Taste TV

Cookies for Santa: 'Christmas Cookie Challenge' preps for Christmas Eve

« Back to Taste TV

 
Author: 
Michelle Rose / TV Media
Judge Ree Drummond and host Eddie Jackson from "Christmas Cookie Challenge"

Judge Ree Drummond and host Eddie Jackson from "Christmas Cookie Challenge"

Holidays and baking go hand in hand, and whether you gift them or eat them, cookies are likely part of your holiday celebrations. Food Network knows it, and that's why each year it loads up on cookie-themed specials, series and episodes in the month or two leading up to Christmas.

"Christmas Cookie Challenge" was one of the first baking competitions to lead the charge when Food Network launched nearly 100 hours of holiday programming in early November. Season 5 premiered on Nov. 11, and new episodes continue to premiere weekly, including the "Present for Santa Claus" episode airing this Thursday, Dec. 9, on Food Network and discovery .

Every episode features a fun, festive theme that sets the tone through two rounds of challenges, but the Dec. 9 episode may evoke childhood memories of leaving cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. There's a twist, however: the first challenge is about "giving back," so to speak, as hosts Ree Drummond and Eddie Jackson challenge the five cookie makers to decorate cookies that would make the perfect present for the Jolly Old Elf.

Fans of ugly Christmas sweaters, meanwhile, will appreciate the second challenge. The bakers must create massive cookie displays that "are monstrous inside and out," according to Food Network. Expect the ubiquitous red, green and white colors (and maybe some jingle bells) of the classic yuletide sweater, but the "inside" part of the equation is the mysterious cookie flavor, which stems from the "funny-looking fruits" that contestants need to incorporate into their batter.

On a side note, if you've ever wondered how the whole ugly Christmas sweater trend began, festive pullovers have been around since the 1950s, though things really took off in the 2000s, when over-the-top designs proved to be good fodder for jokes in films such as "Bridget Jones's Diary" (2001). The unlikely holiday trend has been with us ever since.

However, leaving cookies for Santa -- and maybe some carrots for his hard-working reindeer -- is one holiday tradition that has never gone out of style.

Tune in to Food Network's "Christmas Cookie Challenge" on Thursday, Dec. 9, and watch as the cookie masters whip up their own edible appreciation for Saint Nick.