The 45th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest is now open for entries! We love going to the Bake-Off (either as a judge or working press), and it’s always so much fun to see which recipes make the Top 100.

So now’s the time to get in the kitchen and get creative. You can enter your recipes online at www.bakeoff.com now through April 18. Why should you bother? The grand prize winner gets a cool $1 million. (Click here to check out the 44th Bake-Off’s million-dollar recipe.)

Here are some things to keep in mind when creating your recipe:

• This year’s categories are Breakfast & Brunches; Dinner Made Easy™; Entertaining Appetizers or Sweet Treats.
• U.S. citizens can enter as many recipes in as many of the four categories as they wish.
• Each recipe must be original and use at least two of the hundreds of qualifying ingredients which are listed on the Bake-Off website.
• Judges will use these key criteria when evaluating your recipe: taste, appearance, creativity and how your recipe will appeal to families across America.

The 100 finalists will compete for a chance at the grand prize during the Bake-Off competition, which takes place March 25-27, 2012, at the Peabody Orlando Hotel in Florida. We hope we’ll see you there!