Holiday Baking Championship Season 8 episode 3 recap: Pie this way

The bakers were ready to unwrap another surprise on Holiday Baking Championship Season 8 episode 3. While a few bakers have been rolling in the judges’ praises, another baker crumbled under the pressure. Has a new favorite emerged in the Food Network competition?

As Thanksgiving approaches, the classic pie episode takes over Holiday Baking Championship. While this challenge is traditional, the bakers might have been grateful for a little extra time to tackle that task. Unfortunately, that gift wasn’t under the tree.

Before the pie challenge, the pre-heat had the bakers create desserts using canned fruit. While that ingredient might be a staple for many cooks, there are a few tricks to ensuring the resulting dessert excels in both flavor and texture.

Since canned fruit can have a lot of moisture, the bakers need to take that aspect into consideration when they are baking. From draining the fruit to balancing the ingredients, there are many factors to manage in this challenge.

Marilyn, who seems to emerge as everyone’s favorite baker, made a mis-step with her plum dessert. By adding extra plums on top, the dessert became a soggy mess. This mistake was surprising by the veteran. It was a good thing that her mistake happened in the pre-heat.

Overall, the bakers excelled with the fruit challenge. Of course, a few bakers continue to impress. Adam and Jody received much praise. From their flavors to their presentation, it is assumed that they will go far in the competition.

With one of the most ambitious desserts, Richard earned the pre-heat win. Although one of his chocolate domes cracked, the judges were impressed with his pear dessert. From the presentation to the flavors, he deserved the first round win.

For his advantage, Richard was able to pick a fruit for his pie that no other baker could use. He picked apple. Given the versatility of apple, it was a smart choice.

In the main heat, the bakers had to make a pie with a visual message. From harvest to home, the messages tried to capture the season. Like many challenges that involve a written message, some sentiments are clearer than others.

Of course, every main heat has a twist. In this Holiday Baking Championship episode, the twist had the bakers making an ice cream from scratch. While Marilyn thought that extra time would be added, her naivety offered a sweet sentiment to the difficult challenge.

Looking at the main heat, the divide between the top and bottom bakers was clear. Although the competition is early, the judges have easier decisions in these early rounds. When there are obvious mistakes, it is clear which baker is being sent home.

While everyone expected Adam to be a top baker, as he has in every challenge, two other bakers knocked him off the top spot. In a big turn from the pre-heat, Marilyn soared to the top. Her decision to make a green tomato, minced meat pie was a very unexpected flavor and wowed the judges.

That choice to showcase a unique flavor was smart for Marilyn. Sometimes standing out in the crowd is a good thing. While her ice cream was ok, her pie was a smashing success.

Jody finally earned a win. After coming in closely behind the top bakers, there was no denying that he had the top pie and ice cream. His flavors were near perfection and his décor was impressive. The main heat win was quite deserving.

Several other bakers had major missteps. While Richard excelled in the pre-heat, his handwritten phrase on the pie crust was big fail. It was as if he followed his win by jumping off the cliff. Needless to say, immunity was not his to earn.

Phillipe earned the distinction of having the worst ice cream ever on Holiday Baking Championship. That bad texture and flavor could not be saved by any amount of bacon.

Still, it was rather clear which baker would be sent home even before the judges shared their feedback. Jennifer had issues with her pie crust the moment that it came out of the oven. As pieces of the crust stuck to the parchment paper, there was no saving this pie.

Adding to those issues, her word, “home” was a crumbling mess. In some ways, that home was in need of a remodel. Needless to say, Jennifer was the baker eliminated in Holiday Baking Championship Season 8 episode 3.

After three episodes of Holiday Baking Championship Season 8, it seems that earning immunity might elude the bakers this season. Stringing together back to back wins is not as easy as it seems. It is quite possible that immunity will never be earned this season.

What do you think of Holiday Baking Championship Season 8 so far? Do you think that you can predict which baker will earn the Food Network crown?