Christmas Cookie Challenge - General Discussion

[TexasTiffany]

I'm watching the episode from 2015 with baker Dani who says she was the cookie expert for Martha Stewart. The first challenge was to make 3 different cookies. She made 2 but failed to get her filled cookie done and on the judges plates. The Judges said her other 2 cookies were under baked. I really doubt her association with Martha Stewart since she had an epic fail. She was the first baker sent home. 

Edited December 20, 2019 by TexasTiffany

[mlp]

11 hours ago, TexasTiffany said:

I'm watching the episode from 2015 with baker Dani who says she was the cookie expert for Martha Stewart. 

I kept getting distracted by her messy hair and odd skin color.  She looked like she'd used a bronzer all over her face or something.  She didn't do well but I doubt she could claim (on TV) an association with Martha Stewart that didn't exist.

[lh25]

On 12/18/2019 at 4:14 PM, dleighg said:

Yeah I think all of us use the "sugar cookie" recipe in either our mother's recipe file, or the Betty Crocker book, or the equivalent. I mean, how many ways are they to make a basic sugar cookie!

I decided while watching this if I were ever kidnapped and forced to be on one of these shows(since I can't bake!) I would NEVER say "I made a simple" anything.  I'd use words like "classic".  

[TVbitch]

I enjoy this show. It's fun and unlike HBC, it's a complete competition in one episode, so I don't have to try to remember what happened last time. 

The cookies are adorable as a novelty, but I don't like eating them at all. Too much icing for me. I love a plain buttery sugar cookie.

[Spunkygal]

Premieres November 9 with Eddie Jackson as host. Ree, Gesine and Cornpone Jason return as judges. It doesn’t look like the Gingerbread House Championship is back this year.

Edited October 22, 2020 by Spunkygal

[mlp]

2 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

Premieres November 9 with Eddie Jackson as host. Ree, Gesine and Cornpone Jason return as judges.

Oh, good.  I like the holiday shows and I'm one who likes Jason Smith.  I've been wondering what's become of him.  I can do without the cornball sayings the producers probably told him to amp up but he knows baking.  I watched his videos during the season last year and he's a natural talking to the camera while he works.  

I'm always happy to see Eddie.

[Spunkygal]

8 hours ago, mlp said:

Oh, good.  I like the holiday shows and I'm one who likes Jason Smith.  I've been wondering what's become of him.  I can do without the cornball sayings the producers probably told him to amp up but he knows baking.  I watched his videos during the season last year and he's a natural talking to the camera while he works.  

I'm always happy to see Eddie.

Jason doesn’t bother me. I just use Cornpone because the producers have made him OTT country. Not long ago I re-watched the season that he competed on whatever baking championship show that he won and I didn’t hear him say a mouthful of homespun corny similes. I wish TPTB had left him alone. So I’ll sit next to you at the “liking Jason” table!

[Irlandesa]

I like Jason too. And I LOVE Gesine. I guess they are going to keep a stable judges table for COVID reasons this season which suits me just fine. 

15 hours ago, mlp said:

I've been wondering what's become of him.

I was sad it looks like The Best Baker In America show he co-hosted didn't come back this year.  I loved enjoyed the straight forward quality of the bakes.

[Spunkygal]

I read that Jason would also be back as a judge...where was he? And Gesine was only there for the final judging? What a waste of her time. We got stuck with a whole hour of Ree and she was a judge and semi-host? Ugh. Eddie is a great host by himself. Leave it to FN to screw up this show.

[Spunkygal]

It was funny that the cocky guy who said his decorating skills were 12 out of 10 went home in the first round!

[CheshireCat]

Uh, the guy who claimed he had decorating skills that were a 12 or 13? Yeah, no. I wouldn't even have been impressed if he had had time to let the icing dry. Adding sprinkles as the flames and pretzels as the logs just seemed lazy and the chimney wasn't particularly impressive either. Now, if he'd piped the bricks individually and added some variety to the garland and tree on top. I know they were short on time but he did brag about his decorating skills and this looked pretty generic.

I loved the cardinal and agree with the judges that those were beautiful colors. I just wasn't sold on the cardinal's face but hey, it was a cookie. I also loved the Christmas tree with the gifts underneath.

Why didn't the baker who made the snowman with the sweater add the sweater to the left and right of the snowman to make it look like he was wearing one or add something that would have made it look like the snowman had a sweater umbrella? I loved the neatness of her icing technique.

