Holiday Baking Championship - General Discussion

[Dena0033]

It's not political. Hanukkah happens near Christmas so non-Jewish people associate it with being "like Christmas." It's actually about the 5th or 6th most important Jewish holiday. I believe their most important holidays - high holidays - are in September. 

[theatremouse]

6 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Hanukkah isn't a minor holiday to Jews.

Disagree. It's a favourite of a lot of folks because it's basically a requirement to fry things, and little kids tend to like it because it now entails presents so they don't feel left out when so many other folks do Christmas presents, but religiously? Hanukkah is minor. Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Sukkot I'd say are all WAY more important than Hanukkah. 

Whatever that contestant said Hanukkah was about was SO wrong I can't even remember what it was, but I did say outloud to my TV "no it's not".

[susannah]

12 minutes ago, Dena0033 said:

It's not political. Hanukkah happens near Christmas so non-Jewish people associate it with being "like Christmas." It's actually about the 5th or 6th most important Jewish holiday. I believe their most important holidays - high holidays - are in September. 

Also Passover.

[Rammchick]

15 hours ago, theatremouse said:

Disagree. It's a favourite of a lot of folks because it's basically a requirement to fry things, and little kids tend to like it because it now entails presents so they don't feel left out when so many other folks do Christmas presents, but religiously? Hanukkah is minor. Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Sukkot I'd say are all WAY more important than Hanukkah. 

Whatever that contestant said Hanukkah was about was SO wrong I can't even remember what it was, but I did say outloud to my TV "no it's not".

Agreed.  Hanukkah has almost become the Jewish equivalent of secular Christmas.  When I was a kid, we stopped celebrating it and started celebrating Christmas with a tree and everything.  It was because I had mostly non-Jewish friends, and my parents didn't want me to feel left out  (that, and my father loved the Christmas tree, which we called a Hanukkah bush!).   In terms of religious holidays, Hanukkah is second tier, at best.

[dleighg]

23 hours ago, susannah said:

However, it sounds odd to me that there are non Jews who have absolutely no idea what it is about. JMO

I think it might depend where you live. I grew up in NJ, and now live in NY, so ... lots of Jewish folks. Our schools are off on the major fall holidays (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur). But other parts of the country don't do that, so if you're from there, you might not have a strong impression of it. I remember a long time ago a client (in CA) when told that schools were off in NY because of Yom Kippur, said "Oh, one of those East Coast holidays" LOL. 

[susannah]

23 minutes ago, dleighg said:

I think it might depend where you live. I grew up in NJ, and now live in NY, so ... lots of Jewish folks. Our schools are off on the major fall holidays (Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur). But other parts of the country don't do that, so if you're from there, you might not have a strong impression of it. I remember a long time ago a client (in CA) when told that schools were off in NY because of Yom Kippur, said "Oh, one of those East Coast holidays" LOL. 

That's so. I myself never knew any Jewish people, growing up in southern OR, and the only reason I know of it is because I always have read alot, about lots of things. You have a good point.

[theatremouse]

Let's make sure posts connect back to the show, y'all.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Why is Nancy wearing that hideous wig this week?    I had to laugh when the contestant said everything Nancy would have, and Duff (I think Duff, but I might be wrong) said Nancy was obsolete.    

Edited December 7, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[Frost]

I'm so happy Jody wasn't sent home!  He needs to deal better with unfamiliar desserts though.  Even if he hadn't heard of a Grasshopper Pie before, the tastes aren't so uncommon he couldn't work with them.  I was yipping at the TV when he just threw the walnuts into his mousse.  Why not make a walnut brittle or a crumble or something?

I'm not sorry Marilyn left but I wish it had been Jose.  I actually brightened up when Duff said Jose was boring...but then the commercial break ended and it turned into a compliment!  He just seems so dour all the time.

[VanillaBear85]

It seems like Jody should have been the one sent home.

I am glad Jose won.

I hope Sabrina wins something soon.

[MerBearHou]

Nancy wore the wig because she and Carla were “retro”.  Duff didn’t wear the theme at all.  

Sorry to say bye to Marilyn — she is such a wonderful baker.  Kiss of death getting that advantage.

