The Great Bake Off

by Poppy Green

  The group continued into town. As they passed the library, the door opened. Mrs. Reeve hurried down the steps.

  “Headed to Firefly Springs?” Mrs. Reeve asked them. “May I join you? Oh, what an exciting day!”

  Mrs. Reeve was coming to watch too!

  And as they walked on, the group got bigger and bigger. Mr. Handy came out from the hardware store. Miss Olsen joined them as they passed the apple orchard.

  Sophie’s friend Owen and his mom caught up to them. “We wouldn’t miss this for the world!” Owen said.

  And then Mayor Squirrel met up with them at an intersection. “Well, what a sweet parade we have here—or should I say, a parade of sweets!” she said. “Escorting our bakers to the big contest? Wonderful show of support!”

  Sophie could hardly believe it. So many friends were coming to root for them.

  She looked at her mom, who seemed equally shocked.

  “Sophie,” Mrs. Mouse whispered, “how does everyone know I entered?”

  Sophie hesitated. “From me, I guess,” she said bashfully.

  All of a sudden, Lily was looking a little flushed—and very nervous.

  chapter 7

  A Bellyful of Butterflies

  The parade wound its way through the forest and on to Firefly Springs. Once they got close, it was easy to find the exact spot. They just followed the sound of the crowd.

  Sophie’s jaw dropped. “There are so many spectators!” she cried out.

  They had come out of the trees into a clearing. On one side were rows and rows of benches crowded with animals. On the other side was a large brick oven. Around the oven were six large tables set up with baking tools.

  “Those must be the workstations,” said Mrs. Mouse. “One for each baker.”

  Just then a well-dressed raccoon hurried over. “Welcome!” he said to Lily and Sophie. “My name is Stu Potts. I’m one of the judges.” He eyed the baskets of baked goods. “You must be bakers, yes?”

  Mrs. Mouse introduced herself. “And this is my daughter, Sophie. She’s my helper.”

  “Very good,” Mr. Potts replied. “Each baker and helper gets a workstation. I’ll show you to yours.”

  Lily and Sophie went with Mr. Potts. Sophie turned to wave good-bye to their friends, who went to find seats in the very large audience. Sophie was starting to feel as nervous as her mom looked.

  “This will be your home base for round two,” Mr. Potts said. He led them to a table. Then Mr. Potts pointed to another, much longer table nearby. “And that is the judging table for round one. You can place your baked goods there. Round one will begin shortly. Good luck to you!”

  The butterflies in Sophie’s stomach started doing flips. She and her mom looked at each other.

  “Well, here we go!” Mrs. Mouse said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s have some fun!”

  They hurried over to the judging table. Sophie carefully unloaded the treats. Lily neatly arranged them on platters.

  Sophie tried not to look at the other bakers’ creations. But she couldn’t help it—she peeked. A few of them were very large and fancy-looking.

  A few minutes later, Sophie spotted her dad and brother. They had arrived just in time. The judges were gathered around the judging table, about to begin.

  “Look at the size of that doughnut tower!” Sophie heard Winston cry. He pointed at the largest item in the center of the judging table.

  Sophie’s heart fell. Would the judges be more impressed by the look of the desserts, or the taste?

  Sophie crossed her fingers. She’d have to wait and see.

  chapter 8

  The Cookie Challenge

  Sophie sat on the edge of her bench. The judges were posting the scores for round one.

  Mr. Potts stood next to a large scoreboard. “Bakers may receive a maximum of five points per baked good,” he announced. “So the highest possible score for round one is twenty points.”

  Then another judge started writing the scores.

  Sophie squeezed her mom’s hand. Eighteen! Lily was in the top three. She was just two points behind Evie Twilight, who had made that doughnut tower. It was very impressive-looking. Sophie bet it was delicious, too.

  It was time for round two. “Bakers, to your workstations!” Mr. Potts announced.

  Lily and Sophie hurried off to their workstation. They put on the aprons and chef hats that were hanging there.

  All eyes were on Mr. Potts. The crowd was so silent you could hear a utensil drop. Clang! Sophie jumped. She had accidentally knocked a whisk off the counter.

