Posted on Wed, Apr. 16, 2008

Where victory tastes like peanut butter and even defeat is sweet

By AMY CULBERTSON

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- Carolyn Gurtz's double-delight peanut butter cookies beat out all four North Texas finalists for the Pillsbury Bake-Off's $1 million bonanza Tuesday, but Gwen Beauchamp of Lancaster captured the popular vote with her toffee-banana brownies.

Beauchamp's recipe got the most votes in Pillsbury's online consumer poll, winning her $5,000 and the bake-off's America's Favorite Recipe Award. But it was Gurtz, a sweet-faced homemaker from Gaithersburg, Md., who was the center of attention at Tuesday morning's awards ceremony.

"I'm speechless for once in my life," said Gurtz, blinking amid a blizzard of confetti, after the Food Network's Semi-Homemade host Sandra Lee proclaimed her the grand-prize winner.

The announcement culminated two years of planning, recipe culling and kitchen testing for Pillsbury, which holds its bake-off -- the biggest and most lucrative of America's cooking contests -- every two years.

Lots of cooks in kitchen

The 100 finalists, along with a crew from Pillsbury and a swarm of media representatives and food industry bigwigs, practically took over the Fairmont Dallas hotel for three days of hoopla. Finalists and media members were wined, dined and given a taste of Dallas, but it was all business at Monday morning's bake-off, the 43rd for Pillsbury.

The hotel's vast Regency Ballroom was lined with three double rows of minikitchens -- each with a General Electric range and a 36-by-24-inch counter with storage below. Finalists worked almost shoulder to shoulder as the aromas of baking chocolate and vanilla mingled with those of sauteing onions.

Blue-shirted runners fetched ingredients from the refrigerators at one end of the ballroom, ferried bowls and equipment, and refilled water pitchers -- no sinks in the minikitchens -- for the intently working cooks.

Pillsbury provided all the ingredients, tools and servingware for the finalists, who weren't allowed to bring anything but what they were wearing on the contest floor. Even their purses were put in plastic bags and hung on racks at the entrance to the contest floor.

A flurry of activity

Contestants were given enough ingredients to make their recipes three times. One finished dish went to the sequestered team of judges and one to the photo booth, then later to a display table. Finalists could make a third version as a backup or for sampling, a popular activity among the schools of food-industry guests who roamed the bake-off aisles checking out recipes or interviewing finalists as they cooked.

A Food Network crew moved from station to station, shooting for a future special.

By noon, an hour before the bake-off ended, most of the contestants had made the tense walk down a long hall to the judges' receiving table, balancing their painstakingly arranged dishes.

It would be 20 hours before they returned to the ballroom to find out whether they'd be planning recipes for a hoped-for return two years hence or whisked off to the news conference as a brand-new Pillsbury millionaire.

North Texas finalists and their recipes

Gwen Beauchamp, Lancaster, toffee-banana brownies (America's Favorite Recipe Award)

Robin Hill, Arlington, spinach-and-mushroom enchiladas with creamy red sauce

Stephanie Hollowell, Dallas, fudgy chocolate peanut-butter thumbprints

Frances Pietsch, Flower Mound, mango-jalapeño-chicken salad in cumin tortilla bowls

Their recipes, along with those of the grand-prize winner, the category winners and all the other finalists, are at www.bake-off.com.

WINNING RECIPE

Double-delight peanut butter cookies

The recipe calls for specific brands because finalists are required to include certain branded ingredients in their recipes.

Yields 24 cookies

1/4 cup Fisher dry-roasted peanuts, finely chopped

1/4 cup Domino or C&H granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup JIF creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup Domino or C&H confectioners' sugar

16.5-ounce roll Pillsbury Create 'n Bake refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

2. In another small bowl, stir together peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 1-inch balls.

3. Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly. Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and balls.

4. Roll each covered ball in chopped-peanut mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Spray bottom of drinking glass with nonstick cooking spray; press into remaining peanut mixture. Flatten each ball to 1/4 -inch thickness with bottom of glass. Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies, gently pressing nuts into dough.

5. Bake 7 to 12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets before removing from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

Nutritional analysis per cookie: 150 calories, 3 grams protein, 17 grams carbohydrates, 7 grams fat, no cholesterol, 125 milligrams sodium, no dietary fiber, 42 percent of calories from fat.