Boy, Jody does not have a poker face at all — you can tell exactly what he’s feeling.  I like him, but he really blew it tonight.

 

[kathyk24]

I would have been so upset if Jody had been eliminated. Jose always gets criticised for his poor decorations yet he's still in the competition. I'm biased because I love raspberries but I loved Marilyn's dessert

[GaT]

3 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Why is Nancy wearing that hideous wig this week?   

Seriously, who is telling her she looks good? that wig looked horrible on her. First she channels Doris Day, now she's channeling Gidget. The color is bad on her, the style is a good 40 years too young for her, & the wig is poor quality, what is going on?

[susannah]

I think it was right that Marilyn went, since her dessert wasn't a holiday dessert.  I clearly see that Adam is the fair haired boy, whom the judges obviously want to win. Richard's cake was gorgeous, and since it was clearly a Christmas cake, "Happy Holiday" is appropriate, Carla. I thought Sabrina did well, and Jody's wasn't bad.

[RoxiP]

17 minutes ago, GaT said:

Seriously, who is telling her she looks good? that wig looked horrible on her. First she channels Doris Day, now she's channeling Gidget. The color is bad on her, the style is a good 40 years too young for her, & the wig is poor quality, what is going on?

At the start Jesse said the judges were going retro to match the theme...it was a costume wig...she also had winged eyeliner like the 60s.

[emmawoodhouse]

Why didn't Duff dress up? He could have at least put on a leather motorcycle jacket. 

[GaT]

25 minutes ago, RoxiP said:

At the start Jesse said the judges were going retro to match the theme...it was a costume wig...she also had winged eyeliner like the 60s.

Thank goodness, I must have missed it. Though, she still looked bad, & didn't look at all retro.

[Irlandesa]

Jesse brought out those walnuts and said they were from the 50s.  Then Richard shouted "I remember. I was there."  I laughed.  There's no way he's over 70 years old. 

I knew Marilyn was a goner when she cheerfully chose what was arguably, other than the ambrosia salad, the worst dessert option to "modernize."  Or just the worst option. Period.  I was hoping she really did have a brilliant idea but misinterpreting the assignment has been an issue for her in the past and it's what did her in here. 

Jody, in my mind, had the easiest dessert so I was surprised to see him in the bottom.

Edited December 13, 2021 by Irlandesa

[CheshireCat]

Richard's decoration may have been very simple but Sabrina didn't really have an impressive looking dessert either.

Jody's pie looked picture perfect and sorry, I don't believe that you get underbaked bits if the pie shell has this color and a bottom that has a consistent thickness which this one looked like it had. What I think might have happened was that it wasn't entirely cooled and the jam made the dough a little soggy. Or the butter wasn't distributed well and those were bits where there were tiny chunks of butter in the dough. If that happens, it can taste as if the dough wasn't baked all the way through.

The original Ambrosia Salad does not look appetizing at all!

Neither does the orange raspberry gelatin thing-y.

Why was Marylin's not updated but Richard's was?

Richard's did look beautiful. The cake layers looked a bit dry, though. Very crumbly. But I've never tasted a bourbon ball so it may be what the inside looks like?!

I didn't care for the look of Jose's. It was way too brown and needed a pop of color. Just something to bring some contrast. I did like his idea of deconstructing the pineapple upside down cake, though.

I also thought Sabrina's idea was cute and it looked delicious. I just wish she would have added one more element to it as I had trouble making out the snowman. But along with Richard's, it looked the most appetizing.

For someone who ran out of ideas and didn't know what to do with his dessert, Jody's, at least, looked pretty good.
Why is it called grasshopper pie? Because of the color?

 

 

 

[TomGirl]

8 minutes ago, CheshireCat said:

Why is it called grasshopper pie? Because of the color?

Yes.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, GaT said:

Seriously, who is telling her she looks good? that wig looked horrible on her. First she channels Doris Day, now she's channeling Gidget. The color is bad on her, the style is a good 40 years too young for her, & the wig is poor quality, what is going on?

