions look so creative! Wish I could have been a taste tester 😀

      Reply
    10. Pech says

      April 11, 2017 at 11:20 am

      Wow, what a fun way to use the cookies, and I'm with you I think I would have gone with the toffee caramel flavors of the mud pie myself, but wonderful job by all the girls and judges, we appreciate your sacrifice. So glad you had a chance to take photos to help share the event!

      Reply
    11. Create/Enjoy says

      April 11, 2017 at 11:19 am

      What a fun idea! Great to teach kids to cook early!

      Reply
    12. Erin (Platings and Pairings) says

      April 11, 2017 at 10:59 am

      What a fun idea for a bake off! I love the use of the Girl Scout cookies - Everyone was so creative!

      Reply
    13. meredith says

      April 11, 2017 at 10:09 am

      I love-hate this post. I've made a deal with myself that GS bingeing can happen for 4-6 weeks a year. I can't have this knowledge!

      Reply
    14. Michele says

      April 11, 2017 at 9:23 am

      Wow, I'm getting a sugar high just looking at all these darling desserts! What a fun event (and great way to get the girls using their creativity)!

      Reply
      • Renée ♥ says

        April 12, 2017 at 10:47 am

        It was a lot of fun! The girls came up with some really unique desserts.

        Reply

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    Hi, I'm Renée!

    Welcome to The Good Hearted Woman — a cozy corner of the internet where comfort food meets modern life. From heirloom recipes and easy weeknight dinners to seasonal dishes, homemade breads, and potluck favorites, we share the kind of food that brings people together.

    When we’re not in the kitchen, you’ll find us hosting guests at Parkside Acoustic Bed & Breakfast, our music-themed B&B in Ashland, Oregon — where good food and warm hospitality go hand in hand.

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