Heidi Heckelbeck and the Cookie Contest

by Wanda Coven

  Blue-Ribbon Cookies?

  Brewster Elementary is having its annual cookie contest, and Heidi can’t wait to enter the famous Heckelbeck Chocolate Chunk Cookies. But when Melanie Maplethorpe laughs and says that Heidi’s cookies are blah, Heidi decides to jazz them up. After adding a magical touch, Heidi’s “new” cookies look great … but wait—what’s that strange smell?

  With easy-to-read language and illustrations on almost every page, the Heidi Heckelbeck chapter books are perfect for beginning readers.

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  LITTLE SIMON

  Simon & Schuster, New York

  Cover design by Aviva Shur

  Ages 5 –7

  HeidiHeckelbeckBooks.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Coven, Wanda.

  Heidi Heckelbeck and the cookie contest / by Wanda Coven; illustrated by Priscilla Burris. — 1st ed. p. cm.

  Summary: Heidi wants to win the Brewster Elementary cookie contest, but does not think through all the consequences of adding magic to her recipe. ISBN 978-1-4424-4165-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4424-4166-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4424-4167-5 (e-book : alk. paper) [1. Witches—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Contests—Fiction. 4. Cookies—Fiction. 5. Schools—Fiction.] I. Burris, Priscilla, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.C83392Hb 2012

  [Fic]—dc23

  2011017223

  ISBN 978-1-4424-4167-5 (eBook)

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: ME WANT COO-KIE!

  Chapter 2: BA-BA-BORING!

  Chapter 3: RAZZLE-DAZZLE!

  Chapter 4: DAD FAINTS

  Chapter 5: THE MAGIC TOUCH

  Chapter 6: THE COOKIE CHARM

  Chapter 7: P.U.

  Chapter 8: STINK! STANK! STUNK!

  Chapter 9: COUGH DROPS

  Chapter 10: WOOF!

  ME WANT COO-KIE!

  Yum!

  Yummy!

  Yummers!

  Heidi Heckelbeck had cookies on her mind. She had just signed up for the Brewster Elementary cookie contest. Heidi had never entered a contest before. She wondered if she would win. She had won a raffle one time, but that had been super-easy. All she’d had to do was write her name on a strip of paper and stick it in a box with some other names. The prize had been a silver turtle necklace. Winning had been fun, and now, more than anything, Heidi wanted to win the school cookie contest.

  What kind of cookies should I make? wondered Heidi. She could make oatmeal raisin, but raisins were kind of squishy and gross. Peanut butter cookies were good, but not her favorite. How about chocolate chunk? Chocolate chunk would be a winner, thought Heidi. They were also her favorite.

  Heidi hopped onto a step stool and grabbed the family recipe box from the cupboard. She found the tab marked “Desserts” and thumbed through the recipes.

  “Aha!” said Heidi out loud.

  “Aha, what?” asked Heidi’s mom as she walked into the kitchen.

  “I found our famous chocolate chunk cookie recipe,” said Heidi. “I entered a cookie contest at school. It’s this Saturday.”

  “Need some help?” asked Mom.

  “Do I EVER,” said Heidi. “I’ve never made cookies all by myself.”

  “Let’s gather the ingredients first,” said Mom.

  Henry, Heidi’s five-year-old brother, ran into the kitchen. “Can I help?”

  “No,” said Heidi firmly. “These cookies have to be made by ME.”

  “Then can I be your taste-tester?” asked Henry.

  “Ha! Are you kidding?” asked Heidi. “That would be like hiring the Cookie Monster.”

  Then Henry pretended to be the Cookie Monster.

  “Me want COO-kie! Munch! Munch! Chomp! Chomp!”

  Heidi rolled her eyes. Then she looked at the recipe. “Three cups of flour,” she said.

