Test-kitchen 'Bettys' reunite to celebrate 100 years of Minnesota icon Betty Crocker

What dish do you bring to a party for the most iconic home cook in America?

When the party is for Betty Crocker, you bring cocktail meatballs, a "salad" called "cranberry fluff" that's mostly marshmallows and, undoubtedly, cookies.

The occasion was the 100th birthday of Betty Crocker, General Mills' fictitious spokesperson, a red-jacketed embodiment of flawless home entertaining. To celebrate, more than 150 former employees of the Betty Crocker test kitchens were invited to a potluck for the queen of potlucks.

"Oh, my gosh, the pressure is high," said Kelly Thompson, a research and development manager at General Mills, an alumna of the kitchens and one of six organizers of the birthday party. "You have to bring your 'A' game."

With the guest of honor notably absent, being fictional and all, the event at General Mills' Golden Valley headquarters was actually a reunion for the many cooks, shoppers, stylists, editors, tour guides, nutritionists, market researchers and technicians who each played a role in testing thousands of timeless recipes during the heyday of the test kitchens.

"It is sort of a special club; there aren't a lot of us," said Thompson, whose potluck favorite is Molasses Crinkles from the "Betty Crocker Cookbook" — or Big Red as the insiders call it.

Nearly half of all living employees of the kitchens, past and present, made it to the event, from as far as Seattle and New Jersey.

There was caramelized onion peppered bacon flatbread, a Pillsbury Bake-Off winning recipe. Feta, lemon and chive turnovers. And a pretty glass bowl filled with something that looked like potato salad, but definitely had Snickers in it.

Gloria Johnson brought breadsticks, which peeked out of a white crock embossed with images of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Johnson, 86, spent more than 30 years as a kitchen technician, keeping the kitchens stocked and clean. She started with Pillsbury, and she was here to represent, wearing a T-shirt with a bedazzled Dough Boy on it. What about Betty Crocker? "Well," said Johnson, "she's OK."

Many of the guests worked at the test kitchens in the 1980s and 1990s; some went as far back as the early '60s, such as Alice Hawkes, a cookbook editor and the oldest attendee at 94. Joyce Gauck, who began in 1963 as a home economist for Gold Medal Flour, took Hawkes' hand and reintroduced herself to her first boss. "We go back a long way," Gauck said.

A long time coming

The last time kitchen alumni gathered was nine years ago. "Sadly, as we age, in recent years, we've lost several cherished sisters," said Mary Bartz, a former test kitchens director and an organizer of the event. (She made honey cardamom crunch.) Bartz is now a culinary consultant and works with another Minnesota icon — the State Fair, where she leads the judging of the canned entries as part of the fair's Creative Activities contests.

Thompson had floated the idea of a reunion ahead of Betty Crocker's 100th birthday in 2021, but the pandemic thwarted earlier attempts to gather. Many kitchen alumni have remained friends and keep in email contact — the Bettys have their own Facebook page — especially those who still work at General Mills. An email trail started, and Cheri Olerud, a cookbook editor and General Mills consultant who helped organize the event, said, "it's time." (Olerud made punch.)

The organizers cast a wide net, inviting anyone who spent time in the kitchens in some capacity.

Janet Campbell was a tour guide in the mid-'80s, bringing visitors through a series of kitchens themed to different regions of the United States. General Mills did away with those tours almost 40 years ago, in 1987.

Passing through the test kitchens "started out with wonderful smells," Campbell reminisced. "When you walked in, that was the beginning of your day."

General Mills acquired Pillsbury in 2001, and within a couple of years opened new state-of-the-kitchen stations surrounded by two stories of windows overlooking a pond.

"It's all so different to me now, I can't even get my head around it," Gauck said.

That's not all that's changed.

When Thompson started in the kitchens in 1988, she was one on a staff of 50. Now things are run differently: A kitchen operations manager coordinates freelance consultants to come in and use the space for projects.

"It's great if you're into the gig economy kind of stuff," said Diane Undis Dzwill, who flew in from New Jersey for the party. The home economist worked on Bisquick, Hamburger Helper, desserts and cookbooks from 1987 to 1995.

"I kind of grew up here," Undis Dzwill said. Still, "I would never recommend someone dream to work in a test kitchen. The jobs are few and far between."

Outsourcing, downsizing, and finally COVID put an end to the way things used to be done, said Ingrid Gangestad, another organizer. (She made Mexican Street Corn Salad.) "Corporations change."

An unbreakable bond

Lost with those jobs was the camaraderie and community feeling that test kitchen workers cherished, the kind of relationships that developed in a room full of mostly women who spent their workdays focused on the act of nourishing others.

"My parents died when I was here. So many children were born here. Grandchildren were born here. So many life events that you went through. We had a lot of conversations," said Diane Carlson, yet another organizer. (She made chocolate macarons, an art she's perfected in retirement.) "For me, it was a huge support system — definitely more than a job."

"There was a lot of sharing," Olerud said.

When someone was going to entertain, she'd run her menu by colleagues. When one staffer's sister underwent cancer treatment, her co-workers formed a prayer group. And when a staffer died, everyone pitched in to make food for the funeral; they did the same after a co-worker's husband died.

