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00:00Previously on Holiday Baking Championship,
00:02the Holiday Village has its first ever snow day.
00:06And the Naughty team claimed a first of its kind,
00:08massive advantage.
00:10You are officially now baking with Team Naughty.
00:13They took Alex, leaving the nice side with only three bakers.
00:17Charles, it brings tears to my eyes.
00:20Charles, you finally won a challenge.
00:22Congratulations.
00:24The cake itself is a little dry.
00:27Kamri, you're going to be leaving us.
00:29You do great, rock it.
00:39On my new team, which is the Naughty team,
00:41there are five of us left.
00:42The vibe is much different on Team Naughty
00:45than it is on Team Nice.
00:47Oh, there he is.
00:48Oh, there he is.
00:48Going shopping.
00:49What's he going to get, do you think?
00:50They're all wildly talented.
00:52They all have really specific skills
00:55that they bring to the table and things
00:57that they absolutely excel in.
00:59But I miss Team Nice very much.
01:01Hi, Jesse.
01:03Welcome back, Team Nice, Team Naughty.
01:05Check it out.
01:06I scored big at the gift shop.
01:07Oh, yes. Oh, my gosh.
01:09And look at this beautiful Christmas ornament I bought.
01:12Oh, buddy.
01:14And look at this giant dreidel I found.
01:16Oh, damn.
01:18And you know, these gifts got me thinking.
01:20Today, let's go Chrismaka.
01:22Oh, Chrismaka.
01:23Interesting.
01:25Christmas, Chrismaka.
01:27Chris, is that right?
01:28Chrismaka?
01:28Chrismaka.
01:30What is it called?
01:32You know, Chrismaka.
01:34A combination of Christmas and Hanukkah.
01:36Okay.
01:37And since dessert platters are perfect
01:39for Christmas or Hanukkah,
01:41you're going to be making Chrismaka dessert platters.
01:45Whoa.
01:46Okay.
01:47So fill your platters with three treats.
01:49Your best decorated Christmas cookie.
01:50Yes.
01:51Yes.
01:52Plus rugelah, the Jewish rolled cookies.
01:54Look, look.
01:55Okay.
01:56And traditional Hanukkah Sufgenyot.
01:59You know, the tasty jelly donuts.
02:01That's, oh.
02:02Yes.
02:03Yes, okay.
02:04And you're baking to make it into the semifinals.
02:07I'm super excited that I get to make
02:08some traditional Hanukkah desserts.
02:10At the same time, it puts an immense amount of pressure on me
02:14because letting down my entire family
02:17and my entire religion and culture,
02:19that's the weight I'm putting on my shoulders today.
02:21Make sure that your flavor,
02:23your decorating choices reflect your team.
02:25Naughty or nice?
02:27Okay.
02:27I'm not great at math,
02:29but I'd like to point out,
02:30Naughty team, you have how many bakers right now?
02:33Five.
02:34Nice team.
02:35But the best part about this is,
02:37if you have the best dessert,
02:39then your team wins immunity.
02:40Hey, yo.
02:41Now, team Naughty, because you won the last challenge,
02:44your team gets an advantage.
02:47We have individual proof boxes in the bakery
02:49to help you with the rise on your donuts.
02:52Okay.
02:52A proofing box is just a kind of temperature-controlled container.
02:56You can add water,
02:57and then you can adjust the temperature inside
03:00more than room temp.
03:01It's a huge advantage.
03:02Yes.
03:03Oh.
03:04Giancarlos, you seem pretty jealous of that.
03:06Yes.
03:07I'm definitely am.
03:08Get inventive, as you take on two very elaborate
03:11and very festive cookies,
03:13as well as a yeasted donut,
03:15and you got to do it in two and a half hours.
03:17This is your only challenge today, bakers.
03:19And your baking time starts now.
03:25All right, buddy.
03:26Want to come here?
03:27Yes.
03:28Come on over, y'all.
03:29All right.
03:29Let's do it.
03:29Take me to...
03:30Okay.
03:30Okay, let's just go over flavors.
03:32Yeah.
03:33How about you?
03:33I think we have varying flavors,
03:35which is awesome.
03:36I'm going to do a ginger molasses cookie.
03:37Ooh.
03:38There are two people left on Team Nice.
03:41Our team is quiet without Alex.
03:42This is a lot of pressure on both me and Giancarlos.
03:46I do love making donuts.
03:48I know my cookie recipe is great.
03:50I love baking for the holidays,
03:51so I'm just really excited to see what everyone else comes up with.
03:55For the cookie, because I'm Italian,
03:57I'm doing star anise.
03:58Yum.
03:59Yum.
03:59Love that.
04:00Everyone on the Naughty team is getting along really well.
04:02I think we had a rocky style at the beginning,
04:03but right now we mad kumbaya.
04:05Alex is coming over to the Naughty team.
04:07We're happy to have her.
04:08We can win.
04:09Yes.
04:09And we can knock someone home from Team Naughty.
04:11Exactly.
04:11Let's go.
04:12Let's do it.
04:12Let's do it.
04:121, 2, 3, Naughty.
04:15Happy Christmaka.
04:15Let's do it.
04:17Vanilla bean paste.
04:18Vanilla bean paste.
04:19I got it already.
04:20Oh, it's in your basket?
04:20Yeah.
04:21Okay, I might steal that from you later.
04:23Okay, so today we are celebrating Christmaka.
04:25It's a holiday that every Jewish person growing up in America is familiar with.
04:29Essentially, it's just you take the best parts of Hanukkah,
04:31you take the best parts of Christmas,
04:32you mash them together, and you have a good old time.