  Heidi lugged a tub of flour from the pantry and plopped it on the counter. Mom got the white sugar, brown sugar, and chocolate chunks. Heidi got two sticks of butter from the fridge. They laid out all the ingredients on the counter. Then Mom got the mixer, the measuring spoons, and the measuring cups.

  “Oh no,” said Heidi. “We’re out of eggs.”

  “That’s okay,” said Mom. “I’ll pick some eggs up on the way home from school tomorrow. If we make the cookies in the evening, they’ll be nice and fresh for the contest the next day.”

  “Good idea,” said Heidi.

  “So, what do you get if you win?” asked Henry.

  “You get to have your picture and your recipe published in the town newspaper,” said Heidi.

  “That’s it?” said Henry. “No cash prizes or giveaways?”

  “Well, there IS one giveaway,” said Heidi. “The winner can give away her brother for a year of free cookies.”

  “Ha-ha. Very funny,” said Henry. “But if you gave me away, you would probably miss me.”

  “Maybe a teeny bit,” said Heidi.

  Henry smiled. “Does that mean the taste-tester gets to have his picture in the paper too?”

  “Don’t push it, little dude,” said Heidi.

  BA-BA-BORING!

  At school everybody was talking about the cookie contest. Stanley Stonewrecker was going to make Heavenly Surprise cookies. Charlie Chen was going to make toasted s’mores cookies. Natalie Newman was going to make pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese filling. Wow, thought Heidi as she put her things in her cubby. Everyone else’s cookies sound so fancy. Heidi began to wonder if her cookies were special enough.

  Heidi walked over to her friend Lucy Lancaster. “What kind are you making?” Heidi asked Lucy.

  “Sugar cookies,” said Lucy. “With Fruity Polka Dots cereal on top.”

  “Yum,” said Heidi.

  “What kind are you making?” asked Lucy.

  “Chocolate chunk,” said Heidi.

  “Ew,” said Melanie Maplethorpe. Melanie was Heidi’s worst enemy. She had been listening in.

  Heidi turned around. “What’s your problem?” she asked.

  “YOUR COOKIES!” said Melanie. “I mean, how blah can you get? Even Girl Scout cookies are more exciting than THAT.”

  Lucy put her hands on her hips and glared at Melanie. “What kind are you going to make?” asked Lucy. “Disgusting chip? Or oatmeal poison?”

  “Neither,” said Melanie. “I’m going to make cinnamon swirl cookies with toffee bits. My ingredients had to be special ordered. And by the way, I’m SO going to win.”

  Then Melanie did a
little twirl and walked off with her nose in the air.

  “Well, whoop-de-do,” said Lucy to Melanie’s bouncing ponytail.

  Heidi sighed. “It’s true,” she said. “My chocolate chunk cookies DO sound boring next to yours and Melanie’s.”

  “Chocolate chunk cookies are NOT boring,” said Lucy. “Stick with what you do best and you’ll come out on top.”

  On top of what? thought Heidi. The garbage heap? Hmm … Maybe I need to come up with a fancier kind of cookie.

  A few minutes later Heidi’s teacher, Mrs. Welli, handed out contest rules and entry forms. Heidi decided to give her boring cookies a new name. On her entry form, she wrote, “Magical Chocolate Chunk Cookies.” That sounds a teeny bit better than plain chocolate chunk, she thought. Then she handed it in.

  Later in gym, Heidi’s class did the Wacky Obstacle Course. Bruce Bickerson and Heidi were partners. Together, they jumped through a pretend flaming hoop. They walked the balance beam over a pit of crocodiles. They zip-lined across a steep valley. In the middle of the Indiana Jones snake-filled tunnel, Heidi asked Bruce what kind of cookies he was going to make for the contest on Saturday.

  “Mega Mint,” said Bruce. “They’re chocolate cookies with vanilla chips and crushed peppermints.”

  “Wow,” said Heidi. “They sound amazing.”

  “They’re insane,” said Bruce. “But some people think they taste like toothpaste.”

