MICHELLE OBAMA BEATS ANN ROMNEY IN TRADITIONAL BAKE OFF AS VOTERS PREFER 1ST LADY'S COOKIES

Top chef: Michelle Obama has been crowned winner of Family Circle's presidential bake-off contest as her white and dark chocolate chip cookie recipe beat Ann Romney's M&M concoction.

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are set to go head-to-head tonight in the first live presidential debate of the election season.

But the pair's wives have already been battling it out in a quadrennial recipe contest run by Family Circle magazine. Since 1992 the publication has asked potential First Ladies to submit their ultimate cookie dough formula.
And after testing both submissions, 51.5 per cent of readers opted for Michelle Obama's white and dark chocolate chip cookie over Ann Romney's colourful M&M and oatmeal offering.

But Family Circle magazine admitted that it was a tight contest, stating: 'Just 287 votes separated the two women, our smallest margin ever.'

Mrs Obama credited her wining recipe to her daughters' godmother and close family friend, Mama Kaye.

Sweet treat: Ann Romney says that her grandchildren cannot resist her M&M cookies

She told Today: 'If we want to splurge, these White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies, created by the girls’ godmother, is the perfect special treat.'

Her decadent recipe contains three different types of chocolate - white, milk and mint - walnuts, two sticks of butter and one stick of Crisco shortening.
Meanwhile Mrs Romney's M&M cookie dough, which she claims her grandchildren cannot resist, uses rolled oats, peanut butter, M&Ms and chocolate chips.
But it's not just readers of Family Circle magazine that have been casting their vote.
Diners at the Occidental Grill & Seafood restaurant, just two blocks away from the White House, have also been asked to give their verdict.
For the past two months diners have been presented with a post dinner Michelle Obama and Ann Romney cookie free of charge, along with a scoring card.
The votes have been collected in secret, and the winner will be announced to coincide with the November 6 presidential election.
A spokesman at the venue, who has tried both recipes, said it was difficult to select a winner.
He told MailOnline: It's hard to choose a favourite because they're both really fantastic cookies.'

From left: Ann Romney's M&M and oatmeal cookies and Michelle Obama's chocolate chip cookies

Family Circle ran its first presidential bake-off in 1992, when Hillary Clinton’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies trumped Barbara Bush’s chocolate chip recipe.
Four years later, Clinton relied on the same recipe to defeat Elizabeth Dole’s pecan rolls.
In 2000, readers voted for Laura Bush’s Texas cowboy cookies over Tipper Gore’s gingersnaps.
And she witnessed another victory in 2004 as her oatmeal chocolate chunks beat Teresa Heinz Kerry’s pumpkin spice cookies.
In 2008 Mrs Obama failed to win over bakers with her lemon zest shortbread cookie recipe, which lost to Cindy McCain’s oatmeal butterscotch concoction.
The magazine claims that, other than 2008, its bake-off contest has predicted the White House victor of every presidential election.