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| The first Pillsbury Bake-Off contest was held in 1949. The cookbook presenting winning recipes from the 1949 contest was published in 1950, and the series has continued until the present time. (Dates for cookbooks listed here are copyright or publishing dates, not contest dates.) |
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| The name of the contest changed gradually over time, beginning as the Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest and eventually becoming simply the Pillsbury Bake-Off. The cover of the first Bake-Off cookbook said "From Pillsbury's $100,000 Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest, 100 Prize Winning Recipes." The cover of the second Bake-Off book changed the wording just a little, placing 2nd Grand National before $100,000 in the title. Similar wording was used through the 8th cookbook. |
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| The
Bake-Off name was introduced with the 9th cookbook in 1958. It noted
the
recipes were from "Pillsbury's Best 9th Grand National
Bake-Off." The phrase "Grand National Bake-Off" was used
through the 16th cookbook, then the "Grand National" was dropped. The
1966 cookbook said the recipes were from the "17th
annual Bake-Off".
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| A Bake-Off contest cookbook was published every year through 1978. From 1980 onward, contest cookbooks were published every other year. (In between contest cookbooks, Pillsbury published Bake-Off related cookbooks - like Bake-Off Pies and Cakes - that were compilations of recipes from several contests.) The 29th Bake-Off cookbook, in 1980, was the first Bake-Off to be part of the Pillsbury Classics Series. In tiny print on the top of the front cover are the words "Pillsbury Classics No. 2 F06770." The Pillsbury Bake-Off is a continuing tradition. The book containing the 100 finalist recipes for the 42nd Bake-Off is book #300, dated February 2006. |