04:34Nico, what's up?
04:35How do you pronounce this donut again?
04:37Sufganyot.
04:38Suf-an-yots.
04:39Suf-an-yots.
04:40Yeah, that was really good.
04:44The traditional Sufganyot, at least in Israel, where I would come from,
04:48it's raspberry jelly, plain and simple.
04:50However, there's lots of other ways you can fill it.
04:52And, you know, we're in 2025.
04:54We're not doing things traditionally anymore.
04:56I've spent a few years developing my Sufganyot dough.
04:58I do 100% oil as my fat in here, so it's not brioche style.
05:02There's no butter in the dough.
05:03And I also put orange zest as well as vanilla bean for additional flavor in the dough.
05:08Okay, so right now, this thing is really dancing.
05:10If I didn't have my hand on here, it would probably fall off the table.
05:13But that's a good thing.
05:14It means that we're really developing that gluten in there.
05:16Okay, Nico, you can't get eliminated today.
05:19Yeah, yeah.
05:19It feels like a little extra pressure on me over everyone else today.
05:23Sufganyot, I make a lot of.
05:25Ooh.
05:25So if I mess that one up, I'm gonna be a little humiliated.
05:27Okay, well, talk me through each of these desserts.
05:29I want to go in a little more salty, savory direction for my Christmas cookie.
05:32So it's gonna be a pretzel shortbread.
05:33Blue snowflakes with Star of David's Pipe on them.
05:36I'm doing a raisin, walnut, and cardamom.
05:38Rogelach.
05:39Because I'm going so traditional with the Rogelach,
05:41I wanted to kind of bring some more American flavors into it.
05:44So I was gonna do a pumpkin pie with Sufganyot.
05:46Love that.
05:47This last Hanukkah, I probably sold about 400 to 500 Sufganyot for my house.
05:53Oh my gosh.
05:53Yeah, it was an intense week.
05:55All right, no pressure.
05:56Yo, okay, you need to get out of here.
05:58All right, I'm just saying.
05:59No pressure at all, y'all.
06:00No pressure.
06:00No pressure.
06:03Beautiful.
06:03Okay.
06:04Now she's gonna go in here.
06:06And then we're gonna let that rise for as long as silly time allows.
06:12A little hot water in there.
06:13Hey, Alex.
06:14Hi.
06:15Man, I'm still trying to get used to you in the red apron.
06:17Me too.
06:18Are you full blown over on the naughty side now?
06:21Is it still trying to hold on?
06:22It's trying to hold on.
06:23You know, I tried my hand at instituting hug time after judging and it got quite a bit
06:30of side eye.
06:31So we won't be doing that again.
06:32They didn't go for it?
06:33They didn't go for it, but that's okay.
06:34So like, how are you gonna make all this scream naughty?
06:37I'm doing an orange cranberry shortbread cookie with like Mardi Gras beads and drunk snowman.
06:42And I'm going to mix really offensive colors together for throw up.
06:46Like he had the worst night of his life.
06:48I've celebrated Christmas in New Orleans and it gets just as wild as it does the rest of the year.
06:52Yeah, it's not just Mardi Gras.
06:54And then for the soup cano, I'm doing a New Orleans style praline filling.
06:59And then some more Mardi Gras beads on top of that.
07:01I'm going to do an almond amaretto arugula.
07:04Traditional wedding cake flavor in New Orleans is almond.
07:08And it is like smack you in the face almond.
07:10I'm not going to do that, but I do want to give a little nod to it.
07:13But these flavors sound absolutely incredible.
07:15Good luck.
07:15Thank you so much.
07:17Today's challenge is difficult just because there's so many parts to it.
07:19There's a lot happening at once and it's really going to kind of be a matter of time management.
07:25So for my orange and cranberry cookie, I start by creaming my butter and my sugar together.
07:31I add my orange zest so that the oil can kind of disperse through the sugar,
07:35brighten it up a little bit and then dried cranberries.
07:37Once that dough is ready, I place it on the bench, roll it out, punch it and bake them.
07:43I've not had a naughty snowman moment on Bourbon Street, but if you talk to my friends back in Boston,
07:48there was quite a few times where you could find me face down in a trash can on the subway.
07:53Five minutes.
07:55Good luck, little guys.
07:59Do you have the yeast?
08:00I do have yeast.
08:02Grab what you need.
08:04Three desserts is a lot and I have never made rugula in my life, so I feel terrified.
08:10I'm going to make a ginger molasses cookie with maple cream cheese snowman.
08:13And then on the Hanukkah side, I'm going to make a black tea and raspberry pistachio rugula.
08:19For my souffle gagneau, I am making a cannoli crunch donut.
08:22I'm going to do cannoli cream on the inside, ganache on the top, and then do a cannoli crunch for texture.
08:28I am excited about it.
08:29I've made a cannoli donut before and it always hits.
08:31Rugula, I know what it is, but I don't know what it is.
08:36Hey, Alex.
08:37Yeah?
08:37What's the texture of rugula?
08:39It's supposed to be kind of like flaky.
08:40So it's really like a pie dough.
08:43I'm going to survive this.
08:44Thanks for the help.
08:45Of course.
08:46Alex, what are you doing over there?
08:48You can take my bestie from me, but she's still mine.
08:51Eat it.
08:52I want to add black tea and orange to my dough because they complement each other well,
08:57and I think they'll complement the nutty, fruity richness of the chocolate that will be in the filling.
09:04Two hours left, bakers!
