2025 JOS Cookie Contest
RECIPE SUBMISSION WILL BEGIN JULY 1, 2025. PLEASE READ ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE SUBMITTING YOUR RECIPE!
THE 2025 JUAN O SAVIN COOKIE CONTEST is a chance to show off your baking skills and have a shot at being a JOS Cookie Contest Winner! This contest will award the following: Grand Prize Winner; First Runner Up; Second Runner Up. We are working out prizes!
Cookie Defined: Chewy, Crispy, Crunchy, Gooey, Moist, Soft, Thin or Thick, Flat, Round or Square like a brownie (aka cookie).
Rules & Instructions:
Read the entire instructions before submitting your recipe.
One recipe per adult, 18 years of age or older.
Submission begins July 1 and ends July 31. There is no advantage to early submissions. You are encouraged to think through your recipe before submitting it.
The submission fill-out form is below. All line items are required.
A batch of cookies should be between a dozen cookies (12 cookies) to no more than three dozen cookies (36 cookies).
Second submissions—including both a second recipe as well as edits/changes/corrections to one’s original submission—are discouraged.
CRITERIA: Based on 20 Points each.
Authenticity: Is your cookie recipe your own creation? Even if your Great Grandmother’s cookie recipe was passed down to you from a recipe she may have discovered on a box mix, you have since made this recipe your own with alterations, reductions, additions—it’s your recipe with your own pizzaz!
Be Deliciously Healthy: Cookie recipes that make the final round will have a health aspect to them. “Healthy” means different things to different people. Whether your recipe is Whole Grain, Gluten Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Oil Free, Refined Sugar Free, Keto, Paleo, Raw or Unbaked in the Food Dehydrator, your cookie shows some distinction from the SAD diet—the “Standard American Diet”. Note, there is no need to list an ingredient as “healthy”. Examples to avoid are: “Healthy Raisins” or “Organic Flour” or “Freshly Milled Flour” or “Non-GMO fruit” because it’s up to the person making your recipe to prepare and purchase those healthier options. Uses of fructose corn syrup, seed oils, and microwaves are discouraged.
Specificity: Be specific with your ingredients. Optional ingredients serve a purpose for those with unique dietary restrictions. For this contest, however, your recipe must list specific ingredients. Examples to follow: “1 cup almond flour”; “1 cup einkorn flour”; “1/2 cup raw honey”; “1/2 teaspoon sea salt”. Examples to avoid: “1 cup flour of choice”; “1/2 cup dairy butter or coconut butter”; “2 Tablespoons butter or ghee”; “1/4 cup cane sugar or stevia to taste"; “1 teaspoon cinnamon optional”; “pinch of salt to taste”. Be decisive. In addition, listing brand names in a recipe is discouraged. Examples to avoid are: “King Aurthur Flour” (instead write “whole wheat flour”); “Bob’s Redmill Corn Flour” (instead write “corn flour”); “Bragg’s Liquid Aminos” (instead write “liquid aminos”).
Simplicity: Less is more. Each recipe should have 10 ingredients or less. Each ingredient must be easily found in a grocery store or health food store. For example, cacao butter and goji berries are often unavailable in conventional grocery stores, but they are available in health food stores. Therefore, cacao butter and goji berries are fine choices for ingredients because they are relatively easy to source. On the other hand, some ingredients, such as durian fruit or young Thai coconut meat are too difficult as they may only be sold at an Asian store or in Chinatown. Therefore, these types of ingredients are discouraged since they are difficult to source.
Clarity: Your recipe should be easy enough to follow for a sixth grader to read and create. In addition, avoiding too much wordiness will help prevent going over the allotted word count limit.
Those submissions which make the finalist round will be baked by a selected party. JOS will taste test the finalists’ cookies in a blind taste test.
The following are bonus points to help you beat the competition!
Bonus Points for the following (up to 10 pts each)
Recipe is 7 ingredients or less (instead of the 10 ingredients).
All ingredients in the recipe are mentioned in the Bible (wheat, barley, honey, and raisins just to name a few!).
Points Deducted for the following (up to 10 pts each)
Not following the Rules & Instructions stated above.
Submitting a second recipe. Give us your very BEST recipe, please.
Submitting a second submission because the original recipe submission has mistakes in it or needs some minor tweaks.
Uses of fructose corn syrup, adulterated seed oils, and microwaves.
Submitting a recipe outside the dates of July 1 to July 31.
Shipping your batch of cookies to one of our fulfillment/shipping centers. Juan will only be taste testing cookies baked by a private party at an undecided upon location.
Emailing JMAC customer service your recipe submission - we will kindly refer you to the Cookie Contest link :)
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens after I submit my recipe? After you electronically submit your recipe, a Cookie Committee will choose the finalists after July 31st.
Possible Disqualifications: Please make sure you read through the rules and fill out the e-submission form correctly. Possible deductions could include multiple submission entries from an applicant.
Will Juan O Savin eat my cookie? Sometime before October 17, 2025, Juan will get to work… it’s a tough job but he will eat the cookies that make the finalist round in a blind taste test.
Can I ship my cookies to Juan? No. After you electronically submit your recipe, a Cookie Committee will choose the finalists after July 31st. Juan will only be taste testing cookies baked by a private party.
How many finalists will there be? The number of finalists will be determined by the number of applicants/submissions.
How long do I have to submit my recipe? July 31, 2025 at midnight EST
Where will the finalists be announced? For those contestants that make the finalist round, it may be announced at TheJennifermac.com and Jennifer Mac’s Telegram channel.
When are the winners announced? October 17, 2025
Where will the winners be announced? Winners and Special Mention(s) will be announced at TheJennifermac.com and/or Jennifer Mac’s Telegram channel.
I provided my home address and full name in the submission form but can I maintain my privacy, publicly? Home addresses and contact information will not be disclosed. We will need all your information requested, such as full name and contact information for submission acceptance. However, in the submission form below, you will have privacy choices for your name. Example for “Jane Doe”: Option 1: Jane Doe; Option 2: Jane D.; and Option 3: J.D. Example for “Bob Smith”: Option 1: Bob Smith; Option 2: Bob S.; and Option 3: B.S.