  Heidi didn’t think Bruce’s cookies sounded anything like toothpaste. They sounded mega-tasty. Everybody’s cookies sounded great except hers. There was no way crummy ol’ chocolate chunk cookies would win the contest. She had to come up with something new—something different. But what? thought Heidi as she crawled out of the tunnel and lined up with her classmates.

  Heidi was sure of one thing: She just had to outshine Melanie Maplethorpe. That mean girl didn’t deserve to win anything.

  RAZZLE-DAZZLE!

  When Heidi got home, she raided the pantry. She grabbed pretzels, mini marshmallows, jelly beans, a box of old candy canes, and Peanut Butter Crunch cereal. She piled everything onto the counter with her other cookie ingredients.

  “What are you doing?” asked Henry.

  “Jazzing up my cookie recipe.”

  “What for?”

  “So I can beat Melanie,” replied Heidi. “She’s making cinnamon swirl cookies with toffee bits.”

  “Do they taste good?” asked Henry.

  “She had to SPECIAL ORDER her ingredients,” said Heidi.

  “But do they taste good?”

  “How should I know?” said Heidi.

  “Maybe they’re gross.”

  “I doubt it,” said Heidi. “Everything Smell-a-nie does is perfect.”

  “But OUR chocolate chunk cookie recipe is perfect too,” said Henry.

  Heidi folded her arms and looked at Henry. “Melanie laughed when she heard I was going to make chocolate chunk cookies.”

  “Has she tasted our cookies?”

  “No.”

  “She should,” said Henry. “They’re the best-tasting cookies in the whole world.”

  “Who made YOU a cookie judge?”

  “I did,” said Henry.

  “But you like animal crackers,” said Heidi. “A real cookie judge would know that animal crackers are not good cookies.”

  “They’re called animal CRACKERS. They’re not even cookies. Besides, I can tell the difference between a good cookie and a bad cookie.”

  “Well, I want to make a blue-ribbon cookie,” said Heidi.

  “Then you should make our Heckelbeck Chocolate Chunk Cookies,” said Henry. “They’re the BEST!”

  “You said it!” said Mom.

  “Let’s get started!” said Dad.

  Heidi’s mom and dad had walked into the kitchen during Heidi and Henry’s discussion. Her parents both had on aprons. Dad handed an apron to Heidi. Heidi had never worn an apron before. She took the apron and slipped it over her head. Mom tied the sash in the back. All of a sudden Heidi began to feel like a real cook.

  Now all she had to do was make a first-place, blue-ribbon cookie.

  DAD FAINTS

  Heidi’s dad switched on the oven. Then he pointed at the pretzels, candy, and cereal sitting on the counter.

  “What’s all this?” asked Dad.

  “Magical ingredients,” said Heidi.

  “Heidi wants to jazz up the family cookie recipe,” said Henry.

  Dad was puzzled. “What for?”

  “Because it’s SO blah,” said Heidi.

  Dad pretended to faint into Mom’s arms. Mom struggled to hold him up.

  “Heidi, look what you’ve done to your father,” said Mom.

  “What did she do?” asked Henry.

  Heidi looked at her dad.

  He opened one eye and peeked at Heidi. Then he coughed and sputtered.

  “I just want to add a little zing,” said Heidi. “What’s the big deal?”

  Dad stood and rolled up his sleeves. “Is that the real reason you want to add junk food to our cookies?” he asked.

  Heidi looked at the floor.

  “Do you think our recipe is missing something?” asked Dad.

  “Bingo,” said Heidi.

  Dad was surprised. “Heidi, this is not just any recipe. I’ve worked on it for years. These cookies are something special.”

  Heidi still looked doubtful. “What makes them so special?”

  “Let me show you,” said Dad. He switched on the stove. “First we need to brown the butter.”

  “What’s so special about that?” asked Heidi.

  “Wait and see,” said Dad.

  Heidi unwrapped the butter and dropped them into a pan. Soon the butter began to sizzle. Heidi stirred it around. After a while the butter began to bubble. Dad took it off the flame.

