Even from the very first post, Campfire Tales mixed baking recollections, random connections and storytelling. And lately, one cookie recipe keeps leading me down so many seemingly disparate rabbit holes, I must investigate how they might be interwoven. Let’s explore the warren!

In one of Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1949 “My Day” syndicated columns (weary bloggers take note: she wrote more than 8,000 of them over the course of 26 years), she detailed the inaugural Pillsbury Bake-Off awards luncheon, in which she participated by handing out the prizes.

Then came the announcement of the second prize—$10,000. That went to one of the few unmarried contestants, Miss Laura Rott, of Naperville, Ill. Her entry was “Mint Surprise Cookies.” I was assured by those who sampled them as they came out of the oven that though they might look like ordinary cookies they tasted like your dream of something highly delectable. Miss Rott was speechless. She could hardly stand up and she had no idea what she would do with the money. She never thought of having so much money at one time in her hand.

~ December 15, 1949 “My Day” column by Eleanor Roosevelt

(We’ll get to that “unmarried” swipe in my next post.)

Now let’s take a look at this sentence:

One of the highlights of her life was winning 2nd prize in the very 1st Pillsbury Bake-Off contest in 1949 for her “Starlight Mint Surprise Cookies”. As one of the 100 finalists, she traveled to New York by train for that first Bake-Off where she was thrilled to meet first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

~ September 30, 2020 Daily Herald Obituary for Laura Rott

Pretty much the same story, right?

Okay, here comes the twist in version number three:

At the first-ever Bake-Off Contest awards ceremony, LAURA ROTT received a $10,000 second prize for her cookies with the surprise of a chocolate mint inside. With some time to spare before her trip back home, Laura tucked her check into her purse and set out to see more of the sights of New York City. Unfortunately, she had another surprise: An enterprising pickpocket managed to purloin her prize-check! No harm, though, because Bake-Off Contest officials canceled her original check and reissued a new one.

~ excerpt from “Pillsbury Bake-Off Prize Winning Cakes Pies & More” 2012 magazine (Volume 22, Number 3)

In storytelling terms, these are the details that jump out at me:

• Maybe Eleanor didn’t hear the whole story, but Laura being robbed didn’t really fit her narrative, and might have been omitted on purpose. From “My Day” Eleanor wrote: This is a healthy contest and a highly American one. It may sell Pillsbury flour but it also reaches far down into the lives of the housewives of America. These were women who ran their homes and cooked at home; they were not professional cooks.
  • I’m sorry, Eleanor, but was this dismissive, after-the-fact remark necessary? I almost forgot to say that three men got the trip to New York by qualifying and one man won with an entry which he called “Quick Man-Prepared Dinner.”
  • On the other hand, this was my favorite quote of yours: She (Mrs. Richard W. Sprague, of San Marino, Calif) was asked what she would do with the (third-prize) money and answered: “Well, the baby is paid for but there is still the mortgage on the house.”
• Maybe Laura not wanting the robbery publicized is the reason the focus is usually on her win, and not the shocking near-loss of the check, but the robbery is a delicious 3rd Act twist.
• That last link contains both the recipe and the most complete version of this story. My favorite twists, questions and answers:
  • The “night before the bake-off” electrical emergency (and solution).
  • Laura hid the robbery from her family for years.
  • The check would have bounced, and would have been traceable back to the thief’s account (or wherever they cashed it). I wonder if there was an investigation or any charges pressed?
  • Nobody in the Rott family liked the Rockwood chocolate mint wafers (!!), which led to the recipe’s invention, but then…
  • The prize-winning recipe led to a Rockwood sales boom.
  • Laura paid 40% taxes ($4,000) in 1949, but then…
  • She got to keep her oven, and it was still in use in 2018.
  • She bought a car and travelled. You go, Laura!

(*** My photo is of a cookie with 1/2 an Andes mint. Next time, I might try stacking mint halves for more chocolate minty-ness, but the Andes Mint is too long to fit in the amount of dough recommended by the recipe. I believe Rockwood is of business. This ad is from Recipeler.)