09:06The most difficult part of this challenge is the donut, getting it mixed well enough,
09:10proofed, fried, filled.
09:11It's a lot of work.
09:12It would be a lot easier if we had a proof box.
09:16Such a great advantage.
09:19But we don't.
09:19So I've made thousands of donuts in my life, so I want to use a brioche dough for my donut.
09:24It's always soft and tender and fluffy.
09:26You want to make sure that you knead the dough properly before you incorporate the butter,
09:31because the butter interrupts your protein structure in your dough.
09:35And that's what gives you tender and fluffy dough.
09:38Come on, grip.
09:39This is a lot.
09:40One challenge, three desserts.
09:42Who's going to save their team from elimination?
09:45Hey, how's it going?
09:45Can you please have two iced Americano, please?
09:48Absolutely.
09:50No problem.
09:50On teen ice, it's just me and Chase.
09:53Chase, coffee for you.
09:56We're always checking with each other.
09:58We build a friendship, and that's great.
10:02I'm nothing without my coffee.
10:04No one should have business brioching this fast.
10:07You know what I mean?
10:08It's too fast.
10:10When I heard Teen Naughty have a chance to use the proof box, I was like,
10:15Really?
10:16So I have to use hot water on my oven to make the atmosphere to make my dough rise.
10:27So I'm Carlos.
10:27There's a lot of desserts going on today, right?
10:30We're putting you to work today in two and a half hours.
10:32Yes.
10:32For my Christmas cookies, I'm going to make an orange and coffee Christmas ball ornament.
10:37For my doughnuts, I'm making the trendy Dubai chocolate doughnut.
10:42We're going to go viral today.
10:44Let's go viral today.
10:45I love that.
10:46And for my arugula, I will make something inspired on churros and dulce de leche.
10:52It will be so good.
10:53Are you rolling a dulce de leche?
10:54Oh, yes.
10:55Arugula.
10:56Exactly.
10:57Oh, M-G.
10:59And I decided to make this because I have this memory of my mom on the circus making churros for me,
11:06self.
11:06I used to be a little clown.
11:08I do a lot of jungle.
11:09Jingle?
11:10What's the name?
11:11Juggle.
11:11Juggle.
11:11Yeah.
11:12Juggle.
11:14Oh, guys, Giancarlos is juggling.
11:16That's amazing, JC.
11:17Oh, there he goes.
11:18How does he do it and bang?
11:19That was amazing.
11:20See, Nadi, you cannot do that.
11:24Soufignon, soufignon.
11:26Nico's just going to present for all of us so we don't mess it up.
11:30I have made yeasted doughnuts quite often, but the recipe I usually use takes three days.
11:36So cramming all that into a two and a half hour window is going to be a bit of a challenge.
11:41Okay, let's see how this goes.
11:44So for my soufignon, I'm making a brandy cherry filled soufignon.
11:47I'm doing a fig and poppy seed filled rugelach.
11:50And then I'm doing a orange clove sugar cookie.
11:53I think I'm going to do my cookies in the shape of these, like,
11:56angry gnomes that are in this kind of Christmas village.
11:59Poppy seed's a very unique flavor.
12:01It has a little bit of, like, a savory, earthy quality.
12:04I wanted to balance out the, like, sweetness of fig, brightness of the lemon that I'm seasoning with.
12:09And I know poppy is very prevalent in the Jewish culture, so I kind of wanted to tie that in as a nod.
12:17Let's see.
12:19JC, I'm having issues with my dough, buddy.
12:21My doughnut dough.
12:22Really?
12:23Dough is not coming together.
12:25It feels, like, greasy, fatty.
12:27Still, I've been needing it for ages.
12:30I'm noticing that the butter is not incorporating the way that it usually does.
12:34This equipment's a little different than what I'm used to using back home.
12:37My dough hasn't developed enough gluten.
12:39I don't know if I should just restart.
12:41I feel like I'm just so behind.
12:43Uh, if you have confidence, I don't have a ton of confidence in this dough.
12:53Do it again.
12:56All right.
13:01I just need to restart.
13:07Having to make this brioche dough a second time makes me speed up the second process.
13:11How's your dough looking like now?
13:13Um, it's looking a little better.
13:15I know it doesn't have as much butter as it usually does, but I have to get it proofing if I want anything on the plate.
13:20This has been the most chaotic day of my life.
13:23Well, how are you?
13:25I am frantic today.
13:26I sense the frantic.
13:27Yeah, yeah.
13:28I don't really want to be sent home for something I do all the time, like donuts.
13:31Tell me about your donut-making skills.
13:33When I had my bakery, we didn't have a fryer, so we just pot-fried.
13:36What?
13:37And we would pot-fry hundreds.
13:38It was crazy.
13:39So I'm, like, used to this.
13:40Like, once my donuts are in, I'll be happy.
13:42You're making me frantic.
13:44It's so much mental gymnastics.
13:46And then on top of that, if you don't feel like you have a balance in life.
13:49Let's just get a yoga pose, you and I.
13:51Okay.
13:53One sec.
13:54Now I'm going to make my ginger molasses cookies.
13:57I love ginger molasses cookies because they are the right amount of spice,
14:03and they are chewy because they have that molasses.
14:06Once that is just mixed, I'll roll them in sugar and get them into the oven.
14:12All right.
14:1290 minutes left.
14:13Krismaka dessert platters.
14:15Can I use it in a proof box?
14:17Because I know how long my dough will take to proof naturally,
14:21and then I'm not worried about completely just forgetting about it in a proof box and over-proofing.