  “Okay. This year’s baking challenge is . . . ,” Mr. Potts began. He flipped the scoreboard around. On the other side, it read:

  CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

  “Bakers, you have one hour,” said Mr. Potts. “Impress us with your chocolate chip cookies. Ingredients are stocked in your workstations. Picking additional ingredients from the forest is allowed! The timer starts . . . now!”

  Mr. Potts had a large hourglass. He turned it upside down. Grains of sand started running through the funnel.

  All the other bakers sprang into action.

  But Sophie and her mom first put their heads together. They needed to make a plan.

  “That’s it?” Sophie whispered. “Chocolate chip cookies? That seems so easy.”

  Mrs. Mouse twirled her whisker. “It’s easy to make a tasty one,” she agreed. “Everyone has a good chocolate chip cookie recipe. The question is: How can we make ours different from the rest?”

  Sophie nodded. Right. The cookie that got the judges’ attention—the cookie that really stood out—would surely get the highest score.

  Sophie thought about the doughnut tower. “We could make one really large cookie,” she suggested. “Like a cookie cake?”

  “That could work,” Lily replied. “Or we could make special chips. Like cinnamon chocolate chips? Or basil chocolate chips? Maple chocolate chips?”

  Maple. Sophie remembered another Maple Festival recipe she’d come up with. Maple-glazed waffles with a layer of whipped cream in between. Waffle sandwiches!

  “Mom!” Sophie whispered. “What if we make cookie sandwiches? Two chocolate chip cookies with whipped cream in between?”

  Lily nodded and smiled. “Ooh, that sounds good,” she said. “I love it. Let’s do it!”

  Lily pulled out the mixing bowls. But Sophie hesitated.

  “Mom, are you sure?” Sophie said.

  Now she was doubting herself. Was this idea good enough to win? If it wasn’t, it would be all Sophie’s fault.

  “Maybe we should think about it some more?” Sophie added.

  Mrs. Mouse turned to Sophie. She gently cradled Sophie’s face in her hands. “We are in this together,” she said. “Whatever happens. Win or lose. And your idea is the best one we have right now.”

  Sophie glanced over at the hourglass. Time was running away.

  “So what do you say?” Lily asked.

  Sophie smiled and picked up a whisk. “Let’s get started,” she said.

  chapter 9

  Mint to Be

  Sophie and her mom had made chocolate chip cookies together a thousand times.

  Sophie assisted, handing her mom ingredients. Mrs. Mouse knew all the measurements by heart.

  In a flash, the batter was done. Sophie dropped dollops of batter onto a baking sheet. Her mom slid it into the big brick oven.

  Sophie whipped the cream for the filling. Her mom added a splash of vanilla.

  When the cookies were done, Mrs. Mouse moved them onto a rack to cool. Sophie eyed the hourglass nervously. They couldn’t put the whipped cream between two warm cookies. It would make a runny mess. Sophie just wished they would hurry up and cool!

  Finally Mrs. Mouse assembled a cookie sandwich: two cookies and one heaping scoop of whipped cream in between.

  “Taste test!” Sophie exclaimed. She took a bite. Mrs. Mouse took one too.

  They chewed. They looked at each other.

 
; “It’s good,” said Sophie. “But—”

  “It needs something,” Mrs. Mouse said. “What does it need? It’s plenty sweet but not too sweet. But it needs some . . . zip.”

  Yes! thought Sophie. A contrasting flavor. “Lemon?” Sophie tried.

  Mrs. Mouse took another bite. “Or honey?”

  “How about mint?” Sophie suggested.

  “That’s it!” Mrs. Mouse agreed.

  She searched the spice rack that had been provided to the bakers. “There’s no mint extract,” she reported. “They have vanilla extract, lemon extract, but no mint.”

  Hmm. This felt familiar.

  No lemon extract for the scone glaze? They had used wood sorrel instead.

  No mint extract? No problem! “I’ll go find some mint leaves!” Sophie told her mom.

  She raced to the edge of the woods. “Mint . . . ,” Sophie said under her breath. “Where are you, mint?” Her eyes scanned the ground. She scurried this way and that. But she didn’t see any mint anywhere.