Nit-picking but almonds are not nuts. Almonds are a fruit. And I don't think it was fair to make them use nuts in a cookie that is supposed to stand up. Nuts have a lot of fat in them and any cake that has nuts in them is bound to be on the softer side because of that.

I agree that the "Mer-cracker" was the most original. I didn't like how she decorated the tail though. They didn't look like scales to me but like icing piped with a fancy tip. I thought it was a bit simplistic.

[dleighg]

I enjoy watching the decorating, but I have no desire to eat these kind of cookies. But I wondered with the puzzle cookies, how they don't swell in the oven so that they no longer fit "seamlessly" together anymore. 

In the "trying to make the guy going home feel better," Ree saying that the fireplace cookies "really fit together well"? It was a square in a square hole!

Edited November 10, 2020 by dleighg

[Rammchick]

10 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I loved the cardinal and agree with the judges that those were beautiful colors. I just wasn't sold on the cardinal's face but hey, it was a cookie. 

The cardinal was fashioned from a "Partridge in a Pear tree" cookie cutter, that's why! 😉

[Popples]

13 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I loved the cardinal and agree with the judges that those were beautiful colors. I just wasn't sold on the cardinal's face but hey, it was a cookie. I also loved the Christmas tree with the gifts underneath.

Why didn't the baker who made the snowman with the sweater add the sweater to the left and right of the snowman to make it look like he was wearing one or add something that would have made it look like the snowman had a sweater umbrella? I loved the neatness of her icing technique.

The cardinal in the nest was so fantastic and clean. It was absolutely gorgeous.

I kept fussing at the snowman/sweater lady. I probably would have done a large circle or oval shape for the snowman's head and traced and cut out a sweater shape on some parchment paper so it look like he was wearing it. Her look was not cohesive at all.

I really want to know where they get some of these cookie cutters.

[mlp]

I enjoyed the show because they didn't change it much and I like Eddie a lot.  I don't watch Pioneer Woman because I'm not interested in Ree's cooking or her kids but she seems like a genuinely nice person so I'm glad she also returned.  This is the second show that has started already in progress.  I wonder why they're doing that.  

That guy who went out first didn't do anything right.  I hope he was embarrassed by his bragging when he saw himself on TV.

The cardinal cookie was gorgeous.  I thought her nutcracker was the best too so I felt bad for her when it fell.  I think she would have won if her cookie had managed to stand up for the judging.

[dleighg]

8 minutes ago, mlp said:

I don't watch Pioneer Woman because I'm not interested in Ree's cooking or her kids but she seems like a genuinely nice person so I'm glad she also returned.

I dunno, I got a kind of mean vibe from her when some of the disasters were happening. She'd say something that sounded sympathetic, but it seemed like she was sort of happy that it happened. I've not had that impression of her before, though this show is the only place I see her.

[lh25]

16 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

Uh, the guy who claimed he had decorating skills that were a 12 or 13? Yeah, no. I wouldn't even have been impressed if he had had time to let the icing dry. Adding sprinkles as the flames and pretzels as the logs just seemed lazy and the chimney wasn't particularly impressive either.

I knew the second he said that he was going to be out first round!

And yes, the sprinkles and pretzels were lazy.  Making a square fit in square hole wasn't a big deal, even the snowman sweater-hat was harder to fit.

[CheshireCat]

6 hours ago, Rammchick said:

The cardinal was fashioned from a "Partridge in a Pear tree" cookie cutter, that's why! 😉

I was thinking about the decoration. The black just seemed very square.

 

7 hours ago, dleighg said:

But I wondered with the puzzle cookies, how they don't swell in the oven so that they no longer fit "seamlessly" together anymore.

Some doughs don't spread or spread very little and retain their shape very well even if they spread a little. I think it depends on the amount of butter, egg and baking powder/soda.

[Guest]

Well I enjoyed that greatly. All three of the nutcrackers were fun and inventive in very different ways. And I like having Eddie be a judge as well - gives him more to do. And since they kind of made Ree a cohost too, it didn't seem weird having him do both (like with Carla on this year's Halloween Baking Championship).

[suebee1212]

I love looking at the finished cookies but I would never eat one! I DO NOT like all of that icing. I am one of the weird people who scrap the icing off of a Oreo cookie! Just plain un-iced cookies are my choice.

[GaT]

11 hours ago, mlp said:

 This is the second show that has started already in progress. 

