The 2021 RHS Bake Off

The+2021+RHS+Bake+Off

 

The make-shift bake off that happened on Feb. 20 was a hit. There were a total of 12 entries for this bake off and all of them looked delicious. The criteria for the bake off was pretty specific. It has to be either almond cookies or cookie bars. Although it may sound like there would not be much of a variety, the contestants spun it lots of ways to make their cookie unique.

To have so many people go to drop off cookies despite having the bake off being a pretty sudden thing is so cool to see. The bake off brought people together during a time where distancing is mandatory. 

Ann Pendleton, one of the two people running the show, says, “The cookies were really good. It was shocking because I wasn’t expecting the students to work so hard on them. It made it really hard to decide who won, but luckily we [Pendleton and Rod Wright] were in agreement.” 

Anna Fisher was chosen as the winner of this bake off. For her entry, she made almond tarts, which are shortbread cookies with an almond filling. Her tarts were deemed the best out of all the 12 unanimously. As her prize, Fisher will be getting a basket of baking supplies, all in the Ripon High colors of red and white, some bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes, and three coupons for the same company.

It was really fun to bake these cookies, even though I didn’t win the competition.

— Alyson Harvey (participant)

While this bake off was significantly smaller compared to the original Almond Blossom Bake Off, it had the same effect as that one, creating a happy moment during hard times.