2022 Winners: The end of Jamie's Dynasty, but not quite a sweep for Robin

 All good things must come to an end.  And in this case, that good thing is 6 straight years of Jamie taking 1st place in the Boga Bake-Off.  Everyone loves a dynasty right?!  But it was time for a new winner to be crowned, and Robin rightfully took her spot on the Boga Bake-Off throne late on Christmas Day.  During decorating, we had a feeling that her "Viva Argentina!" cookie would take first place...the depth of the goal, the details of the soccer ball, the colorful crowd, the placement of the players...they all added up to a beautiful cookie, and the people recognized her for it!  In total we had 277 votes from the US & Puerto Rico, Ecuador, UAE, UK, Kuwait and Mexico! 

Robin won 1st place with "Viva Argentina!"

And what about the others?

"God Save the Queen" won in the beauty category and was enough clinch 2nd place for Robin as well.  The best Jamie could eek out was a 3rd place cookie with "Be Iran's Voice".  It was a beautiful and intricate cookie (did you check the accuracy of the country shape?!), but 3rd place is a far cry from six straight years of winning.  She had high hopes for the simplicity of "It's Corn!"...but knew that "Today's Wordle: BAKED" failed in execution.  It suffered from too small and illegible letters, but the people still voted it into 5th place.  And did she make the right decision submitting her Stranger Things' "Max" cookie over "Top Gun: Maverick's Flight Path"?  I guess we'll never know.

NOT Submitted: Jamie's "Top Gun: Maverick's Flight Path"

Robin's "Keep my Wife's Name out of your Mouth" won 4th place, taking top marks for humor.  And Pete Davidson's Rolodex, her last entry in the Bake-Off, took 7th place and explored a new cookie format...multiple cookies to make a single design.  Will we see that trend come back in 2023?  

And poor Nancy.  Try as she may, her best performing cookie was 9th place "Tourist Visit to the US Capitol", a pithy take on the Insurrection.  And her Boga Family Tree cookie failed to place this year.  Jamie & Robin tried to give counsel that the Boga cookie could have been improved with more of a "Tree" green design, and the Capitol cookie name may have been too "inside" and appeal only to age 65+ newsheads...but the advice fell on deaf ears, and votes told a consistent tale.

Finally, thank you to Ellen and Mia for their submissions as well.  Bode wasn't bad for a 9 year old right?!  

See below for a complete list of cookies and vote counts.  Thanks to everyone for voting, and we'll see you next year!!

1. Viva Argentina! by Robin, 147 votes

2. God Save the Queen by Robin, 117 votes

3. Be Iran's Voice by Jamie, 109 votes

4. Keep my Wife's Name out of your Mouth! by Robin, 97 votes

5. Today's Wordle: BAKED by Jamie, 61 votes

6. It's Corn! (A big lump with knobs) by Jamie, 58 votes

7. Pete Davidson's Rolodex by Robin, 40 votes

8. Max is Runnin' up that Hill by Jamie, 29 votes

9. "Tourist Visit" to the US Capitol by Nancy, 16 votes

10. Practicing my Technique by Ellen, 16 votes

11.  Bode's First Christmas, 15 votes

12. It's a Major Award by Patrick, 13 votes

13. Bogas: How do you like us now?! by Nancy, 11 votes

14. Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow by Ellen, 5 votes

15. Follow the Lies - Lies Social by Ellen, 3 votes

Honorable Mentions:

Top Gun: Maverick's Flight Path by Jamie

Harry's Styles in a Flash Coat by Jamie

Holiday Stocking by Coco

Vote in 2022 Boga-Bake Off!

Welcome to the 2022 Boga Bake-Off!

This year, we're on location in SANTA FE for the first time since the before-COVID times...

And what a year it has been to draw inspiration from!  Whether it be war, human rights injustices, and business moguls fallen from grace...or entertaining pop culture moments and celebrity trials...there was simply TOO MUCH to choose from.  Each of the Bogas came armed with at least ten solid ideas that we had to whittle down to a highly curated selection.  So we sat at Nancy & Doug's dining table for 5 hours, with no less than 10 custom frosting colors, 17 bottles of sprinkles, 1 packet of toothpicks, 4 children, 1 beloved Couzie (Ellen), and nothing but the SHEER WILL to win.

Will Jamie win her LUCKY #7 year in a row?  Will Robin finally break her streak?  Or will Nancy or Ellen surprise us with a victory?  We turn to you, the public, to provide a fair and sound judgement.  

So gather round with your loved ones; polls are open until Christmas day Sunday, 12/25 at 10pm EST.  SHARE with your friends and family, and thanks for voting :)  

And if you somehow got here, and you're like, WTF is this?  Here is a quick history for any newbies:

The Chiribogas used to decorate Christmas cookies like any other family, but as they continued to bake, their creative juices flowed.  Santa turned sexy, snowflakes become infinitely more elaborate, and cookie shapes were seen as mere suggestions instead of strict guides for designs.  Toothpicks became the go-to tool for applying individual sprinkles and a new type of cookie decorating contest emerged...the Boga Bake-off was born - over 20 years ago!

**PLEASE NOTE - the poll is tricky to scroll through. Scroll over the thin yellow border to scroll through the images. Scroll the right blue border to get to the bottom of the page and click SUBMIT**

2021 Winners: A Year of Great Inspo & the continuation of Jamie's dynasty

Another year, another variant, another Boga Bake-Off!  Results are in....(drum roll...)...and Jamie took home the #1 spot for the SIXTH year in a row with "Cicada Season"!  But it was a nail biter until the end with Robin's "Free Britney" threatening the top spot within a handful of votes the entire time.  It was also a super tight race between third and fourth place, with Robin's "Ted Lasso says Be a Goldfish" and Jamie's "Tug Life in the Suez Canal" changing places multiple times.  In the end, Robin's Ted Lasso cookie prevailed (despite her never having seen the show!!), and Jamie's Suez Canal took home fourth.

