Christmas Cookie Challenge - General Discussion

[TVbitch]

No matter how many times Ree tells us that she and Eddie are besties outside of the show, I see no actual chemistry between them! 

Oof, some of the cookies on last episode were a bit rough. I wish they wouldn't give them tasks like "invent a new game and a game board". I just want to see darling Christmas cookies that the bakers have had time to polish to perfection! 

[mlp]

2 hours ago, TVbitch said:

No matter how many times Ree tells us that she and Eddie are besties outside of the show, I see no actual chemistry between them! 

That's interesting because I've said during previous seasons that I thought that Ree and Eddie are friends in real life.  They seem very comfortable with each other to me.

[LexieLily]

How did Eddie and Ree not notice or comment on the fact the woman that made the 50s cookies in the first/retro round spelled Claus (Mrs. Claus) wrong? She spelled it with an e on the end like the language/grammar clause. 

[all4mom2]

On 11/23/2021 at 6:41 PM, mlp said:

That's interesting because I've said during previous seasons that I thought that Ree and Eddie are friends in real life.  They seem very comfortable with each other to me.

Maybe they didn't know the difference -- either?

I agree that some of these cookies are very amateurish; it makes you wonder how the same people could have created the masterpieces shown in their introductions!

Poodle skirt/Clause lady was annoying anyway; she wouldn't have even thought of the deer, which turned out to be very cute and clever, had they not tipped her off about the character component.

Giving him a red "bulb" nose would've made him an ACTUAL character.

The Asian mother creating the memorial snowglobe to her deceased son was obviously going for Ree "feels" points!

The right person won this one.

Edited November 26, 2021 by all4mom2

[mojoween]

On 11/26/2021 at 11:34 AM, all4mom2 said:

The right person won this one.

Same. I for sure thought it was going to be Priscilla, but so happy Karen won.  Her globe was better than the other two by far, even when Eddie picked it up it looked good on the bottom.

Wasn’t Nolan first out on one of the holiday baking shows too?  His designs were really fun but just the thought of eating a cotton candy flavored cookie makes me want to run screaming in the other direction.

I *liked* the simplicity of the house on the light bulb ornament, and it still showed talent.  Shut up Ree and Eddie.

[kj4ever]

On 11/23/2021 at 11:00 AM, all4mom2 said:

Remind me who Julia was; what were her cookies?  With all the reruns they're playing from different seasons, they're all running together!  

I think she was from Brazil and she covered everything in a ton of fondant and they kept telling her to stop but she didn't.  She made a house for her last one with a little Julia and a Dog and everything was fondant again.  She might have won if she found a different way than fondant.

Oh and she kept bitching about Damiano that he was too picky, and if any other contestants asked a question like "what are you making" she was incredibly rude to them.

She was a little better when she was on Holiday Baking Championship so maybe she isn't as big of an A-Hole as she was portrayed and watched her P's and Q's the next time she was on TV.  I've never actively wanted someone to lose as much as I wanted her to lose (on both shows).

 

[CrazyInAlabama]

I remember her.   She was so rude on this show, and not much better on Holiday Baking Championship either.    She toned down the open rudeness on the other show, but you can't tone down the nasty expression on your face.      She was on Season 5, of Holiday Baking Championship (they're rerunning it now).  

Edited November 29, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[torontomeridith]

On 11/26/2021 at 12:33 AM, LexieLily said:

How did Eddie and Ree not notice or comment on the fact the woman that made the 50s cookies in the first/retro round spelled Claus (Mrs. Claus) wrong? She spelled it with an e on the end like the language/grammar clause. 

They probably didn't want to embarrass her, but believe me, I noticed.

But at least she did straight up 50s items. The others all did vaguely decade-specific, but not as on the nose. I can buy those Cosmic Brownies at the grocery store down the street right now. Where is Santa in a baggy, oversized neon outfit? The grunge holiday flannel?

C'mon bakers, think one second longer.

And yes, the right baker won.

[Maverick]

 Yeah, I didn't get the Little Debbie brownies being 90s.   And nothing about his designs said 90s to me.  Definitely the right choice to go in the first round.  

[Popples]

27 minutes ago, torontomeridith said:

Where is Santa in a baggy, oversized neon outfit? The grunge holiday flannel?

