A matter of taste?
Let’s make a scratch cookie to rival the Pillsbury Bake-Off winner
By Kim Carlson
April 17, 2008
It’s been media circus week for the Pillsbury Bake-Off.
Last Friday, former Bake-Off winner Ellie Mathews was on NPR, talking about her winning recipe for Salsa Couscous Chicken. Mathews reminisced about that magic moment in 1998 when the judges announced hers as the million-dollar recipe; she thought for sure they must have made a mistake. She also gently hawked her new memoir about competing at the stove, The Ungarnished Truth.
(After the broadcast, we actually made Mathews’ winning recipe, substituting Emerald Valley Kitchen salsa for Mathews’ Old El Paso salsa; the results were quite tasty.)
Next, Tanya Steel, the editor of Epicurious, blogged about being a judge at this year’s contest. Ed Levine at Serious Eats also posted about the event.
What is the Pillsbury Bake-Off? According to a Culinate article from last fall, it’s the “big dance,” the mother of all cooking contests. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gives a good overview of this long-running contest, and the Dallas Morning News offers a video glimpse. And you get a sense of the “oven floor,” as Cathryn Michon calls it, in a hilarious Salon piece from six years ago.
But for all its glitz and big-money, the modern-day Pillsbury Bake-Off leaves me wanting. Mathews’ Salsa Couscous Chicken called for only one packaged ingredient, and it’s a fairly innocuous one: salsa. The winning recipe for 2008, however, relies on a log of Pillsbury Create 'n Bake Cookie Dough. That’s right: no fresh eggs, no butter, no flour.
Moreover, this premade cookie dough supplies 1 gram of trans fats per serving — too much for me, thanks.
Next up: a trip into the kitchen to add some chopped peanuts, confectioners’ sugar, and cinnamon to a Culinate cookie favorite, turning it into a million-dollar treat I’d actually want to eat. Maybe I can come close to recreating what Steel hails in her blog post as
“a seemingly humble creation that is a twist on a classic. Its intense peanut butter flavor, moist inside and crisp outside, dusting of cinnamon sugar and nuts, and innovative yet easy preparation method won the day; it definitely deserves to become a new classic American cookie.”
Want to join me? I hope you’ll report back with your successes here; I’ll do the same.
Dinner Guest BlogSay yes to real foodA roasted free-range chicken browned in real butter has got to be good for you |
Our Table | |
| Pull up a chair. Here’s the latest on Culinate, with regular dispatches from Editorial Director Kim Carlson. | |
- A matter of taste? — Let’s make a scratch cookie to rival the Pillsbury Bake-Off winner
- New bloggers on Culinate — We welcome two authors with just-published books
- ‘King Corn’ on television — An abundance of corn trivia
- The perfect food? — Eggs in a starring role
- Behold, this green thumb — Making time in your life to plant a small garden
- Weeknight dinners — Introducing recipes for uncomplicated meals
- Copious chocolate — We announce the contest winners
- Podcast: A baker’s resolve — Immigrant recipes, collected by Greg Patent
- Sprucing up — New look, new features on Culinate
- Peace in poultry — What can hens do for you?
- Podcast: Veggie tales — Mollie Katzen shares techniques for making the most of vegetables
- Ask Paul Johnson about fish — His new book helps us be smarter fish eaters
- ‘A cow, not a cup’ — The reach of Heifer International
- Fish forever — Paul Johnson knows his fish
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There are 11 comments on this item
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1. by ruth_117 on Apr 22, 2008 at 11:22 AM PDT
I agree that the premade ingredients in recipies is becoming somewhat annoying. If the rest of the recipe looks good I will just find a “from scratch” alternative to the premade or skip over the recipe completely.
On the other hand, although I have yet to try a cake, cookie or sauce mix to match my own “from scratch” recipies in the kitchen, I have not been able to duplicate the chocolatey, fudgey, moist Betty Crocker brownies even after the most prodigious search involving more butter and good quality chocolate than I care to think about. I would love suggestions though as I am constantly trying to find from scratch alternatives for premade in my kitchen!!
