The Associated Students (AS) of California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) hosted The Great Otter Bake Off On Dec. 10. AS programming specialist Victoria Alcantar narrated the event while her coworker Julie Ramirez led the baking demonstration.
Ramirez showed participants how to make sugar cookies with “like, a lotta butter.” Optionally, the finished cookies could be topped with Hershey’s Kisses in whatever flavor the baker desires.
After bakers “set it and forget it,” as participant and fellow AS employee Torin Pyers-Pereira exclaimed, Alcantar and Ramirez led viewers through a few rounds of holiday pictionary.
Everyone was stumped by Ramirez’s rendering of the Grinch. Commenting on her drawing skills Ramirez cheerily said “You guys can make fun of me, it’s totally ok.”
While her drawing skills might have been questionable, AS marketing specialist Daisy Barrett compared her cooking show hosting to Selena Gomez’s. “Selena Gomez has nothing on you Julie,” Barrett proclaimed.
Ramirez wasn’t as confident, however. “I grew up watching baking shows on the Food Network so it’s a dream of mine to appear on a baking show,” Ramirez said. “Although I don’t think I would do well in a baking competition.”
When Ramirez pulled her cookies out of the oven and added the finishing touch of peppermint kisses on top, she was met with praise from the audience.
The event, complete with Christmas music while waiting for participants to arrive, put students in the mood for the holidays and was a fun way for students to de-stress before finals week. “Baking is one of my favorite things to do during the holidays so I thought, how can I create a community for others to bake along with me?” Ramirez said.
If students missed the event but want to make the cookies, below are the ingredients:
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
- 1¼ cups (2½ sticks) butter, at room temperature
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- granulated white sugar
- Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses or any Hersey’s Kisses of choice!
Ramirez mixed the dry and wet ingredients separately then combined them and rolled the cookies out. She then baked them in an oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and added the Kisses right away.