Traditional Christmas colors are red and green, but festive foodies have been lighting up social media with hip ombre hues, too. For the decorating challenge, host Eddie Jackson asks five trendy cookie makers to create cookies that feature at least four shades of a color. Judges Ree Drummond, Jordan Pilarski and Gesine Prado determine which three bakers have the color palette and palate worthy of moving on to the display challenge, when the remaining competitors make the workshop glow with 3-D cookie creations that actually light up! They must incorporate invigorating ingredients like coffee, chai or matcha tea, and the cookie maker that shines the brightest becomes a Christmas Cookie champion.
The Kitchen is making a big game day buffet that's sure to be a touchdown at any party. Geoffrey Zakarian and Sunny Anderson work together to build an 8-foot French bread pizza with two sections: Geoffrey's Italian Meat and Cheese French Bread Pizza and Sunny's Easy Chili Cheese French Bread Pizza. Then, Jeff Mauro makes the perfect handheld party appetizer with his Football Spinach Artichoke Empanadas. Sunny adds Cubano Nachos to the buffet, and Food Network's Eddie Jackson stops by to make his Caribbean Jerk Sliders and Mango Wheatsicles. Katie Lee has dessert covered with her Key Lime Pie Whoopie Pie, and Jeff Mauro completes the buffet spread with his Spicy Agrodolce Wing Sauce.
Eddie Jackson greets the last three chefs for the big finale and tells them that they'll be preparing the ultimate summer party. In their first challenge, the chefs have 30 minutes to create three kabobs with summer party themes and one chef will get skewered early by judges Damaris Phillips and Jamika Pessoa, who are joined by barbecue experts Susie Bulloch and Cameron Treu. In the second and final heat, the two remaining chefs have 60 minutes to create an elevated dinner and dessert for the ultimate summer dinner party, but the only heat source they can use is the grill. In the end, one chef wins the Ultimate Summer Cook-Off and $25,000!
Hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson rev their engines and ask four of the finest cookie makers in the land to create cookie billboards hawking holiday goods along the North Pole's frozen highways. One cookie maker will be eliminated, but the one who best gets their message across will win an advantage for the next challenge. For their final challenge, the remaining three cookie makers celebrate the beloved Christmas movie, The Polar Express. They'll draw inspiration from the festive film as they create their own edible trains hauling that most precious of cargoes -- scrumptious Christmas cookies! One cookie conductor will reach the end of the line with $10,000 and the Golden Ornament.
Every year, the holiday spirit twinkles to life with the opening of Christmas markets all around the world. Hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson challenge four of the finest gingerbreaders to create their own massive North Pole Christmas market displays out of gingerbread. There'll be a treasure trove of edible ice-skating rinks, snowball slides, hot cocoa stalls, sugar angels and more. These gingerbread geniuses will have to overcome a mid-round twist and pick one festive fruit from the produce cart to incorporate into their cookies: apples, pears, black berries or blood oranges. The gingerbreader who crafts the most merry monumental market of all will close up shop with $10,000 and the Golden Ornament.
It's a real barn burner in the workshop as hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson ask four countrified cookie makers to share how farm animals hoedown for the holidays at the North Pole. After this challenge, one farmhand will have to pick up sticks, while the one with the best Christmas critter cookie designs will rustle up an advantage for the next round. Then, it's time to bring in the holiday harvest as the cookie makers tinsel up festive-looking 3D Christmas tractors. They'll have to include a farm-fresh herb in their cookies: thyme, basil, lavender or tarragon. The cookie maker who crafts the most festive tractor will reap $10,000 and the Golden Ornament.
It's Christmas at Bobby Flay's house, and he's invited his Food Network friends to crash at his place and partake in some holiday festivities. Sunny Anderson, Anne Burrell, Scott Conant, Alex Guarnaschelli, the newest Food Network Star Eddie Jackson, Katie Lee and Geoffrey Zakarian are waking up bright and early to cook their favorite Christmas dishes with Bobby. Bobby's got a Prime Rib Roast for the main attraction, while the rest of gang pulls together the ultimate pot luck, including Parmigiano and Guanciale Risotto with Brussels Sprouts, Dover Sole Meuniere, Sweet Potato and Turnip Gratin, Stuffed Poblano Peppers, Coquitos, Black Forest Trifle and Sweet Potato Rum Pie. It wouldn't be Christmas without gifts, so they finish the day with Secret Santa!
Five fantastic cookie makers enter the workshop, but instead of a winter wonderland, they find host Eddie Jackson lounging in a beach chair under a palm tree. The bakers are challenged to create cookies perfect for a Christmas in the tropics, and judges Ree Drummond, Dan Langan and Aarti Sequeira decide who's got it made in the shade and whose holiday is ending early. Then, it's all aboard for the display challenge as the cookie makers must make an entire train -- from the caboose to the cargo car -- out of cookies! Plus they have to load their locomotives with cookies that use fun flavors like peanut butter, hazelnut spread or marshmallows. It's full steam ahead as these cookie engineers race for the $10,000 prize.
The four remaining chefs return to the summer house, and Eddie Jackson sets up the theme: summer vacation! For the first challenge, the chefs have 30 minutes to take one tropical fruit and serve it two ways, but no two chefs can use the same fruit. Judges Damaris Phillips and Jamika Pessoa are joined by Genius Kitchen's Courtney Rada to pick which chef used their tropical fruit the best. The winning chef gains access to the special ingredient cooler in the second heat, where they'll have 60 minutes to prepare an entire summer dinner with a popular travel destination theme. One chef's summer vacation ends, and the last three chefs move on to the finale and a chance to win $25,000.
Santa and Mrs. Claus are enjoying a yuletide seaside vacation, where the mermaids make merry, and the sharks stuff their stockings with care. Hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson invite four seaworthy cookie makers to reveal how sea creatures celebrate the season. The cookie maker who flounders will wash out of the workshop, while one cookie maker will reel in an advantage for the next challenge. Then, it's more festive fun in the sun as the cookie makers build 3D Christmas sandcastles, complete with crushed cookie sand. To give their cookies a taste of the tropics, they'll have to use papaya, mangoes, coconuts or guava. The cookie maker who crafts the jolliest Christmas sandcastle will swell with pride as they win $10,000 and the Golden Ornament.