I yelled "Grunge Santa" at the screen when he said he was doing the 90s.

[Rammchick]

55 minutes ago, Maverick said:

 Yeah, I didn't get the Little Debbie brownies being 90s.   And nothing about his designs said 90s to me.  Definitely the right choice to go in the first round.  

That cup design is still in use, so it made no sense that that was specific to the 90s.

And frankly, if a color scheme on a disposable cup is the best representation you can come up with for an entire decade, you might think about choosing something else 😉

Edited November 29, 2021 by Rammchick

[Mrs. Landingham]

On 11/28/2021 at 6:18 AM, kj4ever said:

Oh and she kept bitching about Damiano that he was too picky, and if any other contestants asked a question like "what are you making" she was incredibly rude to them.

She was awful. I think she replied something like “I don’t have time to teach you, okay?” The contestant was just asking how she made something, she wasn’t asking for a lesson! The poor contestant was taken aback at Julia’s weird hostility. 

[all4mom2]

I turned on the tube a few minutes early and caught Ree and Eddie also appearing on "Beating Bobby Flay."  Do they OWN that network?

The chandelier challenge was fun.  Las Vegas should have won (did she not complete it in time?).  I thought "Feliz Navidad" was going to be a hot mess, but it turned out looking pretty good; well-executed.  Again, I wish they'd stop with their heritage and family traditions and heartwarming stories and just do Christmas.  No one cares, LOL!

[Guest]

1 hour ago, all4mom2 said:

The chandelier challenge was fun.  Las Vegas should have won (did she not complete it in time?).  I thought "Feliz Navidad" was going to be a hot mess, but it turned out looking pretty good; well-executed.  Again, I wish they'd stop with their heritage and family traditions and heartwarming stories and just do Christmas.  No one cares, LOL!

I know the Food Network's emphasis on having a personal story about everything can be tiresome, but I don't think there is a way for someone to "just do Christmas." Christmas is a little different for everyone, and often it's all about the heritage and family traditions and heartwarming stories. Even something as basic as a Christmas tree looks different in everyone's head, based on what they knew growing up or what their family does now. I know those are the things that imbue the season with more specialness to me, so I can't blame the bakers for incorporating those things into their cookies.

[all4mom2]

I would say it has to be relatable.  For instance, the contestant in Season 3 who did a slice-and-bake cookie in the shape of her home state, Iowa, with the word "Home" written across it.  Huh?  If a Christmas tree has a special place in your family history, fine, everyone can relate to a tree at Christmas.  A hung stocking reminds you of your mother, great; we all know that hung stockings are part of Christmas.  Your home state of Iowa? Not so much!  Maybe they'd sell at a bakery in Iowa, but it doesn't fly on a Christmas Cookie Challenge (of course, Ree loved the story...).

Edited December 3, 2021 by all4mom2

[mojoween]

Man I loved Kyra but as soon as I saw Roberta’s chandelier I knew she had it in the bag.  It makes sense, because a. she lit the chandelier and b. her first round cookies were beautifully decorated and flavorful, even if too hard for Ree.

My recording caught the end of an older show and Ree said the winner was not unanimous and I was like how does that work? until I realized Jason was there too.  But now that there is only Ree and Eddie I wonder who the tiebreaker is (Ree).

[CheshireCat]

I agreed with the judges: the chandelliers were some of the most beautiful displays they've ever had. And while I think the reindeers looked a bit simple, I would have been fine with any of the bakers winning.

I also thought the first round was judged fairly. The three who advanded really had the best cookies and while Mr "I baked for celebrities all the time"'s cookies looked good, they were not what they were asking. I'm glad they eliminated him and didn't suddenly think that his originality was appealing or something. (Although, I think the baker who made the gingerbread man could have added a bit more texture to the insides of the gingerbread man; I was missing a bit of the "what he's made of" part, so sprinkling sugar and adding icing bits that look like butter, for example, would have added another layer).

What's up with mushrooms and gnomes for Christmas?

[CrazyInAlabama]

I watched some earlier season reruns, and then the Lexie/Witchmas one came up.  She didn't win, but while others usually clap and congratulate the winner, and seem sincere, she wasn't.   Her congratulations were very minimal, and I think were just for the show.   I'm guessing it was part of her publicity for when her family had their own show. 

