Millsboro cook Gilda Lester wins King Arthur Flour's recipe contest

Gilda Lester of Millsboro recently won first prize in the breakfast division of King Arthur Flour's Sweet Victory Challenge with her recipe for Spicy Pumpkin Pancakes with Maple Glazed Apples and Yogurt Topping.

A panel of judges that included food writers and top Midwestern chefs selected five finalists in each division/category based on creativity, appetizing description, ease of preparation, and appropriate use of maple syrup and King Arthur Flour. On the competition days, March 2 for the youth division, and March 9 for the adult division, local volunteers prepared each dish for final judging. Finalists were not required to be present to win.

The competition was open to both adults (18 and over) and youths (17 and under) with original recipes in one of three categories: Savory (main dish), Dessert, and Breakfast. Each recipe included both King Arthur Flour and 100 percent pure maple syrup.

The National Maple Syrup Festival is an annual event created to celebrate maple-sugaring season and the coming of spring. Hosted each year by Burton’s Maplewood Farm in Medora, Ind., the festival includes demonstrations, entertainment, food, and maple syrup from every maple syrup producing state in the country.

For more information, go to nationalmaplesyrupfestival.com.

King Arthur Flour is one of America’s best-selling flours, known by avid bakers for its consistent baking performance and lack of chemical additives. King Arthur’s unbleached flours and baking mixes are available at supermarkets nationwide.

King Arthur Flour’s mail-order catalogue offers more than 1,000 professional-grade baking tools and ingredients, available at kingarthurflour.com and at The Baker’s Store in Norwich, Vt.

With more than one million bakers having participated in its workshops, seminars and classes, King Arthur Flour is the largest educator of home bakers in the world. King Arthur Flour is America’s oldest flour company and has been employee-owned since 1996.