5-year-old captures best cookie title

Sean Callero proudly displays his prize-winning concoction

By Deanna Glick

August 23, 2000 Web posted at: 2:10 PM EDT (1810 GMT)

VENTURA, California (The Ventura County Star) -- At just 5 years old, Sean Callero can break eggs with the best of them. Then he mixes a mean batch of cookies with a pound of butter in his Thousand Oaks kitchen. Thighmaster anyone?

Cellulite aside, judges for the Land O' Lakes Cookie Contest at the Ventura County Fair thought them scrumptious enough to reign over 29 other entries, including a few by grandmas, no doubt.

The little baker boy claimed $200 and other prizes for the first-place recipe, dubbed Sean's Super Hot Wheel Butter Cookies, that his mom helped create and name after his favorite matchbox-size toys.

No matter that his palate isn't too keen on the golden brown goodies -- he's having plenty of fun spending his winnings. Sean's shopping list includes a toy candy store, a Pokemon game and miniature pool table.

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"I tried the dough, but I don't like them that much," he said on a recent morning after whipping up a batch with his mom, Laura. "I like chocolate chip."

It's no wonder this towhead with freckles sprinkled across his nose has become a kitchen whiz kid. After all, his mom was crowned the Queen of Spam at last year's county fair for a Mexican-style concoction that included three cans of the mystery meat. Her husband, Chris, 42, got second prize.

Laura Callero, 41, said the family has entered dozens of competitions at the fair in the last few years, most of them involving something edible. They've also collected a rainbow of ribbons for their entries.

The family cooks many meals at home. Simple Crock-Pot dishes seem to be a favorite since kids came into the mix. Besides Sean, there are daughters Brenna, 7, and Bronwyn, 3.

Laura said Sean has taken to kitchen duty much more than her daughters and needs just a little help around the oven and with measuring to make his sweet specialty. She even got a step-stool that allows Sean to get around the cupboards and counters better.

Together, they came up with the Hot Wheel formula when Sean got carried away with cracking eggs.

"He wanted to keep breaking eggs, and we ended up with four. It was a bowl of soup," Laura said. "We just kept adding stuff from the pantry. He wanted to put in Rice Krispies, then chocolate chips."

Now the recipe will be judged by Land O' Lakes officials for a national contest. The winner and recipient of $500 in prize money will be decided in January.

Meanwhile, Sean seems happy enough making more cookies and showing off his ribbon, Land O' Lakes cookbook and, "that's not all," he said, holding up a metal recipe holder decorated with the company logo. "I got this, too."

Filling it up shouldn't be a problem.

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