BEIJING

Sweet and salty

The capital's sugar cravings were on the salty side recently, as The Hutong hosted its annual Cookie Monster Charity Bake-off. The judge's award went to Queen of the Cookie Jar, a chewy white-chocolate chip oatmeal confection drizzled with salted caramel created by Jamie Kung of Sugar & Spice. The crowd that came to sample the bakings of the 20 contestants, meanwhile, voted for A Salty Surprise, a chocolate-chip cookie that Becca Ruskin, Rachel Friedman and Sydney Hess took to new heights by adding pretzel pieces, browned butter, sea salt and chocolate-peanut butter ganache. Organized by Beijing foodie Kristen Lum and The Hutong cultural center, the bake-off raised 10,133 yuan ($1,535) for the Beijing Cultural Heritage Protection Center, a local preservation organization.