Delanco cook wins Pillsbury Bake-Off

While Sue Compton was practicing her recipe for the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest, she tried to "vary the victims" by baking for her son, his friends, her coworkers, and her retired mother's social groups - the bridge club, the domino club, the Red Hat Society.

Now they all can say they sampled a million-dollar tart.

Compton, 56, a mortgage-loan processor and amateur cookie baker from Burlington County, was named the $1 million grand-prize winner of the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off Wednesday.

Compton captured the top spot with her Mini Ice Cream Cookie Cups, which she prepared at Monday's Bake-Off in Orlando, Fla. Compton won the "Sweet Treats" category, and was flown to Chicago along with the three other category finalists to appear on Oprah Winfrey's show Wednesday. Pillsbury left the finale of the world's richest culinary contest - the announcement of the $1 million winner - to the media mogul and her flour-friendly demographic.

In addition to the money, to be paid in an annuity, Compton won a GE range and $7,000 worth of other appliances that, she said, she might have trouble fitting into her kitchen.

Before Wednesday, she said, her proudest accomplishment was "having a baby." Her son, Jonathan, 29, who accompanied her to Orlando and Chicago, is a third-year medical student at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.

While this was Compton's first time entering the contest, her son's friends call her "Mama Compton" and know that batches of cookies are constantly coming out of the oven.

"I won't have to worry about supporting her," said Jonathan Compton. His parents are divorced.

Hoopla and flash are terms not usually associated with Compton, who grew up on her parents' peach orchard in Burlington. She has worked for 11 years at Greentree Mortgage in Marlton, lives in a simple Colonial on a quiet street in Delanco, and drives a silver Mini Cooper.

She said she submitted to a makeover before Wednesday's Oprah appearance. Producers took her shopping and bought her a new outfit - "bright colors that would look good on TV," she said. "I decided to trust that they have an eye for what looks good." Stylists redid her straight, shoulder-length hair and applied makeup.

"It was a new experience," she said.

"It all seemed so strange," her son said.

She called Winfrey "wonderful," and though she only met her on stage just before showtime, she said, "she makes a real effort to make you feel at ease."