None of the three Pittsburgh-area finalists came home with prizes from Monday's Pillsbury Bake-Off held in Dallas.

The closest any of them got to the top? Sheila Suhan of Scottdale sat with the top prizewinner, Carolyn Gurtz of Gaithersburg, Md., Monday night at dinner, and Chris Batton of North Irwin had met all of the prizewinners -- both the top winner and the category winners -- at some point during the three-day competition.

Ms. Gurtz won $1 million -- yep, that's right, a million dollars -- for her recipe, "Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies."

"She's a very sweet woman -- I'm happy that she won," Mrs. Suhan said. The awards ceremony wasn't held until Tuesday morning, so Mrs. Suhan didn't yet know her dinner companion was destined for stardom.

"I think all my positive energy rubbed off" on all the prizewinners he'd met, Mr. Batton joked. "I'm not sharing it next time."

"Next time" is something all three of the Pittsburgh finalists are hoping for. Individuals can compete in up to three Bake-Offs before they become ineligible.

All three described the chaos of the Bake-Off: cooking in a cramped space, conducting interviews while cooking (a challenge for Mrs. Suhan, who says she "can't chew gum and talk at the same time"), dodging lights and microphones as television and newspaper reporters captured the scene. They met and chatted with such celebrities as the Food Network's Sandra Lee.

Mr. Batton and Mr. Hatfield, among just eight men in the competition, thought they got extra attention. Mr. Batton was even featured in the Dallas Morning News this week.

The finalists could take nothing onto the Bake-Off floor with them -- not even wallets. Pillsbury provided everything, outfitting a hotel ballroom with 100 ovens and workstations, 20 refrigerators, and the pots, pans, cutlery, ingredients and everything required for each finalist to prepare his or her recipe. The setup was almost perfect, except Mr. Batton didn't have a knife at first.

Guests could travel to the Bake-Off, but once the finalists were on the Bake-Off floor, they weren't allowed to speak to their guests, who watched from a distance. Mr. Hatfield's wife Sarah gamely braved the trip with their 2 1/2-month-old daughter, Helen, leaving the couple's other two children home with grandma and grandpa. Thus, the Hatfields felt a special level of sympathy for one finalist who had a 3-week-old baby. Special arrangements had to be made for that contestant to bring her "guest" onto the Bake-Off floor so she could feed the kid.

The biggest shocker? For Mrs. Suhan, it was the speed with which the Pillsbury people dismantled everything afterward. The Bake-Off ended at 1 p.m. Monday, and by the time the finalists returned to the same ballroom at 5 p.m., there wasn't a trace of the 100 ranges, workstations, refrigerators, electrical wiring or even the trash.

All three Pittsburghers said they enjoyed meeting other contestants. There was a "clique" of people who frequently enter recipe contests and do the competition circuit together, Mr. Hatfield said. "But there were a lot of really nice people, a lot of family people."

His only disappointment was that he didn't get to meet any of the winners or taste their dishes.

For Mrs. Suhan, there was a bit of disappointment in the actual cooking process. Even though she used the same brand of refried beans she'd used at home, she opened her Bake-Off cans to find the beans were much runnier than the ones she'd created the recipe with. Her soup wouldn't thicken, "so I knew I wouldn't win anything" before the awards ceremony ever happened.

"But I had fun, and I already won some things," she said, ticking off the $100 gift card, the microwave oven and, perhaps best, the trip itself. "They paid for everything. They treated us like royalty."

Here are the $1 million Pillsbury Bake-Off cookies.

• 1/4 cup Fisher Dry Roasted Peanuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup Domino or C&H Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup JIF Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/2 cup Domino or C&H Confectioners Sugar
• 1 roll (16.5 ounce) Pillsbury Create 'n Bake refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.

In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 1-inch balls.

Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly. Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely. Repeat with remaining dough and balls.

Roll each covered ball in peanut mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart. Spray bottom of drinking glass with CRISCO spray; press into remaining peanut mixture. Flatten each ball to ¹/₄-inch thickness with bottom of glass. Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies; gently press into dough.

Bake 7 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack. Store tightly covered.

-- Carolyn Gurtz