 

5 hours ago, GaT said:

6 hours ago, RoxiP said:

At the start Jesse said the judges were going retro to match the theme...it was a costume wig...she also had winged eyeliner like the 60s.

Thank goodness, I must have missed it. Though, she still looked bad, & didn't look at all retro.

If she was channeling Gidget, then doesn't that mean she was looking retro?

I am more than ready for Sabrina to win something. I like how she bounced back from setbacks with a minimum of fuss.

[libgirl2]

20 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Agreed.  Hanukkah has almost become the Jewish equivalent of secular Christmas.  When I was a kid, we stopped celebrating it and started celebrating Christmas with a tree and everything.  It was because I had mostly non-Jewish friends, and my parents didn't want me to feel left out  (that, and my father loved the Christmas tree, which we called a Hanukkah bush!).   In terms of religious holidays, Hanukkah is second tier, at best.

My mom nannied for a Jewish family who had a Hanukkah "bush" too! I am still friends with the wife and she loves the holidays and Christmas music. 

7 hours ago, MerBearHou said:

 

Boy, Jody does not have a poker face at all — you can tell exactly what he’s feeling.  I like him, but he really blew it tonight.

 

I knew he wouldn't get sent home but he really thought he would. 

[Jillybean]

I really thought Jody should have been the one to go. He failed to meet the challenge. I thought it was so nice that he said "Good luck, Marilyn" as they stepped forward for the elimination. Then he said "sorry" to her when Jesse said her name. 

I don't know why Marilyn chose a Jell-O mold. I've never heard of a raspberry orange Jell-O mold, but I thought she met the challenge. She didn't make a Jell-O mold, so what was the issue? 

[dleighg]

8 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Jesse brought out those walnuts and said they were from the 50s. 

That threw me for a loop. I wasn't yet born in the 50s, but definitely remember "wet walnuts" as one of the toppings you could put on top of your ice cream (along with chocolate syrup, cherries, etc.) That was in the 80s or so. AFAIK you can still buy them in jars where they sell syrup and ice cream cones. Everyone seemed to think they were so totally weird!

[tennisgurl]

I knew when it came down to Marilyn and Jody that Marilyn was going home, but I am sad to see her go. She seems like the sweetest lady and a great baker, but she hasn't been as consistent as some of the others. Jody had a bad week but has mostly been one of the frontrunners. His biggest issue seems to be he panics when he is facing something he isn't familiar with, he really needs to learn to either roll with whatever he gets or familiarize himself with more cakes in the future. Although to be fair to Jody, I've never heard of grasshopper cake either.

I was shocked when Duff said that Jose was boring, although I don't exactly disagree, but of course it was actually the start of a compliment. His pineapple upside down cake twist looked really tasty but it really didn't seem all that Christmas-y. It looked more like a fall or possibly summer cake. His bakes are usually really good but they seem a little dull to me. I prefer Sabrina's more quirky style. 

[Kerbearjo]

On 12/1/2021 at 9:03 AM, RoxiP said:

Both of my parents grew up in Jefferson and I spent holidays with both sets of grandparents there (and still own a farm there).  Canton is about an hour's east of where I live now and yet oddly enough I have never been to First Monday.

Oh Trade Days!!! My absolute most favorite thing to do. 

[rlc]

Jody should have gone home. I'm sorry- even if you aren't familiar with a grasshopper pie, surely you are familiar with chocolate and mint? He was asked to reimagine a chocolate and mint dessert. Aero peppermint, Butlers mint chocolate, Fry's peppermint cream, McVitie's mint...even if he hadn't been living in Boston for a number of years, he is familiar with mint/chocolate from Ireland. He's had some very good bakes, but he falls apart very easily and gets a pass because of the assumption that he is amazing and having an off day.

[susannah]

1 hour ago, rlc said:

Jody should have gone home. I'm sorry- even if you aren't familiar with a grasshopper pie, surely you are familiar with chocolate and mint? He was asked to reimagine a chocolate and mint dessert. Aero peppermint, Butlers mint chocolate, Fry's peppermint cream, McVitie's mint...even if he hadn't been living in Boston for a number of years, he is familiar with mint/chocolate from Ireland. He's had some very good bakes, but he falls apart very easily and gets a pass because of the assumption that he is amazing and having an off day.

