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The Great American Baking Show Recap: Cake and Cookie Week

By Cheryl Wassenaar

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From the Great American Baking Show. Image is a screencap via ABC.

Cookie Week

Not satisfied with just airing one episode to kick off this year’s Great American Baking Show, ABC decided to air two episodes tonight, and the second was the cookie (not biscuit!) week.

The nine remaining bakers faced bar cookies, biscotti, and 3D cookie scenes in this episode. Who crumbled under pressure?

For the Signature Challenge, bakers had to make 12 uniform bar cookies with one homemade element like a compote or crumble in just 90 minutes. Mary told us to watch for soggy bottoms.

Courtney started talking to himself before he even started baking, then casually commented about adding booze to his cookies to appeal to a particular judge whose name rhymes with Scary Cherry. Additionally, strong flavors like saffron and orange liqueur came out to play for certain bakers. Most people made shortbread bases.

Signature Bake Results

  • Jennie: Cherry Almond Bars. Pass. No soggy bottoms here, thank you.
  • Antoinette: Bourbon Pecan Bars. Fail, even though that boozy cream was good.
  • Michael: Cranberry Almond Ginger Bars. Fail. His bottom was soggy.
  • Prachi: Fruit and Nut Oat Bars. Pass. “Well done,” said Mary.
  • Amanda: Pistachio Bars. Pass, although the goat cheese was lacking.
  • Jeremiah: Portuguese Morgado Bars. Pass with good flavors.
  • Ashlyn: Rose and Orange Blossom Bars. Fail. They were underbaked and falling apart despite her flavors working well.
  • Stephanie: Blackberry Basil Corn Bars. Pass with an excellent compote.
  • Courtney: Sweet Potato Bars. Fail, with his shortbread not great and his decorations not interesting.

For the Technical Challenge, everyone had two hours to make Johnny’s biscotti, and he required the standard double bake as well as chocolate piping. A warning, though: Don’t overbake biscotti!

Johnny Iuzzini’s biscotti. From the Great American Baking Show. Image is a screengrab via ABC.

The first challenge proved to be the carmelized pecans, then that dreaded first bake. Oven kneeling started happening quickly to look in on things. Johnny said to mind the bake after all! Courtney ran into trouble in getting 10 biscotti, so he had to bake a second batch quickly. Meanwhile, Ashlyn had non-standard biscotti and thus decided to start over. As a result, she ran into a time crunch at the end.

Finally, everyone had to make a piping bag out of parchment paper, because biscotti just didn’t pose a tough enough challenge.

Technical Bake Results

  • 9th: Ashlyn: Too light of a bake and no crisp.
  • 8th: Prachi. Missing the pecans and caramel inside.
  • 7th: Courtney. He had uneven bakes because he had to bake two batches.
  • 6th: Jennie. Good bake, good pecan distribution.
  • 5th: Stephanie. Could have used a couple more minutes in the oven.
  • 4th: Michael. Had a bit of a dry bake, but good flavor.
  • 3rd: Amanda. Piped the “Noel” on the wrong side, but had a nice texture and excellently caramelized pecans.
  • 2nd: Antoinette. Had a good texture all around, especially her pecans.
  • 1st: Jeremiah. Good texture and good piping.

Before the Showstopper Challenge, Antoinette had to leave the competition because of a family emergency.

Mary Berry doesn’t know what a snickerdoodle is. From The Great American Baking Show. Image is a screengrab via ABC.

In the pre-challenge discussion, Jeremiah and Prachi scored the frontrunner status, while Ashlyn and Courtney found themselves at the bottom. For the Showstopper, holiday 3D cookie scenes were the order of the day, with five hours to pull it off.

Mary wanted breathtaking and magical scenes. However, Johnny made sure to tell us about looking for a strong cookie. Mary also got a lesson in what a snickerdoodle is from Amanda. Mmm, snickerdoodles.

Showstopper Challenge Judging

Mary and Johnny, judging some more. From the Great American Baking Show. Image is a screengrab via ABC.

  • Jennie’s Spirit of the Season. Mary deemed it “stunning,” but her gingerbread was soft. However, her maple butter cookies were better.
  • Michael’s Sleigh and Reindeers. The lack of decoration didn’t help him, but the cookies were good.
  • Amanda’s Christmas Tree and Presents. Lovely and clean, per the judges, with a solid bake, although the snickerdoodle lacked cinnamon and the matcha cookies lacked matcha.
  • Stephanie’s Holidays in Space! Yes, the exclamation point is necessary. She balanced her flavors well, and it was a creative scene.
  • Prachi’s Gateway of India in Winter. She had a couple collapses, but she had nice texture and flavor to her gingerbread.
  • Courtney’s Winter Neighborhood. Johnny called his Christmas scene “sad.” Ouch. However, he had a great chocolate cherry chili cookie.
  • Jeremiah’s Christmas Tree and Wreaths. His gingerbread was hot in the good way and well-baked.
  • Ashlyn’s Smoky Mountain Christmas. Someone pulled out a pretty scene when she needed it. Her second cookie was a touch boring, but serviceable.

Jennie and Jeremiah landed near the top. Courtney and Michael were closer to the bottom. Ultimately, Jeremiah won Star Baker, and Courtney was asked to leave the tent.

Next: Westworld: 3 Key Moments from Episode 9

Next week will challenge the bakers with breads of all shapes and sizes. The Great American Baking Show airs Thursdays on ABC.

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