Bake-Off still cookin' after all these years.

Byline: Ilene Aleshire The Register-Guard

It was 1949. World War II had been over for four years, the country's economy was humming along, and the people at Pillsbury were in the mood to celebrate their company's 80th birthday. Their advertising agency came up with the idea for a cooking contest, the rather grandly named "Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest." The contest had only one required ingredient: Pillsbury Best Flour.

Thousands of entries flooded in from all over the country, drawing the attention of the media, which dubbed it the Bake-Off Contest.

Pillsbury executives, who realized they were on to a good thing, immediately adopted (and trademarked) the Bake-Off name and made the contest an annual event. It became the granddaddy of all cooking contests. (This year's Bake-Off will take place next week in Orlando, Fla.)

From the beginning, the event was anything but modest. The first contest was held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York and Eleanor Roosevelt attended, along with television celebrity Art Linkletter.

The grand prize of $50,000 went to an Illinois homemaker, Theodora Smafield, for her "Water-Rising Twists," described as a "nut sweet roll raised under water." (The recipe called for the dough to be wrapped in a tea towel and submerged in warm water to rise.)

In the early days the contest was all about baking from scratch, with cakes, breads, pies and cookies dominating the competition.

But as life in America changed, so did the Bake-Off. Just as the high heels, hats and gloves of the early contestants gave way to mini-skirts and casual clothes, scratch baking gave way to recipes that could be assembled quickly from convenience foods such as processed cheese and cake mixes.

Contestants in the 2006 Bake-Off - No. 42 - can choose from a long list of General Mills products for their two required ingredients, including Hamburger Helper, Old El Paso dinner kits, Lucky Charms cereal, Pop Secret popcorn and, of course, Pillsbury flour. (General Mills bought Pillsbury in 2001.)

Other companies began climbing onto the Bake-Off bandwagon, becoming sponsors and, in recent years, offering prizes of their own for recipes that included their products.

By the mid-1970s, the contest had become such a large undertaking that it went from an annual event to an every-other-year contest, contest manager Lisa Bormann said.

Eager contestants no longer rely on recipes handed down from mothers and grandmothers, but created their own, hoping to be selected as one of the 100 finalists.

Bake-Off archives show nine cooks from Lane County have made it to the finals, from Aquine Shea of Eugene, whose Minnesota Harvest Bars got her into the very first Bake-Off finals, to Jessica Barton, also of Eugene, who entered a chicken enchilada quiche in 2004.

Barton didn't win the Bake-Off, but she did collect a $5,000 prize from one of the contest sponsors for her use of cheese. She also got hooked on the Bake-Off, and hopes to cook her way back into the finals. She submitted four recipes this year, none of which were selected.

"They were all desserts, which usually is what wins," she said. "I thought they would be good, but they just didn't stand out enough." Barton hasn't given up, however. "I've heard stories of a lady who submitted one in 1950. She submitted (recipes) every year since, and it took her 30 years to get in. I made it the first time I submitted an entry and I only submitted one entry."

"We're not a big cooking family," she said. "We don't enter contests. Now, though, it's kind of gotten the bug in me."

So Barton is experimenting, hoping to come up with that special recipe that will send her back to the Bake-Off finals.

"There are different sponsored ingredients - that gives you a clue as to what they're looking for," she said. "When I entered, they had a lot of Mexican-type things.

"They have to be unique, but simple is the biggest thing," Barton continued. "Something that people can say 'wow' to but, really, behind the scenes in the kitchen, it didn't take all that long."

Coming up with the magic formula is a matter of trial and error, Barton said. "Sometimes you start out with a real basic recipe. You might look at a sugar cookie recipe, and think, 'How can I make it unique?' You can add caramel to it, maybe, take things out and add other things to it."

If it doesn't work, throw it out and try again, she said. (The caramel turned out to be problematic, and sticky.)

She sometimes sees people she met at the last Bake-Off on cooking shows on television, which reminds her of what it was like to be there at the finals in 2004. "It's really crazy. There's a lot of media all around you, people asking you questions while you cook. ... It's like nothing you've ever done before."

Pillsbury celebrated the Bake-Off's 50th anniversary in 1999 by creating the Bake-Off Hall of Fame. Ten of the most popular contest entries received during that time were chosen as the first honorees. Among them were these recipes:

Tunnel of Fudge Cake 

This recipe is perhaps most closely identified with the Bake-Off Contest. It mysteriously develops a "tunnel of fudge" filling as it bakes. Don't scrimp on the nuts, or it won't work.

For the cake:

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 3/4 cups margarine or butter, softened

6 eggs

2 cups powdered sugar

2 1/4 cups Pillsbury unbleached flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 cups chopped walnuts

For the glaze:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

4 to 6 teaspoons milk

To make the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan or 10-inch tube pan. In a large bowl, combine sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually add 2 cups powdered sugar; blend well. By hand, stir in flour and remaining cake ingredients until well blended. Spoon batter into greased and floured pan; spread evenly.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until top is set and edges are beginning to pull away from sides of pan. Cool upright in pan on wire rack 1 1/2 hours. Invert onto serving plate; cool at least 2 hours.

To make the glaze: In a small bowl, combine all glaze ingredients, adding enough milk for desired drizzling consistency. Spoon over top of cake, allowing some to run down sides. Serves 16.

Tip: Since this cake has a soft filling, an ordinary doneness test cannot be used. Accurate oven temperature and baking times are essential.

Source: Ella Rita Helfrich, Houston, Texas, Bake-Off 17 (San Francisco, 1966) $5,000 winner.

Peanut Blossoms

1 3/4 cups Pillsbury unbleached flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

48 Hershey Kisses milk chocolates, unwrapped

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, shortening, peanut butter, milk, vanilla and egg; mix with electric mixer on low speed until stiff dough forms.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately top each cookie with 1 milk chocolate candy, pressing down firmly so cookie cracks around edge; remove from cookie sheets. Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Source: Freda Smith, Gibsonburg, Ohio, Bake-Off 9 (Los Angeles, 1957).

Italian Zucchini Crescent Pie

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

4 cups thinly sliced zucchini

1 cup chopped onions

2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

2 eggs, well beaten

8 ounces (2 cups) shredded Muenster or mozzarella cheese

1 can (8 ounces) Pillsbury Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls

2 teaspoons prepared mustard

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and onions; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in parsley flakes, salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil and oregano.

In a large bowl, combine eggs and cheese; mix well. Add cooked vegetable mixture; stir gently to mix.

Separate dough into 8 triangles. Place in an ungreased 10-inch pie pan, a 12-by-8-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish or an 11-inch quiche pan; press over bottom and up sides to form crust. Firmly press perforations to seal. Spread crust with mustard. Pour egg mixture evenly into crust-lined pan.

Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. If necessary, cover edge of crust with strips of foil during last 10 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.

Source: Millicent (Caplan) Nathan, Boca Raton, Fla., Bake-Off 29 (Miami, 1980) $40,000 grand prize.

CAPTION(S):

T.O. Davis of Waynesboro, Miss., was among three men in the first Bake-Off in 1949. Pillsbury TV host Art Linkletter congratulates 1961 Bake-Off winner Alice Reese of Minneapolis, who took home a $25,000 prize.