The annual Christmas cookie exchange? It generally involves a half dozen friends or neighbors, a single house, a few ovens, and a fragrant dining room table filled with snickerdoodles and buttondrops.
But could the concept of bakers baking their best stuff go citywide? Yes, of course, and it does, each and every year, down LBC-way, at the Long Beach Christmas Cookie Contest.
The upshot? You show at 1 Granada Avenue on Saturday, Dec. 21 with whatever sugary foodstuff you're proudest of, and Santa Claus and Miss Southern California Cities serve as two of the tasting judges. Yeah, this sounds like something from a seasonal comedy film, a la "Elf," perhaps, which obviously means some filmmaker has to write it.
A pageant winner and St. Nick himself, eating your cookies on the beach? Please. We want to watch that, on a screen, now.
It's free to enter, you can show with a dozen different types of cookies if you wish, and you'll nab twenty bucks to donate to the charity of your choice if you're among the day's winners. There's the holiday spirit, right there, and plus? The site makes a point of saying you'll nab a blue ribbon and bragging rights, too.
Truth. You definitely want a photo with Santa, Miss Southern California Cities, and a pan of your oatmeal stargems for next year's Christmas card.
Call it a fine way to meet other Long Beach foodies and baking enthusiasts, and call it the rare beach food event that doesn't involve the consuming of crustaceans. Not to mention that you want dough, as in cash, that's been awarded because of your dough, as in cookie dough, to give to a nice organization.
The Scene
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And will you tell the relatives in colder climes that you spent the first day of winter on a beach eating cookies with Miss Southern California Cities and Santa? Yeah, you so will, so let's not even bother pondering that one. As conclusions go, this one is very foregone.
