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Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest
In 1949, the Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis celebrated its eightieth anniversary. To promote Pillsbury’s Best Family Flour, it created the Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest, later named the Bake-Off, to discover the country’s best amateur bakers and recipes. The winning recipes were placed in Pillsbury flour bags as an incentive for consumers to purchase one of Pillsbury’s premier products.
In 1949, the contest offered entrants six entry categories: breads, cakes, pies, cookies, entrees, and desserts. Hopeful bakers completed entry forms and sent in their recipes. If they included a seal from a Pillsbury flour bag, their potential prizes were doubled.
Pillsbury home economists evaluated thousands of entries and selected one hundred finalists after baking and sampling the entries. The finalists’ prizes included a trip to New York City, a room at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel with breakfast in bed, and $100. They all also won a General Electric Stratoliner push-button range and a Hamilton Beach mixer. The grand prize of $25,000 was awarded after all of the finalists’ entries were prepared and judged. In the first contest year, there was only one division. In 1950, it was split into two divisions: junior (for ages twelve to eighteen years old) and senior (for those nineteen and older).
Arthur Godfrey and Art Linkletter, well-known radio and television personalities, hosted the contest in the early years. Eleanor Roosevelt, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Mamie Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, and Margaret Truman were among the celebrities at early contests. Philip Pillsbury, company president and grandson of company co-founder Charles Pillsbury, led contestants to their stoves at the opening of each contest from 1949 until 1984.
Memorable recipes from the Bake-Off include Dilly Casserole Bread (1960), French Silk Chocolate Pie (1951), Tunnel of Fudge Cake (1966), Peanut Blossoms (1957), and Chocolate Praline Layer Cake (1988). Peanut Blossoms cookies, with a chocolate kiss in the center, are still found on many Christmas cookie trays, but the Tunnel of Fudge Cake is probably the most famous. Baked by Ella Helfrich from Texas, it won second prize and was so popular that it created a demand for the Nordic Ware bundt pan.
In 1969, Edna Walker from Minnesota won the grand prize with her winning recipe for Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs. The recipe was a milestone since it was the first winner to use a refrigerated dough product. Home bakers rushed to make the recipe. Grocery stores in the Twin Cities area soon ran out of cans of Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls, the recipe’s key ingredient.
Perhaps to attract the judges’ eyes, many contestants were creative in naming their entries. Examples from 1954 include Watermelon Tea-Ettes, Pear-adise Chocolate Dessert, Cranberry Coconut Holidainty, and American Piece-A-Pie.
In 1949, there were three male contestants. In 1998, there were fourteen, which set a record. In 1996, Kurt Wait won the first million-dollar grand prize with his Macadamia Nut Fudge Torte. Twelve-year-old Richard Klecka won the junior division in 1962 with his Cheeseburger Casserole.
The contest evolved as Americans’ food tastes and interests changed. Time available to spend in the kitchen lessened and convenience foods became available. Pillsbury home economists shortened and adapted winning recipes to include Pillsbury products such as cake, frosting, and hot roll mixes and cans of refrigerated dinner rolls and biscuits. In 2013, contest rules required that recipes have fewer than eight ingredients and take no longer than thirty minutes to prepare, not including baking time.
From 1949–1956, the contest was held in New York City. After that, the location changed each year, but never in Pillsbury’s corporate home of Minneapolis. Each year, the hundred winning recipes were published in a cookbook that initially cost twenty-five cents.
The first contest, in 1949, was so successful that it was held annually until 1976 and then every two years until the 47th competition in 2014. By then, winner selection had evolved along with the recipes themselves. In that year, the public voted online, without tasting the entries, and picked Peanutty Pie Crust Clusters as the winner. The other competitors for top prize were Cuban-style Sandwich Pockets, Creamy Corn-filled Sweet Peppers, and Chocolate Doughnut Poppers. As of 2017, the future of the contest is undetermined.

Bibliography
Burckhardt, Ann. A Cook’s Tour of Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004.
Campbell, Allison. “The 50th Anniversary Pillsbury Bake-Off. After the Doughboy. A Look at What Happens After Winning the Grand Prize.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, February 25, 2000.
Classic Pillsbury Cookbooks: Bake-Off® Grand Prize Winners. Minneapolis: The Pillsbury Company,
1995.
General Mills, History of Innovation, The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.
www.generalmills.com/~/media/Files/history/hist_bakeoff.ashx
Nelson, Rick. “Bake-Off Winner Announced.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 14, 2013.
Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.
https://www.pillsbury.com/our-makers/bake-off-contest
Powell, William J. Pillsbury's Best: A Company History from 1869. Minneapolis: The Pillsbury Company, 1985.
Sicherman, Al. “Just Desserts—Pillsbury's State Honorees take the Cake. Originations of Chocolate Layer Cake and Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs are Honored.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 27, 1999.
