In the first Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1949, the only required ingredient was Pillsbury's Best Flour, and cakes made from scratch were the most common entry. For many of the next 54 years, the Bake-Off helped elevate baking to the status of a top culinary art, the preoccupation of every accomplished housewife.

Cuban-Style Sandwiches With Green Chili Au Jus is the Dinner Made Easy winner at the Pillsbury Bake-Off. Click photo for larger image. 2006 Pillsbury Bake-Off Winners, Orlando, Fla. Grand Prize winner: Anna Ginsberg (Austin, Texas) Dish: Baked Chicken and Spinach Stuffing Dinner Made Easy winner: Angela Buchanan (Boulder, Colo.) Dish: Cuban-Style Sandwiches with Green Chili Au Jus Simple Snacks winner: Ronna Farley (Rockville, Md.) Dish: Choco-Peanut Butter Cups Wake Up to Breakfast winner: Maria Baldwin (Mesa, Ariz.) Dish: Rise 'n Shine Lattice Pizza Weekends Made Special winner: Laura Stensberg (Marshfield, Wis.) Dish: Peanut Butter Truffle Tart Brand New You winner: Karen Mack (Webster, N.Y.) Dish: Blackberry-Almond Bruschetta America's Favorite Recipe Award winner: Mary Iovinelli Buescher (Bloomington, Minn.) Dish: Pineapple-Black Bean Enchilada Receta Rica Award winner: Diane Leigh Kerekes (Sapulpa, Okla.) Dish: Southwestern Chicken-Biscuit Pot Pie GE Imagination at Work Award winner: Dick Boulanger (Williston, Vt.) Dish: Sugar Cookie-Chocolate Crunch Fudge 3-A-Day of Dairy Award winners: Dianna Wara (Washington, Ill.), Cindy Gedling (Little Rock, Ark.) and Mary Iovinelli Buescher Dishes: Warm Chicken Taco Salad (Wara), Grands! Tuna and Green Chili Melt (Gedling) and Pineapple-Black Bean Enchiladas (Buescher) SPLENDA Pure Magic Award winner: Jean Gottfried (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) Dish: Italian Cream Pie with Strawberry Sauce The grand prize was $1 million and a set of GE Profile stainless steel kitchen appliances. Other awards were $10,000 or a GE Profile convection oven, or both. For more information, see www.pillsbury.com/bakeoff.

No more.

In 2004 -- three years after Pillsbury merged with its erstwhile Minneapolis competitor General Mills -- Bake-Off organizers eliminated their desserts category, shouldering baking to the side in favor of wash-and-go categories such as Cooking for Two, Dinner Made Easy and Simple Snacks. This year's Bake-Off winner -- Anna Ginsberg from Austin, Texas, who was announced with 11 other winners last Wednesday at the 2006 Bake-Off in Orlando, Fla. -- won the grand prize with a chicken dish that creates spinach stuffing using frozen Pillsbury waffle sticks. But that main-dish win would have been almost unthinkable for much of the contest's history.

"For a contest that for years championed baking, that's way in the past now," said Amy Sutherland, author of "Cookoff: Recipe Fever in America," which she researched by attending the Pillsbury Bake-Off and other cook-offs around the country in 2002. "I think that's sad, personally. We had a tradition of home baking in this country that you don't find in a lot of European countries. ... We might not have been great cooks, but we were really top-rate bakers."

While two-career couples with busy family and professional lives have less time for cooking -- not to mention baking -- than ever before, Sutherland said that's not the only reason fewer Americans are baking than in past years. The processed food industry, she said, also has convinced many people that baking is complicated and that they don't have time for it, even though there are many simple baked goods that don't take long to make.

Still, she said, if interest in baking is eroding from Americans' character, the competitive instinct is not. And that practically ensures that cooking contests such as the Pillsbury Bake-Off will continue in some form.