14:26Hello, Ashley.
14:27Hi, Jesse.
14:27Tell me about each of these bad boys.
14:29What are we doing for the cookie?
14:31So for the cookie, I'm doing my orange-scented shortbread in a reindeer shape with Christmas lights.
14:37And star anise-flavored icing.
14:39Being Italian, orange and anise are very popular for us,
14:42so I'm kind of tying in the family heritage with that.
14:44And then as far as the arugula goes, it's an orange-scented dough with orange jam.
14:49I am doing a cranberry, raspberry, apple-filled doughnut with a milk chocolate ganache.
14:56How are you bringing the nadi in these desserts?
14:58For the reindeer cookies, decorate in a reindeer shape with mashed-up Christmas lights,
15:03and where they look all tangled.
15:04My brothers and I used to unravel all the Christmas lights and play hide-and-seek with the Christmas
15:09lights, and the rule was you had to have the lights on wherever you were hiding.
15:12I had one that had a timer on it, so mine just only was lit up every 30 seconds, so.
15:17You kind of cheated at the game.
15:19I didn't cheat, I won fair and square.
15:27That'll be fine.
15:28Let's get that rise.
15:30At home, I celebrate Christmas, but we also celebrate Eid and a lot of like the more Islamic holidays,
15:34because my mom comes from the Christian side.
15:36My dad's from the Middle East, he's the Islamic side.
15:39Jewish holidays are not really in my wheelhouse, but I have a lot of like very Jewish friends.
15:43Who's your favorite Jewish friend?
15:45Um, I'm not answering that question.
15:47Tariq, how are we doing, man?
15:48How much has this proof helped?
15:49So far, a lot.
15:51This looks pretty good.
15:51Yeah, I love making dough.
15:52I love making bread doughs, yeah.
15:53Do you feel pretty good?
15:54Your dough game pretty strong?
15:56I hope so.
15:56I mean, hopefully today it is, but usually it's good.
16:00Okay, so what are you making?
16:01A blackberry anise souf-guignon, a chocolate pistachio rougala,
16:07and a chocolate cherry salted shortbread cookie.
16:10And then put one of my cat's heads in the middle of it.
16:12Is that how you're bringing the nadi to this?
16:14Oh, absolutely.
16:15They're like the craziest cats ever.
16:17They're always like jumping everywhere, climbing the Christmas trees, like getting stuck in stuff.
16:21You're literally a bake away from the semi-final.
16:24Redemption.
16:24Redemption.
16:25That's what you're here for.
16:26Absolutely.
16:26On kids baking, I was the runner-up.
16:29Well, it was firm and then it wasn't firm.
16:32Being only one away from the semi-finals, it's so like insane.
16:37My nerves are like, they're not here. My nerves are like here.
16:40All right, dude. Good luck.
16:43For my rougala, I'm doing very like savory dough. There isn't really any sugar in it.
16:47The main priorities are making sure that you don't overwork it and that it ends up having like a good flakiness to it.
16:53I've never made this dough before, so I'm really just kind of going off what feels right.
16:57And I roll it up, egg wash it, sprinkle some demerara sugar, slice it up and stick it in the oven.
17:05Having the proof basket was extremely beneficial.
17:07It cut down on majority of the proof time.
17:10So that gave me enough time to get my cookies done.
17:12It's been a huge help.
17:15Let those guys fry.
17:16All right, rougala, I feel pretty strongly about. I worked at a kosher caterer for a very long time,
17:23so my rougala needs to show up and show out. For the rougala filling, I'm doing an almond lime frangipan.
17:29I am using almond meal, toasted almonds, almond extract, cream your sugar and your butter together,
17:37roll it out, cut out little triangles and pipe my frangipan into each triangle.
17:41It's a little savory. Feedback I've gotten probably throughout the entirety of my career is that
17:46my sweets tend to lean a little savory. I've never had that as a negative.
17:50I'm just hoping that the judges appreciate it for what it is.
17:53Feeling very nervous being one challenge away from the semifinals.
17:56When I first got into the competition, I was like, as long as I make it past the first episode,
18:00and now I'm like, I need to be in the last one.
18:03All right, one hour left now.
18:05You're doing rougala now?
18:07Yes, sir.
18:07Are you using cream cheese?
18:08Yeah.
18:09Okay, good.
18:09Is there like a difference between traditional rougala and then like Americanized?
18:13I see a lot of American recipes don't use like cream cheese in the dough.
18:16They go for like a more like flaky, like croissant, like texture, like laminated dough,
18:18which is not what it is.
18:19But it's not supposed to be like that, right?
18:20That's not what it is, yeah.
18:20It's supposed to be like cakey?
18:21Yes.
18:22Okay.
18:23Nope, don't want that.
18:25Okay, y'all, I can't stand you mispronouncing these anymore.
18:29We're going to do a little lesson. Repeat after me.
18:32You have to make a real nasty throat.
18:33There's two camps of rougala, right? There's Team Crescent, there's Team Spiral.
18:41I am cheerleader, MVP of Team Crescent. That's why I see them back home.
18:46So I did not even think about making a spiral.
18:49I am making the filling for my rougala. It is like a spiced brown sugar with dried cranberries
18:58and raisins and a little bit of candied orange peel.
19:01I have made rougala before. It's not my favorite thing to make, but my grandmother used to make it
19:06when I was a kid. She made this apricot spiced rougala that was just so good, and it was nutty,
19:12and it was sweet, and it was refreshing, but then also spicy like the holidays.
19:16This is a difficult one. Making three different desserts and then making all the components,
19:21it's definitely a time crunch.