[Darius Gray]

I watched 3-4 episode n I frankly think this show is rigged..the Russian lady wins but Peter's work was outstanding...Mary from the advent episode wins but she received a lot of negative comments..its like if the person is pretty or already has a public profile then its an automatic win...

[Crs97]

On 11/26/2021 at 11:34 AM, all4mom2 said:

Poodle skirt/Clause lady was annoying anyway; she wouldn't have even thought of the deer, which turned out to be very cute and clever, had they not tipped her off about the character component.

I am watching this one now, and she mentioned the reindeer going on the skirt before the character issue arose.  Why she didn’t add a red nose is beyond me, though.

[all4mom2]

37 minutes ago, Crs97 said:

I am watching this one now, and she mentioned the reindeer going on the skirt before the character issue arose.

Wasn't this "Retro Christmas"?  I just recorded that one (yes, I even enjoy reruns when there's nothing else on).  I don't remember that, but will listen for it now...

[CheshireCat]

51 minutes ago, all4mom2 said:

Wasn't this "Retro Christmas"? 

Yes.

1 hour ago, Crs97 said:

I am watching this one now, and she mentioned the reindeer going on the skirt before the character issue arose.  Why she didn’t add a red nose is beyond me, though.

I had the same thought, then realized that the skirt was red. I guess, the reindeer was either Dasher or Danzer or Pranzer or Blitzen ;-)

While a reindeer is certainly a Christmas character, I agree with all4mom2; I found her annoying as well. I don't know what it was about her but something about her bothered me.

I was surprised that she made it to the next round and I think the other female baker (I'm always so focused on the cookies, I hardly ever catch the names) should have moved on to the next round. The skirt did look great but the other baker had great looking cookies as well and she did have an actual cookie that was a character.

Overall, I was impressed with the first round. The only cookies that didn't look all that great were the white Santa and black Christmas tree. I wasn't really sure what to make of those.

I didn't care for any of the display cookies. They all had elements that I liked but I didn like the base of any of them. The blue "globe" and shape of the winning display made it look like a submarine window. I don't know if it was intentional as it fit the theme but I would have preferred a globe with a fuller body.

I would have liked for the angel to have isomalt/sugar wings instead of cookie wings. Otherwise, it was pretty.

I also liked the lighthouse and her writing looked beautiful, too.

 

[Crs97]

5 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

While a reindeer is certainly a Christmas character, I agree with all4mom2; I found her annoying as well. I don't know what it was about her but something about her bothered me.

I was surprised that she made it to the next round and I think the other female baker (I'm always so focused on the cookies, I hardly ever catch the names) should have moved on to the next round. The skirt did look great but the other baker had great looking cookies as well and she did have an actual cookie that was a character.

She was indeed annoying.  I knew the other person was out when they made a special talking head to have her say she doesn’t typically use artificial flavoring.  The look on their faces when they bit into the cookie definitely gave me inedible vibes.  I’ve noticed that when someone gets a talking head about some novel thing they are trying or something they are known for, they tend to be gone because they screwed it up.  Another example was a show in which the baker talked about how she always uses salted butter at home.  Sure enough she got axed for not having enough salt in her cookies.

[all4mom2]

She did INDEED mention making the poodle into a reindeer, and it WOULD have been savvy of her to name it one of the other reindeer (although she didn't), but as it stood, I would say the reindeer - while clever - was a Christmas "symbol" and not "character."  A red bulb nose would have been perfect with the light "leash."  The skirt, by rights, should have been pink!  Or at least green (for Christmas).

At any rate, it's a moot point because Ree LOVED the plaid "Clause" sign, however misspelled, and she didn't win the $10k anyway; if she had, I've have been pi$$ed!

Edited December 7, 2021 by all4mom2

[CheshireCat]

I felt this win was so predictable. Renee's Santa's gift cookies didn't look any better than other cookies we've seen on the show previously and yet, the judges couldn't stop gushing about them.
But no matter how tasty the cookie, that Christmas sweater should not have won. The tree was a mess and the colors were Easter, like Ree said and while I didn't catch it, Eddie pointed out that the sleeves were decorated unevenly. Throwing in candy canes does not make it a Christmas sweater and it does not make it any neater.

