Taste Trendsetters: First Ladies In The Kitchen

The Cookie Contest

As if First Ladies aren’t already expected to have enough influence on matters relating to homemaking, things get really serious during every new election cycle with the Family Circle First Lady Cookie Contest. The contest started in 1992, when Bill Clinton was up against President George H. W. Bush.

Hillary Clinton was scrutinized at the time for being a woman with her own high-power career, separate from that of her husband. In response she said, “You know, I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life.”

Challenge Accepted

Hillary’s comment offended many homemakers, but the people at Family Circle magazine had the idea to start a “cookie bake-off” between the candidates’ wives. The potential First Ladies would submit their own cookie recipes and America would vote on which one was the best.

In 1992, Hillary threw herself into the competition, submitting a recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. She gathered her friends to help her bake the cookies and distribute them as part of her husband’s campaign. That year, her cookies actually won against Barbara Bush’s regular chocolate chip cookies. Since then, the cookie competition has become a tradition.