19:26I am trying to brown butter for my shortbread cookie, but I have so many things going on.
19:31I got distracted and walked away, and I boiled over.
19:35I love orange and clove together. I think they really play off each other.
19:38All right, brown butter. We did it.
19:42I wanted to brown the butter just to add to that golden brown deliciousness
19:46that you're looking for in a cookie. I make dessert platters all the time.
19:50I love a decorative cookie platter, but I definitely don't do it in the short of time,
19:54nor do I do a Hanukkah spin on it either. This is definitely my most stressful bake.
20:03Charles, a lot of people on Team Naughty think you are the naughtiest.
20:07I guess I'll take it. Niko, can I borrow some of that white chocolate?
20:10Absolutely. And not give it back?
20:12We're dismantling the nice team.
20:15I'm not intimidated by your mustache, Charles.
20:18Oh, yes. They still like me, so that's a good sign.
20:21Well, yeah, they should like you, especially after last week.
20:24Charles, you finally broke through. Congratulations!
20:29Yes! You did it.
20:30You got emotional when Nancy tried your dessert that won.
20:33That's really why I do this, because you get to bring that to people all the time,
20:37in the holidays especially, so...
20:39I like the soft side of Charles.
20:41I'm not that naughty, okay?
20:42All right, brother. Good luck.
20:43Thanks, Jesse.
20:45I have not won a challenge so far.
20:48Today needs to be today.
20:50Right now, I'm rolling my Christmas cookies.
20:53I'm cutting like a Christmas ball.
20:58For my donut filling, it's a combination of pistachio and a catafi.
21:02Very, very crispy dough, and they combine together.
21:05I will make my own catafi.
21:07This is my first time make from scratch.
21:09Let's see how this is going to be.
21:11This is what I'm talking about.
21:14This needs to be crunchy, because this is the texture everybody's looking for.
21:18Jesse, how's your dough?
21:20It's rising.
21:21Now, my dough is proof. It's time for deep frying.
21:28All right, let's lock. Let's do it.
21:29I'm going to get my dough rolled out, actually.
21:31Are you rolling out your dough in there?
21:32This is my cookie dough.
21:33So, Ashley is putting her cookie dough through a sheeter to roll it out.
21:37So, I figure I might as well do the same thing.
21:43Oh, hello.
21:46That was dumb, wasn't it?
21:48The sheeter chopped up and spit out my cookie dough.
21:50The ratio of chocolate and cherry in the dough is high.
21:53So, it kind of, like, broke apart.
21:56Oh, my God.
21:57This is a disaster.
22:02We're just not going to do that anymore.
22:04I'm just going to go do it by hand.
22:05I feel like it's better.
22:07This is just not what needed to happen.
22:11Once my doughnuts have proof, I take them to the deep fryer and I fry them until they're nice and golden brown.
22:17Time is flying.
22:1830 minutes left.
22:20Chrismica dessert platters.
22:22This is too much to do and it's a lot.
22:27Tracy, despite my dough mishaps, I am frying, which is insane.
22:31All things considered, having messed up a dough, I'm just happy to be anywhere close to where I am.
22:36So, my doughnuts are fried.
22:38I've got to make a filling for my doughnut.
22:40I've got to fill them.
22:40I've got to ganache them.
22:42If I get through today, I am a semi-finalist in this competition and that feels unbelievable.
22:49Woo, girl.
22:50There's a $25,000 prize.
22:54I don't even know what I would do with that.
22:55I think I'll put it towards owning a bed and breakfast.
22:58It would honestly be a dream life for me.
23:03All right.
23:05Those cookies are looking good.
23:07Decorating cookies is not my strength.
23:08So, I know that a snowman will give me a little bit of wiggle room for what I can get away with.
23:14I'm going to mix a lot of really offensive colors together for the throw up on the front of the snowman.
23:23Do they look like they've been throwing up and drinking on bourbon all day?
23:27My regular are out of the oven and they look fine.
23:29They're a little rustic, but I think regular is rustic for the most part.
23:33I'm hoping that the judges will see the vision.
23:36Bourbon for Bourbon Street, why not?
23:39I want to blitz my praline candy to fold into my pastry cream.
23:43But I look around and there are no food processors anywhere.
23:47Everybody was using them.
23:48I grab a blender and hope that that will do.
23:53This overheat, come on, man.
23:55The blender immediately just overheats and kicks off.
23:58Guys, you only got 20 minutes on the clock.
24:00There's very little time left.
24:01It's going to have to work.
24:04Hey, Alex, you're going to get those filled?
24:06I'm filling them.
24:07Trying to.
24:13Now I need to work on my pumpkin pie custard filling.
24:17Can I steal some spices off of here?
24:18Steal whatever you need.
24:20Thank you, girlie.
24:21I'm thrilled to be on Team Naughty.
24:22I think I've really embraced the naughty in me since being here.
24:29Is that a copywritten song?
24:30Can I sing Hanukkah songs?
24:31Which ones do we have the license for?
24:33The more I get to play around, the more inspiration it gives me.
24:36Being naughty means have fun and be mischievous.
24:38And that's very much me to the core.
24:40Wow, I definitely probably got pumpkin all over my face, huh?
24:43Dreadle, dreadle, dreadle.
24:44I made it out.
24:45Okay, blah, blah.
24:48Just making my cranberry raspberry apple compote for my doughnuts.
24:52Alex, will you taste this?
24:54Yes.
24:54For my filling for my doughnut.
24:57We love Alex.
24:58We love the fact that we were able to add her to our team.
