Santa always delivers the perfect gift -- but what do you get for the man who has everything? Five festive cookie makers use their imaginations to decorate cookies that feature the perfect present for ol' Saint Nick. Then, the cookiers fashion the ultimate Christmas party-starter: life-size ugly Christmas sweaters! To make sure that these massive cookie displays are monstrous inside and out, they have to use funny-looking fruits to flavor their cookies. Hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson decide which competitor rules the runway and earns $10,000.
The festive fever is high in the decorating round as five trendsetting cookie makers hack classic cookie cutter shapes and decorate them with totally wild new designs. Judges Kimberly Bailey, Damiano Carrara and Ree Drummond will choose which three bakers have a knack for hacks and which two must pack for home. The competition intensifies in the display round when host Eddie Jackson challenges the remaining bakers to build an entire Christmas tree out of cookies. The cookie tree that rises above the rest will be crowned the best and snag the $10,000 prize.
Host Eddie Jackson welcomes five fabulously festive cookie makers into Santa's workshop. First up is the decorating challenge where the bakers craft two different decorated Christmas tree cookies. After judges Ree Drummond, Dan Langan and Aarti Sequeira size up the trees, they must release two cookie makers from the competition. The remaining three finalists are "puzzled" by the display challenge where they must create a giant cookie puzzle based on a Christmas carol. All the pieces will fit together for the one talented cookie maker who will leave the North Pole $10,000 richer.
It's all about work, food and fun on the Pioneer Woman's ranch where she's cooking up a fabulous spicy Cajun Chicken Pasta lunch for her hungry kids. Then, with the kids on a sleepover, it's a rare date night, frontier-style. Ree's rustling up his-and-her versions of Ladd's Favorite Sandwich and a Drummond classic, Egg-in-Hole, for breakfast. But stand by for dinner and breakfast crashers, as well as a cool, refreshing Oklahoma-style Cherry Limeade and one accidental ranch wife who is not planning to help with the fence painting.
There's a battle of the sexes going down on the ranch where the guys like their food brown and hearty. There's a blind taste test to see if punchy Penne alla Vodka can win a coveted spot on Ladd's approved list. Then when the guys are away, eating steak and potatoes, the girls will play, and Ree's throwing a cowgirl's dinner the guys would hate with elegant, sophisticated Goat Cheese with Fresh Dill appetizers, chilled Sangria, and a hip Fig-Prosciutto Pizza with Arugula.
Five crafty cookie makers turn back the clock with their own interpretation of a young Santa and Mrs. Claus before hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson decide which designs stand the test of time. Then, the bakers reach deep into the roots of Christmas by building cookie greenhouses with edible windows where Christmas trees can grow and thrive. Their gorgeous greenhouses will be infused with fresh herbs, including basil, rosemary, tarragon, and sage. The cookie maker who constructs the grandest greenhouse will earn some serious green with the $10,000 prize and the title of Christmas Cookie Champion.
Five talented cookie makers reveal who's on Santa's list by creating one cookie that shows someone doing a good deed and another with someone being naughty! Hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson decide who ends up on Santa's good side and which naughty cookie-maker goes home. In round two, the cookiers create the nicest displays of all -- cookie angel figurines. They'll have to use good spirits in their festive figurines, like cinnamon schnapps, mezcal, honey liqueur and white chocolate liqueur. When the heavens clear, only one cookie maker will emerge with the $10,000 prize and the title of Christmas Cookie Champion.
There's no hiding when Eddie Jackson tasks five of America's best cookie makers with creating Christmas character masks made of cookies. Judges Vivian Chan, Ree Drummond and Dan Langan decide which masks are marvelous and which are just misses. Then there are more ho-ho-hijinks as a mischievous elf pops up in the pantry and all over the workshop! Inspired by his antics, Eddie asks the cookie makers to create delightful 3-D cookie displays capturing the elf's adventures. Mischief and mayhem abound as the cookie maker who best captures this tiny terror earns $10,000.
Everyone knows how Santa Claus spends Christmas Eve, but for this decorating challenge, host Eddie Jackson asks five talented cookie makers to imagine what Christmas Eve looks like for Mrs. Claus. Judges Stephanie Boswell, Ree Drummond and Molly Yeh know that Santa's better half deserves the very best, so only the top three move on to the display challenge, where they have to craft gorgeous fireplace mantels out of cookies with ingredients like Brazil nuts, hazelnuts or macadamia nuts. It's one tough nut to crack, but one cookie maker's fireplace scene will outshine the rest for a $10,000 prize.