Food personality, cookbook author and local notable Laura Kurella is now adding “Golden Ticket” to her list of award-worthy career accomplishments.
Chocolate is not involved, nor is Willy Wonka or tours of his fabled, fictional candy factory.
Longtime Whiting-Robertsdale resident Kurella, who now lives in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with her husband, earned this “Golden Ticket” as her qualifying admission for the 2026 World Food Championship Oct. 15-18 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and Event Center in Indianapolis. The event is billed as “the nation’s largest food sport.”
It was her dreamed-up recipe for “Fiesta Firecracker Shrimp Rollitos Fritos” entered in an earlier World Food Championship challenge hosted by Bolner’s Fiesta Brand.
Kurella told me that her time in the cooking spotlight next month in Indianapolis will have her on “the global stage” for a contest drawing participants from nearly 40 countries and every U.S. state. The event features more than 300 teams and results in 1,200 culinary champion designations.
This is Kurella’s fourth run at the WFC, having previously won competition placement in 2015, 2023 and 2024. She placed in the Top 20 in her category in 2015, tied for 3rd in 2023, and secured a Top 10 finish in 2025.
“This year, I’m coming into this contest with experience from previous years,” Kurella told me when she was an in-studio on air Aug. 20 broadcast guest on my weekly WJOB 1230 AM OfNotoriety radio show.
“This time, I won’t be putting my elderly sisters through the stress of trying to assist me, so this time really is going to be a different experience.”
As a self-described “home cook,” competing against seasoned professionals, Kurella said she thrives on the energy as she embraces the challenges of the timed arena, including such rules as strict tool-use limitations and a ban on open flames.
“This competition calls for you to up your skill set everywhere you can and leave emotions and fears at home,” Kurella said.
“It is an achievement for a home cook to place in the top 10 because I’m going up against professional chefs who cook at these stress levels every day. To me it’s a personal challenge. The experience also gives me confidence to believe that it’s not only possible for a home cook to make it into the finals, but to also win a category, especially when there’s heavenly help from above. In fact, I would not be doing any of this if it were not for God’s presence in my life and a loving husband who cheers me on in all my pursuits in the world of food. I’m very blessed.”
For more information on food and drink competition trends, spectator tickets and event details, visit worldfoodchampionships.com.
An author of three previous cookbooks, “Midwest Morsels,” “Fabulous Desserts” and “Fabulous Tiny Bites and Beverages,” as well as her first children’s book, “A Delicious Day at Mrs. K’s,” about the importance of nutrition, Kurella is also a member of the Association of Food Journalists.
Our last time visiting on air together was in April 2024 to discuss imported cheeses and Kurella grilling me on the history of the dish “Welsh rabbit.”
During last month’s visit, Laura shared her radio show desk time with Whiting claim-to-fame Tony Panek, aka Mr. Pierogi, the stuffed mascot staple of Whiting’s Pierogi Fest. She brought a tray of delicious pastry samples of her mom’s recipe for “Rozky,” which are featured in her beautiful self-published 160-page hardcover cookbook “Midwest Morsels: Memorable Recipes and Reflections” (2024, edited by Anne Sutton, $39).
“Rozky” is a traditional Central and Eastern European tube-shaped, delicate filled pastry, usually highlighting fruit fillings.
“Recently, I had some fresh, organic Moonlight plums and Redhaven peaches that were picked and needed to be used up, so I cooked down the fruit, blended them to make a great and flavorful filling,” said Kurella, who lives in Wellstone, near Traverse City, Michigan, with husband Richard Taylor.
“Pastry-making is a tradition deeply woven into Eastern European heritage, and one I consider myself blessed to inherit. Growing up in the Calumet Region meant living in a true melting pot. Polish, Irish, Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Lithuanian and German immigrants moved there for work, bringing along their most treasured family recipes. This influx of diversity triggered a population explosion and a culinary one, too. Depending on the nationality, this pastry goes by several names, including roskie, roshky, nut horns and kolacky.”
Kurella said her mom told her this pastry “was born out of necessity.” Before modern food wraps, she cautioned about how fruit on open-faced buns “would spill all over a working man’s lunch bucket.” She said to remedy the problem, resourceful wives devised a method to cook fruit down into a thick paste and fold it securely inside the dough.
Kurella said her mom loved to tell the story of how she once managed to get a batch of them, along with a nut roll, as a gift for cowboy star John Wayne during one of his personal appearances.
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She said “Duke” sampled them and proclaimed: “These sure taste dandy!”
“Mom always swore by her specific brands such as Land O’Lakes, Imperial and Ceresota flour,” said Kurella, who is sharing her mom’s recipe with readers.
“She rolled her dough out on a bed of cane sugar instead of flour, which gives these little pastries a beautiful, crisp, caramelized bottom.”
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is a weekly radio host at WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at [email protected] or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Florence Kurella’s Rozky
Makes 24 servings
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup margarine
8 ounces cream cheese
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus a little extra if dough is sticky)
Granulated cane sugar (for the rolling board)
1 pound apricot pastry filling
Thickened fruit filling of choice
Powdered sugar for dusting
Directions
1. In a mixer bowl, beat the butter, margarine, and cream cheese at high speed for 5 minutes until fully creamed. Drop the speed to low and slowly add the flour. Keep mixing until the dough forms a ball and leaves the sides of the bowl clean.
2. Shape the dough into a smooth log, wrap it securely in plastic, and let it chill thoroughly in the fridge for at least 5 hours or overnight. Don’t skip this — cold dough is the secret to flaky layers!
3. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Divide your chilled dough into three manageable pieces.
4. Instead of flour, heavily dust rolling board with cane sugar. Roll one piece of dough out until it’s a thin 1/2-inch. Cut into 2-inch squares or circles using a pizza wheel or knife.
5. Drop a tiny 1/2 teaspoon of fruit filling right into the center of each piece. Fold or roll them up into little envelopes or horns.
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6. Arrange them on a greased aluminum baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until they are lightly golden and crisp.
7. Allow to cool slightly so they don’t break, then move to a counter to cool completely. Give them a beautiful, snowy dusting of powdered sugar.
Note: You can swap the fruit filling for a classic nut roll filling.