My DVR called this episode 3, so I wondered what happened to the first 2 episodes but I guess they haven't shown them?

Where are the rest of the judges? This is the 2nd (Halloween Baking Championship was the 1st) FN show I watched that didn't have the usual amount of judges & had the host also be a judge. I didn't like it then, I don't like it now. Why are they doing this?

[Guest]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

Where are the rest of the judges? This is the 2nd (Halloween Baking Championship was the 1st) FN show I watched that didn't have the usual amount of judges & had the host also be a judge. I didn't like it then, I don't like it now. Why are they doing this?

It's most likely because of the pandemic. Fewer judges means fewer people who have to be tested and quarantined. And some of the usual judges simply may not be able to or want to travel or risk being around contestants, crew, etc.

[Popples]

11 hours ago, GaT said:

My DVR called this episode 3, so I wondered what happened to the first 2 episodes but I guess they haven't shown them?

I noticed last year that they air the episodes out of order, next week will be episode 2 according to my guide. I guess since there's a winner each episode and the contestants don't roll over to a grand finale, it really doesn't matter what order they air.

[mlp]

37 minutes ago, Popples said:

My DVR called this episode 3, so I wondered what happened to the first 2 episodes but I guess they haven't shown them?

I read somewhere that there were to be 8 episodes but someone on the crew tested positive so they stopped after 6 and called it a season.  I wouldn't think that would mess up the numbering because they film so far in advance but who knows?

[mojoween]

What does royal icing taste like?  I know that one baker said it was butter but then others didn’t mention a flavor.  Regardless, that was a LOT of icing all over the place.

[theatremouse]

It tastes like sugar, pretty much. It can be flavored and then it'd taste like...whatever flavor was added but otherwise, technically it might be "vanilla" but it probably just tastes like sugar.

[CoderLady]

18 hours ago, mojoween said:

What does royal icing taste like?  I know that one baker said it was butter but then others didn’t mention a flavor.  Regardless, that was a LOT of icing all over the place.

 

16 hours ago, theatremouse said:

It tastes like sugar, pretty much. It can be flavored and then it'd taste like...whatever flavor was added but otherwise, technically it might be "vanilla" but it probably just tastes like sugar.

Yeah. You make it by filling a big ass bowl with powdered sugar, drizzle in a tiny amount of water so that you get a thick syrupy mixture, and then spread it on your bake quickly before it hardens again. If you plan on adding color or flavor you have to be careful how much so that it doesn't throw the consistency off. But it does taste like what it is: straight sugar.

[CheshireCat]

6 hours ago, CoderLady said:

Yeah. You make it by filling a big ass bowl with powdered sugar, drizzle in a tiny amount of water so that you get a thick syrupy mixture, and then spread it on your bake quickly before it hardens again. If you plan on adding color or flavor you have to be careful how much so that it doesn't throw the consistency off. But it does taste like what it is: straight sugar.

As far as I know, true (for the lack of a better word) royal icing is egg white (or egg white power) with powdered sugar (and a dash of cream of tartar). It's more stable than powdered sugar and water or lemon juice and dries quicker and rock hard.

If someone planned to make a gingerbread house and wanted to put it up for display, I'd definitely recommend using true royal icing. (I had mine for 10 or 11 years before I moved and had to leave it behind). I also find that it's better to decorate cookie with if you decorate them like they do on the Cookie Challenge. No matter how little liquid you add, you can never get the icing consistency as stiff as you do with egg whites and non-egg white icing is more likely to bleed.

[Gbb]

On 11/9/2020 at 10:05 PM, Spunkygal said:

I read that Jason would also be back as a judge...where was he? And Gesine was only there for the final judging? What a waste of her time. We got stuck with a whole hour of Ree and she was a judge and semi-host? Ugh. Eddie is a great host by himself. Leave it to FN to screw up this show.

I was a little annoyed to have Ree around for the whole show. I like her fine but honestly, I watch this show for Eddie (and for the cookies). I thought he seemed more stilted/scripted than usual when I watched this ep. Right now FN is doing a CCC marathon and after watching a few eps from earlier seasons I see I’m right. He’s definitely looser and more jokey/less scripted when he’s by himself with the contestants.  Not sure why, since he and Ree seem to get along fine. 

