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00:01And the Naughty team claimed a first-of-its-kind massive advantage.
00:05You are officially now baking with Team Naughty.
00:08They took Alex, leaving the nice side with only three bakers.
00:12Charles, it brings tears to my eyes.
00:15Charles, you finally won a challenge.
00:18Congratulations!
00:19Yes!
00:20The cake itself is a little dry.
00:22Kamri, you're gonna be leaving us.
00:24Do great! Rock it!
00:30All right.
00:34On my new team, which is the Naughty team, there are five of us left.
00:37The vibe is much different on Team Naughty than it is on Team Nice.
00:41Oh, there he is.
00:42Oh, there he is. Going shopping.
00:44What's he gonna get, do you think?
00:45They're all wildly talented.
00:47They all have really specific skills that they bring to the table
00:51and things that they absolutely excel in.
00:54But I miss Team Nice very much.
00:56Hi, Jessie.
00:57Welcome back, Team Nice, Team Naughty.
00:59Check it out.
01:01I scored big at the gift shop.
01:02Oh, yes.
01:03Oh, my gosh.
01:04Look at this beautiful Christmas ornament I bought.
01:07Oh!
01:08Oh!
01:09And look at this giant dreidel I found.
01:11Oh!
01:12Hey!
01:13And you know, these gifts got me thinking.
01:15Today, let's go Chrismica.
01:17Oh, Chrismica.
01:18Interesting.
01:19Chrism...
01:20Chrismica?
01:21Is that right?
01:23Chrismica?
01:24Chrismica?
01:25What is it called?
01:26You know, Chrismica.
01:28Yeah.
01:29A combination of Christmas and Hanukkah.
01:31Okay.
01:32And since dessert platters are perfect for Christmas or Hanukkah,
01:36you're gonna be making Chrismica dessert platters.
01:39Whoa.
01:40Okay.
01:41Okay.
01:42Right.
01:43So fill your platters with three treats.
01:44Your best decorated Christmas cookie.
01:46Yes.
01:47Yes.
01:48Yes.
01:49Yes.
01:50Yes.
01:51And you're baking to make it into the semifinals.
01:53I'm super excited that I get to make some traditional Hanukkah desserts.
01:55At the same time, it puts an immense amount of pressure on me because letting down my entire
01:59family and my entire religion and culture, that's the weight I'm putting on my shoulders
02:03today.
02:04Make sure that your flavor, your decorating choices reflect your team.
02:21Naughty or nice?
02:22Okay.
02:23I'm not great at math, but I'd like to point out, Naughty team, you have how many bakers
02:25right now?
02:26Five.
02:27Nice team.
02:28But the best part about this is if you have the best dessert, then your team wins immunity.
02:35Hey, yo.
02:36Now, team Naughty, because you won the last challenge, your team gets an advantage.
02:42We have individual proof boxes in the bakery to help you with the rise on your donuts.
02:47Okay.
02:48A proofing box is just a kind of temperature controlled container.
02:51You can add water, and then you can adjust the temperature inside more than room temp.
02:56It's a huge advantage.
02:57Yes.
02:58Ooh.
02:59John Carlos, you seem pretty jealous of that.
03:01Yes.
03:02I'm definitely am.
03:03Get inventive as you take on two very elaborate and very festive cookies, as well as a yeasted
03:09donut, and you got to do it in two and a half hours.
03:12This is your only challenge today, bakers.
03:14And your baking time starts now.
03:21All right, buddy.
03:22Want to come here?
03:23Yes.
03:24Come on over, y'all.
03:25All right.
03:26Let's do a team meeting.
03:27Okay.
03:28Okay, let's just go over flavors.
03:29Yeah.
03:30Yep.
03:31How about you?
03:32I think we have varying flavors, which is awesome.
03:33I'm going to do a ginger molasses cookie.
03:34Ooh.
03:35There are two people left on Team Nice.
03:36Our team is quiet without Alex.
03:38This is a lot of pressure on both me and John Carlos.
03:41I do love making donuts.
03:43I know my cookie recipe's great.
03:45I love baking for the holidays.
03:47So I'm just really excited to see what everyone else comes up with.
03:50For the cookie, because I'm Italian, I'm doing Starnese.
03:53Yum.
03:54Yum.
03:55Love that.
03:56Everyone on the Naughty team is getting along really well.
03:57I think we had a rocky style at the beginning, but right now we mad kumbaya.
04:00Alex is coming over to the Naughty team.
04:02We're happy to have her.
04:03We can win.
04:04Yes.
04:05And we can knock someone home from Team Naughty.
04:06Exactly.
04:07Let's do it.
04:08One, two, three.
04:09Naughty!
04:10Happy Christmas car.
04:11Let's do it.
04:12Vanilla bean paste.
04:13Vanilla bean paste.
04:14Oh, I got it already.
04:15Oh, it's in your basket?
04:16Yeah.
04:17I might steal that from you later.
04:18Okay, so today we are celebrating Christmas car.
04:21It's a holiday that every Jewish person growing up in America is familiar with.
04:24Essentially, it's just you take the best parts of Hanukkah, you take the best parts of Christmas,
04:27you mash them together, and you have a good old time.
04:29Nico, how do you pronounce this donut again?
04:32Sufgenyot.
04:33Sufgenyot.
04:34Sufgenyot.
04:35Sufgenyot.
04:36Yeah, that was really good.
04:39The traditional Sufgenyot, at least in Israel, where I would come from, it's raspberry
04:44jelly, plain and simple.
04:46However, there's lots of other ways you can fill it.
04:48And, you know, we're in 2025.
04:49We're not doing things traditionally anymore.
04:51I've spent a few years developing my Sufgenyot dough.
