Hasbro Celebrates 40 Years of EASY-BAKE

Believe it or not, EASY-BAKE, the original kid's oven brand introduced in 1963, is celebrating 40 years of delighting the young and young-at-heart with pint size cooking fun! To commemorate this exciting milestone and honor America's most beloved cooking toy and pop culture icon, Hasbro, Inc.is expanding the EASY-BAKE Oven line by introducing a brand new deluxe oven that cooks real meals, and does not require a light bulb!

A huge step forward in EASY-BAKE innovation, the EASY-BAKE REAL MEAL Oven will be introduced this fall, allowing kids to make an entire meal,from appetizer to dessert. Yet, the most significant improvements are that the new oven works just like a real kitchen oven with a working timer and, for the first time in EASY-BAKE history, no light bulb required -- just plug n play! With a larger cooking chamber to fit deeper dishes, the EASY-BAKE REAL MEAL Oven can be used to create a variety of dishes from macaroni & cheese to chocolate chip cookies and soft pretzels. This is most certainly not your mother's EASY-BAKE oven! But fear not, the classic EASY-BAKE Oven will still be available to create delicious sweet treats.

In celebration of the 40th Birthday, the third annual EASY-BAKE Baker of the Year contest will kick-off this spring. Hasbro launched the first national contest in 1998, in honor of the American icon's 35th birthday, and the second in 2000 to bring in the new millennium. For the EASY-BAKE Baker of the Year 2003 competition, five finalists will be selected by culinary staff at Johnson & Wales University, one of the world's largest culinary educators, culminating in a finals event this fall. During the finals, a panel of judges will be tempted with the delicious treats created in the classic EASY-BAKE Oven. A complete set of rules and regulations of the Baker of the Year 2003 contest will be available to consumers in the coming months.

As the icing on the cake, a fun new cookbook titled, The EASY-BAKE Oven Gourmet by David Hoffman will be released in May 2003. The cookbook will include more than 30 gourmet recipes that can be made in the EASY-BAKE Oven along with personal anecdotes by many of the country's top chefs. Popular stars of television's Food Network, Chef Bobby Flay and Pastry Chef Gale Gand, PBS television host and acclaimed chef, Rick Bayless, and renowned cookbook author and New York Times food columnist, Mark Bittman are among the well-known chefs that will be featured. It has been amazing to discover how many big name chefs, bakers, restaurateurs and food writers actually trace their culinary careers to an early cooking experience with an EASY-BAKE Oven, says Hoffman, who has worked in television for more than 20 years covering trends, classic toys and popular culture. The cookbook will be available in May 2003 at major bookstores around the country and on-line bookstores.

The EASY-BAKE Oven is a classic toy that defies trends and has proven that it can stand the test of time through its simple, but timeless concept -- cooking is fun! said Ira Hernowitz, senior vice president of marketing for Hasbro. This nostalgic toy has been helping kids to create sweet treats and memories for 40 years and we wanted to honor this accomplishment with new innovations, activities and partnerships that celebrate creativity, entertainment and of course, good eats! We are looking forward to celebrating throughout 2003 with the many people, from various generations, that helped make EASY-BAKE the beloved brand that it is today.

Also see: Kids Toys

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Ross Mak is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-toys.com. Find all the toys you wish you had as a kid. Fun and educational toys found here.