The Great Pillsbury Bake Off and others

As a few of my friends are prepping their pies and other baked good for the MN State Fair. As I myself am pouring over some pickling possibilities for our Gertens work contest. As I am always harvesting left over produce to find new recipes for cherry salsa or peach turnovers.... I was recently talking to my mom about the old Pillsbury Bake Off. I remember her trying out a new variety of a pineapple surprise in hopes of winning some sort of $2000 pay-off in the grand scheme of All Things Baking.

Thanks to a feature I had bookmarked in the Star Trib from a friend Julie Kendrick, I got some useful stats on the contest now that I live much closer to it's original roots here in MN. It started way back in 1949 to promote flour sales. As cooking trends grew throughout the 50's, it was expanded as a way to promote box mixes, refrigerated doughs and other new trends that Pillsbury was introducing. Now it offers a cash prize of $50,000 along with a suite of GE appliances and a feature in the Food Network magazine. It was the pioneer of reality baking that is now a cultural norm on television programming.

2019 - Dublin Cheeseboard-Stuffed Appetizer Bread

 The contest prompted recipes that have now become staples in our kitchens. Peanut Butter Blossoms. Tunnel of Fudge Cake. Rocky Road Fudge Bars. The article also talks about how, like fashion, it sometimes foreshadowed trends in the national baking realm. The aforementioned Tunnel of Fudge Cake created a massive shortage of bundt cake pans in 1966, which spurred a profit opportunity for Nordicware, also in Minneapolis. They produced large quantities to meet the consumer craze. 1954 brought an onslaught of sesame seeds with the Open Sesame Pie. A Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt in 1966 was a new flavor explosion that is now common every Starbucks and Caribou. In the 1980's, oat bran was just coming up as an eating trend.

1950 - Orange Kiss-Me Cake

I myself have a satisfaction in trying out those unusual recipes to be that odd-man-out winner. Cantaloupe bread. Cardamom bread. Sour Cherry BBQ sauce. Along with that come some failures. Like my Triple Layer Coconut Tarte last Christmas. Rarely are they a disaster, but I regret the energy I put into them, so I return to staples like peanut butter cookies. Whether a crock pot or a baking sheet, I enjoy whichever season upon us then file away those new favorites in a plastic recipe box, flag them in a cookbook or save them as a digital bookmark.
 

1952- Snappy Turtle Cookies

I will let you know how my Lemon Pickled Green & Yellow Beans, Horseradish Pickles and Pickled Pumpkin turn out over the next few weeks.

original article: Memories of Past Pillsbury Bake-offs 

And the Winner Is.... every single winning recipe