Carolyn Gurtz of Gaithersburg, Maryland apparently bakes a mean batch of cookies. Double Delight Peanut Butter cookies to be exact, crisp on the outside, soft in the center ... and tasty enough to put Gurtz atop the other 99 finalists in Pillsbury's 43rd Bake-Off contest (first was in 1949).
Gurtz was crowned the grand prize winner Tuesday in a ceremony at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas, Texas. Judges sampled various baked goods whipped up by the 100 finalists on Monday, and final judging took place yesterday. Gurtz's total take: $1,005,000 plus a GE Profile Double Oven. The additional five grand came from a Jif Peanut Butter Award.
According to a Style article in today's Washington Post, Gurtz has submitted entires in the Pillsbury contest for 15 years. Her Fiesta Pie, Devil Delight Bites and Very Berry Muffins paved the way for this year's peanut butter cookie smash hit. The Post attributes the big win to Gurtz, a homemaker, "thinking like a marketer" as well as a chef. In addition to "reliability" (every time you make them, claims Gurtz, they come out the same), the cookies were chock full of products made by sponsors of the contest: Pillsbury cookie dough, Jif peanut butter, FIsher peanuts, and both Domino and C&H sugar. Smart cookie, that Mrs. Gurtz.
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