The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest is the most competitive cooking and baking contest in the United States. Home cooks have a fraction of a chance of becoming one of the lucky finalists who compete for a variety of enticing awards.

SMART COOKIES tells the stories of 27 people who beat the odds, most of them more than once. In conversations with author Mary Beth Protomastro, the finalists explain how they came up with their ideas, how they increased their chances of winning, and why the best prize turned out not to be the money after all.

Some...