Heather Baker with her award-winning cookies. She won the innovative category and the golden measuring spoons. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

That's what graduate student/mosquito researcher Heather Baker of the lab of molecular biologist Shirley Luckhart did when she entered her “Chocolate Chirp Cookies” in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's Cookie Social, held Monday, Dec. 12 in the International House Davis.

Her cookies wowed the judges and scored first place in the innovative category. Baker, who studies malaria mosquitoes in the Luckhart lab, based her entry on a Pioneer Woman recipe but added cricket flour instead of "regular" flour. The grasshoppers? "I ordered them through Amazon," she said.

The cookie contest, coordinated by account manager Guyla Yoak, drew 20 entries, ranging from chocolate to oatmeal to lemon.

The panel of judges-- professor Diane Ullman, emeritus professor Hugh Dingle, faculty affiliate Steve Seybold and account manager Wayne Monteiro—awarded four other first-place prizes.

• Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the department, won “Best Taste Without Chocolate" for his healthy and hearty “Citrus Cranberry Walnut Cookies.”
• Junior specialist Stacey Lee Rice, who studies the bagrada bug in the lab of Extension entomologist Larry Godfrey, won “Best Taste with Chocolate” for her “Chocolate Bug Bites”—no bagrada bugs, just chocolate goodness.
• Account manager Elvia Mayes' entry, “Merry Minnies” cookies—colorful shades of Mickey and Minnie Mouse--scored “Best Decorated."
• Graduate student/mosquito researcher Mimi Portilla of the lab of aquatic entomologist Sharon Lawler, won  “Best Entry Name” for her “Cereally Oatrageous Oatmeal Cookies.”

"We also had a set of golden measuring spoons which went to Heather Baker as she was on the judges' short list in every category," Yoak said. "She'll be the one to beat next year!"

Nadler, Baker, Rice, and Mayes each received a chef's hat and a $25 gift certificate to UC Davis Stores. Portilla, the winner of the impromptu category, "Best Entry Name," took home "The Golden Whisk" award--for baking more cookies.

Yoak said she was impressed with the participation. "As of Friday when I left work I only had nine definite cookie entries, but 20 showed up at Monday's event," she said. "I was very pleased at the participation."