Bake-Off Winner Announced

I shared with you earlier in the week I was excited to be following the Pillsbury Bake-Off as the events unfolded over the past few days. The winner was announced on the "Ophah Show" on television today. I thought the winner was going to be announced on Tuesday, but they made the finalists wait. Poor things; the agony of waiting must have been terrible! I encourage you to check out the Pillsbury site to see all the winners and all the recipes from all 100 finalists if that sort of thing interests you. The website is http://www.pillsbury.com/. I think the winning recipe looks tasty and attractive.

With the Bake-Off going on this week, I could not help but reminisce about how much fun my Mom and I had at the Bake-Off two years ago. I was totally tickled when I came home today to find a a nice letter and a package full of goodies from the folks at Pillsbury. It included the cookbook with all of this year's Bake-Off recipes, an apron from Eagle Brand, a pot holder from Crisco, pencil and Post-it notes from Smuckers, and the squishy foam peanut from Jif, as well as an assortment of coupons.



In case you were wondering, I did submit recipes for this year's Bake-Off. I hads loads of ideas, but just couldn't bring myself to work them all up. Suddenly it seemed like so much stress and pressure and work. I told my sister how I was feeling and she said, "You don't have to send any recipes in... you can just wait until another year!" It was so liberating. At the very last minute (the night before the contest closed) I sent in the recipe for this pie. I was pretty proud of this recipe for "Kiwi Lime Pie" but honestly, I think it was a bit better with a graham cracker crust, as oppossed to a flakey pastry crust. Of course I used a Pillsbury crust when I submitted the recipe.

I submitted another recipe for a Cajun-inspired quiche... made with eggs, evaporated milk, celery, onion, bell pepper, andouille sausage, pepper jack cheese, and cayenne pepper for some kick. That recipe probably could have used a bit more work. Hmmmm, maybe next Bake-Off! The gears are turning in my brain now.