Betty Crocker's Baked Alaska recipe has a special place in my heart because it is the only thing I remember baking in my 6th grade Home Ec class. At the time, Home Ec was mandatory for all 6th graders at my school. I was in a "pod" of 4 students in Kitchen Station #1. My pod mates were Brenda Bliss, Kyle Holen and one other male student that I can't seem to remember. (A lovely side note: I'm still great friends with Brenda and Kyle!)
The Baked Alaska mystified me. How could we put ice cream in the oven without it melting all over? It particular, I remember whipping up the meringue. It took forever. And the Baked Alaska turned out beautifully.
Years later, while writing Finding Betty Crocker, I reflected on my one Home Ec memory quite frequently. And I was surprised to hear a former Betty Crocker home economist tell me about serving Baked Alaska at the Betty Crocker Search for the All-American Homemaker of Tomorrow Scholarship banquet the year Alaska became a state. (I know what year that was, do you know? Without googling it? )
It was no easy feat to whip up hundreds of Baked Alaska for the banquet, but, of course, Betty's staff pulled it off without a hitch.