  “Smell,” said Dad.

  Heidi and Henry both sniffed the browned butter.

  “Smells good,” said Heidi.

  “Like toffee,” said Henry.

  “Exactly,” said Dad. “Browning the butter gives the cookies a toasty toffee flavor. That makes them stand apart from other chocolate chunk cookies.”

  Heidi beat the browned butter, the sugars, the flour, and the vanilla. She cracked two eggs into the batter and mixed them in. Dad added an extra yolk to the bowl.

  “An extra yolk will make them soft and chewy,” said Dad.

  Heidi swirled in the yolk.

  “I also add two kinds of chocolate,” said Dad. “Milk chocolate and semi-sweet. That’s another special twist.”

  Heidi yawned. Dad’s special steps didn’t sound very exciting. If he had asked her to add some chopped-up candy bars and rainbow sprinkles, that would’ve sounded exciting.

  Dad handed Heidi an ice-cream scoop. She scooped the cookie dough and squeezed the handle. Mounds of dough plopped onto the greased cookie sheet.

  “Now we’ll bake them at a very high heat,” said Dad. “And we’ll only cook them for four minutes. This will make them golden on the outside and like cookie dough on the inside.”

  Heidi set the timer for four minutes. Then she and Henry stood on two chairs and watched the cookies bake.

  Dad got out fancy dessert plates. Mom laid out napkins. When the cookies were done, Heidi slid one onto each plate.

  Then it was time to taste them.

  They all took a bite at the same time.

  “Mmmmmmmm,” everyone said. Everyone—except Heidi, that is.

  THE MAGIC TOUCH

  Honk … shoooo!

  Honk … shoooo!

  Snoresville, USA.

  Heidi carried the rest of her sample cookie to her bedroom on a napkin. She still thought the recipe was B.O.R.I.N.G., but she wanted to think about it alone. She flopped onto her beanbag chair. Am I being unfair? she wondered. After all, Dad did work on soda recipes for a living. He must know something. Heidi studied her cookie. It gave her an idea. What if she pretended to be a professional cookie judge? Then sh
e could judge the cookie fairly. Maybe she would see it in a new way.

  Heidi fished around in her backpack and pulled out the contest rules. At the bottom of the page she found the Judge’s Checklist. Heidi grabbed a scented pencil from her pencil case. It had a sugar cookie smell. Then she looked at the scorecard.

  JUDGE’S CHECKLIST

  APPEARANCE: WHAT DOES THE COOKIE LOOK LIKE?

  AROMA: HOW DOES THE COOKIE SMELL?

  TASTE: DOES THE COOKIE HAVE A PLEASING TASTE?

  TEXTURE: WHAT KIND OF FEEL DOES THE COOKIE HAVE?

  CREATIVITY: WHAT MAKES THIS COOKIE STAND OUT?

  A judge has to be super-honest, thought Heidi. Then she took a good, hard look at her cookie. Hmmm, how does this cookie look? she asked herself. She tried to pretend she was judging somebody else’s cookie.

  APPEARANCE:

  CHECK ONE:

  EXCELLENT GOOD POOR

  Heidi looked at the cookie. She wrote:

  This cookie is the color tan. Tan is a boring color. If I saw this cookie at a bakery, I would say, “NEXT!”

  SMELL:

  CHECK ONE:

  EXCELLENT GOOD POOR

  Heidi sniffed the cookie and wrote:

  This cookie does not smell like dead fish——that’s the good news! The bad news is that it smells like a plain ol’ everyday chocolate chunk cookie.

  TASTE:

  CHECK ONE:

  EXCELLENT GOOD POOR

  Heidi took a bite of her cookie. She thought hard about how it tasted. Then she wrote:

  Thankfully, this cookie does not taste like liver. It tastes ho-hum. Who hasn’t tasted a chocolate chunk cookie before?