[TVbitch]

I enjoyed the first episode. I think the woman who made the cardinal would have won if her snow boarder hadn't collapsed. They made a point to show the woman who did win snark about how she knew that would happen, cuz she used brown sugar. That made her come off as kind of catty, and since she was going to win, I was like, why did they show me that! 

Maybe Eddie is scripted this season because of the way they have to shoot his interactions or something. I'll still take him any day over Carla Hooty Hoo Dude Hall. 

[mlp]

4 minutes ago, Gbb said:

He’s definitely looser and more jokey/less scripted when he’s by himself with the contestants.  Not sure why, since he and Ree seem to get along fine. 

I have always thought that Eddie is much better when he's just himself.  He's great on BBF when he's not scripted.  I've always had the impression that Eddie and Ree are friends in real life.  I don't think she's the problem.  

[Guest]

I actually thought Eddie came off as LESS scripted this episode than usual, possibly because he was also judging and giving off-the-cuff critiques as opposed to mostly announcing the challenges/winners/losers. *shrugs*

[MerBearHou]

I love Eddie and Ree’s dynamic — they seem to really like each other and make each other laugh.  

[mlp]

5 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

I actually thought Eddie came off as LESS scripted this episode than usual, possibly because he was also judging and giving off-the-cuff critiques as opposed to mostly announcing the challenges/winners/losers. *shrugs*

I agree with that.  I just think he's better when he's not scripted at all.  Some people can do the scripted stuff without sounding a bit stilted.  That's not Eddie's best subject.

[Gbb]

11 hours ago, mlp said:

I agree with that.  I just think he's better when he's not scripted at all.  Some people can do the scripted stuff without sounding a bit stilted.  That's not Eddie's best subject.

Yeah, I'm thinking the new format required a bit more scripting (with 2 people doing the hosting duties) and that could be what I'm seeing. Hopefully it will get better and/or the hosting change is a temporary COVID-related one.  I do like seeing Eddie doing some judging (and I agree he's more loose in those segments). I've enjoyed watching him as a judge in The Big Bake too. 

I wonder what the BBQ guy thinks of getting all these baking-show gigs? 😉

[mlp]

5 hours ago, Gbb said:

I wonder what the BBQ guy thinks of getting all these baking-show gigs? 😉

I'm sure I don't know but it does seem like he's under-utilized.  I've never seen a word against him on any forum and he's certainly nice to look at.  Maybe his availability is limited by whatever he has going on in his life that doesn't involve FN.  He isn't on often enough for FN to be his only career path.

[CheshireCat]

I thought the cookies of the baker who won looked absolutely beautiful. I got mad when they picked up her robot elves and held them in their hands until forever, though. The cookie was bound to break when suspended in the air for too long and it seemed like they were just waiting for it to happen.

Likewise, they were about to grab the second non-broken reindeer but then took the one that had the broken antler and complained about breakage. I mean, seriously?

I'm glad the baker from Canada didn't win. I didn't like her. I did like that she didn't do Santa in Space like the rest of them and I rolled my eyes at the judges when they said they didn't get a "Christmas in the future" vibe from them. No one knows what the future will look like. I seriously doubt that we'll celebrate Christmas on the moon because the challenges, but for some reason that's more futuristic than the festivis simply shifting?

That said, if you love German gingerbread so much you should know that it's not made with molasses or ginger. It's made with cocoa and a certain leavening agent that I don't know what it's called in English and gingerbread spice (of which the main ingredient is not ginger but cinnamon). And it's not cookie like, it's gingerbread. It's got it's own texture.

I thought the lantern looked beautiful even if it did look a bit crooket to me but that may have been an optical illusion. I think the judges should definitely have pointed out the simplicity of her second cookie compared to the other ones. I'm also wondering what she did for three hours. The lantern wasn't overly decorated and the other cookie was not a cut-out and decorated cookie either.

Did they have to smash the ornament so hard? It's not chocolate and contrary to the chocolate they smashed, the little gifts were breakable as well. I'm glad they didn't complain about that though.

How was the log structure so different from the ornament structure? She baked it on two sphere pans and then set them on top of each other. While the top part of the top sphere could have cracked. so could have the log. And I'm pretty sure that if the log had truly been underbaked then it would not have withstood being painted with icing, let alone stand for so long without collapsing.

I adored the cookie inside the log. They were so cute! And while she also did a Santa in Space them for the first challenge, hers was a bit different so I'm glad she won.

