Posted by WCSH6, Maine on January 31, 2010 at 10:34:11:
Jonesboro man finalist in Pillsbury Bake-Off
Kara Matuszewski, Reporter/Anchor JONESBORO, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Chris Caston of Jonesboro is getting excited to head to Orlando for this year's Pillsbury Bake-Off.
Caston has worked on getting to the national competition for several years, but keeps missing the deadline. This year, he said he made sure he knew what the timeline was so he wouldn't miss out again.
Each recipe he worked on, Caston would send to work with his wife so her co-workers could give him feedback. "She'd give me the reaction and the critiques that they would tell her," he said. "And I would tell her, 'Don't let them know what it's for exactly, just tell them I'm trying some things out and I'd like to get to get their honest reaction to it.'"
After fiddling in the kitchen, Caston came up with three recipes he submitted. One of them came out as a finalist -- chai brownie cupcakes with creamy froth.
"The key to it is to try to come up with something new that they haven't already done, haven't promoted, that helps promote their products, obviously," said Caston. "But people are going to enjoy."
He said it also helps when the recipe is easy to make. He says with only a few ingredients, his is easy. He had to make sure to use at least one item each from two lists; those are the brownie mix and the oil. Otherwise, he said he decided to go with a coffehouse-style cupcake.
"I'm playing off the dark flavors of the dark tea and the chocolate is the light topping we're using, which isn't really an icing, it's kind of frosting, but not exactly traditional. So it's really contrasts well with that," he explained.
Caston heads to Orlando in April. The competition is April 11 to 13, and the winner gets $1 million. For being a finalist Caston gets the trip, $125 and a new microwave, but he's really holding out for the grand prize.
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