"I fear for the future of cooking, but there are always going to be people who want to be known as good cooks," she said. "Competition is part of the American DNA, and if you're not athletic and you're not good at Trivial Pursuit and you're not good at bowling, this is a way to do it."

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BAKED CHICKEN AND SPINACH STUFFING

An old-fashioned chicken dinner is updated for two, with a surprising ingredient that makes the spinach stuffing extra special. This dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes.

• 9 Pillsbury Dunkables frozen homestyle waffle sticks with 3 syrup cups (from 1 pound, 1.3-ounce box)
  
• 2 tablespoons peach preserves
  
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  
• 2 bone-in skin-on chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
  
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (1 medium)
  
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
  
• 1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
  
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh sage
  
• 1 1/2 cups Green Giant frozen cut leaf spinach (from 1-pound bag), thawed, squeezed to drain well
  
• 1 tablespoon beaten egg white
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch glass pie plate or 8-inch square pan with cooking spray. In small bowl, mix contents of syrup cups from waffles, preserves and Worcestershire sauce. Place chicken, skin side up, in pie plate; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spoon syrup mixture over chicken. Bake uncovered 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast waffle sticks as directed on box. Cool slightly, about 2 minutes. Cut waffles into ³/₄-inch cubes; set aside. Spray 1-quart casserole with cooking spray (or use 9-by-5-inch nonstick loaf pan; do not spray). In 10-inch nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 2 minutes or until tender. Stir in waffle pieces and broth, breaking up and moistening waffle pieces. Sprinkle with poultry seasoning and sage. Remove from heat; stir in spinach. Cool about 5 minutes. Stir in egg white and pecans.

Spoon stuffing into casserole; place in oven with chicken. Bake uncovered 15 to 25 minutes or until juice of chicken is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (170 degrees) and stuffing is thoroughly heated. Serve chicken with stuffing, spooning remaining sauce in pan over chicken.

Serves 2.

Nutrition information: 640 calories, 22 g fat, 8 g saturated fat, 1.5 g trans fat, 105 mg cholesterol, 68 g carbohydrates, 1140 mg sodium, 42 g protein.

Anna Ginsberg,
Grand Prize Winner
Austin, Texas
Bake-Off 42 (Orlando, 2006)

CUBAN-STYLE SANDWICHES WITH GREEN CHILI AU JUS

This flavor-packed sandwich is made even better by dipping into the delicious green chile au jus.

• 1 package (17 ounces) refrigerated fully cooked pork roast au jus
  
• 1 can (13.2 ounces) Pillsbury refrigerated country Italian loaf
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic in water (from a jar)
  
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced cooked honey ham
  
• 4 slices (1 ounce each) Pepper Jack cheese
  
• 1 cup beef broth
  
• 1 can (4.5 ounces) Old El Paso chopped green chiles

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheet or 15-by-10-by-1-inch pan with cooking spray. Drain juice from pork roast into blender; set aside. Shred or chop pork into bite-size pieces; set aside.

Unroll dough into 1 large (about 14-by-9-inch) rectangle. With kitchen scissors or sharp knife, cut dough crosswise making 2 (9-by-7-inch) rectangles. Sprinkle each dough rectangle with ¹/₂ teaspoon cumin and 1 teaspoon garlic. Place half of ham and half of cheese in 3-inch-wide strip lengthwise down center of each dough rectangle. Divide pork evenly over cheese.

Bring long sides of dough up over filling to meet in center; pinch seam to seal. Pinch ends to seal. With pancake turner, place seam side down on cookie sheet or 15- by 10- by 1-inch pan. Cut 3 diagonal slashes in top of each sandwich.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove from cookie sheet; place on wire rack. Cool 5 minutes. Meanwhile, pour broth and undrained green chiles into blender with juice from pork; blend on medium-high speed 15 to 30 seconds or until smooth. Pour juice mixture into 2-cup microwavable measuring cup.