At least he tried. Marilyn just made another jello dessert. I agreed with Nancy that it looked like a summer salad.

3 hours ago, dleighg said:

That threw me for a loop. I wasn't yet born in the 50s, but definitely remember "wet walnuts" as one of the toppings you could put on top of your ice cream (along with chocolate syrup, cherries, etc.) That was in the 80s or so. AFAIK you can still buy them in jars where they sell syrup and ice cream cones. Everyone seemed to think they were so totally weird!

I have been around for quite a while and I had never heard of them. Perhaps it is a regional thing.

[ShelleySue]

On 12/5/2021 at 1:08 PM, susannah said:

On 12/5/2021 at 11:57 AM, bilgistic said:

Hanukkah isn't a minor holiday to Jews.

Actually I believe that to many Jews, it is a lesser holiday in the faith. Others may disagree. However, it sounds odd to me that there are non Jews who have absolutely no idea what it is about. JMO.

It's supposed to be a minor holiday.  We have just inflated it to compete with Christmas.  It's not one of those going to Temple/shul holidays.  It's a celebrating at home sort of holiday.    Btw - even though Chanukah (the way that I spell it) is about fried food and oil, I have never, not even once, had an olive oil cake for Chanukah.

 

I had a major problem with the walnuts in oil. Who ever thought of them knew what the make-over dessert flavors were going to be. It was a total disadvantage to the person (Jody) receiving Grasshopper Pie. Jody didn't even try to figure out how to balance the flavors.  I was very surprised that the judges didn't even mention the walnuts.  They were either very kind to him when they realized the inequity of the challenge or the editors just cut out their remarks. Did anyone else notice that?

Edited December 7, 2021 by ShelleySue
typo

[Dirtybubble]

Enh it was just time for Marilyn to go.  She's a sweet lady and seems to be a talented baker but when she won the mini challenge and then got to had out the desserts to each baker I knew it was her time.  Just a gut feeling.  She got a lot of screen time and I hope her business takes off because of this show.

There was NO WAY Jody was going to be sent home!  He's won too many challenges and IDC what anyone says I think the judges/producers base elimination on other challenges as well.

9 hours ago, libgirl2 said:

Boy, Jody does not have a poker face at all — you can tell exactly what he’s feeling.  I like him, but he really blew it tonight.

LOL yeah but idk I still like him a lot and I hope he makes it to the finals.  

CONGRATS to Adam!  He had immunity and could have easily coasted but he did great with his Ambrosia whatever that was...still think he's gonna win.  

[CheshireCat]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Jody had a bad week

Didn't he do fine with the first challenge and wasn't the biggest issue with his second one that you couldn't taste the mint? The judges seemed to like the rest.

[proserpina65]

19 hours ago, Frost said:

Even if he hadn't heard of a Grasshopper Pie before, the tastes aren't so uncommon he couldn't work with them.

Creme de Menthe is pretty nasty.  There's a very fine balance of just enough to taste it and too much, and I'd much rather it fall on the not enough the way Jody's dessert did.  I do wish he'd done more with the walnuts, though.  But I'm glad they kept him rather than Marilyn because I feel like he's been the better baker up until now.

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

esse brought out those walnuts and said they were from the 50s.  Then Richard shouted "I remember. I was there."  I laughed.  There's no way he's over 70 years old. 

You can buy them in the ice cream aisle of the grocery store.  My mother loves them on sundaes, and I rather like them as well.  Nothing retro about them.

15 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Jody, in my mind, had the easiest dessert so I was surprised to see him in the bottom.

I thought he had the worst dessert.  I can't think of a way to modernize something in which Creme de Menthe is a major ingredient.

5 hours ago, rlc said:

Jody should have gone home. I'm sorry- even if you aren't familiar with a grasshopper pie, surely you are familiar with chocolate and mint? He was asked to reimagine a chocolate and mint dessert. Aero peppermint, Butlers mint chocolate, Fry's peppermint cream, McVitie's mint...even if he hadn't been living in Boston for a number of years, he is familiar with mint/chocolate from Ireland. He's had some very good bakes, but he falls apart very easily and gets a pass because of the assumption that he is amazing and having an off day.

