American Families Expected to Bake Eight Dozen Cookies This Holiday Season

ORRVILLE, Ohio, Dec. 17, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Warm up those ovens!  According to the Crisco® Cookie Central online survey conducted by Wakefield Research, Americans expect to bake dozens and dozens of cookies this holiday season.  From frosted gingerbread to sugar cookies with sprinkles, home bakers aren't holding back on this year's plans for cookies.  

• 71 percent of American adult respondents are planning to bake, on average, roughly eight dozen cookies each.  
• Women claim the top benefit is being able to share cookies with their friends and family (31 percent) while 43 percent of men say the best part of home-baked cookies is eating them straight from the oven.  
• Half of American adults surveyed admitted to being the first in the family to reach into the cookie jar, unless they have children; those with kids at home are more likely to say their child takes the first cookie (40 percent) rather than themselves (33 percent).  

To celebrate this season of bountiful baking, Crisco has launched a new online resource, Cookie Central, that offers recipes, gifting ideas, tips and expert instructional videos to help simplify holiday baking decisions.  Daily features like "Cookie of the Day" can help devoted bakers throughout the holiday season, while novice bakers will quickly feel at ease after watching the site's instructional videos.  The website also provides a simple and versatile cookie mix recipe that can be used as a base for more than a dozen different types of cookies.  Bakers can make up a batch to give as a gift and download recipes and personalized tags to create homemade gifts that will tempt any cookie fanatic.  

"Fresh baked cookies go hand in hand with the holiday season," said Maribeth Badertscher, Vice President, Corporate Communications, The J.M. Smucker Company.  "Whether you are baking classic family favorites or looking for new ways to expand your cookie repertoire, Crisco can help anyone, from beginners to experts, make delicious creations to share with family, friends and holiday guests."

Cookie Central also offers a butter-to-shortening conversion chart to take the guess work out of baking. Simply add the same amount of Crisco Baking Sticks All-Vegetable Shortening plus a small amount of water to the other ingredients in your mixing bowl. Use the chart on Crisco.com to determine the correct amount of water.  These baking sticks offer the same trusted quality of Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening in an easy to measure form to help bakers achieve moist baked goods.

Cookie Central is available on Crisco.com and Crisco Baking Sticks All-Vegetable Shortening are available at retailers nationwide for a MSRP of $3.49.

About The J.M. Smucker Company

For more than 110 years, The J.M. Smucker Company has been committed to offering consumers quality products that help families create memorable mealtime moments.  Today, Smucker is a leading marketer and manufacturer of fruit spreads, retail packaged coffee, peanut butter, shortening and oils, ice cream toppings, sweetened condensed milk, and health and natural foods beverages in North America. Its family of brands includes Smucker's®, Folgers®, Dunkin' Donuts®, Jif®, Crisco®, Pillsbury®, Eagle Brand®, R.W. Knudsen Family®, Hungry Jack®, White Lily® and Martha White® in the United States, along with Robin Hood®, Five Roses®, Carnation®, Europe's Best® and Bick's® in Canada. The Company remains rooted in the Basic Beliefs of Quality, People, Ethics, Growth and Independence established by its founder and namesake more than a century ago. The Company has appeared on FORTUNE Magazine's list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in the United States 12 times, ranking number one in 2004. For more information about the Company, visit www.smuckers.com.

The J.M. Smucker Company is the owner of all trademarks, except Pillsbury, the Barrelhead logo and the Doughboy character are trademarks of The Pillsbury Company, LLC, used under license; Carnation is a trademark of Societe des Produits Nestle S.A., used under license; and Dunkin' Donuts is a registered trademark of DD IP Holder, LLC, used under license. Borden and Elsie are trademarks used under license.

SOURCE The J.M. Smucker Company