A peanut butter cookie recipe won Carolyn Gurtz of Gaithersburg, Md. $1 million in the 43rd Pillsbury Bake-Off® Contest held Tuesday in Dallas.
Gurtz used Pillsbury® Create ‘n Bake® Refrigerated peanut butter cookies, JIF® Creamy Peanut Butter and Fisher® Dry Roasted Peanuts to create the cookie that combines two classics – a snickerdoodle and a peanut butter cookie.
Consumers logged onto www.bakeoff.com to vote for their favorite recipe among the 100 final recipes and the $5,000 America’s Favorite Recipe Award went to Gwen Beauchamp of Lancaster, TX, for her toffee-banana brownies.
Visit www.bakeoff.com to see all the recipes from this year’s competition. All 100 winning recipes with color photos are also featured in The Pillsbury® Classic® Cookbook available at supermarkets and discount stores now through May 5 for $3.99.
Here’s the $1 million recipe.
Double-delight peanut butter cookies
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 roll (16.5 ounces) refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled
Heat oven to 375°F. 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® Original No-Stick Cooking 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.