04:54I do 100% oil as my fat in here, so it's not brioche style.
04:57There's no butter in the dough.
04:59And I also put orange zest as well as vanilla bean for additional flavor in the dough.
05:03Okay, so right now, this thing is really dancing.
05:05If I didn't have my hand on here, it would probably fall off the table.
05:08But that's a good thing.
05:09It means that we're really developing that gluten in there.
05:12Okay, Nico, you can't get eliminated to death.
05:14Yeah, yeah.
05:15It feels like a little extra pressure on me over everyone else today.
05:18Sufgenyot, I make a lot of.
05:20Ooh.
05:21So if I mess that one up, I'm gonna be a little humiliated.
05:23Okay, well talk me through each of these desserts.
05:25I want to go in a little more salty, savory direction for my Christmas cookie, so it's gonna be
05:28a little pretzel shortbread with blue snowflakes with Star of David's pipe on them.
05:31I'm doing a raisin, walnut, and cardamom roguelach.
05:34Because I'm going so traditional with the roguelach, I wanted to kind of bring some more American flavors into it.
05:39So I was gonna do a pumpkin pie with Sufgenyot.
05:41Love it.
05:42This last Hanukkah, I probably sold about 400 to 500 Sufgenyot for my house.
05:48Oh my gosh.
05:49Yeah, it was an intense week.
05:50All right, no pressure.
05:51Yo, okay, you need to get out of here.
05:53All right, the same.
05:54No pressure at all, y'all.
05:55No pressure.
05:56No pressure.
05:57Beautiful.
05:58Okay.
05:59Now she's gonna go in here, and then we're gonna let that guys for as long as silly time allows.
06:06A little hot water in there.
06:08Hey, Alex.
06:09Hi.
06:10Man, I'm still trying to get used to you in the red apron.
06:12Me too.
06:13Are you full blown over on the naughty side now?
06:16Is it still trying to hold on?
06:17It's trying to hold on.
06:18You know, I tried my hand at instituting hug time after judging, and it got quite a bit of side-eye, so we won't be doing that again.
06:26Oh, they didn't go for it?
06:27They didn't go for it, but that's okay.
06:29So, like, how are you gonna make all this scream naughty?
06:32I'm doing an orange cranberry shortbread cookie with, like, Mardi Gras beads and drunk snowman, and I'm going to mix really offensive colors together for throw-up, like he had the worst night of his life.
06:43I've celebrated Christmas in New Orleans, and it gets just as wild as it does the rest of the year, so.
06:48Yeah, it's not just Mardi Gras.
06:49And then, for the sucanio, I'm doing a New Orleans-style praline filling, and then some more Mardi Gras beads on top of that.
06:56I'm going to do an almond amaretto arugula.
06:59Traditional wedding cake flavor in New Orleans is almond, and it is, like, smack you in the face almond.
07:05I'm not gonna do that, but I do want to give a little nod to it.
07:08But these flavors sound absolutely incredible.
07:10Good luck.
07:11Thank you so much.
07:12Today's challenge is difficult just because there's so many parts to it.
07:15There's a lot happening at once, and it's really gonna kind of be a matter of time management.
07:20So, for my orange and cranberry cookie, I start by creaming my butter and my sugar together.
07:26I add my orange zest so that the oil can kind of disperse through the sugar, brighten it up a little bit, and then dried cranberries.
07:33Once that dough is ready, I place it on the bench, roll it out, punch it, and bake them.
07:38I've not had a naughty snowman moment on Bourbon Street, but if you talk to my friends back in Boston, there was quite a few times where you could find me face down in a trash can on the subway.
07:48Five minutes.
07:50Good luck, little guys.
07:51Do you have the yeast?
07:52I do have yeast.
07:53Grab what you need.
07:55Three desserts is a lot, and I have never made rougula in my life, so I feel terrified.
08:04I'm gonna make a ginger molasses cookie with maple cream cheese snowman.
08:08And then on the Hanukkah side, I'm gonna make a black tea and raspberry pistachio rougula.
08:14For my souf cognot, I am making a cannoli crunch doughnut.
08:17I'm gonna do cannoli cream on the inside, ganache on the top, and then do a cannoli crunch for texture.
08:23I am excited about it.
08:24I've made a cannoli doughnut before, and it always hits.
08:26Rougula, I know what it is, but I don't know what it is.
08:31Hey, Alex.
08:32Yeah?
08:33What's the texture of rougula?
08:34It's supposed to be kind of, like, flaky.
08:36So, it's really like a pie dough.
08:38I'm gonna survive this.
08:39Thanks for the help.
08:40Of course.
08:41Alex, what are you doing over there?
08:43You can take my bestie from me, but she's still mime.
08:46Eat it.
08:47I want to add black tea and orange to my dough because they complement each other well, and I think they'll complement the nutty, fruity richness of the chocolate that will be in the filling.
08:59Two hours left, bakers!
09:01The most difficult part of this challenge is the doughnut, getting it mixed well enough, proofed, fried, filled.
09:07It's a lot of work.
09:08It would be a lot easier if we had a proof box.
09:11Such a great advantage.
09:14But we don't.
09:15So, I've made thousands of doughnuts in my life, so I want to use a brioche dough for my doughnut.
09:20It's always soft and tender and fluffy.
09:22You want to make sure that you knead the dough properly before you incorporate the butter because the butter interrupts your protein structure in your dough,
09:30and that's what gives you tender and fluffy dough.
09:33Come on, grip.
09:34This is a lot.
09:35One challenge, three desserts.
09:37Who's going to save their team from elimination?
09:39Hey, how's it going?
09:40Can you please have two Icy Americana, please?