Why do bakers keep being surprised that their dough is spreading or their icing consistency isn't right? I get it when they're home bakers but when they're bakers, shouldn't they have experience with dough and icing?

[Guest]

In the Holiday Baking Championship episode which aired right before this, there was a moment where judge Nancy Fuller critiqued a contestant's cookie for having too much icing (she decorated it to look like a wreath, with greens going every which way). Then, as I watched this show with contestants slathering on multiple layers of royal icing (as they do every episode), I could only laugh and wonder what Nancy would say if she were a judge here.

That said, there have been some really nice looking cookies done here with royal icing, like the winner's flying saucer and little woodland creatures, and the cardinal from last week. And I don't care if the yule log was a bit soft. That thing looked real and deserved the win.

Edited November 17, 2020 by tracyscott76

[Rammchick]

1 hour ago, tracyscott76 said:

That said, there have been some really nice looking cookies done here with royal icing, like the winner's flying saucer and little woodland creatures, and the cardinal from last week. And I don't care if the yule log was a bit soft. That thing looked real and deserved the win.

Clearly a very talented young woman -- I hope she goes far!

CheshireCat, what's the name of the German leavening agent?  Maybe I know what it is.

[Madding crowd]

I know it’s part of the show, but I hate it during the first round when they tried so hard to find something wrong with the decorations. They didn’t like the moon snow globe because it didn’t look like snow, but it did look like stars which was consistent with the space theme.

I sure wouldn’t want the judges looking at my cookies! ( I’m joking and I know the contestants sign up for this). I just wish they could be a little more positive.

Edited November 17, 2020 by Madding crowd

[Popples]

1 hour ago, Madding crowd said:

I know it’s part of the show, but I hate it during the first round when they tried so hard to find something wrong with the decorations. They didn’t like the moon snow globe because it didn’t look like snow, but it did look like stars which was consistent with the space theme.

Exactly! There's no snow on the moon, so all a person would see are stars. I thought it was cute and fitting.

The woman who did the ornament should have know that she didn't have enough dough. It only went down like 1/3 of the bowl.

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Popples said:

2 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I know it’s part of the show, but I hate it during the first round when they tried so hard to find something wrong with the decorations. They didn’t like the moon snow globe because it didn’t look like snow, but it did look like stars which was consistent with the space theme.

Exactly! There's no snow on the moon, so all a person would see are stars. I thought it was cute and fitting.

I believe their other issue with that one, though, was that the surface of the moon was too smooth and uniform white, whereas the moon actually has texture (as seen on the guy's "tree on the moon" cookie). So is it snow on the ground or the moon? And is it a few specks of snow in the air or stars in the sky? Since she was selling it as a snow globe, that is kind of important. The judges seemed to be basically saying "cute idea, but the execution doesn't make it clear."

Edited November 17, 2020 by tracyscott76

[ShelleySue]

I seem to be in the minority here, but Eddie gets on my nerves.  I liked him as a host, but I just don't appreciate him as a judge.  I think it's easy to find fault with the details but because he has no baking experience (unless one of you tells me otherwise) it sounds like he's just parroting what he's heard over the years rather than speaking from experience.  I know that he's seen enough failures but has he actually ever tried to bake or decorate a cake?  To me watching people do it and hearing experts doesn't give the credibility that I'm used to of judges that I'm used to.  Any of us could do the same thing from home (except for the tasting). However, that being said, I'm assuming that his being a judge is COVID related.  I  hope that next year he's back to being a lovable host.

[CheshireCat]

3 hours ago, Rammchick said:

CheshireCat, what's the name of the German leavening agent?  Maybe I know what it is.

The German word is Pottasche. I think it's an old-fashioned leavening agent and gingerbread is the only recipe that I've seen that calls for it.

 

3 hours ago, Madding crowd said:

I know it’s part of the show, but I hate it during the first round when they tried so hard to find something wrong with the decorations. They didn’t like the moon snow globe because it didn’t look like snow, but it did look like stars which was consistent with the space theme.

I agree. I agreed with them that the icing representing the sky should have been smoother but not all snowglobes have snow. Some have stars as "snow", so I thought that would have been perfectly fine. (And wasn't this also supposed to be Christmas in the future? If they can question if what the baker from Canada did was futuristic enough, snowglobes with stars can sure be part of the future, too).