I loved the hot tub. It looked so realistic.
I also liked her sweater and I think this is the baker who should have won. I think it was also her who did the Dirty Chai Latte cookie which made me go "yay"! Finally someone who uses a non-citrus or summer-y flavor. I probably would have used cocoa instead of coffee but as a Chai tea fan, I really liked the idea of the flavor.

I have a feeling that if the baker with the pecans would have used chopped pecans, they would have pointed out how it makes the cookie instable or whatever. That said, why does the show not provide them with both, halves and chopped pecans? It's not like you can't buy them already chopped and since they only have so much time to make their cookies it would be a nice gesture to have both options available.

I feel it's unfortunate that the male baker ran out of time. I think his cookies could have been great if he'd had enough time. But something was wrong with his cookies. Not being baked all the way through is one thing but those things were soft like they were fresh out of the oven. I guess, the still-wet icing didn't help but still.

I think Lychee may not have been the best flavor. I only tasted them once but if I remember correctly, they don't have much of a distinct taste, so I have no difficulty believing that you couldn't really taste them.

 

[all4mom2]

Has a white male EVER won?  They seem to be included just to screw up early and get eliminated (although a precious few have made it to the second round).

[Rammchick]

14 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I feel it's unfortunate that the male baker ran out of time. I think his cookies could have been great if he'd had enough time. But something was wrong with his cookies. Not being baked all the way through is one thing but those things were soft like they were fresh out of the oven. I guess, the still-wet icing didn't help but still.

He used orange juice in the batter, and even questioned whether it would make the cookie too soft.  Clearly, it did 😉

[Crs97]

6 hours ago, all4mom2 said:

Has a white male EVER won?  They seem to be included just to screw up early and get eliminated (although a precious few have made it to the second round).

The baker from Houston probably should have won.  His card cookies were beautiful, and his Santa tabletop was terrific.

[CheshireCat]

1 hour ago, Rammchick said:

He used orange juice in the batter, and even questioned whether it would make the cookie too soft.  Clearly, it did 😉

But what they showed didn't seem like he put in that much. Too much liquid usually makes the dough too much like gummy or so wet that it won't hold its shape when cutting it out (his dough seemed to have neither problem), it's the fat content or nuts/almonds (which have a high fat content) that usually makes it soft/instable. In order for juice not to affect the dough he must have had a lot of fat in there but it still seems weird since the cookie looked flexible but didn't break? (Or did it break and they didn't comment/didn't show the comment since the baker had already said that his dough was too soft? I would appreciate that since there'd be no need to rub his nose in it).

Something else I remembered: did the baker who made jelly say she had made jelly before or that she hadn't made it before?
I don't use gelatine but when I watch baking shows/videos the bakers always put the gelatine in water even the sheets. It definitely looked like the gelatine not dissolving was her problem.

Oh, can bakers and the judges stop acting like they just invented the wheel or something? I have yet to see a technique no one has used before, so please show, stop making it sound as if that is the case. (I noticed it with Renee in the first challenge with the evergreen twig but mostly with Ree who made it sound like no one had ever done a basket weave on a cookie before).

[mojoween]

I hated all three sweaters.  There was a rolling rack of sweater designs they could have used for inspiration.  Have none of them even SEEN ugly sweaters before?  Emily even said hers was cute ugly which is not what Ree and Eddie wanted.

Rene’s would have met the ugliness quotient if she made it look like Christmas.  Why she chose those colors, for the ornaments even!, is beyond me.

Eddie and Ree’s “pe-can” “pe-cahn” made me giggle because that is a worldwide disagreement.

[Sarahsmile416]

12 hours ago, mojoween said:

I hated all three sweaters.  There was a rolling rack of sweater designs they could have used for inspiration.  Have none of them even SEEN ugly sweaters before?  Emily even said hers was cute ugly which is not what Ree and Eddie wanted.

Rene’s would have met the ugliness quotient if she made it look like Christmas.  Why she chose those colors, for the ornaments even!, is beyond me.

Eddie and Ree’s “pe-can” “pe-cahn” made me giggle because that is a worldwide disagreement.