25:01With the salt and citrus, maybe, just to kind of round it out.
25:03But she's delicious.
25:04I know that team nice is missing her big.
25:07But I think that she was always kind of meant to be on team naughty.
25:10There we go.
25:10That's perfect.
25:14This is it.
25:1415 minutes.
25:15Get it done.
25:19I'm frying at my station because I can control the heat with the candy thermometer.
25:25Oh my god, I have no clue if I'm going to get this done on time.
25:27This is a lot.
25:28It's too much.
25:31All right, here goes nothing.
25:35As I'm frying the doughnuts, because they're underproof, they're taking longer,
25:39I'm tossing them around to try to get even coverage of the oil.
25:42They're getting very dark, but I'd rather have a dark doughnut that's cooked than serve raw dough to
25:47the judges.
25:48And then I toss them in my spiced sugar.
25:49I just need to get them finished.
25:51Oh my god gracious.
25:55The cookies, they're nice and golden brown, but I don't think I'm going to be able to make
25:59gnome faces on these things.
26:01So I kind of do a Hail Mary and just do just a dip method.
26:04It's kind of killing me inside to have to really scramble.
26:08I just know I need finished product on the platter.
26:11My cookies represent death.
26:13And that is the Christmas spirit.
26:15San Carlos.
26:16Yes, sir.
26:17Are you looking across the way?
26:18Have you seen Charles over there?
26:20He is on the struggle bus.
26:21I don't think I've ever seen him like this.
26:23I'm not going to lie.
26:24I like it.
26:26Someone can go home today.
26:27This is a really important challenge.
26:29I'm freaking out right now.
26:30I can't even speak special in English because I don't know how to translate my feelings right now.
26:36You just keep stuffing those beautiful sufganiyots.
26:39Hey, bakers, just one quick question.
26:41Are you stressed so much?
26:44Extremely.
26:44You have no idea.
26:47I need to get these filled and then I need to like get my decorations done.
26:51At this point, I just get it done and get it done.
26:52How we doing, Tarek?
26:57Not great.
26:59Five minutes left, bakers.
27:00I'm so behind.
27:01It's so bad.
27:03My cookie's half decorated.
27:05One of my cat's head stuck in a wreath on my cookie was clearly not going to work.
27:09So I really just need to get something on that plate.
27:12So I opt to just kind of feather my wreath design with two shades of green and put on some like
27:17Hanukkah colored sprinkles and just call it a day.
27:20It's better than nothing.
27:23One minute.
27:27I think we're all feeling the heat.
27:29I'm starting to freak out.
27:30You okay, JC?
27:32What's the color for the Hanukkah?
27:34Blue and gold.
27:35Okay, thank you.
27:38This is a nightmare.
27:40This lady should have gotten a bigger plate.
27:41These things are massive.
27:45I'm trying to like not have a heart attack at the moment.
27:48My donut glaze is not nearly as cooled as I wanted it to be.
27:52I wasn't happy, but I had to just roll with it.
27:5515 seconds.
28:00This is just going to have to do.
28:03It's something.
28:05All right, that's it.
28:06That was crazy.
28:10That was great.
28:11All right, bakers.
28:12Eyes up here, please.
28:14I've got an announcement.
28:15This is a big one.
28:16The judges are going to be tasting your desserts blind.
28:19What?
28:20Oh, hell no.
28:21So place your platters on the center table.
28:24Head on over to Jingle Java and you can all watch together as the judges taste your work.
28:29This show has so many twists.
28:32I was not expecting that.
28:34Mine's not going to be good.
28:37Guys, two and a half hours to make.
28:39That was insane.
28:39That was crazy.
28:40That was crazy.
28:41So many things.
28:43Judges, you are blind tasting Krismaka dessert platters.
28:46Look at this.
28:48Each platter has a green or a red marking to denote which team it's from.
28:52Are the teams watching?
28:53Yes.
28:53Here's the thing.
28:54You're not going to know which baker on that team these desserts come from.
28:57Of course, you're welcome to guess which baker made each platter.
29:00I bet I can tell.
29:01Oh.
29:01We've got decorated Christmas cookies.
29:05We've got rugelach and some sufganiyot as well.
29:08Right up my alley.
29:08Honestly, pretty happy about blind judging.
29:12They're just going to go purely on the taste and the look.
29:15Hopefully the flavors carry it because it's not my prettiest stuff.
29:19Let's start with team naughty.
29:21Platter number two, it's a chocolate cherry shortbread cookie.
29:25I'm not super thrilled about a blind taste test.
29:27You don't get to sell your story.
29:29It's unfortunate.
29:30The design here got a little muddled.
29:32I put a lot more time in making it than decorating it.
29:34And decorating is just a hot mess.
29:36I am tasting some pretty chewy cherries.
29:40I would have those on my table.
29:44Your next bite is chocolate pistachio arugula.
29:47I think it's cute.
29:48The layers of the dough in there looks really, really nice.
29:51And I do like the amount of filling they have of the pistachio and chocolate.
29:55Favorite.
29:56Maybe a skosh more sugar.
29:57Skosh isn't bad.
29:58How about a blackberry anise mascarpone sufgenyot?
30:05It's light and it's fluffy.
30:07But when you bite into it, all of the filling kind of falls out because it's so wet at the bottom.
30:12And I don't taste any anise.
30:15Because it's so plain, it's just nice.
30:17Show me the naughty.
30:18Any guesses?
30:19Maybe Tarek?
30:21Damn.
30:22Up next from Team Nice, this is an orange sugar cookie.