09:43Absolutely.
09:45No problem.
09:46On Team Ice, it's just me and Chase.
09:49Chase, coffee for you.
09:51We're always checking with each other.
09:53We build a friendship, and that's great.
09:56I'm nothing without my coffee.
09:59No one should have business brioching this fast.
10:02You know what I mean?
10:03It's too fast.
10:05When I heard Team Naughty have a chance to use the proof box, I was like, really?
10:11So I have to use hot water on my oven to make the atmosphere to make my dough rise.
10:22Giancarlos.
10:23There's a lot of desserts going on today, right?
10:25We're putting you to work today in two and a half hours.
10:27Yes.
10:28For my Christmas cookies, I'm going to make an orange and coffee Christmas ball ornament.
10:33For my doughnuts, I'm making the trendy Dubai chocolate doughnut.
10:38We're going to go viral today.
10:39Let's go viral today.
10:40I love that.
10:41And for my arugula, I will make something inspired on churros and dulce de leche.
10:47It will be so good.
10:48Are you rolling a dulce de leche?
10:50Oh, yes.
10:51Arugula.
10:52Exactly.
10:53OMG.
10:54And I decided to make this because I have this memory of my mom on the circus making churros for me.
11:01So I used to be a little clown.
11:03I do a lot of jungle.
11:05Jingle?
11:06What's the name?
11:07Juggle.
11:08Juggle.
11:09Oh, guys, Giancarlos is juggling.
11:11That's amazing, JC.
11:12Oh, there you go.
11:13How does he do it?
11:14I still got it.
11:15That was amazing.
11:16Naughty, you cannot do that.
11:19Soufanot.
11:20Soufanot.
11:21Niko's just going to present for all of us.
11:23So we don't mess it up.
11:25I have made yeasted doughnuts quite often.
11:28But the recipe I usually use takes three days.
11:31So cramming all that into a two and a half hour window is going to be a bit of a challenge.
11:36Okay.
11:37Let's see how this goes.
11:38So for my soufanot, I'm making a brandy cherry filled soufanot.
11:42I'm doing a fig and poppy seed filled arugula.
11:45And then I'm doing a orange clove sugar cookie.
11:48I think I'm going to do my cookies in the shape of these like angry gnomes that are in this
11:53kind of Christmas village.
11:54Poppy seed is a very unique flavor.
11:56It has a little bit of like a savory earthy quality.
11:59I wanted to balance out the like sweetness of fig, brightness of the lemon that I'm seasoning
12:04with.
12:05And I know poppy is very prevalent in the Jewish culture.
12:08So I kind of wanted to tie that in as a nod.
12:14JC, I'm having issues with my dough, buddy.
12:16My doughnut dough.
12:17Really?
12:18Dough is not coming together.
12:20Feels like greasy, fatty.
12:22Still, I've been needing it for ages.
12:24I'm noticing that the butter is not incorporating the way that it usually does.
12:29This equipment's a little different than what I'm used to using back home.
12:32My dough hasn't developed enough gluten.
12:34I don't know if I should just restart.
12:36I feel like I'm just so behind.
12:39Uh...
12:41If you have confidence...
12:43I don't have a ton of confidence in this dough.
12:48Do it again.
12:51All right.
12:56I just need to restart.
13:02Having to make this brioche dough a second time
13:04makes me speed up the second process.
13:06How's your dough looking like now?
13:08Um, it's looking a little better.
13:10I know it doesn't have as much butter as it usually does,
13:12but I have to get it proofing if I want anything on the plate.
13:15This has been the most chaotic day of my life.
13:18Well, how are you?
13:19I am frantic today.
13:21I sense the frantic.
13:22Yeah, yeah.
13:23I don't really want to be sent home for something I do all the time,
13:25like donuts.
13:26Tell me about your donut-making skills.
13:27When I had my bakery, we didn't have a fryer,
13:29so we just pot-fried.
13:30What?
13:31And we would pot-fry hundreds.
13:33It was crazy.
13:34So I'm, like, used to this.
13:35Like, once my doughnuts are in, I'll be happy.
13:37You're making me frantic.
13:39It's so much mental gymnastics,
13:41and then on top of that,
13:42if you don't feel like you have a balance in life...
13:44Let's just get a yoga pose.
13:45Okay.
13:46Now I'm gonna make my ginger molasses cookies.
13:52I love ginger molasses cookies
13:55because they are the right amount of spice,
13:58and they are chewy because they have that molasses.
14:01Once that is just mixed, I'll roll them in sugar
14:04and get them into the oven.
14:07All right, 90 minutes left.
14:09Krismica Dessert Platters.
14:11Can I use a different box?
14:12Because I know how long my dough will take
14:15to proof naturally,
14:17and then I'm not worried about completely
14:18just forgetting about it in a proof box
14:20and over-proofing.
14:21Hello, Ashley.
14:22Hi, Jessie.
14:23Tell me about each of these bad boys.
14:24What are we doing for the cookie?
14:25Yeah, so...
14:26So for the cookie,
14:27I'm doing my orange-scented shortbread
14:29in a reindeer shape with Christmas lights
14:32and star anise-flavored icing.
14:34Being Italian, orange and anise
14:36are very popular for us,
14:37so I'm kind of tying in the family heritage with that.
14:39And then as far as the arugula goes,
14:41it's an orange-scented dough with orange jam.
14:44I am doing a cranberry raspberry apple-filled doughnut
14:48with a milk chocolate ganache.
14:51How are you bringing the naughty in these desserts?
14:53For the reindeer cookies,
14:54decorate in a reindeer shape
14:55with mashed-up Christmas lights
14:57and where they look all tangled.