I loved Eddie’s “do you call it a trash cahn” rejoinder.  I laughed out loud.  
 

I guess I’m alone in thinking Renee deserved to win.  Despite the non Christmas colors, she was the only one who had a successful flavor combination on both cookies.  
 

Emily’s was amazing, but definitely not ugly enough, and CC’s was just underwhelming compared to the other two…plus the really bad jelly in the one cookie probably sunk her 

[CheshireCat]

4 hours ago, Sarahsmile416 said:

I guess I’m alone in thinking Renee deserved to win.  Despite the non Christmas colors, she was the only one who had a successful flavor combination on both cookies.

That is subject to taste though. Someone else might have thought differently.

 

 

17 hours ago, mojoween said:

I hated all three sweaters.  There was a rolling rack of sweater designs they could have used for inspiration. 

I'm willing to give them a break due to time limits. The more different consistencies of icing and the more colors, the more time it takes. Plus, they also had to make two cookies, one that was more detailed.

 

[CheshireCat]

I didn't catch the first challenge but I thought the second one was weird. As they said, this is a cake trend, so what was it doing in a cookie baking challenge?

From the looks of it, the gingerbread girl guy had the best icing consistency. The green one looked a bit too thick. I'm good with her win but I don't think she met the challenge entirely since the icing didn't exactly flow and I think it's supposed to.

Too bad the Mrs Claus dress didn't work.

[Crs97]

His city and country wreaths were a thing of beauty.  I was really annoyed with Eddie’s comment about his spending too much time on the city scape; I thought the wreath itself was beautiful and didn’t need another thing.  I loved the Santa going down the chimney idea, but thought the best tsunami was the gingerbread.  Of course, “best” is relative because I thought it was a stupid assignment.  I certainly thought they were all inedible after all the crap poured on them.

[Crs97]

3 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

I didn't catch the first challenge

The first challenge was to make two distinctive wreaths.  One person was criticized for making one wreath look like a donut (“you need a bow!”).  Another person was criticized for her wreaths looking too similar (“I mean you just gave us two circles with bows.”). Granted, those two bakers had other problems with their cookies, but I face palmed that, especially after Eddie complained that the guy spent too much time on the backdrop that made his cookies so distinctive.  Then add the tsunami and I think the show might have jumped the holiday shark.

[HyeChaps]

That green stuff flowing down the pile of cookies was so unappetizing 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Crs97 said:

The first challenge was to make two distinctive wreaths.  One person was criticized for making one wreath look like a donut (“you need a bow!”).  Another person was criticized for her wreaths looking too similar (“I mean you just gave us two circles with bows.”). Granted, those two bakers had other problems with their cookies, but I face palmed that, especially after Eddie complained that the guy spent too much time on the backdrop that made his cookies so distinctive.  Then add the tsunami and I think the show might have jumped the holiday shark.

I actually agreed with that critique. She basically made a circle with a hole in the middle, frosted white with little gingerbread guys on it. It could just as easily have been a donut. The comment about needing a bow was that it creates an anchor, aka an obvious top or bottom that identifies it as a wreath.

[Crs97]

That cookie was so slapdash made with seconds to spare that to me the lack of bow was the least of its problems.  I agreed with their point till we got to their next critiques.  It was just a bad episode IMO.

[all4mom2]

The white male was soooooooooo close this week; I thought we were going to make history!  (Actually, make history again, as I saw on the reruns that there was one before him.)  His tsunami was the most effective and impressive of the three, which I thought was the point; the winner looked more like green slime to me...

His wreath cookies were BY FAR the best, although you could tell Eddie was preparing to throw shade on them.  Who cares about the winner's bee-sting story?  Just because that happened on one her HER Christmases doesn't make it a Christmas cookie (sigh).  And there wouldn't be all that white space above the bow if they put the bow on the TOP of the wreath instead of the bottom; is that how the cookie cutter comes or something and no one thought to Frankencutter it by reconfiguring bow placement?

I wonder if I'll ever agree with the judges?  It would help if it weren't just Ree and Eddie; who breaks a tie?  Still, it's great fun to watch!

Edited December 17, 2021 by all4mom2

[Crs97]

2 hours ago, all4mom2 said:

Who cares about the winner's bee-sting story?  Just because that happened on one her HER Christmases doesn't make it a Christmas cookie (sigh).

