OLD Eats DO NOT USE

Many a year I've spent writing about The Dallas Morning News - Central Market Holiday Cookie Contest. This time, I did not get to attend the judging, but the special report with mini-videos about the contest and some of the cookie-making techniques just buttered my batter.

What a great retelling of the contest, the judging and how contestants came up with some of the most imaginative cookies ever. Sandra Entrican of Carrollton has entered, placed and won many times over the 10-plus-years life of the contest, and I was fascinated how, one more time, she leapt ahead of the curve with an innovative, pear-shaped cookie decorated with a painted partridge. I'm reminded again that she often lets the craft world inspire her designs.

Even if you never bake so much as a refrigerator-dough sugar cookie, it's hard not to appreciate the efforts of those who enter this contest year after year. You go, guys.