By Emily Doud
NEW LONDON – A local woman is competing to be the Greatest Baker as she landed herself a spot within the top 15 bakers from around the world.
Amber Rodgers started Keen’s Sweet Treats in October of 2021 where she specializes in decorated sugar cookies.
The contest is called the Greatest Baker Championship, which she found while on social media. She entered the contest and was accepted shortly after.
Rodgers said she had to upload pictures online, which are subject to public voting and currently she is placed sixth in her group.
The voting will go into February, with the people with the lowest amount of votes dropping out as the contest progresses.
Should Rodgers win she will be featured in the magazine Bake from Scratch, win a $10,000 prize and earn the title of Greatest Baker.
Rodgers said she is an in-home cottage baker and has baking her entire life. The cookie decorating is a recent skill she has gained.
Rodgers said she started dabbling in cookie decorating during the Covid pandemic, learning from videos she watched on social media, slowly honing skills that would become her full-time career.
Her first batch came in for senior basketball cookie order, and from there it has grown to weddings, birthdays, holidays, bridal showers and corporate orders for businesses.
She also holds cookie decorating classes all over the Fox Valley and surrounding areas, including Waupaca.
Rodgers is a member of several chambers’ of commerce and she works with the New London Chamber of Commerce the most. She asked her fellow chamber members what they would think of her opening her own storefront to sell her cookie creations.
“There was a huge outpouring of support for bringing a bakery into New London,” Rodgers said. “It was the best feeling and best thing in the world and they’ve been so supportive since.”
Rodgers said she plans to open a storefront if she wins the contest.
Voting for this round ends on Christmas Eve.
There are a few ways to find the link to vote for Rodgers and her cookie creations, she has posted links on her Facebook page at Keen’s Sweet Treats or type the following link into a browser, https://greatestbaker.org/amber-rodgers-39-qt.
More information and ordering options can be found at www.keenssweettreats.com, Rodgers said she can ship cookie orders in Wisconsin.
Sugar Cookies
Recipe by Keens Sweet Treats
Ingredients
4 sticks of butter
2.5 cups of sugar
5 tsp. vanilla extract
2.5 tsp. baking powder
2 large eggs
6 cups flour
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. Cream together the butter and sugar until combined.
2. Add the vanilla, baking powder and eggs and mix until fully combined.
3. Add the flour and mix on medium until fully combined and no flour is shown.
4. Roll out cookies on parchment paper or silicone baking mat to ¼ thickness and baked for 10 minutes per pan.
Yield: Three dozen four-inch cookies
Prep time: five minutes
Total time: 1.5 hours with rolling out, cutting and bake time
Amber’s baking tips for awesome sugar cookies
1. Weigh Your Ingredients using a kitchen scale.
2. Sift your powdered sugar and flour.
3. Use room-temperature butter.
4. Always use gel food coloring with Royal Icing.
5. Use an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is at the right temperature prior to baking.
5. Use parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
6. Don’t over mix your dough. Mix it until everything is just combined.
7. Let everything cool completely before icing.
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