Ten winners for my (wife's) recipe book

Two years ago, the Manatee County Fair culinary volunteer judges had 80 entries to taste and tally.

A year ago, they had 140.

Last Saturday, it was 220.

Think I tried every one of them.

Or close to it.

The competition gets better each year.

Tastier, too.

During Saturday's grueling 2.5 hours of tough duty, I jotted down my favorites. They're listed 1 to 10 because that's the order in which I tried them, not ranking.

In fact, my favorite was one of the last entries I munched on.

If you recognize yours, I hope you win an award at the Fair.

If you don't, I'd still love a recipe!

1.) Nagasaki syrup.

2.) Acorn squash pie.

3.) Pumpkin crunch.

4.) Christmas cranberry cookie.

5.) Banana nut muffin.

6.) Double chip rocky road brownie.

7.) Banana pudding pie.

8.) Chocolate chip cookie dough brownies.

9.) Apple sauce cake.

10.) Marvelous canoli cake.