[TexasTiffany]

It was strange to hear Lina say that she doesn't like cookies. She bakes cookies for the money. It just seemed off-putting. I want to see someone passionate about baking win the competition. Lina also told us that her dog is her cookie taster. Huh? Is that supposed to be a double meaning, like cookies aren't good enough for her. They are fitting only for dogs? While cookies don't have to be so sweet, they are still not the thing to feed to your dog. Her doggie probably gets diarrhea or other gastric problems. I wasn't sorry to see Lina be eliminated in the first bake. 

A big oops from Brian. He said, "you got to meet Sandra Lee", but he meant Ree. Was that an innocent mistake or throwing shade?

I would have chosen Belinda to go home after the first bake. I don't think her cookies met the "futuristic" challenge. Her stocking cookies were decorated beautifully but I can find that type of decoration already. Christmas is celebrated around the world. Every country has decoration adaptations reflecting their culture. I think she knew she wouldn't do as well with that challenge as the others (after they told us what their concepts were). Instead, Belinda did what she wanted and came up with a story to spin it. 

I liked the idea of Sonja's cookie ornament breakable, but it wasn't executed as well as she envisioned it. It was funny that she told us it was fitting for her to do an ornament breakable since she broke so many of her mom's ornaments growing up. Maybe we'll see her in more FN baking shows. 

23 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I thought the lantern looked beautiful even if it did look a bit crooket to me but that may have been an optical illusion. I think the judges should definitely have pointed out the simplicity of her second cookie compared to the other ones. I'm also wondering what she did for three hours. The lantern wasn't overly decorated and the other cookie was not a cut-out and decorated cookie either.

I was wondering that, too. What did Belinda do with her time? It doesn't make sense that those triangular pieces took that long to prep and construct. Something with that doesn't make sense. I think it would have been smarter for her to decorate the panels when they were laying flat on her board. We saw how beautiful her stockings were. It was a mis-step trying to decorate the lantern after it was put together. Also, it seems a cheat that she did a drop style, freeform cookie. This is Christmas Cookie Challenge. She's supposed to show off her skills and talent. Everything she presented was unfinished and underwhelming. She probably wanted to come on the show to promote her business, but I was unimpressed. 

I'm glad Ashlee won. The cookies she did in both bakes were clever and decorated beautifully. They gave her a hard time over her log breakable. Why not a yule log design? She did a good job with the decorating and icing work. Good on her. I'm glad she won. 

[Rammchick]

On 11/17/2020 at 11:54 AM, CheshireCat said:

The German word is Pottasche. I think it's an old-fashioned leavening agent and gingerbread is the only recipe that I've seen that calls for it.

 

 

Ah, potash!  It's potassium carbonate.  From what I could find online, the form used in baking was pearlash, which is the purified version.  Sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, is the substitute we use today -- they work with acids to liberate carbon dioxide.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Rammchick

[CheshireCat]

It occured to me last night that while icing crusts fairly quickly, it doesn't dry fully for several hours. (Unless you have a dehydrator and even then it takes a couple of hours, as far as I know). Does that mean that when they taste the cookies the icing is still wet in places?

[bilgistic]

This show kind of bores me, but I like baking competitions and seeing cookies being decorated even though I hate baking. I wish this show was formatted more like Holiday Baking Championship, but maybe there's just so much one can do with cookies? Admittedly, I don't know.

I have always found Ree Drummond really bland and I don't get how she built an empire of sorts. This is shallow, but I wish she would quit with the black eyeliner all the way around her eyes on her waterline (it makes the eye look smaller) and find a different hair color, because that weird, washed-out coral-peachy color is not great, Bob. She needs to go either more copper or berry/violet red. I think she'd also look better with chestnut-brown hair.

[TrixieTrue]

I like Eddie as a judge and host. Yes, he may not be a professional pastry chef, but his comments seem to be pretty on point. He's done these kinds of shows for a while, so I imagine he's picked up a lot over the years.   

[mlp]

On 11/19/2020 at 3:08 PM, CheshireCat said:

It occured to me last night that while icing crusts fairly quickly, it doesn't dry fully for several hours. (Unless you have a dehydrator and even then it takes a couple of hours, as far as I know). Does that mean that when they taste the cookies the icing is still wet in places?

I have no idea but I do wonder about the timing of what takes place on this show.  Last week I watched a rerun of an episode from last year and I noticed that one of the men had a wedding ring on in some shots and not in others.  I suppose he might have taken it off while working but it made me wonder how much time actually elapses during filming.