With many caterers looking to create dishes from raw, quality ingredients to help meet demand for a variety of dietary needs, the new McDougalls Cocoa Powder offers a healthy, premium and naturally gluten free option for schools and healthcare operators. It also has the added bonus of being suitable for vegans, and those caterers following the Food for Life accreditation. The recipe competition will not only help to highlight the quality and versatility of the product, but also encourage caterers to get creative, crafting some innovative recipes which could be publicly showcased across Premier Foods’ social channels.

Holly Marrero Easson, Innovation Manager at Premier Foods comments: “We are confident that our new McDougalls Reduced Fat Cocoa Powder will become a firm favourite in schools and healthcare outlets, with initial feedback from caterers extremely positive about the texture, taste and ease of use.

“Value for money continues to play a key part in ingredient choice and our cost-effective product enables caterers in both education and healthcare to include chocolate treats on the menu in recipes such as our Chocolate & Cinnamon Shortbread and Chocolate & Sweet Potato Muffins. Both of these recipes are perfect for care and school settings and are included in our new recipe book showcasing the flexibility of the cocoa powder, along with specific recipes tailored for dementia patients.” 

Holly Charnock, School Caterer at Woodlands Primary School, previous McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year winner (2019) and current School Chef of the Year 2020, comments: “The new McDougalls Cocoa Powder is amazingly easy to use. One thing that really impressed me was that it melts really well into a sauce and doesn’t leave a powdery texture like some other cocoa powders do. The bag and box combo makes for simple and neat storage too, which is always a bonus as we don’t have a lot of room in our school kitchen. I look forward to incorporating it onto my menu permanently.”

For those caterers wanting to enter the nationwide recipe competition, email mcdougalls@cirkle.com with your address to request samples to help create your masterpiece. The 10 most innovative recipes will be showcased across Premier Foods’ website and social channels. Once samples are received, caterers have until Friday, 26^th February to send their recipe to the same email address along with imagery and recipe inspiration.

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Judges returning include – Carol Harwood, representing LACA; Andrew Green, representing the Craft Guild of Chefs; and Mark Rigby, Executive Chef at Premier Foods. After the recipe competition closes on Friday 17^thMay, the judges will whittle down the entries and invite five shortlisted teams to the live final at LACA – The Main Event on Thursday 11^thJuly 2019.

Schools looking to bake their way to the top spot should recruit a team of up to three enthusiastic 7-11 year olds and register online. The winning team will take home the jackpot of £1,000 worth of equipment for their school kitchen, whilst each of the four runners up will win £250 worth of equipment. The competition theme will continue to focus on local produce, encouraging schools to source ingredients within a 30 mile radius of their school for their McDougalls recipes – helping children learn more about where their food comes from.

Mark Taylor, customer controller at Premier Foods, comments

Mark Taylor, customer controller at Premier Foods, comments: “All the team here at Premier Foods look forward to the McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year competition every year, it really is one of the highlights in the calendar. It has proved such an important tool for teaching children cookery skills, the importance of local ingredients and above all, has proved a real confidence booster for them. We have had many teachers and parents commenting to us after the competition, to let us know how far the children have come during the process, we’ve noticed it too and it’s so great to see at the live final each year..”

Country Range Group customer Nic Hastie, school chef at St Martin and St Mary’s C of E Primary School, 2018 winner, comments

Country Range Group customer Nic Hastie, school chef at St Martin and St Mary’s C of E Primary School, 2018 winner, comments: “Since winning the competition it has given both myself and the children a real confidence boost. It has really taught the children that if you work hard you can achieve your goals. When I look back to the beginning of the process, when we first started practicing for the competition and how they have come out of their shell since taking part and winning, it is incredible. The £1,000 prize money which we received as a result of our victory has been used to set up a weekly after school cookery club, it has paid for chef coats for the children and the equipment we need in order to make it a success. We launched this just after the October half term, opening it up to years three to six and we’ve already had over 40 sign ups. We’re really hoping it will encourage the children to start baking more at home too with their families.”

Schools up for the baking challenge can register their interest at www.premierfoodservice.co.uk and will receive a McDougalls toolkit within seven days which will include product samples, an application form and recipe inspiration. Teams will be asked to create either a sweet or savoury recipe, which includes one local ingredient[1]and one McDougalls Flour Based Mix for submission.

Key dates:

• Registration closes: April 5
• Recipes to be submitted: May 17
• Live final at LACA – The Main Event: July 11

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Registration is now open for the McDougalls Young Baking Team of the Year competition.

Back for the fourth year running, schools will have more opportunity to win kitchen equipment as everyone shortlisted to take part in the live final, at LACA – The Main Event in July, will be rewarded.

Schools looking to bake their way to the top spot should recruit a team of up to three enthusiastic 7-11 year olds and register online. The competition theme will continue to focus on local produce, encouraging schools to source local ingredients for their recipes – helping pupils learn more about where their food comes from. To register visit www.premierfoodservice.co.uk before

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How to Register

Teams are encouraged to register their interest via the Premier Foodservice website here or by texting ‘MCDOUGALLS’ followed by their email address to 82727 by April 18. By registering, teams will receive a McDougalls toolkit which will include product samples, an application form and recipe inspiration to get them started. The new champions will be crowned following a live grand finale taking place at LACA – The Main Event on July 7.

To make it to the live final, chefs and caterers must put together a team of up to three seven to 11 year olds and lead them to victory with one sweet and one savoury recipe which meets a ‘provenance’ theme, and submit them by May 30. The recipes must include a product from the McDougalls foodservice range along with at least one ingredient which has been locally sourced. This could be anything from fruit and vegetables grown in the school grounds or local produce from a nearby farm. The recipes will be judged by an expert panel including representatives from LACA, the Craft Guild of Chefs and Premier Foods.

Debbie Donnor, the school caterer from last year’s winning school Nene Valley Primary School, comments:

“It was an absolutely brilliant experience for the children and really inspiring to see them so excited and working collaboratively. The school is thrilled that they won the competition and the children are extremely proud that they have won an array of great kitchen equipment for the school so more children can get involved in cooking in the future.”

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