14:59My brothers and I used to unravel
15:01all the Christmas lights
15:02and play hide-and-seek with the Christmas lights,
15:04and the rule was you had to have the lights on
15:06wherever you were hiding.
15:07I had one that had a timer on it,
15:09so mine just only was lit up every 30 seconds, so...
15:12You kind of cheated at the game.
15:14I didn't cheat. I won fair and square.
15:22That'll be fine.
15:24Get that rise.
15:25At home, I celebrate Christmas,
15:26but we also celebrate Eid
15:27and a lot of, like, the more Islamic holidays
15:29because my mom comes from the Christian side.
15:31My dad's from the Middle East.
15:32He's the Islamic side.
15:33Jewish holidays are not really in my wheelhouse,
15:36but I have a lot of, like, very Jewish friends.
15:39Who's your favorite Jewish friend?
15:40Um, I'm not answering that question.
15:42Tariq, how are we doing, man?
15:43How much has this proof helped?
15:45So far, a lot.
15:46This looks pretty good.
15:47Yeah, I love making dough.
15:48I love making bread doughs, yeah.
15:49Do you feel pretty good?
15:50Your dough game pretty strong?
15:51I hope so.
15:52I mean, hopefully today it is,
15:53but usually it's good.
15:55Okay, so what are you making?
15:56A blackberry anise sufguignon,
15:59a chocolate pistachio rougala,
16:02and a chocolate cherry salted shortbread cookie.
16:05And then put one of my cat's heads in the middle of it.
16:07Is that how you're bringing the Nadi to this?
16:09Oh, absolutely.
16:10They're, like, the craziest cats ever.
16:12They're always, like, jumping everywhere,
16:13climbing the Christmas trees,
16:14like, getting stuck in stuff.
16:16You're literally a bake away from the semifinal.
16:19Redemption.
16:20Redemption.
16:21That's what you're here for.
16:22Absolutely.
16:23On Kids Baking, I was the runner-up.
16:24Well, it was firm, and then it wasn't firm.
16:27Being only one away from the semifinals,
16:30it's so, like, insane.
16:32My nerves are, like, they're not here.
16:34My nerves are, like, here.
16:35All right, dude.
16:36Good luck.
16:38For my rougala,
16:39I'm doing very, like, savory dough.
16:41There isn't really any sugar in it.
16:43The main priorities are making sure
16:44that you don't overwork it,
16:45and that it ends up having, like,
16:47a good flakiness to it.
16:48I've never made this dough before,
16:50so I'm really just kind of going off what feels right,
16:52and I roll it up, egg wash it,
16:54sprinkle some demerara sugar,
16:56slice it up,
16:57and stick it in the oven.
16:59Having the proof flask was extremely beneficial.
17:02It cut down on majority of the proof time,
17:04so that gave me enough time to get my cookies done.
17:07It's been a huge help.
17:09Let those guys fry.
17:11Whew!
17:12All right.
17:13Rugala, I feel pretty strongly about.
17:15I worked at a kosher caterer for a very long time,
17:18so my rugala needs to show up and show out.
17:21For the rugala filling,
17:23I'm doing an almond-lime frangipan.
17:25I am using almond meal, toasted almonds,
17:28almond extract, cream your sugar and your butter together,
17:32roll it out, cut out little triangles,
17:34and pipe my frangipan into each triangle.
17:36It's a little savory.
17:37Feedback I've gotten probably throughout the entirety of my career
17:40is that my sweets tend to lean a little savory.
17:43I've never had that as a negative.
17:45I'm just hoping that the judges appreciate it for what it is.
17:48Feeling very nervous,
17:49being one challenge away from the semifinals.
17:51When I first got into the competition,
17:53I was like, as long as I make it past the first episode,
17:55and now I'm like, I need to be in the last one.
17:57All right, one hour left now.
18:00You're doing rugala now?
18:01Yes, sir.
18:02Are you using cream cheese?
18:03Yeah.
18:04Okay, good.
18:05Is there a difference between traditional rugala
18:07and then, like, Americanized?
18:08I see a lot of American recipes don't use, like,
18:10cream cheese in the dough.
18:11They go for, like, a more, like, flaky, like,
18:12croissant, like, texture, like, laminated dough,
18:13which is just not what it is.
18:14But it's not supposed to be like that, right?
18:15It's not what it is, yeah.
18:16It's supposed to be, like, cakey?
18:17Yes.
18:18Okay.
18:19Nope. Don't want that.
18:20Okay, y'all.
18:21I can't stand you mispronouncing these anymore.
18:24We're going to do a little lesson.
18:25Repeat after me.
18:26Rogalach.
18:27You have to make a real nasty throat.
18:29Rogalach.
18:30Get a little in there.
18:31Rogalach.
18:32There's two camps of Rogalach, right?
18:34There's Team Crescent.
18:35There's Team Spiral.
18:36I am cheerleader, MVP of Team Crescent.
18:40That's why I see them back home.
18:41So I did not even think about making a Spiral.
18:47I am making the filling for my Rogalach.
18:50It is, like, a spiced brown sugar
18:52with dried cranberries and raisins
18:54and a little bit of candied orange peel.
18:56I have made Rogalach before.
18:58It's not my favorite thing to make,
19:00but my grandmother used to make it when I was a kid.
19:02She made this apricot-spiced arugula that was just so good,
19:06and it was nutty, and it was sweet,
19:08and it was refreshing,
19:09but then also spicy like the holidays.
19:11This is a difficult one.
19:13Making three different desserts
19:14and then making all the components,
19:16it's definitely a time crunch.
19:21I am trying to brown butter for my shortbread cookie,
19:25but I have so many things going on.
