One afternoon, Bowser stood at the bottom of the castle stairs. "Healthy vegetarian snacks!" he screamed, as loud as he could.

Bowser heard running feet and got out of the way. Larry leaped down the stairs and dashed into the dining room to get the snacks. There was no one behind him.

Later that day, Bowser sat at the table. "Dessert," he whispered, as quietly as he could.

Bowser heard running feet on the stairs. Seven Koopalings jostled their way down the stairs and raced into the dining room to get the goodies.

"Anybody want cookies?" asked Bowser. He was answered by nods and enthusiastic shouts.

"Good, go make some," Bowser smiled. He was answered by blank stares and confused shouts. "We’ll have a bake-off this afternoon. Go make some cookies. They will be judged and the winner gets a prize."

Bowser continued. "Your cookies will be judged on creativity, how interesting your cookies are; appearance, how nice they look; and taste, which is self-explanatory. The judging begins at 3:00 sharp!"

"Goody," said Wendy. "I’ll win, because girls are way better bakers than guys."

"You’re going to be a judge, Wendy," said Bowser.

"Goody," said Wendy. "I’ll get to eat all the cookies and I can let my favorite brother win. You’d all better be nice to me!"

Six Koopalings jostled their way up the stairs and raced into their rooms to bake some cookies.

A Koopaling took his cookies out of the oven. "All natural colors and flavors," the youngest Koopa said, looking at his irregularly shaped tan cookies. He placed his cookies on a tray and waited.

Another Koopaling was decorating his cookies. He squeezed icing to make a water scene. The Koopa took off his glasses and examined his work. Noticing that the water was purple icing, he ate the cookie, found a tube of blue icing, and tried again.

A third Koopa Kid inspected his work. He had used food coloring to make each cookie a different color. The Koopa dusted sugar over the cookies. "No one can beat me," thought the Koopaling. "I’ve had the most years of experience!"

"What a mess!" exclaimed another Koopa, removing his cookies from the oven. The Koopa placed one cookie on a plate and trimmed it to make it perfectly round. The cookie was moved to a tray and another cookie was trimmed. Cookies added to the tray were perfectly shaped and placed carefully in line with each other. The Koopaling trimmed and arranged his cookies obsessively until he was satisfied that they were perfect. The Koopa gasped and removed a yellow hair that had fallen on the cookies. "Now they’re perfect," the Koopa smiled.

The Koopa who liked cold placed his warm cookies on the counter. He let them cool, then placed a dab of vanilla ice cream in the center of each. The Koopaling carefully folded each cookie in half and pressed gently on the edges to seal the ice cream inside. The Koopa then layered the cookies in a spiral on a plate and waited.

The last Koopaling admired his cookies. Each was in the shape of a letter. "Alphabet soup and cereal is too hard to spell words with," the Koopa thought. "Cookies are much easier to handle!" The Koopa put the cookies on a plate and walked away.

One by one, the Koopalings walked into the Koopa Dining Room. They placed their trays of cookies on the table and sat down on the other side of the room.

Bowser, Clawdia, and Wendy entered the room. They sat at the table and opened their notebooks. They each took one cookie and tasted it. They made some notes and tried another cookie.

When they had sampled everyone’s cookies, they wrote down something about the cookies in the order they liked them. Their notes are below.

The #1 cookie is the judge’s favorite, and #6 is their least favorite. #1 gets 10 points, #2 gets 7 points, #3 gets 5 points, #4 gets 3 points, #5 gets 1 point, and #6 gets 0 points.

Bowser’s Notes

#1- My favorite cookie had a picture of a tree on it.

#2- This cookie was definitely an A!

#3- This cookie was my favorite color.

#4- There’s something to be said for abstract cookies.

#5- This cookie had a surprise inside.

#6- I traced my least favorite cookie below.

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Clawdia’s Notes

#1- I like simple things.

#2- Ugly color, good taste.

#3- Obviously lovingly done.

#4- Too conducive to playing with.

#5- I agree with Bowser on this one.

#6- Too pretty to eat.

Wendy’s Notes

#1- These would be an interesting teaching tool!

#2- Ah, tidy, symmetrical perfection.

#3- An ingenious combination…right up there with ice cream cake.

#4- Very poor artistry…but it’s the thought that counts.

#5- These cookies are obviously not from Kansas.

#6- I’m the fancy cookie type.

Bowser collected the judges’ notes, tallied up the points, and announced the winning type of cookie.

Email me your guesses, as well as your comments, suggestions, and mysteries!

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