Grasshopper pie isn't just chocolate and mint, though, it uses Creme de Menthe liquor, which is pretty nasty tasting if you use even the tiniest bit too much.  If he hadn't used the liquor and had just used mint, they'd have dinged him for that.

[Rammchick]

3 hours ago, ShelleySue said:

I had a major problem with the walnuts in oil. Who ever thought of them knew what the make-over dessert flavors were going to be. It was a total disadvantage to the person (Jody) receiving Grasshopper Pie. Jody didn't even try to figure out how to balance the flavors.  I was very surprised that the judges didn't even mention the walnuts.  They were either very kind to him when they realized the inequity of the challenge or the editors just cut out their remarks. Did anyone else notice that?

They're not in oil, they're in syrup.  We also called them wet walnuts in Brooklyn where I grew up.  But yes, this is another instance like the green apple and coffee thing from a few seasons back -- the walnuts surely don't pair as well with grasshopper pie as other desserts.

Hard to imagine that given the choice of those desserts, someone would deliberately choose jello mold!

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

Grasshopper pie isn't just chocolate and mint, though, it uses Creme de Menthe liquor, which is pretty nasty tasting if you use even the tiniest bit too much.  If he hadn't used the liquor and had just used mint, they'd have dinged him for that.

Am I correct in guessing you're not a fan of creme de menthe?  ;)

I have a lot of affection for it because my parents used to make us an alcoholic dessert of ice cream, creme de menthe and creme de cacao on special occasions. 

I still maintain it's easy because there's a lot of give in grasshopper flavored desserts since another component is something creamy.  You can keep messing around with the proportions until you hit the right balance. 

He could have introduced fresh mint too. Judges appreciate when contestants bring in something fresh to boost the flavor of something artificial. It would have boosted the mint flavor without going overboard on the liquor.

As for the modernization aspect--it's really just transformation.  He could have easily made ice cream sandwiches, plated them fancy and it would have met the assignment. 

[RoxiP]

i don't really think "deconstructing" pineapple upside down cake reinvented it...he just moved the components into a different configuration.  

[mojoween]

Oh fuck me that was close.  Don’t do that again please Jody!  Although I want him to follow me around and say “crème de menthe” all day long.

“You’re going to hear about it later.  Aaaand there’s later.”  Love Carla!

Marilyn’s first cake did look and sound absolutely delightful.

[CheshireCat]

4 hours ago, proserpina65 said:

I thought he had the worst dessert.  I can't think of a way to modernize something in which Creme de Menthe is a major ingredient.

I'd love to know if the bakers get more detailed instructions because "modernize" can mean a lot of things.

[proserpina65]

14 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

Am I correct in guessing you're not a fan of creme de menthe?  ;)

I have a lot of affection for it because my parents used to make us an alcoholic dessert of ice cream, creme de menthe and creme de cacao on special occasions. 

I still maintain it's easy because there's a lot of give in grasshopper flavored desserts since another component is something creamy.  You can keep messing around with the proportions until you hit the right balance. 

You guess correctly. :-)  In fact, I'll confess to not being that fond of mint in general.

If Jody had been given all day to play around with flavor, I might not disagree, but since the time is strictly limited, getting a dessert where the main flavor ingredient is something with a very fine good/not good balance is extremely tricky.  Creme de Menthe is like that fake green apple flavor someone had to use in a previous season - a bad ingredient to deal with when your baking time is short.

[mlp]

I liked Marilyn a lot but I could see that she was a good cook but not creative enough to make it to the end.  I figured she wouldn't last much longer but I was still sorry to see her and her sunny disposition go.

I was around in the 50s but I'd never heard of "wet walnuts."  I have no idea what the syrup tastes like so I didn't know if they were being used sensibly or not.

I like Jody and Richard but I'm team Adam for the win.

[dleighg]

3 minutes ago, mlp said:

I have no idea what the syrup tastes like

It's just walnuts in honey, or maple syrup, or (probably most commonly) high fructose corn syrup these days. It's pretty tasty on ice cream!