2. by meerastvargo on Apr 22, 2008 at 4:56 PM PDT
I made the peanut butter cookie recipe today and topped with a mixture of chopped peanuts, raw sugarr, and cinnamon. I did not “stuff” the cookies although that might be fun to try. They turned out very well with the additions I mentioned above.
3. by Kim on Apr 22, 2008 at 8:16 PM PDT
ruth: I am not sure I can duplicate the Betty Crocker brownies but I can recommend these, my favorite “go-to brownies” -- from The Silver Palate. The hardest part is waiting a half hour for them to cool.
Meera, I’m so glad you tried this. Did you press the peanuts into the top of the cookie like the Pillsbury winner did?
4. by janelle on Apr 23, 2008 at 11:03 AM PDT
Well, since you asked... my family adores these cookies, which we call Lunch Box Cookies. They sound boring, even look a little boring but the taste will bowl you over. I make a batch and they are all consumed within hours (only because I set some aside for lunches). And they even have you know, cereal and pecans and oats in them:
http://www.talkoftomatoes.com/2008/01/14/lunch-box-cookies/
I am ready for the next contest!!
5. by Kim on Apr 23, 2008 at 2:16 PM PDT
Hi, Janelle. I’m going to try these. My cookie monsters thank you.
6. by Bob on Apr 25, 2008 at 9:50 AM PDT
I love to cook and also find it quite discouraging to find a new recipe that is primarily premade or “instant” ingredients. To date, the best source I have found of “old fashioned scratch food” is a cookbook my Aunt gave me from the 1940’s.
7. by Caroline on Apr 25, 2008 at 3:15 PM PDT
Ruth — My favorite not-too-cakey-not-too-fudgy brownies are Chow’s Intense Brownies. Easy to make and very, very good.
8. by Kim on Apr 26, 2008 at 7:04 AM PDT
Bob: I treasure some of my grandma’s old recipes. She made a date cookie that is still one of my favorites. (Hmmm, I need to track that down.)
Last night I used the original peanut butter cookie recipe on Culinate. I rolled the dough into balls, and rolled the balls in crushed peanuts and cinnamon, then pressed them into the cookie sheet with a drinking glass. Next time I’ll add sugar.
They were OK — not a million dollar cookie though. (I like Meera’s original better.)
Another thing I did differently was use organic dark brown sugar in the cookie dough, which seems more moist than the conventional brown sugar that I’ve used for years. I think I just need to play with it a little.
Have others had experience baking with organic brown sugar?
9. by cafemama on Apr 28, 2008 at 2:00 PM PDT
I was scandalized when I saw the winning recipe. thanks for the challenge, Kim -- I’m going right now to the kitchen to try and create something like the winning recipe but without sugar. i’ll let you know how it goes!
10. by oregon foodie on Apr 30, 2008 at 5:13 PM PDT
I also pass over recipes with premade ingredients. I my reputation as a “from scratch” gal to protect! I’ve been baking Alice Medrich’s New Classic Brownies for years and always get RAVES! The best part is the “Steve Ritual” -- plunging the barely baked pan in an icewater bath to instantly cool and preserve the gooey goodness. Plus I’ve actually met Steve -- he lives right here in Portland!
11. by cafemama on May 13, 2008 at 11:07 AM PDT
I finally tried these last night, modifying Meera’s recipe a bit (using honey instead of sugar and adding cinnamon) and then combining ground toasted walnuts, organic cream cheese, honey and a little peanut butter for the filling. i pressed ground hazelnuts into the tops and they were really great! next time i’ll probably leave out the topping as it’s messy but doesn’t seem to add much. overall, though, the method is great for that creamy center i always love in a peanut butter cookie but is so hard to achieve.
it’s my decidedly-not-worth-a-million-dollars peanut butter cookie recipe. who’d pay big bucks for recipes made with organic natural peanut butter and wildflower honey?
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