Posted on 03/04/2011 7:21:37 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
VICKSBURG — Ronda Schabes of Vicksburg hadn’t shared her popular peanut butter cup and chocolate cupcake recipe with anyone.
But now that the recipe has earned her $20,000 in the first ever Taste of Home Teachers Recipe Contest sponsored by Taste of Home magazine and Books Are Fun, the recipe will soon be available to everyone in a Taste of Home cookbook.
And the school where she works as an office aide, Sunset Lake Elementary, will also receive a check for $20,000. The recipe contest was open to all school employees and volunteers.
School officials had kept the award a secret for days, surprising Schabes at the school’s weekly Spirit Assembly Friday morning.
Before Schabes was lured to the cafeteria under the ruse of delivering posters that Principal Pat Moreno had conveniently forgotten, Tony Gilio, vice president/display for Books are Fun, told students about the award and asked them to yell, “Surprise,” when Schabes entered the cafeteria.
Reacting with shock and tears, Schabes made her way to the front of the cafeteria where Gilio and Catherine Cassidy, editor-in-chief of Taste of Home magazine, presented her and Moreno with ceremonial checks.
Her husband, Matt, her three daughters, and her mother Shirley White presented her with a bouquet of flowers.
“I’m in shock,” Schabes said afterward.
Of the cupcake which features peanut butter cups, chocolate ganache frosting and a whipped peanut butter topping, she said, “I knew when I came up with it, it was over-the-top good. Everybody said that, even my daughter who doesn’t like chocolate cake.”
That daughter, Alexis McDowell, 15, always favored white cake, but now she’s abandoned that for her mother’s cupcake which tastes just like a peanut butter cup, she said.
“She made a dozen of those for my birthday. I ate seven of them,” she said.
Over 14,400 recipes were entered in the contest, Gilio said. Books are Fun provided the prizes: $20,000 for first place; $10,000 for second; and $5,000 for third, with each winner’s school receiving an equal amount.
Judging was done by staff at Taste of Home who were looking for a tasty recipe with easy-to-follow instructions that resulted in something very special, said Cassidy.
“The top two recipes were over-the-top,” she said. “It was difficult to choose but we went with what represents a school — like cupcakes in a bake sale.”
The contest was the second-largest contest Taste of Home has ever had, Cassidy said.
Of Schabes’ win, Moreno said, “She’s probably the most deserving baker around. She’s creative. She loves what she does and she shares her talents with all her friends.”
Last year, the cupcake won an award in the Taste of Sunset, a fundraiser for the PTA, Moreno said.
Schabes’ mother said her daughter is a “baking fool.”
“She’s very good at it,” she said.
Of the peanut butter cup recipe, White said, “It’s awesome. That’s all I can say.”
For Kim DeLoof, independent representative for Books Are Fun in the Kalamazoo area, excitement about Schabes’ win made her delay her vacation with her family to San Diego so she could be at the presentation.
“I was just delighted when I heard she won,” she said. “In a national contest, you wouldn’t think of something like this happening in your hometown. It gave me goose bumps.”
East Elementary will use the money for technology, Moreno said.
Schabes hasn’t had much time to think about what she’ll do with the money, but she might just start a bakery, she said.
Second place winner in the contest was Debbie Shannon of Rossville, Ga., for her chicken marsala lasagna. Third place went to Yvonne Compton of Elkton, Ore., for a quinoa and black bean salad.
Closest recipe I could find. Needs cocoa, though! :)
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/peanut-butter-cup-cupcakes/Detail.aspx
Mississippi’s abbreviation is MS not MI.
22, who lives in MS
Sorry! Fat fingered it. Tell the Mod to change it, please!
Other than that - do you LIKE chocolate & peanut butter...or did you just want to continue your work as the State Initials Police? LOL!
Post your favorite chocolate/peanut butter recipe, or forever hold your Reeses Pieces! :)
Vicksburg is a village in Kalamazoo County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,320 at the 2000 census.
Yeah. Who knew Michigan had a Vicksburg too also,
Vicksburg, MI is about 25 minutes South of Kalamazoo. Don’t change a thing.
That looks good enough to eat.
You must have been eating too many of those peanutbutter chocolate cupcakes to get fat fingers.
Looks durned tasty!
Is this the actual cupcake?....oh my
As a college professor of mathematics, I like to disperse correct information occasionally. :)
If I put WN for Wisconsin, I would want to know it was wrong, especially if in the title. Here on FR, just as happens in the classroom, I try to admit my mistakes and welcome a correction. A flippant attitude towards accuracy is not part of my make-up.
Now I see she was in Michigan after all— my mistake. Please excuse it.
I’m stealing that gif. It might be a SIN, but I’m IN, LOL!
Sunday’s comin’! Git ready! But then, you were Born Ready...Luckily for us! :)
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