Holiday Baking Championship Season 5 episode 3 recap: Thanksgiving gets caffeinated

In Holiday Baking Championship Season 5 episode 3 recap, the bakers ward off that post-Thanksgiving feast nap with some coffee induced desserts.

Holiday Baking Championship Season 5 episode 3 recap has the bakers feeling grateful that turkey wasn’t a secret ingredient in their holiday desserts. Still, this week’s two challenges had a few people slightly confused in the kitchen. Unlikely flavor combinations had the bakers wanting a Thanksgiving do over.

In the pre-heat, the bakers had to create a cranberry duo desserts. Before the bakers got bogged down, the iconic jellied cranberry sauce was not on the menu. Luckily, these cranberry desserts were cran-tastic combo desserts.

Thinking about cranberry duos, there were a few flavors that made think about throwing them back into the bog. I wouldn’t necessarily put pumpkin and cranberry together. While both of them have a place at the Thanksgiving table, I really don’t want to have them together in a dessert. While Chantal’s cheesecake was ok, the flavors got lost.

The flavor combination that I would have wanted was lime. Cranberry and lime are a perfect combination of tart and sweet. Douglas created a lovely dessert, a re-imagined macaroon. Although he had a little technical flaw, his dessert was quite impressive.

Host Jesse Palmer poses for a photo, as seen on Holiday Baking Championship, Season 5. photo provided by Food Network

The hardest flavor combination for me to wrap my head around for a dessert was cranberry and rosemary. This combination instantly brings savory dishes to the forefront of my mind. Rosemary can be overpowering. The cranberry could have been lost.

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Sarah created the most spectacular tart featuring cranberry and rosemary. Her goat cheese tart with cranberry was incredibly impressive. The rosemary in the perfect pastry crust wowed the judges. Additionally, her presentation was holiday perfection. Sarah clearly won the pre-heat and the advantage.

The big advantage for the main heat was 10 minutes of kitchen help from Chef Duff Goldman. This type of advantage can always be a little curious. The bakers need to use this assistance at the right time and for the right purpose. If Sarah can use this advantage wisely, she could definitely move onto next week’s episode.

For the main heat, the bakers had to create a Thanksgiving dessert that featured coffee. While many people drink coffee with dessert, a coffee dessert needs a deft hand. No one wants to taste bitterness from too much flavor nor should the dessert avoid coffee altogether.

Additionally, the dessert had to include a flavored coffee syrup. The syrup was a huge curve ball. While some coffee syrups are nice, other flavors should never find the inside of a coffee mug. Who puts green apple and coffee together? Where did that flavor combination come from?

Of course, there is always a twist in the main heat. This week’s twist was that the bakers had to incorporate biscotti into their desserts. This twist didn’t go well for the bakers. Grinding biscotti to make a crumble doesn’t show a lot of creativity. It would have been nice for the bakers to think outside of the box.

While I am critical of the biscotti twist, it is a super hard ingredient to incorporate in a dessert at the half way point. Even though the biscotti isn’t a bold flavor, the texture isn’t quite conducive for many desserts. At least no one served a piece of biscotti soaked in coffee as a garnish.

Sarah, as the winner of the pre-heat, may not have used her advantage to its fullest potential. She had Duff help with her plate decoration. He drew leaves on the plate. While presentation is important, maybe she could have used his help earlier to discuss her dessert. While the peanut butter dessert was tasty (especially the mousse), it did have a few technical flaws.

Looking at the bakers’ desserts, Douglas’ root beer float was clearly the most creative. He effectively used the root beer flavored syrup as well as the coffee. Additionally, the visual presentation was smart. He was clearly a top baker.

The judges loved Lerone’s coffee mousse with microwave cake and shortbread crème anglaise. Duff appreciated the monochromatic visual. Overall, this dessert had various textures and flavors that blended well. More importantly, Lerone had the best use of the biscotti.

Judges Nancy Fuller, Duff Goldman, and Lorraine Pascale deliberate the episode, as seen on Holiday Baking Championship, Season 5. photo provided by Food Network

While Douglas was a top baker, again, Lerone won this Holiday Baking Championship Season 5 episode 3 recap. His dessert was slightly more elevated and he used the biscotti better than Douglas.

Unfortunately two bakers really struggled in this week’s challenge. Sherry had the worst flavor combination. Coffee and green apple aren’t a combination that really goes together. Maybe if there was some caramel apple and chocolate, the flavor combination could have worked.

Sherry made an espresso tart with espresso pastry cream with a green apple whip. Even she said that the flavors weren’t a good marriage. I don’t know what anyone could have done with this flavor combination. Maybe someone could suggest something for Sherry.

The other bottom baker was Chantal. In the first couple of episodes, she has had both success and failure. Unfortunately, this week had her dessert in the bottom. Her dessert was supposed to combine coffee and pomegranate but it was chocolate dominate. The key flavors that she needed to highlight were overpowered by chocolate.

The baker sent home in the Holiday Baking Championship Season 5 episode 3 recap was Sherry. Truthfully, her flavor combination seemed doomed from the start. I really felt for her.

Will you be serving some coffee desserts at your Thanksgiving feast? Hopefully, the green apple syrup will be delegated to the back of the pantry, like that bottle of crème de mint that no one ever drinks.

Happy Thanksgiving Holiday Baking Championship and Food Network fans!