"Betty Crocker showed up," Thompson said.

"We were always family," Gangestad said.

One of dietitian Karen Blanchard's favorite memories is the soup. When she worked for Betty Crocker as a home economist in the 1990s, one co-worker would collect scraps of food leftover from recipe testing and use it. "She would make a big pot of soup, and everybody from all the kitchens would come have soup and talk, and it would always taste so good," Blanchard said.

"I think being in kitchens, that did nurture that family kind of experience," she added.

Yet it was only for a fleeting moment in the life of Betty Crocker.

Today, said Blanchard, "that family feel, I just don't feel it."

But this party wasn't a funeral. It was, rather, a joyous celebration of a woman so integral to the day-to-day of her devoted cooks that she was almost real. And in a way, for them, she is.

"I feel like we've all got a little Betty in our hearts," said Cathy Swanson Wheaton, executive editor for General Mills' cookbooks and an organizer of the event. "We're all connected by that thread, and feel like we've been helping consumers get dinner on the table. That's what binds us together." (Swanson Wheaton brought pumpkin turmeric bars.)

As the attendees gathered in the kitchen for a group photo, some with their faces poking through cutouts in illustrations of the fictional character, someone instructed everyone in the group to wave.

"Oh, we're Bettys," said another alumna. "We hold hands."

Serves 24 (makes 10 cups).

Note: Mary Bartz, a former director of the Betty Crocker Test Kitchens, made this recipe for the potluck honoring Betty Crocker's 100th birthday. The recipe came from a former colleague, Kay Emel-Powell, who died this past August. The recipe was the winning entry in a Chex contest that Emel-Powell judged. You can also substitute ginger for cardamom.

• 1/3 c. packed brown sugar

• 1/4 c. butter or margarine

• 1/4 c. honey

• 1 tsp. ground cardamom (see Note)

• 6 c. Rice Chex cereal

• 2 c. bite-size pretzel twists

• 1 c. unblanched whole almonds

• 1 c. flaked coconut

• 1 c. sweetened dried cranberries or dried pineapple

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spray large roasting pan with cooking spray.

In a 1-quart saucepan, heat brown sugar, butter, honey and cardamom to boiling. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Into roasting pan, measure cereal, pretzels, almonds and coconut. Stir in brown sugar mixture until evenly coated.

Bake 50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on waxed paper or foil; cool about 15 minutes. Place in serving bowl; stir in cranberries. Store in airtight container.

Makes 16.

These turnovers were among the Betty Crocker recipes at the gathering celebrating the icon's 100th birthday. Turnovers can be prepared, covered and refrigerated up to 2 hours before baking.

• 2 oz. crumbled garlic-and-herb feta cheese

• 2 tbsp. thinly sliced fresh chives

• 2 medium green onions, sliced (2 tbsp.)

• 1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel

• Flour for dusting

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from 17.3-oz package), thawed

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In medium bowl, mash cheese with fork. Stir in chives, green onions and lemon peel until well mixed.

On lightly floured surface, unfold pastry sheet; sprinkle lightly with flour. Roll pastry into 12-inch square. Cut pastry into 4 rows by 4 rows to make 16 squares. Spoon cheese mixture onto center of each square (about 1 rounded teaspoon each).

Moisten edges of 1 square with fingertip dipped in water. Fold square over the filling to form a triangle, gently pressing to remove air pockets around filling and pressing edges of pastry together. Use tines of fork to crimp and seal edges of turnover. Repeat with remaining squares. Using spatula, make edges of turnovers even if necessary; place on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 10 to 15 minutes or until puffed and golden all over. Remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack; cool 2 to 3 minutes before serving.

Serves 12.

This was a winning Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe, and also made an appearance on the potluck table at the 100th birthday celebration of Betty Crocker.

• 1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar

• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

• 8 slices thick-sliced bacon

• 4 c. thinly sliced sweet onion (about 1 lb.)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 tbsp. butter

• 1 (11-oz.) can refrigerated thin-crust pizza crust

• 1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained

• 2 c. (8 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese

• 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

• 1/4 c. thinly sliced fresh basil leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line 15- by 10-inch pan with sides with aluminum foil. Place cooling rack in pan.

In large resealable food-storage plastic bag, combine brown sugar, black pepper and cayenne; shake to combine. Separate bacon slices and place in bag; shake to coat. Place bacon on rack in pan.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes, turning once halfway through baking, or until bacon is browned and thoroughly cooked. Cool completely. Chop bacon; set aside.

Meanwhile, in a 12-inch skillet, cook onions and garlic in butter over medium heat 15 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently, or until onions are golden brown. Remove from heat; set aside.

Spray another 15- by 10-inch pan with sides with cooking spray. Unroll pizza crust dough in pan; press dough to edges of pan. Bake 7 minutes. Remove from oven.

Spread onion mixture over partially baked crust; top with drained tomatoes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses; top with bacon.

Bake 7 to 11 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheeses are melted. Remove from oven; sprinkle with basil before serving.