Holiday Baking Championship Season 11 episode 5 recap: Cookie crumbles

As the season gets closer to the finale, Holiday Baking Championship Season 11 episode 5 tackles a favorite seasonal treats, cookies. From the cookie exchange to a stacked cookie cake, the bakers tempted the judges with desserts that Santa would be happy to enjoy on his special night.

The popular Food Network baking competition has had more highs than lows this season. From impeccable flavors to creative designs, it seems that this group of bakers is putting on a masterclass. They have set a high bar and they are achieving it.

For the Pre-Heat, the bakers tackled a holiday cookie exchange. In addition to the judges picking a winner in the blind judging, the bakers chose their favorite cookie. The two winning cookies would get $500 each for their top bake.

Overall, the cookies were good. A few were more rustic than others, but no one would turn down a plate of these cookies.

Earning the win from his fellow bakers was Rolf. The professor impressed with his sable Breton. Although the judges felt the cookie was a little too thick, the combination of the cookie with the delicate chocolate décor was delightful.

The judges’ top cookie came from Natasha. Her cheesecake stuffed gingerbread cookie has a wonderful texture and the flavor balance was on point. Home bakers should go back and pick up her trick for this cookie. It might become the winner at their cookie exchange.

It seems that Natasha and Rolf are on a roll. Whether or not they can continue this momentum into the finale remains to be seen. But, no one should bet against them.

For the Main Heat, the bakers had to create a four-tier, two flavor cookie cake. While this idea did not necessarily seem as difficult as last week’s Victorian inspired cake, it was not necessarily easy either. Almost all the bakers made one big mistake.

Since the challenge was to combine two different cookie flavors and fillings, those flavors should compliment each other. Flavors that do not go together made no sense. Many of the bakers missed the mark on that concept.

Continuing his Pre-Heat success, Rolf understood the assignment. He was the only baker who understood that the flavors needed to balance each other. The judges heaped high praise on the two cookies that almost ate as one.

Overall, Rolf’s cookies were light, crisp and had great texture. Combined with the buttercream, it was one cohesive bite. Decorated with a classic Santa image, it was clear that he was the winning baker.

The other top baker was Megan. The judges swooned over the combination of espresso and chocolate. The cinnamon from the snickerdoodle and the coffee is a duo that home bakers should remember.

In a twist that had some people raising their eyebrows, Rafi decided to make a sable Breton as one of his cookies. While Duff Goldman preferred his version, it is curious that he decided to make this less common cookie after Rolf’s success in the Pre-Heat. Was it some gamesmanship?

While Rafi, Natasha, Courtney, and Jer were safe, Steven and Andre were in the bottom. Both bakers had technical execution issues with their bakes.

Steven’s cookie cake had several issues. From the chewy cherries to the too crunchy black forest cake layer, there were several misses in each layer. His flavors were good, but the texture was a big wrong.

Andre had several issues with his cookie cake. The visual was messy and wonky. As Carla Hall said, it was the tale of two cookies. One was good and the other was just bad.

Unfortunately, Andre’s good cookie could not save the bad one. He was sent home.  

There are only two more episodes till the finale. Which bakers will rise to the occasion? Be sure to watch new episodes of Holiday Baking Championship every Monday night at 8 p.m. on Food Network or stream the next day on MAX.