Who is the LaunchPad’s top cookie? It’s official.

Left, Mike Young accepts the LaunchPad Top Cookie award from judges Chris Gentile and Lynne Pascale, and right, cookie co-creator Josh Alter

Josh Alter ’22 (Whitman) and Mike Young ’22 (Whitman) may be the LaunchPad’s finance mentors and community managers, but they are also top chefs. The team won the first ever Blackstone LaunchPad Great Cookie Bake-off Competition and took home the gold trophy for their Coconut Cloud Cookies. Celebrity judges for the event, which featured dozens of tasty entries by talented LaunchPad team members, were Syracuse’s top professional cookie maker Chris Gentile ’10, founder of the Westcott Cookie Co. and Syracuse’s top pastry maker Lynne Pascale ’85 G ’11, founder of Farmer Street Pantry. Judges raved about the flavor, texture, appearance and complexity of all of the entries, but ultimately awarded the coveted honor to the team of Alter and Young for their stand-out performance co-creating their unique cookie sensation.

Adding to the festivities was an artisanal coffee tasting curated by the LaunchPad’s own private barista and founder of Keep Coffee Casual Murray Lebovitz.

Left, Murray Lebovitz getting ready for the artisanal coffee tasting, some LaunchPad helper elves and a sampling of some of the cookie entries