[Lamb18]

Hi, I am confused about something. I watched a partial marathon of the Holiday Baking Championship show and thought it was the current season. But I read this thread today and the contestants mentioned in this thread are not in the competition I watched last night. So I thought maybe I watched an earlier season. But just now I saw a commercial for a new episode next week. Emily is on the one I watched yesterday. I've seen her before. Then there was an older baking instructor called Punky. The one who seems in the lead is a younger black man who is calm and nice. There is the typical plump white gay man who is OK except he keeps thinking he should have won. There is someone called Narvet? Who is a pie specialist. The first person went home because as a cake specialist, she didn't know to make cookies on the fly. There's the cute pert southern girl, Terra, I think. Does anyone know what I was watching? This is on Discovery Family ( which appropriately twice showed a Roman ED commercial during the Kid's Baking Championship show). The host is Paula Dean's son. Nancy, Duff and Lorraine are the judges.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Lamb18 said:

Hi, I am confused about something. I watched a partial marathon of the Holiday Baking Championship show and thought it was the current season. But I read this thread today and the contestants mentioned in this thread are not in the competition I watched last night. So I thought maybe I watched an earlier season. But just now I saw a commercial for a new episode next week. Emily is on the one I watched yesterday. I've seen her before. Then there was an older baking instructor called Punky. The one who seems in the lead is a younger black man who is calm and nice. There is the typical plump white gay man who is OK except he keeps thinking he should have won. There is someone called Narvet? Who is a pie specialist. The first person went home because as a cake specialist, she didn't know to make cookies on the fly. There's the cute pert southern girl, Terra, I think. Does anyone know what I was watching? This is on Discovery Family ( which appropriately twice showed a Roman ED commercial during the Kid's Baking Championship show). The host is Paula Dean's son. Nancy, Duff and Lorraine are the judges.

Season 1 had Punky, Naylet, and Terra. No Emily, but there was an Erin.

[Maverick]

 Discovery Family shows a lots of repeats of older HGTV and Food Network shows.   Other than Cake Boss, I don't think the channel actually has any new content.   During the holidays they've been airing things like Unwrapped, Food Network Challenge, old seasons of Halloween and Holiday Wars, etc.  

[Lamb18]

25 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

Season 1 had Punky, Naylet, and Terra. No Emily, but there was an Erin.

Thanks, I think it was Erin. I think I was watching season 1. The current season sounds like a good one from reading your comments.

[susannah]

1 hour ago, Lamb18 said:

Thanks, I think it was Erin. I think I was watching season 1. The current season sounds like a good one from reading your comments.

Yeah I was watching that yesterday I think. Definitely season 1. I like Naylet and I keep wondering what nationality she is. Erin is a go-getter! I don't know about typical but this gay man thought he should win everything, for sure. I don't like Terra.

[CheshireCat]

4 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

But just now I saw a commercial for a new episode next week.

All baking reruns on the Food Network have commercials for the next episode of the current season. I got confused the first time I saw that, too.

[ruffy666]

14 hours ago, Maverick said:

 Discovery Family shows a lots of repeats of older HGTV and Food Network shows.   Other than Cake Boss, I don't think the channel actually has any new content.   During the holidays they've been airing things like Unwrapped, Food Network Challenge, old seasons of Halloween and Holiday Wars, etc.  

Not only that but they often say "New episode next!" when in reality it might be never-before-aired specifically on Discovery Family but is not actually new new.

[40Love]

On 12/8/2021 at 5:12 PM, mlp said:

I like Jody and Richard but I'm team Adam for the win.

Predicting Richard will be the next to go, followed by the female contestant (her name escapes me.) Final 3 will probably be Jody, Jose and Adam... with Adam winning the whole thing. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, 40Love said:

Predicting Richard will be the next to go, followed by the female contestant (her name escapes me.) Final 3 will probably be Jody, Jose and Adam... with Adam winning the whole thing. 

Sabrina. I'd say she has a pretty good chance at getting into the Final 3.

[susannah]

2 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

Sabrina. I'd say she has a pretty good chance at getting into the Final 3.

It's clear to me that they want Adam to win.