Especially since in an earlier episode regarding Christmas weddings, a baker said her inspiration came from officiating the Hawaiian Christmas wedding of a child she babysat, and they cut her for not bringing enough Christmas to the cookies.  Not that I thought they were wrong there, but they certainly aren’t consistent (which is why I shouldn’t binge watch this show).

[mojoween]

I liked Ernest’s first two wreaths; but I wish they weren’t both on square cookies.  It would have been cool for one to be a wreath shape.

Fancy lady with Mrs. Claus would have won if her damn ruffles weren’t so big.

[Starry-Eyed]

On 12/17/2021 at 4:19 PM, all4mom2 said:

Who cares about the winner's bee-sting story?  Just because that happened on one her HER Christmases doesn't make it a Christmas cookie (sigh).

She went out of her way to make it Christmassy, though, by putting the little santa hats on the bees. I felt like it had a good balance of uniqueness while still being clearly for Christmas and not some other occassion. Just plain generic holiday trappings that everyone uses get old after a while

[CheshireCat]

Did they film that one before the episode with the bee-wreath? Because that was the last episode where they had royal icing transfers...

What did they have against the lady who made the giraffe and duck? Those cookies were adorable and they sounded like they were looking for a reason to say something negative about them. I bet if she had focused more on the chimney, they would have said that it distracts from the giraffe. (The cookie was supposed to be about the animal, so I don't get the comment anyway).

I thought either the lady who did the Santa riding on the polar bear or the lady who made the lama should have been eliminated instead. As the judges pointed out, the lama and bear had the exact same color scheme and I thought the giraffe and duck were much more complex than the narwhal and the polar bear.

I also loved the owl and the rabbit even if they looked a bit similar, probably because they both had those huge eyes.

The kangarooh was cute, the Phoenix wasn't my favorite.

It's such a pity that the snowman didn't hold up and that time got away from the other baker. But I think the right baker won in the end.

[Guest]

Eddie is such a shit-stirrer 😆

[mojoween]

As soon as they mentioned that Ben was not making animal-shaped cookies, it was clear he was not moving on.  This show has been on long enough now that contestants should know this.

I was really rooting for Janae, but Sam’s (was that her name?) snowman was clearly superior to the other two.  It would have been cuter if the angle of the head was more like the adorable drawing rather than straight up, but it was still very good.

I felt badly for Valentina that she was crying over her snowman pile, but Ree and Eddie were very nice to still compliment what was good.

Is using royal icing super difficult to be so precise, or are contestants nervous under the cameras? I always feel badly when the camera zooms in on the decorating and the bakers hands are shaking like mad.

[CheshireCat]

2 hours ago, mojoween said:

Is using royal icing super difficult to be so precise, or are contestants nervous under the cameras?

It's not difficult per se but ideally, you adjust the icing consistency for whatever it is you work on and that takes time.

If I did a competition like that (which I'd never do because I wouldn't be able to deal with the time limit) I'd probably mix two consistencies when I mix the icing - one a bit stiffer, one for flooding. But normally, you'd adjust as you go.

Humidity and temperature also play a role with royal icing and can affect the consistency and/or the end result.

[Popples]

20 hours ago, CheshireCat said:

What did they have against the lady who made the giraffe and duck? Those cookies were adorable and they sounded like they were looking for a reason to say something negative about them. I bet if she had focused more on the chimney, they would have said that it distracts from the giraffe. (The cookie was supposed to be about the animal, so I don't get the comment anyway).

They also said that they didn't get enough popcorn flavor in her cookies and on every baking competition show the judges always say that if you tell them a certain flavor is in your cookies, they'd better be able to taste it. I was fine with her being eliminated in the first round because I found her extremely grating.

[RealityCheck]

A new season of CHRISTMAS COOKIE CHALLENGE hosted by Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson returns Sunday, November 6th at 8PM ET/PT.

[Spunkygal]

I like Eddie on this show and on The Big Bake, but not Halloween Wars. I’m sure FN has their “talent” under contract to do a certain number of shows but as we’ve all said a million times, these people are getting stale.

[TVbitch]

I think I am up-to-date on this show and it seems like they are rotating hosts.