19:27I got distracted and walked away,
19:28and I boiled it over.
19:29I love orange and clove together.
19:32I think they really play off each other.
19:34All right, brown butter.
19:35We did it.
19:37I wanted to brown the butter
19:38just to add to that golden brown deliciousness
19:41that you're looking for in a cookie.
19:43I make dessert platters all the time.
19:45I love a decorative cookie platter,
19:47but I definitely don't do it in the short of time,
19:49nor do I do a Hanukkah spin on it either.
19:52This is definitely my most stressful bake.
19:54Charles, a lot of people on Team Naughty
20:00think you are the naughtiest.
20:01I guess I'll take it.
20:03Nico, can I borrow some of that white chocolate?
20:05Absolutely.
20:06And not give it back?
20:07We're dismantling the nice team.
20:10I'm not intimidated by your mustache, Charles.
20:13Oh, yes.
20:14They still like me, so that's a good sign.
20:16Well, yeah, they should like you,
20:17especially after last week.
20:18Charles, you finally broke through.
20:23Congratulations!
20:24You did it.
20:25You got emotional when Nancy tried your dessert that won.
20:28That's really why I do this,
20:30because you get to bring that to people all the time,
20:32in the holidays especially, so.
20:34I like the soft side of Charles.
20:36I'm not that naughty, okay?
20:37All right, brother, good luck.
20:38Thanks, Jesse.
20:40I have not won a challenge so far.
20:43Today needs to be today.
20:45Right now I'm rolling my Christmas cookies.
20:48I'm cutting, like, Christmas balls.
20:53For my donut filling,
20:54it's a combination of pistachio and a catafi.
20:57Very, very crispy dough,
20:59and they combine together.
21:00I will make my own catafi.
21:02This is my first time I make from scratch.
21:04Let's see how this is gonna be.
21:06This is what I'm talking about.
21:08This needs to be crunchy
21:10because this is the texture everybody's looking for.
21:13Tracy, how's your dough?
21:15It's rising.
21:16Now my dough is proof.
21:18It's time for deep frying.
21:20All right, let's lock. Let's do it.
21:24I'm gonna get my dough rolled, actually.
21:26Are you rolling out your dough in there?
21:27This is my cookie dough.
21:28So Ashley is putting her cookie dough
21:30through a sheeter to roll it out,
21:32so I figure I might as well do the same thing.
21:34Oh, hello.
21:39That was dumb, wasn't it?
21:42The sheeter chopped up and spit out my cookie dough.
21:45The ratio of chocolate and cherry in the dough is high,
21:48so it kind of, like, broke apart.
21:50Oh, my God.
21:51This is a disaster.
21:53This is a disaster.
21:58We're just not gonna do that anymore.
21:59I'm just gonna go do it by hand.
22:01I think it's better.
22:02This is just not what needed to happen.
22:06Once my doughnuts have proof,
22:08I take them to the deep fryer
22:09and I fry them until they're nice and golden brown.
22:12Time is flying.
22:1330 minutes left.
22:15Krismaka dessert platters.
22:17This is too much to do, and it's a lot.
22:21Tracy, despite my dough mishaps,
22:23I am frying, which is insane.
22:26All things considered, having messed up a dough,
22:28I'm just happy to be anywhere close to where I am, so.
22:32My doughnuts are fried.
22:33I gotta make a filling for my doughnut.
22:35I gotta fill them.
22:36I've gotta ganache them.
22:37If I get through today,
22:39I am a semifinalist in this competition,
22:41and that feels unbelievable.
22:44Woo, girl.
22:45There's a $25,000 prize.
22:48I don't even know what I would do with that.
22:50I think I'll put it towards owning a bed and breakfast.
22:52It would honestly be a dream life for me.
22:58All right.
22:59These cookies are looking good.
23:01Decorating cookies is not my strength,
23:03so I know that a snowman will give me
23:05a little bit of wiggle room for what I can get away with.
23:09I'm going to mix a lot of really offensive colors together
23:12for the throw-up on the front of the stove-in.
23:17Do they look like they've been throwing up
23:19and drinking on bourbon all day?
23:22My regula are out of the oven, and they look fine.
23:24They're a little rustic, but I think regula is rustic
23:27for the most part.
23:28I'm hoping that the judges will see the vision.
23:30Bourbon for Bourbon Street. Why not?
23:32I want to blitz my praline candy to fold into my pastry cream,
23:38but I look around, and there are no food processors anywhere.
23:42Everybody was using them.
23:43I grab a blender and hope that that will do.
23:48This overheat. Come on, man.
23:50The blender immediately just overheats and kicks off.
23:53Guys, you only got 20 minutes on the clock.
23:55There's very little time left. It's going to have to work.
23:58Hey, Alex, are you going to get those filled?
24:01I'm filling them.
24:02I'm trying to.
24:08Now I need to work on my pumpkin pie custard filling.
24:12Can I steal some spices off of here?
24:14Steal whatever you need.
24:15Thank you, girlie.
24:16I'm thrilled to be on Team Naughty.
24:17I think I've really embraced the naughty in me since being here.
24:21Hanukkah, oh, Hanukkah can light the menorah.
24:24Is that a copywritten song?
24:25Can I sing Hanukkah songs?
24:26Which ones do we have the license for?
24:28The more I get to play around, the more inspiration it gives me.
24:31Being naughty means have fun and be mischievous,
24:33and that's very much me to the core.
24:35Wow, I definitely probably got pumpkin all over my face, huh?
24:37Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel.
24:39I made it and okay, blah, blah.
24:43Just making my cranberry raspberry apple compote for my doughnuts.
24:47Alex, will you taste this?
24:48Yes.
24:49For my filling for my doughnut.
