Cossette a finalist at Bake-Off

Joan Cossette describes it as beginner’s luck.

The Colbert woman is one of 100 finalists in the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off next month in Orlando, Fla., and she’s had a recent run of other cooking competition wins.

Cossette was notified that she’s one of 15 semifinalists in the Betty Crocker cookie mix contest with her Almond Poppy Tea Cookies.

Web site visitors will decide who wins the “Mix it Up With Betty” contest. The top five vote-getters advance to a final round for a chance to win $5,000 and 1,000 Box Tops for Education.

Visitors can cast one vote each day through the end of the month at www.bettycrocker.com.

Cossette also logged a second-place win (and $100) from the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association with her recipe for Tipsy Irish Mashers, which are spiked with onions, bacon and Guinness stout (www.winwithwisconsin potatoes.com).

And she was a finalist in the Pillsbury Monthly Holiday Cookie Challenge in December with a recipe for Peppermint Blossoms.

Cossette says she decided to enter the Pillsbury Bake-Off after she saw the 2008 winner’s recipe.

“Her recipe was so easy … and I remember reading that and thinking ‘Gosh, I would make up something like that’ ” she says.

Cossette also found the Web site Cooking Contest Central, which lists information for all kinds of national cooking competitions. An annual membership for the site ( www.recipecontests.com) is $25.

“I just feel so lucky because I entered eight competitions and I placed in half of them,” she says. “It’s a nice hobby because I have to cook for my family anyway, so I might as well make things and enter them into contests while I do it.”

The attention has been fun, too. On Sunday, Cossette appeared at the Fred Meyer store on North Division Street to hand out samples of her recipe and talk about the Bake-Off. And soon, she’ll grace a billboard in the Spokane area.

“I’m just a stay-at-home mom … so this is nice,” she says.

Cossette is hoping her luck will hold out through April 11-13, when she’ll be in Orlando for the Bake-Off. Look inside today’s Food section for Cossette’s recipes.

Spokane Farmers Market to move

Spokane Farmers Market officials have announced the market’s new temporary location.

Vendors will move three blocks south to Fifth Avenue between Division and Browne streets in the grassy field below Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center for the next two years, while Second Avenue is under construction. The market opens May 15.