Ann Romney, Michelle Obama face off in cookie contest - Bites

AP, AFP - Getty Images

Ann Romney, left, and Michelle Obama will go head-to-head in a cookie recipe contest.

By Jillian Eugenios

Turns out there may be a way to accurately predict the outcome of the presidential race — and the proof is quite literally in the pudding.
For the last five elections, Family Circle magazine has asked spouses of the candidates to share their favorite cookie recipes. Readers then do their patriotic duty: Bake, taste, vote. Only once has the cookie test not accurately predicted which leading lady has gone on to call the White House home.
The cookie-off first took place in 1992, when Hillary Clinton's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies went head-to-head with Barbara Bush's classic chocolate chip recipe. Clinton won, and she was back at it again in 1996. She stuck to her guns with her oatmeal chocolate chip recipe, taking on Elizabeth Dole’s pecan rolls. Clinton again had a winner.
Then, sweet-toothed voters baked up Tipper Gore's gingersnaps and Laura Bush’s Texas Governor’s Mansion Cowboy cookies and Teresa Heinz Kerry's pumpkin spice cookies. Since the contest began, more than 19 million readers have baked and taste-tested the recipes.
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Ann Romney, Michelle Obama face off in cookie contest - Bites