  Sophie knew she didn’t have much time.

  Then it hit her: Use your nose!

  Sophie turned her nose up, closed her eyes, and concentrated hard. Her whiskers twitched.

  There it was! A whiff of something that smelled promising. Sophie focused on the smell and let it lead her. She walked twenty paces. She turned and went ten more. She stopped. She opened her eyes. She looked down.

  “Mint!”

  It was a beautiful flowering plant. Sophie raced back to her mom with mint in hand.

  Would there be enough time to use it?

  chapter 10

  And the Winner Is . . .

  “Time’s up!” Mr. Potts called out.

  The last grain of sand had fallen. Sophie’s mom had just placed a finishing touch on their cookie: a single perfect mint leaf.

  “Please bring your finished cookie to the judging table,” Mr. Potts announced.

  Lined up next to one another, each of the cookies looked so different.

  Rachel Reed had made a cookie cake. “Phew,” Sophie whispered to her mom. “Glad we didn’t go with that idea.”

  Then the bakers joined the audience. They watched as the judges tasted the cookies.

  One by one, they tasted. They whispered. They wrote on their clipboards. For each cookie, a judge wrote something on the back side of the scoreboard.

  What were they writing? Ooh, Sophie wished she could see. There was nothing more Sophie or her mother could do. But this was the most nervous Sophie had been all day. Waiting was so hard!

  At last, the judges faced the audience.

  “We have the results of round two,” said Mr. Potts. “Bakers received a maximum of ten points in this round. That will be added to the scores from round one. The baker with the highest grand total is our Year’s Best Baker!”

  With that, Mr. Potts flipped the chalkboard around. Now the scoreboard was showing again. The round two scores had been filled in.

  Mrs. Mouse gasped. Sophie jumped up off the bench. The crowd burst into applause. There was a cheer from the Pine Needle Grovers.

  “What does it mean?” Winston cried out, confused.

  Sophie lifted Winston up in celebration. “It means Mom won!” Sophie exclaimed. “MOM WON!”

  Lily Mouse was called up to receive her award—a shiny medal on a blue ribbon.

  As she stood up, Mrs. Mouse grabbed Sophie’s hand. “You’re coming too!” she said.

  “Congratulations!” Mr. Potts said to them. “Your cookie was a delicious combination of soft chocolaty cookie and cool, minty cream. Refreshing, not too sweet. A wonderful balance of flavors. And very unique!”

  Lily and Sophie basked in the cheers and applause. The other bakers crowded around to congratulate them. Sophie smiled up at her mom. Her mom smiled at her. That was the very best part.

  At home that night, Sophie sat down at her easel. She hadn’t painted all week. She had been too busy getting ready for the bake off.

  Now, before she went to bed, Sophie wanted to capture the day in a painting. She took a moment to think. What about today did she want to remember forever?

  The beauty of their finished cookie?

  The size of the cheering crowd?

  The look on her mom’s face when she won?

  ]Then Sophie knew. It was a moment during the bake off. But not the big, exciting scene at the end. It was a quieter moment just between Sophie and her mom.

  Sophie knew that it would always remind her of something: Her mom was on her team, no matter what.

  The End

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Poppy Green can talk to animals! Unfortunately, they never talk back to her. So she started writing in order to imagine what they might say and do when humans aren’t watching. Poppy lives on the edge of the woods in Connecticut, where her backyard is often a playground for all kinds of wildlife: birds, rabbits, squirrels, voles, skunks, deer, and the occasional wild turkey.

  Jennifer A. Bell is an illustrator whose work can be found on greeting cards, in magazines, and in more than a dozen children’s books. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband, son, and cranky cat.

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Poppy-Green

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Jennifer-A-Bell

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  AdventuresOfSophieMouse.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • www.SimonandSchuster.com • First Little Simon hardcover edition April 2019 • Copyright © 2019 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com. The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

  Series designed by Laura Roode.

  Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available for this title from the Library of Congress.

  ISBN 978-1-5344-3301-4 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-3300-7 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-5344-3302-1 (eBook)