24:51We love Alex, we love the fact that we were able to add her to our team.
24:56With the salt and citrus maybe, just to kind of round it out, but she's delicious.
24:59I know that Team Nice is missing her big, but I think that she was always kind of meant to be on Team Naughty.
25:05There we go.
25:06That's perfect.
25:09This is it.
25:1015 minutes.
25:11Get it done.
25:14I'm frying at my station because I can control the heat with the candy thermometers.
25:20Oh my God, I have no clue if I'm going to get this done on time.
25:23This is a lot.
25:24It's too much.
25:27All right, here goes nothing.
25:31As I'm frying the doughnuts, because they're underproof, they're taking longer,
25:34I'm tossing them around to try to get even coverage of the oil.
25:37They're getting very dark, but I'd rather have a dark doughnut that's cooked than serve raw dough to the judges.
25:43And then I toss them in my spiced sugar.
25:45I just need to get them finished.
25:47Oh my God, gracious.
25:50The cookies, they're nice and golden brown, but I don't think I'm going to be able to make gnome faces on these things.
25:56So I kind of do a Hail Mary and just do just a dip method.
26:00It's kind of killing me inside to have to really scramble.
26:03I just know I need finished product on the platter.
26:06My cookies represent death.
26:08And that is the Christmas spirit.
26:10San Carlos.
26:11Yes, sir.
26:12Are you looking across the way?
26:13Have you seen Charles over there?
26:15He is on the struggle bus.
26:17I don't think I've ever seen him like this.
26:18I'm not going to lie.
26:19I like it.
26:21Someone can go home today.
26:23This is a really important challenge.
26:24I'm freaking out right now.
26:26I can't even speak special in English because I don't know how to translate my feelings right now.
26:31You just keep stuffing those beautiful sufganiyots.
26:34Hey, bakers, just one quick question.
26:36Are you stressed?
26:38So much.
26:39Extremely.
26:40You have no idea.
26:42I need to get these filled and then I need to, like, get my decorations done.
26:46At this point, I just get it done and get it done.
26:48How we doing, Tarek?
26:52Not great.
26:53Five minutes left, bakers.
26:55I'm so behind.
26:56It's so bad.
26:58My cookie's half decorated.
27:00One of my cats' heads stuck in a wreath on my cookie was clearly not going to work.
27:04So I really just need to get something on that plate.
27:07So I opt to just kind of feather my wreath design with two shades of green and put on some, like, Hanukkah-colored sprinkles and just call it a day.
27:15It's better than nothing.
27:18One minute.
27:19Ah!
27:22I think we're all feeling the heat.
27:24I'm starting to freak out.
27:25You okay, JC?
27:27What's the color for the Hanukkah?
27:29Blue and gold.
27:30Okay, thank you.
27:31Ugh.
27:32This is a nightmare.
27:34This lady should have gotten a bigger plate.
27:36These things are massive.
27:37I'm trying to, like, not have a heart attack at the moment.
27:43My donut glaze is not nearly as cooled as I wanted it to be.
27:47I wasn't happy, but I had to just roll with it.
27:5015 seconds.
27:51Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.
27:55This is just gonna have to do.
27:58It's something.
28:00All right, that's it.
28:01That was crazy.
28:05That was crazy.
28:06All right, bakers.
28:07Eyes up here, please.
28:08I've got an announcement.
28:10This is a big one.
28:11The judges are gonna be tasting your desserts blind.
28:14What?
28:15Oh, hell no.
28:16So place your platters on the center table.
28:19Head on over to Jingle Java, and you can all watch together as the judges taste your work.
28:25This show has so many twists.
28:28I was not expecting that.
28:30Mine's not gonna be good.
28:32Guys, two and a half hours to make.
28:34That was insane.
28:35That was crazy.
28:36That was crazy.
28:37So many things.
28:39Judges, you are blind-tasting Crismica dessert platters.
28:42Look at this.
28:43Each platter has a green or a red marking to denote which team it's from.
28:47Are the teams watching?
28:48Yes.
28:49Here's the thing.
28:50You're not gonna know which baker on that team these desserts come from.
28:53Of course, you're welcome to guess which baker made each platter.
28:55I bet I can tell.
28:56Oh.
28:58We've got decorated Christmas cookies.
29:00We've got rugelach and some sufganiyot as well.
29:03Right up my alley.
29:04Honestly, pretty happy about blind judging.
29:07They're just gonna go purely on the taste and the look.
29:10Hopefully the flavors carry it because it's not my prettiest stuff.
29:14Let's start with Team Naughty.
29:16Platter number two, it's a chocolate cherry shortbread cookie.
29:20I'm not super thrilled about a blind taste test.
29:22You don't get to sell your story.
29:24It's unfortunate.
29:25The design here got a little muddled.
29:27I put a lot more time in making it than decorating it and decorating is just a hot mess.
29:31I am tasting some pretty chewy cherries.
29:35Mm-hmm.
29:36I would have those on my table.
29:39Your next bite is chocolate pistachio arugula.
29:42I think it's cute.
29:43The layers of the dough in there looks really, really nice.
29:46And I do like the amount of filling they have of the pistachio and chocolate.
29:50Favorite.
29:51Maybe a skosche more sugar.
29:52Skosche isn't that.
29:53How about a blackberry anise mascarpone sufganiyot?
29:58It's light and it's fluffy, but when you bite into it, all of the filling kind of falls
30:04out because it's so wet at the bottom.
30:07And I don't taste any anise.
30:09Because it's so plain, it's just nice.
30:12Show me the naughty.
30:13Show me the naughty.
30:14Any guesses?
30:15Maybe Tarek?
30:16Damn.
