The Presidential Cookie Bake-Off That Abruptly Ended In Controversy

Once upon a time, there was a friendly culinary competition among political candidates known as the First Lady Cookie Contest. It began back in 1992 after an errant comment from Hillary Clinton inspired Family Circle magazine to pit the potential First Ladies against one another by sharing family cookie recipes and asking subscribers to take a poll. The cookie contest spanned seven election cycles before meeting its bitter end in 2020, surrounded by controversy instead of cookie dough.

Some believe that the First Lady Cookie Contest's demise came before the 2020 election, citing sexism or a general lack of keeping up with the times as the primary cause of failure. It was Clinton's comment in 1992 about how she "could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what [she] decided to do was to fulfill [her] profession" that stirred the pot, which could be said for other First Ladies who joined with rigorous resumes. The name of the competition eventually changed to the "Presidential Cookie Poll," but it was already losing steam. There were also allegations that those "beloved" presidential family recipes were entirely fake, created specifically for the competition. Lastly, the magazine itself closed in late 2019, meaning no editors to count the 2020 submissions and poll results. No one knows if Jill Biden would have submitted a family cookie recipe against Melania Trump, even if former President Joe Biden's favorite dessert is actually chocolate chip ice cream.

Despite her early commentary, Hillary Clinton went on to win both the 1992 competition against Barbara Bush and the 1996 competition against Elizabeth Dole with her now-renowned oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, which only contain flour, salt, baking soda, solid vegetable shortening, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, eggs, old-fashioned rolled oats, and semi-sweet chocolate chips (though here's our recipe for no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies). Laura Bush's Texas Governor's cowboy cookies won against Tipper Gore's ginger snaps in 2000, while her oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies also won against Teresa Heinz Kerry's pumpkin spice cookies in 2004. Cindy McCain's oatmeal-butterscotch cookies won against Michelle Obama's lemon zest shortbread cookies in 2008, but Michelle Obama's white and dark chocolate chip cookies beat Ann Romney's M&M cookies in 2012. In 2016, the final year, the Clinton Family's chocolate chip cookies won over Melania Trump's star cookies.

Although not connected to the presidential election in any significant way, the First Lady Cookie Contest accurately predicted the election outcome five times. It was incorrect in the 2008 election and again in 2016, but all other election seasons matched up with the winners of Family Circle magazine's friendly polls. The now-deceased magazine allegedly hasn't spoken out about continuing the cookie contest, so, until (and if) the competition ever gets rebooted, Americans are stuck watching our once-royal rulers bake to their heart's content on the Great British Bakeoff (which we ranked here) instead.