The We Energies Cookie Book is a favorite tradition for families across Wisconsin. The book comes out in the fall, but it is a yearlong process to find the 37 recipes that will fill the pages.
This year, 350 recipes were submitted for the book. The company's Cookie Book committee has whittled that number down to 60. Today, we got a behind-the-scenes look at the final taste tests that will help determine which family favorites you will see this year.
Watch: We Energies taste tests recipes for the favorite annual Cookie Book
Inside a room at the We Energies headquarters, employees are tasting, analyzing, and rating cookies. Missie Muth is one of dozens of employees dedicated to helping find the best recipes for this year's book.
"I'd say I'm not a professional, but I do like to eat cookies," Muth said.
"I have a systematic approach to it. I take everyone I put on my plate, counterclockwise, with the form, I take a bite of each, decide which are my favorites, and then eat the whole cookie," Muth said.
"We're judging on five categories. Appearance, taste, texture and overall acceptability. First, I look at aesthetics and how is it going to look on a cookie plate," Muth said.
It is a job the employees take very seriously because it is for something very special.
"I love it, I love my job, I love the cookie book, I love being part of the team for it," Muth said.
Mary McNulty is the one baking the final 60 contenders for others to taste.
"We look for something that the average person would enjoy making. And different flavor profiles. So that we get something for everybody in every book," McNulty said.
"It takes six weeks, we do 10 a week, each week, it takes two 10-hour days to get them all baked," McNulty said.
Everyone has their favorites during the tasting process.
"One with red raspberry, that was made with raspberry preserves, super attractive, nut crust, not too complex, it reminds me of something I see at my grandma's house," one taste tester said.
"What flavors are you looking for? I would tell you, if it's a chocolate, if there's coffee, not too much of it so it's overwhelming," another taste tester said.
Catrina Crane and her table agreed on one thing.
"I think for most of us the chocolate chip is our favorite," Crane said.
I tried three for myself, including a maple-flavored cookie that several people said they liked.
"This is good... like a four. Maybe I need another bite," I said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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