Multiple honorable mentions go to Nancy for her Shaman and Bezos' Boner...while they elicited many laughs and strong reactions from our fan base, they only scrapped together enough votes for a two-way fifth place tie.

We had a great time admiring everyone's good ideas from this year's news stories and pop culture highlights.  And an even better time hearing from friends and family, near and far, about how much they enjoy the annual cookie contest.  Over 300 people voted from the US, Canada, UK, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Kenya, UAE, and Australia!  We felt the love and can't wait to be back next year!!

Here are final standings:

1. Cicada Season by Jamie, 122 votes

2.  Free Britney by Robin, 115 votes

3.  Ted Lasso says "Be a Goldfish" by Robin, 109 votes

4.  Tug Life in the Suez Canal by Jamie, 101 votes

5 - tie.  Q Shaman goes to Washington by Nancy, 84 votes

5 - tie. Bezos' Boner by Nancy, 84 votes

7. Red Light, Green Light by Jamie, 80 votes

8. Bernie's Mittens, Christmas Edition by Robin, 78 votes 

9. Mr. Big is Alive! by Robin, 46 votes

10.  Masked by Nancy, 24 votes

11. Omi-get-Vaxxed by Doug, 13 votes

12. Bond, Drunk and Fat Bond, by Jamie, 12 votes

Vote in the 2021 Boga Bake-Off!

Welcome to the Boga Bake-Off!  Each person should vote for their TOP THREE COOKIES in a single vote.  Click on three images, scroll to the bottom, and hit SUBMIT to enter your vote.  Your vote doesn't count unless you hit SUBMIT.

While most of you have participated in previous polls, here is a quick history for any newbies:

The Chiribogas used to decorate Christmas cookies like any other family, but as they continued to bake, their creative juices flowed.  Santa turned sexy, snowflakes become infinitely more elaborate, and cookie shapes were seen as mere suggestions instead of strict guides for designs.  Toothpicks became the go-to tool for applying individual sprinkles and a new type of cookie decorating emerged...the Boga Bake-off was born - over 20 years ago!

This year, we were back in person!  

Nancy & Doug safely made it from Santa Fe, and everyone has remained unscathed by Omicron so far.  We had plenty of pop culture & news references to draw from this year...from Bond and Britney, to plagues of Cicadas and Covid.  Some references may be niche, but we're hoping you've been just as glued to the TV and iphones as we have this year.

Sorry the poll is a little later than usual - we're so excited to to give you YOUR turn to vote!  Gather round with your loved ones; polls are open until Thursday, 12/30 at Noon EST.  SHARE with your friends and family, and thanks for voting :)  

Boga Bake-Off 2020 Recap: Blow Torches, 5-peat, Barry Wood

Boga Bake-Off 2020 is done!  By now you've probably seen the winners, but we wanted to highlight a few funny moments, special guests and all the cookies submitted.  

Boga Bake-Off started late morning at Jamie's house.  Robin came and realized Mia is now old enough to actually chill with.  We zoomed in Adam & Maryanna in Pacifica, and Ellen, Barry, Nancy & Doug in Santa Fe.  

You may remember Cousin Adam from "CookieHenge" fame, the winner of the 2012 Boga Bake-Off.  He blazed new trails with the first 3D cookie, and showed up with a blow torch this year.  We appreciated the performance art as he set his cookie on fire, symbolizing the sh*tshow dumpster fire that was this year!

Jamie got a later start and struggled to finish her first cookie, which actually was not submitted.  Sometimes the weight of 4 straight wins, with aspirations of a 5th is too much for one to bear.  But turned out it wasn't so; Jamie persevered and went on to win the top two spots with RBG love and Stocking Stuffer.  While most people are familiar with the Barry Wood meme, turned out NONE of the Bogas were, which made Jamie a little nervous to post it publicly.   But people paid it plenty of love to secure it the #2 spot.

Nancy showed up with aplomb.  We had high hopes for her Trump's Gambit cookie, but perhaps it was too niche to garner the majority of votes.  Robin had confidence in her submissions...but better luck next year BOBS!

Here are the full submissions and scores :)

1.  RBG love (Jamie) - 142 votes

2.  Stocking Stuffer (Jamie): 126 votes

3.  Flygate (Robin) - 76 votes

4.  The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 (Robin) - 57 votes

5.  Trump's Gambit (Nancy) - 51 votes

6.  Happily Ever Baskin #tigerqueen (Robin) - 49 votes

7.  The 6ft Social Distance Cookie (Jamie) - 32 votes 

8.  #FollowTheFauci (Nancy) - 28 votes

9.  Van Gogh was here (Ellen) - 15 votes

9.  2020's going up in flames, so this cookie will too (Adam) - 13 votes

10.  Vote out the turd on Nov 3rd (Maryanna) - 13 votes

11.  Bogas on a Zoom (Nancy) - 12 votes

12.  Just Do It! (Doug) - 10 votes

13.  Out with the old, in with the new (Ellen) - 7 votes

12.  Surrounded by Barrs (Ellen) - 7 votes

13.  A Covid Christmas (Mia) - 4 votes

14.  K-Recovery (Doug) - 3 votes

Additional Entries:

2020 up in Flames (cookie before flames) - Adam

There’s no place like cookie! (Adam)

It was all a conspiracy from BIG BIDET (Maryanna)

One spike mutation to rule them all (Maryanna)

Final Jeopardy (Jamie)

Masked Gingerbread Man (Mia)

Thanks again for voting, until next year!!