Rachel Dolcich’s Holiday Cookie Tourney is Pittsburgh’s Sweetest Showdown

Rachel Dolcich doesn't mess around when it comes to the annual Office of Human Resources' holiday cookie exchange.

"I take it pretty seriously," said Dolcich, an HR business partner who's beginning her 13th year at Carnegie Mellon University. "Last year, I brought in four varieties. I made special cookies for that event, plus some other things I'd been testing out and sampling."

Large cutouts of gingerbread cookies, reminders of the OHR seasonal decoration contest, hang year-round in Dolcich's office on the second floor of the University Technology Development Center. But her cookie passion really comes to life away from work.

For the past few weeks, Dolcich has been planning her "Sweet 16" cookie bracket that pits 16 varieties against each other in a family-and-friends tasting tournament to crown a holiday champion.

"I always knew baking was in my blood," said Dolcich, whose grandmother was a competitive cake baker. "But until I started doing it myself, I didn't realize how much I'd enjoy it."

Dolcich's zeal for baking was sparked 15 years ago, nearly a thousand miles from Pittsburgh. After graduating from CMU, she joined Teach for America and was placed in a rural Arkansas town of fewer than 4,000 people in the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta region.

Both of Dolcich's roommates were high school football coaches. The local tradition held that when the team won, the coaches' wives baked cookies and treats for the players. "By proxy, I became the unofficial 'coach wife' for my roommates, and that's how I started baking," Dolcich said.

The team made the state playoffs that season, so Dolcich baked a lot of cookies. The experience cemented her passion.

The following year, while mentoring new educators, Dolcich discovered that baking helped her connect with others. "Food became love in that second year of teaching," she said.

Dolcich's baking know-how comes from hands-on practice and lots of research. During her Delta years, she bought the "Martha Stewart's Cookies" cookbook and read it cover to cover.

"I learned a lot about adjusting ingredient ratios," she said. "Like, if you add brown sugar and decrease the white sugar, you'll get a chewier cookie."

Baking is now second nature to Dolcich, who can whip up a batch of her go-to chocolate chip cookies without even glancing at a recipe. But, as a gluten-free baker, she sticks closely to the ingredient lists. "I don't experiment because there is a science to baking," Dolcich said.

Two years ago, a casual dinner-table conversation prompted the idea for her signature holiday event. After compiling a must-bake list for Christmas, Dolcich and her family realized they had a dozen cookie varieties, almost enough for a "Sweet 16"-style bracket.

"We decided, 'Why not go for it?'" she said.

Dolcich baked 16 types of cookies over the following weeks, then used a bracket seeding generator to organize the competition. Family and friends gathered to sample, vote and crown a champion.

"We had to take mouse-size bites," Dolcich said. "If you jump in and eat 16 whole cookies at once, you're not going to be feeling well."

The runners-up among the final four were a peanut butter M&M cookie, a peanut butter cup cookie and Dolcich's personal favorite, a brown butter iced oatmeal cookie. The winner was a chocolate peppermint cookie dipped in white chocolate and garnished with crushed candy canes.

When friends and coworkers ask if she is ever tempted to open a bakery, Dolcich shakes her head.

"I enjoy it too much to do that," Dolcich said. "The art of baking is relaxing — the repetitive motions of scooping, rolling and cutting. I don't know if I could deal with the pressures of having to monetize it."

For novice bakers looking to improve, Dolcich offers simple advice inspired by her own accidental start.

"Don't be afraid to try," she said. "The worst that can happen is the cookies don't turn out well and you've learned a lesson. There's always some bit of joy within baking."