To serve, microwave juice mixture on high 2 to 3 minutes or until hot; divide mixture into 4 (6- or 8-ounce) ramekins or cups. Cut each sandwich diagonally in half. Serve sandwiches with juice mixture for dipping.

Makes 4 servings (¹/₂ sandwich and ¹/₂ cup juice each)

Nutrition information: 620 calories, 24 g fat, 9 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 140 mg cholesterol, 45 g carbohydrates, 1720 mg sodium, 56 g protein.

Angela Buchanan,
Dinner Made Easy Winner
Boulder, Colo.
Bake-Off 42 (Orlando, 2006)

PEANUT BUTTER TRUFFLE TART

Peanut butter and chocolate lovers have found a new favorite!

• 1 roll (18 ounces) Pillsbury refrigerated peanut butter cookies
  
• 6 Nature Valley peanut butter crunchy granola bars (3 pouches from 8.9-ounce box), crushed (1 heaping cup)
  
• 2 bags (12 ounces each) Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips (4 cups)
  
• 1 cup whipping cream
  
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
  
• 1/3 cup chopped peanuts or 1 package (2 ounces) nut topping

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, break up cookie dough. Stir or knead in crushed granola bars until well mixed. Press dough in bottom and up side of ungreased 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom or 13- by 9-inch pan. Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until light golden brown.

With back of spoon, press down crust on bottom and side; bake 3 to 5 minutes longer or until deep golden brown. Press down crust again with spoon. Cool 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips and whipping cream on high 1 minute. Stir; microwave 1 to 2 minutes longer, stirring every 30 seconds to prevent chocolate from burning, until completely melted and smooth. In small microwavable bowl, microwave peanut butter on high 1 minute or until melted; stir.

Spread warm peanut butter in bottom of crust. Pour chocolate mixture over peanut butter mixture. Sprinkle peanuts evenly over top. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until serving time. For easier cutting, let tart stand at room temperature 15 minutes before serving. Store in refrigerator.

Nutrition information per serving: 520 calories, 30 g fat, 13 g saturated fat, 1.5 g trans fat, 20 mg cholesterol, 54 g carbohydrates, 240 mg sodium, 8 g protein.

Laura Stensberg,
Weekends Made Special Winner
Marshfield, Wis.
Bake-Off 42 (Orlando, 2006)

SUGAR COOKIE CHOCOLATE-CRUNCH FUDGE

Granola bars add the tasty crunch to this unique fudge that starts with refrigerated cookie dough.

• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed (not evaporated) milk
  
• 1 roll (18 ounces) Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies, cut into small chunks
  
• 2 bags (12 ounces each) Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips
  
• 5 teaspoons vanilla
  
• 6 Nature Valley pecan crunch crunchy granola bars (3 pouches from 8.9-ounce box), coarsely crushed (heaping 1 cup)
  
• Fresh mint sprigs, if desired

In 3-quart heavy saucepan or deep 10-inch nonstick skillet, cook corn syrup, butter, salt and condensed milk over medium heat 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly with wooden spoon, until well blended. Reduce heat to medium-low; stir in cookie dough chunks. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and candy thermometer reads 160 degrees. Remove from heat.

Stir in chocolate chips and vanilla until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Add crushed granola bars; stir until well blended. Cook over low heat 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture is shiny. Spread in ungreased 12-by-8-inch or 13-by-9-inch pan. (To easily cut fudge, line pan with foil so foil extends over sides of pan. Lift candy from pan using foil.) Refrigerate uncovered at least 2 hours or until firm.

Cut into 8 rows by 6 rows. Serve in decorative candy cups or mini paper baking cups on platter garnished with mint sprigs.

Makes 48 candies.

Nutrition information: 170 calories, 8 g total fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0.5 g trans fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 22 g carbohydrates, sodium 65 mg, 2 g protein.

Dick Boulanger, GE Imagination at Work Award Winner
Williston, Vt. Bake-Off 42