30:18Up next, from Team Nice, this is an orange sugar cookie.
30:23Brilliant red and a little blue for Hanukkah.
30:27Nice and flaky, crunchy.
30:30All right, we got a dulce de leche churro arugula.
30:34What?
30:36I'm tasting the dulce de leche, but I think it's way too thick, underbaked.
30:42Up next is a Dubai chocolate pistachio sufganiyot.
30:47Oh.
30:48I think the donut part looks nice and brown and crispy, but the chocolate could have been
30:53a little neater.
30:54I think the pistachio, it's delicious.
30:57The kataifi, the flavor's great.
30:59Does it look like Team Nice?
31:01You know, I'm not saying nice because it's such an array of brown.
31:07All right, we're back to Team Naughty here.
31:09We got an orange cranberry and white chocolate cookie.
31:13I think maybe this snowman had a little too much to drink last night.
31:18The snowman is barfing.
31:19No.
31:22That was exactly what I was going for.
31:24Come on, Nance, it's naughty.
31:26Too much bourbon the night before.
31:28Well, it's crunchy, it's flavorful.
31:32The cookie's very good, but it's naughty.
31:36All right, next up, almond and lime rougula.
31:40It doesn't look like rougula, so let's see.
31:45I'm not tasting anything.
31:46There's no almond, there's no lime.
31:48There's lime in the dough and in the frangipan, but...
31:51All right, we're gonna move on.
31:52This is a Praline and Cream Sous-Gagnon.
31:55Looks like something Alex would do.
31:58Uh-oh.
32:00There's...
32:01What?
32:02There's no filling.
32:03I mean, it's just nothing.
32:05No...
32:06Are you kidding?
32:07I can't believe I forgot that doughnut.
32:09Well, let's see if I have filling.
32:11I think I do.
32:12I don't know if I like the look of the filling, but it's there.
32:18The flavor does not read Praline.
32:20I'm getting broken cream.
32:22A ton of bourbon that really hasn't been cooked out.
32:25Not successful.
32:26Not successful.
32:27Don't feel great that I've gotten the worst review yet.
32:30This is the second offering from Team Nice.
32:33A ginger molasses cookie with maple cream cheese icing.
32:37This is mine, everybody.
32:38Yeah.
32:39Whoa.
32:40It's a snowman.
32:42I think this is adorable.
32:43I hope it tastes good.
32:46I am loving that cream cheese frosting on top.
32:49A little salty, a little sour, and I taste plenty of maple.
32:52This is delicious.
32:54All right, let's talk rugula.
32:55This is a black tea raspberry chocolate and pistachio.
33:01I like the little bit of red.
33:03Crispy.
33:05Flaky.
33:06The pistachio in here, it gives the perfect texture
33:09to all that soft chocolate.
33:11All right, whoever made this knows what they're doing.
33:12Never made a rugula in my life.
33:15All right, ready?
33:16Yeah.
33:17Cannoli crunch sufgenyot.
33:20Wow.
33:22I'm so worried about the donut, you all.
33:24The fact that you had a snafu and you still managed to get a donut out is crazy.
33:27I survived.
33:28Very chrismica.
33:29The blue, the gold leaf, the crumbles of pistachio.
33:33Looks really nice.
33:34It's like a canole, but it's Jewish.
33:36You know what I mean?
33:37Canole filling's great.
33:39I like everything on top.
33:41We're good.
33:42I do like the fact that the platter looks holiday-esque.
33:46Definitely see holiday in all three components.
33:50I think this was Chase's platter.
33:52How do you feel?
33:53That wasn't bad at all.
33:55We're back to Team Naughty here.
33:57We've got a pretzel shortbread cookie to start with.
34:00It's a blue snowflake with the Star of David.
34:03So it's very Hanukkah.
34:04Mmm.
34:05Crunchy.
34:06Mmm.
34:07I taste pretzel, and I taste shortbread, and I taste too much frosting, but I do love
34:13the cookie.
34:14Mm-hmm.
34:15Okay, let's move on to this spiced honey walnut rugula.
34:18This looks like old school.
34:19This is like my Uncle Shlomo made this.
34:22Mmm.
34:25Did you see that?
34:26Did you see how flaky that was?
34:28Either the oven was up a little too high, or they left it in the oven a little too long,
34:34but it's charred.
34:35All right, finishing up.
34:37Ready?
34:38Pumpkin pie spiced sufgenyat.
34:40I can tell you what.
34:42This is your textbook donut.
34:45Powdered sugar on top is nice and neat.
34:47I love the piping of the whipped cream with a dollop of that pumpkin spice on top.
34:52Oh, yeah.
34:53Look at that.
34:54Oh, it's so soft.
34:55It's so tender.
34:56Mmm.
34:57Super full.
34:58A lot of filling in there, but really light and airy and fluffy.
35:03This is beautiful work.
35:06It's so good.
35:07I just want more.
35:08I think it's the best donut on the table.
35:11So good.
35:12It's so good.
35:13How do you feel?
35:15Oh, good.
35:16Good.
35:17You should be proud of yourself.
35:18Yeah, I just put a lot of pressure on myself for this one.
35:20You did great, Nico.
35:21You did so good.
35:22I'm proud of you.
35:23I knew my family back home was going to be watching this one in particular, and I just
35:27really wanted it to go well.
35:28I wonder if it's Nico, because his family would have probably made these donuts.
35:38Yeah.
35:39From the naughty team.
35:40Look at this guy.
35:41Star anise orange sugar cookie.
35:44It's a reindeer!
35:45They had a little bit of trouble with the decorating.
35:49Maybe instead of putting the Christmas lights around the reindeer, maybe make a face so we
35:54can really tell that it's a reindeer.