30:28Brilliant red and a little blue for Hanukkah.
30:32Nice and flaky, crunchy.
30:34All right, we got a dulce de leche churro rugula.
30:39What?
30:40I'm tasting the dulce de leche, but I think it's way too thick, underbaked.
30:47Up next is a Dubai chocolate pistachio sufgenyot.
30:51Oh.
30:52I think the donut part looks nice and brown and crispy, but the chocolate could have been a little neater.
30:59I think the pistachio, it's delicious.
31:02And the kataifi, the flavor's great.
31:04Does it look like Team Nice?
31:06You know, I'm not saying nice because it's such an array of brown.
31:12All right, we're back to Team Naughty here.
31:14We got an orange cranberry and white chocolate cookie.
31:18I think maybe this snowman had a little too much to drink last night.
31:23The snowman is barfing.
31:24No.
31:25That was exactly what I was going for.
31:29Come on, Nance, it's naughty.
31:32Too much bourbon the night before.
31:34Well, it's crunchy.
31:36It's flavorful.
31:37The cookie's very good, but it's naughty.
31:41All right, next up, almond and lime rugula.
31:45It doesn't look like rugula, so let's see.
31:50I'm not tasting anything.
31:51There's no almond, there's no lime.
31:53There's lime in the dough and in the frangipan, but...
31:56All right, we're going to move on.
31:57This is a praline and cream suf canyot.
32:01Looks like something Alex would do.
32:03Uh-oh.
32:05There's no filling.
32:08I mean, it's just nothing.
32:10No, are you kidding?
32:12I can't believe I forgot that donut.
32:15Well, let's see if I have filling.
32:16I think I do.
32:17I don't know if I like the look of the filling, but it's there.
32:20The flavor does not read praline.
32:25I'm getting broken cream, a ton of bourbon that really hasn't been cooked out.
32:30Not successful.
32:31Not successful.
32:31Don't feel great that I've gotten the worst review yet.
32:35This is the second offering from Team Nice.
32:38A ginger molasses cookie with maple cream cheese icing.
32:42This is mine, everybody.
32:43Yeah.
32:44Whoa.
32:45It's a snowman.
32:46I think this is adorable.
32:47I hope it tastes good.
32:51I am loving that cream cheese frosting on top.
32:54A little salty, a little sour, and I taste plenty of maple.
32:57This is delicious.
32:59All right, let's talk rugula.
33:00This is a black tea raspberry chocolate and pistachio.
33:06I like the little bit of red.
33:08Crispy, flaky.
33:11The pistachio in here, it gives the perfect texture to all that soft chocolate.
33:15All right, whoever made this knows what they're doing.
33:17Never made a rugula in my life.
33:20All right, ready?
33:21Yeah.
33:22Cannoli crunch sufgenyot.
33:25Wow.
33:27I'm so worried about the doughnut, you all.
33:29The fact that you had a snafu and you still managed to get a doughnut out is crazy.
33:31I survived.
33:32Very chrismica.
33:34The blue, the gold leaf, the crumbles of pistachio.
33:38Looks really nice.
33:39It's like a canola, but it's Jewish.
33:41You know what I mean?
33:42Canola filling's great.
33:44I like everything on top.
33:45We're good.
33:46I do like the fact that the platter looks holiday-esque.
33:51Definitely see holiday in all three components.
33:55I think this was Chase's platter.
33:57How do you feel?
33:57That wasn't bad at all.
33:58We're back to Team Naughty here.
34:02We've got a pretzel shortbread cookie to start with.
34:05It's a blue snowflake with the Star of David.
34:07So it's very Hanukkah.
34:09Mmm.
34:10Crunchy.
34:11Mmm.
34:12I taste pretzel, and I taste shortbread, and I taste too much frosting, but I do love the cookie.
34:18Mm-hmm.
34:19Okay, let's move on to this spiced honey walnut rugula.
34:23This looks like old school.
34:24This is like my Uncle Shlomo made this.
34:28Mmm.
34:30Can you see that?
34:31You see how flaky that was?
34:34Either the oven was up a little too high, or they left it in the oven a little too long,
34:39but it's charred.
34:40All right, finishing up.
34:41Ready?
34:42Pumpkin pie spice sufgenyat.
34:45I can tell you what.
34:47This is your textbook donut.
34:50Powdered sugar on top is nice and neat.
34:52I love the piping of the whipped cream with a dollop of that pumpkin spice on top.
34:56Oh, yeah, look at that.
34:59Oh, it's so soft.
35:00It's so tender.
35:01Mmm.
35:03Super full.
35:03A lot of filling in there, but really light and airy and fluffy.
35:08This is beautiful work.
35:11It's so good.
35:12I just want more.
35:13I think it's the best donut on the table.
35:15It's so good.
35:16It's so good.
35:19How do you feel?
35:20Oh, good.
35:21Good.
35:21You should be proud of yourself.
35:22Yeah, I just put a lot of pressure on myself for this one.
35:25You did great, Nico.
35:26You did so good.
35:27I'm proud of you.
35:28I knew my family back home was going to be watching this one in particular,
35:31and I just really wanted it to go well.
35:33I wonder if it's Nico, because his family would have probably made these donuts.
35:39Yeah.
35:43From the naughty team, look at this guy.
35:46Star anise orange sugar cookie.
35:48It's a reindeer.
35:50They had a little bit of trouble with the decorating.
35:54Maybe instead of putting the Christmas lights around the reindeer,
35:57maybe make a face so we can really tell that it's a reindeer.
36:00Right.
