Christmas Cookie Challenge season 7 episode 2: Gingerbread puppet show

With Christmas coming just around the corner, it’s time for Food Network to bring back its Christmas Cookie Challenge. It’s season 7, and Eddie Jackson and Ree Drummond are back as judges. And of course, a new group of bakers are in the kitchen showing off their cookie-making skills.

For the first challenge, the bakers had to make cookies that needed to act as puppets. They could pretty much make whatever they wanted, but it had to be gingerbread, and it had to be held up on a stick and not fall over.

The four bakers included Jose, who made a pinata reindeer cookie and a cookie that looked like his nephew; Mayra, who made festive cat and dog cookies; Kat, who made two different owl cookies, and Layce, who made a chicken and a reindeer cookie.

Most of the bakers did a really good job. Their cookies looked exactly like what they were supposed to be. The judges had some issues with the taste of the cookies, but the big issue was with Kat’s designs. She ran out of time after working on fixing her owl eyes for too long, and she didn’t have enough time to fully decorate her cookies.

Christmas Cookie Challenge was a puppet show this week

As you can probably guess, this sent her home.  Jose won the round and was able to pick the candy flavors for himself and his competitors for the next challenge. The candy needed to be incorporated into their next gingerbread creation.

The final challenge had the remaining three bakers making a puppet theater for their puppets to put on a show. Layce made a barn theater, Mayra made a beautiful antique theater, and Jose made a theater that represented his Mexican heritage. These were all gorgeous, although there were some issues with bare spots that needed decoration. As for the flavors, the bakers made up for any issues they had in the first round.

So who won the $10,000 and the golden ornament? It was Jose! This wasn’t a surprise at all. His designs were unique, and the judges loved his flavors. And his pinata reindeer cookie was extraordinary!

Next week, the bakers who came just short of winning their first time around will return and try to get redemption. They will have to make snickerdoodle cookies representing forgotten Christmas traditions and then create 3D cookie grandfather clocks.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Christmas Cookie Challenge? Make sure to stay tuned to Guilty Eats for the latest food TV news!