Host Jesse Palmer welcomes 12 amazing bakers to the gorgeous holiday village, where the bakers are divided into the Nice Team and the Naughty Team. In each bake, there will be a top dessert from each team, and the best overall dessert wins for their team. In elimination challenges, the winning team is safe from elimination, and the losing team loses a baker. For the first preheat challenge, the Nice Team makes warm and toasty desserts, while the Naughty Team makes chill and frosty treats. Then, Jesse asks each team to create an edible holiday village that includes a dessert from every baker. Judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown decide which baker from the losing team will be eliminated.
Host Jesse Palmer throws a holiday cookie exchange party, and the bakers must create flavor-forward seasonal cookies -- but no decorated sugar cookies or gingerbread allowed! Judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman and Nancy Fuller decide the winner of the preheat in a blind tasting, and the bakers get to vote for their favorite cookie as well! Then, the bakers must rise to the occasion by making holiday cookie cakes that feature two different types of cookies, a minimum of four layers and a flavor twist to help wash it all down.
For a Chrismukkah dessert platter challenge, host Jesse Palmer asks the remaining seven bakers to make decorated Christmas cookies, rugelach, and traditional Hanukkah sufganiyot. In an unexpected twist, judges Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller, and Kardea Brown do a blind tasting to decide who should make it into the upcoming all-important semifinals and who is eliminated.
For the pre-heat, host Bobby Deen challenges the nine bakers to take seasonal hot beverages like hot chocolate and apple cider a step further by turning them into desserts. Then, in the main heat, these culinary artisans show off their decorating skills by creating a filled Bundt cake wreath.
Instead of milk and cookies for old St. Nick, the final three must make delicious snacks for North Pole characters other than Santa. To top off the whole season, the bakers are tasked with baking and decorating a North Pole-inspired cake. The best creation will earn one baker the crown of Holiday Baking Champion and a $50,000 prize!
In the pre-heat, seven bakers must create a Thanksgiving dessert using a mystery canned fruit. Then in the main heat, bakers whip up new Turkey Day sensations by combining two traditional desserts.
In the first challenge, Jesse Palmer tasks the seven bakers with taking a beloved holiday appetizer to a whole new level with baked Brie and jam mini pies. The main heat is all about being prepared for greatness as the bakers take a prepared ingredient and use it to make a crowd-pleasing Thanksgiving dessert. In the end, judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Lorraine Pascale send one competitor home.
In this holiday special, judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman and Carla Hall look back at how the final four bakers made it to the finale. They reveal the best bakes of the season, some of the slip-ups, which bakers stood out and who had a roller coaster ride. Plus, they give an exciting behind-the-scenes view into how the show is made and how the judges came to some of their toughest decisions.
It's winter nights and holiday breakfasts in this episode, when the four bakers are first tasked to use the classic holiday flavors of peppermint and hot chocolate in a dessert and then create a blown-out holiday breakfast complete with three sweet dishes.
The eight bakers have to put their best cookie forward in the first two challenges of this competition. First, they'll have to make their best holiday cookie using an assigned baking tool and in the second challenge, they must use holiday ingredients to impress the judges with three different kinds of cookies.