35:55Right.
35:56So you kind of want to jump through the screen and just explain to them where your thought
36:00process was.
36:01Mmm.
36:02Mmm.
36:03Very buttery, but I think the star anise wipes out the orange.
36:08Yeah.
36:09Yeah.
36:10Spiced orange marmalade rougula.
36:13It looks very gooey and buttery.
36:16I like it.
36:17This is really good and really flaky.
36:19All right.
36:20I've got a big donut, a big sufgenot staring at you here.
36:22This is apple cran raspberry sufgenot.
36:25It's very wet and very sticky.
36:28I'm not sure what happened here.
36:29It looks like it melted.
36:30It looks more like a mirror glaze than it does an icing for a donut.
36:34It's a little gummy.
36:36There's no place for the filling to go because the donut and the dough is just so dense.
36:41The flavor, it's a little one note.
36:43It looks naughty, but in a stand-in-the-corner kind of way.
36:46It's pretty sloppy.
36:50It's a poor rendition of Hanukkah.
36:56This one was hard for me.
36:58There's a lot of components, and I just was hoping that the flavor was there.
37:02It's the last one.
37:03All right.
37:04Here's your seventh platter.
37:05It's Team Naughty.
37:06A brown butter orange clove shortbread.
37:09The decorating on top, it's like a murder scene.
37:12I feel like I'm eating evidence.
37:13My favorite day to murder someone is Christmas.
37:16This cookie has the perfect amount of orange and sugar.
37:19I'm a lover of brown butter.
37:20It's really good.
37:22Okay.
37:23Flavor saver.
37:24Fig poppy seed rugula.
37:27Now, this is one of our better rugulas of the day.
37:30The way that it's rolled.
37:32Conceptually, I think this is great, but there's no sugar in here.
37:36It's really salty.
37:38You need some sugar in there to kind of balance that out.
37:40It's like a cheese fondue.
37:42Perfect.
37:44All right.
37:45This is a brandy cherry sufgenyot.
37:47It's a little dark.
37:48Somebody was rushing.
37:49I feel like the dough didn't proof the way that it should have.
37:53Really, really crusty on the outside here.
37:57Great filling.
37:59This dough wasn't allowed to rise.
38:01It's too thick.
38:02No, that's just making sure it wasn't raw in the middle.
38:06Definitely get some of the Christmas with the red and the naughty from, like, a bloody...
38:10Blood splatter.
38:11Yeah.
38:12So, judges, obviously the semifinals are coming up, and one of these bakers is not gonna make it.
38:17This is the most important bake yet.
38:19One platter is going to save one team from elimination.
38:24And, of course, one baker has to go home.
38:26Do you feel like you've made a decision?
38:28I...
38:29I don't know.
38:30I...
38:32Yeah.
38:33I don't know.
38:35Bakers, your dessert platters were gorgeous, and we gorged on them.
38:39And guess what?
38:40Your treats put Duff in such chrismica spirit that he left early to go to a chrismica party.
38:45More leftovers for us, I guess.
38:46Exactly.
38:47Before we tell you how you did, the judges have to figure out who made what.
38:51They don't know.
38:52All right, on the nice team, platter number one, that was made by Jean Carlos.
38:56And platter number three, that's your guy Chase over there.
38:58Now, for Team Naughty, platter number two, that was made by Tarek.
39:02Platter number four, that was made by Nico.
39:05Ashley brought you platter number five.
39:07Platter number six, that was Alex's brainchild.
39:09And then platter number seven, that is all Charles is doing.
39:12Honestly, guys, is there anything left of you all?
39:14I know that was a really hard challenge.
39:16It was rough.
39:17Really?
39:18Definitely.
39:19I'm shocked that I finished as many components as I did.
39:22But the stakes are just getting higher and higher.
39:24And I refuse to go home.
39:26Now that I know who made what, the Naughty team's peak performer was...
39:36Nico.
39:37Good job, Nico.
39:38And the best platter on the nice team came from...
39:42Chase.
39:43But alas, only one of you can claim the win, and that baker is...
39:56Chase.
39:58Well done.
39:59You did it.
40:00I did not see that coming.
40:03I knew Nico would be in the top, but we are safe.
40:07And it feels so good.
40:08I have to give you the...
40:10So that leaves Team Naughty now up for elimination.
40:17Nico was named the best on the team.
40:19He is safe and in the semifinals.
40:22Joining you is Charles...
40:25And...
40:28Tarek.
40:30Of course, that leaves Alex and Ashley.
40:32Please step forward, you two.
40:34Alex, the praline cream in your sufgania just didn't work, and it was actually missing entirely in Nancy's donut.
40:45Ashley, your donut was oily and the texture was very thick and gummy.
40:50Unfortunately, the baker leaving us today is...
40:59Alex.
41:00Alex.
41:03Alex, I am so sorry.
41:05Thank you for the opportunity.
41:07This has been the time of my life.
41:09I can't tell you how happy I am to have had this experience.
41:12I think I met some really amazing people.
41:15My strength really shined through when I was working in a team.
41:18I've loved every second, every stressful moment, every high anxiety moment.
41:23Friends for the rest of my life.
41:25I wouldn't trade it for anything.
41:26Thank you, guys.
41:27Bye, Alex.
41:28Thank you, Alex.
41:29Love you, Alex.
41:30Love you.
41:32Congrats on making it to the semifinals, you guys.
41:37Whoo!
41:40Next time.
41:41Happy New Year.
41:43We are dissolving teams.
41:45Oh, my God.
41:47We've got three challenges today.
41:50No pressure.
41:51Groovy cake.
41:53And a sassy surprise guest.
41:55Gag.
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