Two Utah finalists have a chance at the Pillsbury Bake-Off's million-dollar grand prize next week. DeAnn Hilterbrand of Salt Lake City and Karry Edwards of Sandy will be cooking their recipes at the Fairmont Hotel in Dallas on Monday, with the winners announced Tuesday morning.
Thousands of recipes were entered last year on General Mills' Web site, bakeoff.com, using products from the contest sponsors, such as General Mills, Jif and C&H Sugar. One hundred were chosen. Here are the Utah finalists and their recipes:
DEANN HILTERBRAND
Background: Stay-at-home mother with children ages 3-9.
The recipe: Chicken Mole Poblano. "I love eating at Red Iguana, and I've been making mole at home for many years. But it's a complicated recipe with a huge list of ingredients. I thought how I could make it more simple by substituting salsa for some of the ingredients, and using pumpkin pie spice for the cloves and cinnamon. So it's something you could whip together on short notice. I usually make it with pepitas, but I changed it to peanut butter to qualify for the Jif prize."
Number of recipes entered: "Six, and my husband also entered one."
Experience: "This is our first time entering a recipe contest. Our family motto is 'I can do hard things.' I read about the Bake-Off in the Deseret Morning News and decided to set an example for my kids of doing something hard that I hadn't done before."
Cooking style: "I'm a taste-and-add kind of cook. I usually tweak the recipes that I read about in cookbooks, and a lot of recipes I just throw together. People ask for a recipe, and I can't give it to them because I don't measure a lot. But for the contest, I had to be very specific."
The prize money: "If we win, we'll go to Disney World. I'm a stay-at-home mom and have thought about going back to work, but that would relieve the pressure and allow me to stay home."
Advice: "I looked at the Bake-Off Web site to see how the recipes were written and tried to make the recipe concise and clear with as few words as possible. Also, you should list the ingredients in the order they're used."
CHICKEN MOLE POBLANO
Prep time: 20 minutes
Start to finish: 45 minutes
1 cup thick and chunky salsa (Old El Paso preferred)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (Jif preferred)
1/4 cup raisins
1 small chipotle chile in adobo sauce (from 7-ounce can), seeded
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons ground ancho chile pepper or chili powder
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 flour tortillas for burritos (from 11.5-ounce package, Old El Paso preferred)
1 avocado, pitted, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco cheese or fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1. In blender or food processor, place salsa, peanut butter, raisins, chipotle chile, broth, garlic, chocolate chips, ground chile pepper, pumpkin pie spice and coriander. Cover; blend until smooth.
2. In 12-inch skillet, place chicken breasts; add salsa mixture. Heat to boiling over medium heat, turning chicken occasionally to coat with sauce. Reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer about 20 minutes, stirring sauce occasionally, until juice of chicken is clear when center of thickest part is cut (170 F). Remove chicken from skillet to cutting board; cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Return chicken to skillet; stir to coat with sauce.
3. Heat tortillas as directed on package. To serve, place each tortilla on serving plate; spoon 1/4 of the chicken and sauce mixture onto each tortilla. Top with avocado, cheese and sour cream. Fold tortillas in half over filling. Serve immediately. Serves 4.
Nutritional information per serving: 630 calories, 32 grams fat, 95 mg cholesterol, 1,140 mg sodium, 48 grams carbohydrates, 6 grams dietary fiber, 37 grams protein. Percent Daily Value: 40 percent vitamin A, 6 percent vitamin C, 20 percent calcium, 20 percent iron.
KARRY EDWARDS
Background: 44-year-old interior designer and mother of three, ages 8-26.
The recipe: Jumbo Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies. "I love sandwich cookies, so I thought, 'How can I use some of the Pillsbury cookies this way?' I get teased that everything I do has cream cheese in it, but these cookies were so yummy that I made more."
Number of recipes entered: "Five: one breakfast, one Mexican and three desserts. One was a Mexican brownie recipe that I liked better, but I think the idea had been overdone."
Cooking style: "My husband, Rick, and I are both big-time cookin' fools, but he does more outdoor barbecuing and grilling. Half of the things I cook, I just invent as I go with what's
around."
Experience: "I've never entered the Bake-Off before, but I've bought the magazine of the winners at the grocery store. I did win the grand prize a few years ago at the Draper Chocolate Affair, and third place the following year."
The prize money: "I wouldn't buy a new house or car, I'd get new shutters for my house. I'd let everyone in the family pick one luxury item. Both my husband and I have jobs with no retirement plan, and I'm getting to the age where I'm thinking we'll need some money to live on."
Advice: "Don't think that anything you've made is wrong, just go ahead and enter it. I almost didn't enter my recipe, because I didn't know if it was good enough, even though it tasted good to me."
JUMBO HONEY-ROASTED PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH COOKIES
Prep time: 25 minutes
Start to finish: 1 hour 10 minutes
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (Jif preferred)
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup powdered sugar
1 16.5-ounce roll refrigerated peanut butter cookies (Pillsbury Create 'N Bake preferred)
3/4 to 1 cup honey roasted dry roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1. In large bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and honey with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add powdered sugar; beat just until smooth. Cover; refrigerate at least 1 hour while baking and cooling cookies.
2. Heat oven to make cookies as directed on package. Cool completely.
3. Spread 1/3 cup cream cheese mixture on bottom of 1 cookie; top with another cookie, bottom side down. Press cookies together slightly so cream-cheese mixture just extends past edges of cookies. Roll edge of cream cheese mixture in chopped peanuts to generously coat. Repeat with remaining cookies.
4. Serve immediately, or store in single layer tightly covered in refrigerator up to 4 hours (cookies stored longer become very soft). Makes 8 sandwich cookies.
Nutritional information per serving: 730 calories, 47 grams fat, 70 mg cholesterol, 560 grams sodium, 60 grams carbohydrate,16 grams protein, 2 grams dietary fiber, 16 grams protein. Percent Daily Value: 15 percent vitamin A, 6 percent calcium, 10 percent iron.