36:00So you kind of want to jump through the screen and just explain to them where your thought process was.
36:08Very buttery, but I think the star anise wipes out the orange.
36:13Yeah.
36:14Yeah.
36:15Spiced orange marmalade rugula.
36:17It looks very gooey and buttery.
36:20I like it.
36:21This is really good and really flaky.
36:23All right.
36:24I've got a big donut, a big sufgenot staring at you here.
36:27This is apple cran raspberry sufgenot.
36:30It's very wet and very sticky.
36:33I'm not sure what happened here.
36:34It looks like it melted.
36:35It looks more like a mirror glaze than it does an icing for a donut.
36:39It's a little gummy.
36:41There's no place for the filling to go because the donut and the dough is just so dense.
36:46The flavor, it's a little one note.
36:48It looks naughty, but in a stand in the corner kind of way.
36:54It's pretty sloppy.
36:55It's a poor rendition of Hanukkah.
37:01This one was hard for me.
37:03There's a lot of components, and I just was hoping that the flavor was there.
37:07It's the last one.
37:08All right.
37:08Here's your seventh platter.
37:09It's Team Naughty.
37:11A brown butter orange clove shortbread.
37:14The decorating on top, it's like a murder scene.
37:16I feel like I'm eating evidence.
37:18My favorite day to murder someone is Christmas.
37:21This cookie has the perfect amount of orange and sugar.
37:24I'm a lover of brown butter.
37:25It's really good.
37:26Okay.
37:28Flavor saver.
37:30Fig poppy seed rugula.
37:32Now, this is one of our better rugulas of the day.
37:35The way that it's rolled.
37:37Conceptually, I think this is great, but there's no sugar in here.
37:40It's really salty.
37:42You need some sugar in there to kind of balance that out.
37:45Looks like a cheese fondue.
37:47Perfect.
37:49All right.
37:49This is a brandy cherry sufgeniot.
37:52It's a little dark.
37:53Somebody was rushing.
37:54I feel like the dough didn't prove the way that it should have.
37:59Really, really crusty on the outside here.
38:03Great filling.
38:03This dough wasn't allowed to rise.
38:06It's too thick.
38:07No, that's just making sure it wasn't raw in the middle.
38:11Definitely get some of the Christmas with the red and the naughty from, like, a bloody...
38:14Blood splatter.
38:15Yeah.
38:16So, judges, obviously the semifinals are coming up, and one of these bakers is not going to make it.
38:21This is the most important bake yet.
38:23One platter is going to save one team from elimination.
38:29And, of course, one baker has to go home.
38:30Mm-hmm.
38:31Do you feel like you've made a decision?
38:32I don't know.
38:37Yeah, I don't know.
38:40Bakers, your dessert platters were gorgeous, and we gorged on them.
38:44And guess what?
38:45Your treats put Duff in such chrismica spirit that he left early to go to a chrismica party.
38:50More leftovers for us, I guess.
38:51Exactly.
38:52Before we tell you how you did, the judges have to figure out who made what.
38:56They don't know.
38:56Right, on the nice team, platter number one, that was made by Jean Carlos.
39:00And platter number three, that's your guy Chase over there.
39:03Now, for Team Naughty, platter number two, that was made by Tarek.
39:07Platter number four, that was made by Nico.
39:09Ashley brought you platter number five.
39:11Platter number six, that was Alex's brainchild.
39:14And then platter number seven, that is all Charles is doing.
39:17Honestly, guys, is there anything left of you all?
39:19I know that was a really hard challenge.
39:21It was rough.
39:21Really?
39:22Definitely.
39:23I am shocked that I finished as many components as I did,
39:26but the stakes are just getting higher and higher, and I refuse to go home.
39:31Now that I know who made what, the Naughty team's peak performer was...
39:41Nico.
39:41Good job, Nico.
39:43And the best platter on the nice team came from...
39:47Chase.
39:52But alas, only one of you can claim the win, and that baker is...
40:01Chase.
40:03Well done.
40:03You did it.
40:06I did not see that coming.
40:08I knew Nico would be in the top, but we are safe.
40:12And it feels so good.
40:13I have to give you the...
40:17So that leaves Team Naughty now up for elimination.
40:22Nico was named the best on the team.
40:24He is safe and in the semifinals.
40:27Joining you is Charles...
40:28And...
40:30Tarek.
40:33Of course, that leaves Alex and Ashley.
40:37Please step forward, you two.
40:42Alex, the praline cream in your Souf Gagnon just didn't work, and it was actually missing entirely in Nancy's donut.
40:49Ashley, your donut was oily, and the texture was very thick and gummy.
40:54Unfortunately, the baker leaving us today is...
41:04Alex.
41:07Alex, I am so sorry.
41:09Thank you for the opportunity.
41:11This has been the time of my life.
41:13I can't tell you how happy I am to have had this experience.
41:17I think I met some really amazing people.
41:19My strength really shined through when I was working in a team.
41:22I've loved every second, every stressful moment, every high anxiety moment.
41:27Friends for the rest of my life.
41:29I wouldn't trade it for anything.
41:31Thank you, guys.
41:32Bye, Alex.
41:32Thank you, Alex.
41:33Bye, baby.
41:33Bye, Alex.
41:34Love you.
41:37Congrats on making it to the semifinals, you guys.
41:45Next time.
41:45Happy New Year.
41:47We are dissolving teams.
41:49Oh, my God.
41:51We've got three challenges today.
41:54No pressure.
41:55Groovy cake.
41:57And a sassy surprise guest.
41:59Gag.
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