Holiday Baking Championship Season 1

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

The first season uses short preliminary heats and larger main heats to move from cookies, classic flavors, pies, and cakes into holiday breakfast baking and a ten-hour gingerbread finale. This guide records all eleven aired challenge briefs across six episodes and includes one original home-kitchen adaptation inspired by the eggnog challenge.

1. Episode 1 · Holiday cookies

   Holiday Cookie Madness

   Nov 9, 2014

   The opening episode assigns each baker a cookie style through a baking tool, then asks for three full batches built around specified holiday ingredients and a late raspberry-jam twist.

   • Preliminary

     Holiday cookies in an assigned style

     Bake holiday cookies in one hour using the tool drawn to determine the style: spritz, rolled, drop, or layered cookies.

   • Main

     Three dozen holiday cookies in three flavors

     In 90 minutes, make one dozen bittersweet-chocolate cookies, one dozen fresh-orange cookies, and one dozen toffee-bit cookies, then work raspberry jam into one batch; the preliminary winner could replace orange with peppermint.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Eggnog, sugar, and spice

   Classic Holiday Flavors

   Nov 16, 2014

   Classic flavors lead from an eggnog-swirled sweet to a dessert that must combine several holiday spices with two different sugars.

   • Preliminary

     Eggnog-swirled treat

     Create a baked or set sweet with a visible eggnog swirl in one hour.

   • Main

     Sugar-and-spice dessert

     Make a dessert in one hour using at least three classic holiday spices and two kinds of sugar; only the preliminary winner could use an electric spice grinder.

   Make our home version →Episode source 1Episode source 2

3. Episode 3 · Pies and pastry

   It's Not the Holidays Without Pie

   Nov 23, 2014

   A rapid ready-made-crust challenge rewards invention before the bakers produce three memory-driven pies and select only their two strongest for judging.

   • Preliminary

     Non-pie dessert using ready-made pie crust

     Turn store-bought pie crust into any dessert other than pie in 30 minutes.

   • Main

     Three holiday pies

     Bake three different pies with three different crusts, all inspired by home memories and traditions, in two hours, then present only the best two to the judges.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

4. Episode 4 · Fruitcake and yule logs

   The Great Holiday Cake-Over

   Nov 30, 2014

   Two divisive holiday cakes receive makeovers as the bakers first transform packaged fruitcake and then reinterpret the form and flavors of a yule log.

   • Preliminary

     Reinvented fruitcake dessert

     Use a supplied fruitcake as the starting point for a different dessert in 45 minutes.

   • Main

     Yule log-inspired dessert

     Create a dessert inspired by a traditional yule log cake in two hours; the preliminary winner could call on Duff Goldman for ten minutes of help.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

5. Episode 5 · Winter nights and holiday breakfast

   Great Holiday Traditions

   Dec 7, 2014

   Peppermint and hot chocolate define the quick first bake, while the main heat expands into a complete breakfast feast of three sweet baked dishes.

   • Preliminary

     Peppermint and hot chocolate dessert

     Combine peppermint and hot chocolate flavors in one dessert within 45 minutes.

   • Main

     Three-dish sweet holiday breakfast

     Prepare a holiday breakfast feast with three distinct sweet baked dishes in two hours; the preliminary winner alone could use a waffle iron and pancake griddle.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

6. Episode 6 · Gingerbread finale

   Gingerbread Worlds

   Dec 14, 2014

   The final abandons the preliminary heat for one ten-hour construction in which gingerbread architecture, three ginger bakes, and a personal holiday memory must read as a single edible world.

   • Final

     Gingerbread holiday-memory world

     Build a gingerbread display based on a favorite holiday memory over ten hours, include three ginger-infused baked items, and add marzipan decorations when the mid-round requirement is announced.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

Inspired by the briefs

Bake it at home

These are original Baking Show Guide adaptations for a home kitchen. They are inspired by the challenge briefs, not the contestants' recipes or an official recipe from the show.

Inspired by Episode 2

Eggnog Cinnamon Swirl Bars

Tender nutmeg-scented bars with a brown-sugar cinnamon ribbon and a thin eggnog glaze.

Time

53 min

Makes

16 bars

Level

Easy

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 170 g unsalted butter, softened
• 150 g granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 120 ml prepared eggnog
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 220 g all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 45 g light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 90 g powdered sugar
• 2 to 3 tablespoons prepared eggnog

Method

1. Heat the oven to 175 C, or 160 C fan. Line a 20 cm square pan with baking paper, leaving an overhang on two sides.
2. Beat the butter and granulated sugar until pale and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then mix in 120 ml eggnog and the vanilla.
3. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a separate bowl. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture just until no flour remains.
4. Stir the brown sugar and cinnamon together. Spread half the batter in the pan and scatter the cinnamon sugar evenly over it.
5. Spoon the remaining batter across the surface and gently spread it to cover the filling. Drag a table knife through the batter in three or four broad curves to make a restrained swirl.
6. Bake for 26 to 30 minutes, until the center springs back and a tester comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely in the pan.
7. Whisk the powdered sugar with enough of the remaining eggnog to make a pourable glaze. Drizzle it over the cooled slab and let it set for 20 minutes.
8. Lift the slab from the pan and cut it into 16 squares.

This is an original Baking Show Guide home adaptation inspired by the episode brief. It is not a contestant recipe and not an official Food Network recipe.

Prepared eggnog varies in sweetness and thickness, so add it to the glaze gradually.

Store the bars airtight at room temperature for two days or refrigerate for up to four days.

Open the full recipe →

Episode guide sources

Challenge details verified 2026-07-14. foodnetwork.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Season result

The winner stays hidden until you choose to reveal it.

See every Holiday Baking Championshipwinner, season by season →

Full cast

Everyone recorded for Season 1, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org.