It's official:
Linda Blakely's Indonesian Chicken Turnovers with Spicy Peanut Sauce is a winner.
In a journey that began just about a year ago, the Middleburgh woman flew to Orlando, Florida last week to compete in the 45th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest.
She baked.
She chatted with Martha Stewart.
She felt overwhelmed by the creations of the other contestants.
And she nearly fell over when her name-and her recipe-was called as the winner of the Crisco is Cooking Award and $5,000.
"It was totally, totally unexpected," Ms. Blakely said. 'I just expected to go in and clap for the winners. I never expected to be one of them."
Grand prize winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off was Christina Verrelli of Devon, Pennsylvania, who took home $1 million for her Pumpkin Ravioli with Salted Caramel Whipped Cream.
There were also four recipe category winners and four sponsor winners, including Ms. Blakely.
Deadline for entering the contest was last March and Ms. Blakely, along with the 99 other finalists, learned she'd earned a place in the Bake-Off competition in September.
Last Monday, those 100 contestants had four hours to make their recipe twice-once for the judges and once for a display table.
"It was very busy, but very well lit and it was pretty easy to focus," Ms. Blakely said, even when Ms. Stewart stopped to chat for a few minutes.
"I just went back to what I was doing...Fortunately, it wasn't something that required split-second timing," Ms. Blakely said of talking with the media star.
The four hours they had to work in went quickly, Ms. Blakely said, and when she was done, she wandered through the competition kitchen, photographing other entries.
"There were some borderline professionals," she said, which made what happened Tuesday even more amazing.
All 100 contestants filed into The Martha Stewart Show-which was dedicated that day to the contest.
Behind them sat rows and rows of judges, Pillsbury executives, representatives from the food industry, and the press.
"It was an exhausting couple of days, both mentally and physically," Ms. Blakely said back at home Friday.
"I never expected to hear my name called...I'm still in a bit of a shock."
Ms. Blakely said she's not sure what she'll do with her $5,000 in winnings.
She plans to donate some of it to Schoharie County flood relief and maybe splurge on something like a computer or smart phone for herself with the rest.
It'll be two years before she can enter the Bake-Off again-something she's definitely planning on doing.
In the meantime, she'll continue baking for local fundraisers like the Animal Shelter and she's already thinking about what she'll enter in Schoharie County's premier baking event: The Sunshine Fair.