This year marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of the first Mrs Fields cookie shop. The wildly successful chain was started in 1977 by Debbi Fields, whose career began with a love of baking and progressed from there. Fields, I should add, is not the grandmotherly type that so many (for whatever reason) seem to associate with the brand. She opened her first store when she was only 20 years old.
As part of the celebration, Mrs Fields launched a cookie contest to find the next great flavor. The 30 semi-finalists have already been announced, and you can see all the recipes online here. Each entry has a little story about why the submittor likes it so much, but unfortunately, many of the recipes are not very original. Anzac biscuits, which I love, are about as original a choice for submission to a cookie contest as standard chocolate chip cookies. You can find a good recipe for them here and a variation on the original here). I won’t be rushing out to try all the submissions, though I will keep an eye on which recipe wins.
LinC
July 30, 2007I’m kind of disappointed that there weren’t more exciting cookies in the Mrs. Field’s finalists, but I guess she’s looking for a cookie that could be replicated in her stores. Personally, I voted for the Maple Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip cookie because it sounds different. I plan to give it a try. The Cozumel cookie also looked interesting with both chocolate and chili powder.
Baker
August 1, 2007I disagree, the Chewy Chocolate Coconut Cashew Cookies are delicious, they have my vote!
Olivia
August 2, 2007I made the Chewy Chocolate Coconut Cashew Cookies and used a very good baking cocoa, they were fabulous.