It’s easy to decorate Big Win Cookie Bark with a team’s colors for game day. (Photo: Pillsbury)
By Mary Jane Miller
Are you ready for some football? And curling? Both the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics kick off next weekend in a rare confluence of high-stakes competition and promotional fanfare.
But for fans of another sort, the stakes never rise higher — or fluffier — than they do for the Pillsbury Bake-Off. The winner of the 53rd annual contest was crowned Thursday, when Lori Welander of Wheaton, Illinois, took the top prize for her Big Win Cookie Bark, a creative riff on sugar cookies, laced with cocoa powder and studded with candy and sprinkles. Pillsbury announced the news with help from its giggling Doughboy and Donna Kelce, the football mom and future mother-in-law of Taylor Swift.
Since its debut in 1949, the bake-off has challenged home cooks to create original recipes built around a specific theme while incorporating at least one Pillsbury product from a designated list. Over the decades, the contest has mirrored changing tastes in American kitchens, from savory casseroles and molded dishes in the 1950s to more recent inventive desserts and shortcut baking.
Throughout that evolution, Iowa bakers have found bake-off glory. One of the earliest standouts was Lorna Baldner Grow of Dallas Center, who earned second prize in the contest’s long-gone Bride Category in 1956. (At the time, she was listed as Mrs. Herman D. Baldner Jr.) Her Chicken à la Cheese Pie reflected the postwar era’s emphasis on convenience foods and creative uses for leftovers. The savory dish combined chicken, vegetables and eight slices of processed cheese, all baked into a crust. Her prizes included $1,000, a GE Stratoliner stove and an electric mixer — quite a haul at the time.
Some confusion surrounds the 1962 bake-off winner. The recipe for Apple Pie ’63 is sometimes attributed to Julia Smogor of Cedar Rapids, but official Pillsbury records identify her as a resident of South Bend, Indiana. (What a scandal!) Regardless, her recipe remains a bake-off classic.
Iowa’s winning tradition continued in later decades. Mrs. Martin Senne of Thompson, near the Minnesota state line, won the 20th bake-off with her One-Step Chocolate Roll-Ups. The hefty $10,000 prize signaled the competition’s growing national profile.
In the late 20th century, Iowa bakers continued to represent our state well. Jean Olson of Wallingford, another northern Iowa town, received honors in 1990 for her Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies. Just four years later, she won $2,000 for her Glazed Sweet Potato Mini-Cakes, showing how family traditions and regional ingredients could still shine on a national stage.
The mid-1990s brought another Iowa success when Elyse Myers of Iowa City was recognized in 1996 for her Lemon-Layer Cream Cheese Pie, a dessert that balanced bright citrus with the richness bake-off judges often favor.
Most recently, Laura Craig of Swedesburg earned acclaim in 2019 for her Secret-Ingredient Lemon Blueberry Pound Cake. (Psst: The secret ingredient was an entire roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough.) Her recipe reflected modern bake-off trends, emphasizing bold flavors, visual appeal and clever twists on classic baked goods.
Iowa’s notable history in the competition offers a simple reminder: Innovation, practicality and creativity — hallmarks of both the contest and the state’s home cooks — remain a winning combination.
Contributing writer Mary Jane Miller of Indianola has worked as a food writer, chef, cooking teacher and food scientist for various clients, including Pillsbury. She has also worked for Betty Crocker, the Food Network, Target and the Minnesota Governor’s Residence.
