Kids in the kitchen: Lake Whitney students headed to cooking competition

A team of four chefs from Lake Whitney Elementary School created every kid’s fantasy: Cookies for dinner.

And now, that recipe will take the fifth-graders all the way to the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The team — better known as the Cooking Cows — was selected to compete in the Dairy Council of Florida’s Gridiron Cooking Challenge. The challenge asks students 10 and older to team up to create a recipe that contains a dairy product. 

About 63 teams submitted a recipe with a photo. Three regions participate, and the top four in each region are selected to attend the competition. There, they will make four normal-sized portions for the judges and 50 bite-sized portions for the audience.

The team was selected for its recipe: Cookies for Dinner. Baked cheesy grits surround a helping of creamy mashed potatoes, and a dollop of mashed potatoes is added to the top, creating the look of a macaroon.

Team member Caroline Gordon learned about the competition and asked three of her friends to participate. Soon, she, Kevin Mercier, Olivia Lenzen and Kayla Benton took to the kitchen to create their masterpiece.

“The only thing that everybody really liked out of the dairy products that we had was the cheese grits,” Kayla said. “We didn’t just want to make cheese grits, so then we thought of adding mashed potatoes.”

Before deciding on Cookies for Dinner, the team tried pizza, quiche, omelets and even cheese-flavored yogurt. The yogurt was not a fan favorite, although it now makes for good memories. 

“The people who won last year made a shake or a drink,” Kevin said. “I like cheese, and I like chocolate yogurt, so I came up with the idea.” 

They agreed it was better left unmade.

Before practicing, most members of the team had limited experience cooking, making mostly omelets, waffles and desserts. But along with a new set of cooking skills, the members also have learned some cooking lessons.

“Don’t let milk boil on the stove too long,” Caroline said.

The team will compete for a chance to win $2,500 for their school, as well as iPad minis. But it really all comes down to having fun. 

“Cooking for us is just for fun, and it doesn’t have to be a competitive sport,” Kayla said. “We originally entered the competition just because we wanted to. We weren’t necessarily expecting to get picked, and when we did, we were happy but we’re still having fun. It’s not for us all about the competition.”

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].

In their own words:

“Cooking for us is just for fun, and it doesn’t have to be a competitive sport. ... It’s not for us all about the competition.” 

— Kayla Benton 

“Don’t let milk boil on the stove too long.” 

— Caroline Gordon