Results of the cookie bakeoff: 1st place, "double chocolate [something] cookies," 2nd place, "magic bars" (almost made these), 3rd place, "oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip" (or something to that effect). No placing for me. I was robbed, I tell ya!

I think what really pissed me off is that the 2nd place cookies weren't even made by the entrant - his wife made them. Bull-sheeeyat. If you're going to enter the contest, at least bake it yourself. I wouldn't be surprised if the winner's wife made his, since they were way too perfect to be made by a straight guy. (Sorry dudes, but from past experience I've found guys just can't make a perfect looking cookie. Usually they're all lumpy and weird shaped.)

For me, the batch I made this time around still wasn't quite as good as I wanted it. I reduced the flour as I thought the original "oh crap, the contest isn't until next week" ones were too dry. However, my oven decided to stage a mutiny and pretty much destroyed one of the sheets - totally burnt on the bottom. (No, I didn't enter those in the contest.) I learned that if you try to bake more than one cookie sheet at a time, it completely burns the bottom rack and undercooks the top. Having a bum thermostat doesn't help, either - and constantly checking the hanging thermometer in there makes for inconsistent cooking. (Might help if we actually replaced the light bulb in the oven, too.)

Next year I might have to resort to bribery. This losing streak is starting to become embarrassing.