From the classic buckeye candy to a freeze-dried strawberry cookie, the annual Penta Holiday Sweets Contest in late October was full of homemade treats from its culinary arts students.

“This is a product development project for the students to do with a contest element attached to it,” explained culinary level two instructor Chef Alyssa Johnson.

The students have two weeks to research recipes for both cookie and candy creations, she said, working to test and adapt the desserts to perfect them.

The competition is meant for second year culinary students at Penta, Chef Johnson said, but there are a few culinary seniors and sophomore year exploratory students that submitted entries, too. There were 32 cookies and 18 candies entered in this year’s contest.

“It just shows off their creat

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