Simonick, Millie. “Mrs. Luella Maki is Pillsbury Bake-Off Winner.” Ely Echo, March 5, 1975. http://www.ely.stparchive.com/Archive/ELY/ELY03051975P01.php
Taste of General Mills.
http://www.blog.generalmills.com/?s=pillsbury+bake-off
Taste of General Mills. A Million Reasons to Love this Recipe.
http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2014/12/a-million-reasons-to-love-this-recipe/
Webb, Tom. “New Recipe for the $1M Bake-Off Winner: Quick and Easy.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 12, 2013.
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The first Pillsbury Bake-Off in New York City
The first Pillsbury Bake-Off in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, 1949.
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Grand prize Bake-Off winner Theodora Smafield
Grand prize Bake-Off winner Theodora Smafield, 1949.
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Bake-Off entry form
Bake-Off entry form, 1949.
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Philip Pillsbury, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Art Linkletter sample Theodora Smafield’s winning recipe
Philip Pillsbury, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Art Linkletter sample Theodora Smafield’s winning recipe, 1949.
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Art Linkletter, a contestant, the Duchess of Windsor, and Philip Pillsbury at the 1950 Pillsbury Bake-Off
Pillsbury Mills, Incorporated, CBS Photo, Grand National Bake-Off at the Waldorf Astoria, New York, 1950. Left to right: Art Linkletter, contestant, Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson), Philip Pillsbury.
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Lily Wuebel shares cake with the Duchess of Windsor and Philip Pillsbury
The Duchess of Windsor (Wallis Simpson) and Philip Pillsbury sample Lily Wuebel's grand-prize-winning entry, orange kiss-me cake, in 1951.
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Breakfast for Pillsbury Bake-Off contestants
Breakfast for Pillsbury Bake-Off contestants, Los Angeles, 1957.
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Beatrice Ojakangas and Ronald Reagan at the Bake-Off
Beatrice Ojakangas from Duluth, MN and Ronald Reagan at the Bake-Off in Los Angeles, 1957.
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Peanut Blossom Cookies
Peanut Blossom Cookies. Winning senior grand national recipe, 1957.
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Tunnel of Fudge Cake
Tunnel of Fudge Cake, Second Prize Winning Recipe, 1966.
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Barbara Thornton and Art Linkletter
Barbara Thornton and Art Linkletter at Pillsbury Bake-Off, Dallas, Texas, 1968.
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Twenty-first Bake-Off Contest Commemoration
Contestants form the number “21” in San Diego to commemorate the 21st Bake-Off contest, 1970.
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1982 Junior Division contestants
Contestants in the Junior Division of the Bake-Off Contest in San Antonio, Texas, 1982.
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1988 Grand Prize winner, Chocolate Pecan Praline Layer Cake
Bake-Off Grand Prize winner Julie Konecne (Bemidji) tastes her chocolate pecan praline layer cake, 1988.
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1996 Grand Prize Winner, Macadamia Fudge Torte
Bake-Off Winner Kurt Wait (Redwood City, CA) baking macadamia fudge torte. He was the first and only male grand prize winner, 1996.
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Sign Advertising Pillsbury’s Best Flour
Sign, Pillsbury's Best Flour, Pillsbury Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, ca. 1950.
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Pillsbury Bake-off Apron
Pillsbury Bake-off Apron, Pillsbury's Best Flour, Pillsbury Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, ca. 1950.
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Turning Point
In 1978, Chick-N-Broccoli Pot Pies included Green Giant frozen broccoli as an ingredient, marking the first time frozen vegetables appeared in a grand-prize-winning recipe.
Chronology
1949
1949
1950
1954
1957
1958
1961
1966
1972
1974
1975
1988
1995
2013
2014
Bibliography
Burckhardt, Ann. A Cook’s Tour of Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2004.
Campbell, Allison. “The 50th Anniversary Pillsbury Bake-Off. After the Doughboy. A Look at What Happens After Winning the Grand Prize.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, February 25, 2000.
Classic Pillsbury Cookbooks: Bake-Off® Grand Prize Winners. Minneapolis: The Pillsbury Company,
1995.
General Mills, History of Innovation, The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.
www.generalmills.com/~/media/Files/history/hist_bakeoff.ashx
Nelson, Rick. “Bake-Off Winner Announced.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, November 14, 2013.
Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.
https://www.pillsbury.com/our-makers/bake-off-contest
Powell, William J. Pillsbury's Best: A Company History from 1869. Minneapolis: The Pillsbury Company, 1985.
Sicherman, Al. “Just Desserts—Pillsbury's State Honorees take the Cake. Originations of Chocolate Layer Cake and Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs are Honored.” Minneapolis Star Tribune, May 27, 1999.
Simonick, Millie. “Mrs. Luella Maki is Pillsbury Bake-Off Winner.” Ely Echo, March 5, 1975. http://www.ely.stparchive.com/Archive/ELY/ELY03051975P01.php
Taste of General Mills.
http://www.blog.generalmills.com/?s=pillsbury+bake-off
Taste of General Mills. A Million Reasons to Love this Recipe.
http://www.blog.generalmills.com/2014/12/a-million-reasons-to-love-this-recipe/
Webb, Tom. “New Recipe for the $1M Bake-Off Winner: Quick and Easy.” St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 12, 2013.