Million-Dollar Pillsbury Bake-Off Open for Entries
The 47th Pillsbury Bake-Off seeks recipes from home cooks everywhere to compete for the $1 million Grand Prize. This year’s contest is open for entries at www.BakeOff.com, and will culminate at the finals November 3, 2014, at the Omni Nashville Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.
- For the first time, America’s vote will be combined with the judges’ decisions to determine the Grand Prize Winner.
- The contest ingredient list has been expanded to include Pillsbury’s Gluten Free line of products.
The judging panel will award the Pillsbury® Gluten Free Award to a finalist who is recognized as having the best recipe which uses one of the company’s gluten-free products, and does not contain wheat or any products that include wheat as an ingredient.
- The Bake-Off now features four recipe categories with separate two entry periods.
Participants have two chances to enter and vote. The first entry period includes the Simply Sweet Treats and Savory Snacks & Sides categories and is open for entries from now until March 27 (11:59 a.m. CDT), 2014.
The second contest entry period runs from March 27 (1:00 p.m. CDT) to May 8 (11:59 a.m. CDT), 2014 and calls for Weekend Breakfast Wows and Amazing Doable Dinners recipes.
- Michael Tyrell of Family Circle magazine, 2012 Pillsbury Bake-Off winner Christina Verrelli, and me at the 2013 Pillsbury Bake-Off.
Over the years, General Mills has increased the Bake-Off’s online voting factor. First, a only a few dishes were chosen as finalists through an online vote. Last year, all the finalists were chosen by online vote. Now, an online vote will help determine the grand prize winner.
I’ve heard from several contestants who are unhappy about this. Now it’s not enough to come up with a great-tasting recipe, but they also have to drum up votes through social media. This generates a lot of online buzz for the Bake-Off, but do any of the voters actually try making the recipe so that they know what it tastes like?
It will be interesting to see if these changes make a difference in the type of recipes that will come from this year’s Bake-Off. For anyone considering entering, I advise you to do it! It’s not just a chance to win a million-dollars, but the competition is an experience of a lifetime.