Holiday Baking Championship Season 12

Complete season breakdown

Every episode and bake

Season twelve divides the bakers into Naughty and Nice teams for six episodes before returning to individual competition in the semifinal. This guide records all fourteen aired challenge briefs across eight episodes, including the single-challenge team rounds and three-part semifinal and finale, and includes one original home-kitchen adaptation inspired by the Chrismukkah platter.

1. Episode 1 · Naughty and Nice holiday village

   Welcome to the Holiday Village

   Nov 3, 2025

   The new team format opens with contrasting warm and frozen desserts, then every baker contributes a separate sweet to a shared edible village display.

   • Preliminary

     Warm or frosty team dessert

     Team Nice makes warm and toasty holiday desserts while Team Naughty makes chill and frosty desserts, with one top bake selected from each team.

   • Main

     Edible holiday village

     Each team builds a cohesive edible holiday village that includes an individual dessert from every baker; the losing team faces elimination.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

2. Episode 2 · Cocktails, mocktails, and meringue

   Holiday Cheer

   Nov 10, 2025

   Assigned holiday drinks distinguish the teams in the first bake before meringue desserts express either cheerful Nice character or cheeky Naughty character.

   • Preliminary

     Holiday cocktail or mocktail dessert

     Team Naughty makes cocktail-inspired desserts and Team Nice makes mocktail-inspired desserts using assigned drinks such as hot buttered rum or pumpkin eggnog.

   • Main

     Cheerful or cheeky meringue dessert

     Create a meringue-based dessert whose decoration reads clearly as cheerful for Team Nice or cheeky for Team Naughty.

   Episode source 1Episode source 2

3. Episode 3 · Holiday wreaths

   Crafting Holiday Magic

   Nov 17, 2025

   A single elimination bake asks each team for varied, oversized wreath desserts while a strategic advantage changes the available equipment or decorations.

   • Main

     Over-the-top holiday wreath dessert

     Each baker creates a large holiday wreath dessert without repeating another dessert on the same team; the prior winning team chooses either exclusive decorations or removal of the other team's stand mixers.

   Episode source

4. Episode 4 · Seasonal holiday pies

   Pies and Shine

   Nov 24, 2025

   Team members avoid duplicate pie flavors, taste one another's work, and decide which two pies will represent them at the judges' table.

   • Main

     Seasonal holiday pie

     Make a seasonal pie in a flavor not repeated within the team, then have the team select only its two strongest pies for judging; a baker from the losing team is eliminated.

   Episode source

5. Episode 5 · Snow-day activities

   Snowed In Sweets

   Dec 1, 2025

   Desserts depict familiar snow-day pastimes while the previous winning team chooses between extra time and changing the team roster.

   • Main

     Snow-day activity dessert

     Create a dessert representing an assigned snow-day activity such as cutting snowflakes, sledding, or snowshoeing; the latest winning team chooses a 15-minute head start or steals a baker from its rival.

   Episode source

6. Episode 6 · Chrismukkah platter

   Jingle Mingle

   Dec 8, 2025

   One mixed-holiday platter combines three specific baked traditions, with a blind tasting determining the last elimination before the semifinal.

   • Main

     Chrismukkah dessert platter

     Assemble a platter containing decorated Christmas cookies, rugelach, and traditional Hanukkah sufganiyot for a blind tasting.

   Make our home version →Episode source

7. Episode 7 · Retro flavors and pantry ingredients

   Retro Christmas

   Dec 15, 2025

   With teams dissolved, the semifinal runs through nostalgic decorating, gelatin-mold flavor combinations, and elevated desserts made from old-fashioned convenience ingredients.

   • First

     Retro Christmas dessert

     Create a dessert with a recognizable retro Christmas concept and add clear holiday flair to the decoration.

   • Second

     Gelatin-mold flavor dessert

     Make a dessert based on an assigned old-school gelatin-mold flavor combination such as lime and cream cheese, peach and buttermilk, or orange and marshmallow.

   • Main

     Retro pantry-ingredient dessert

     Elevate an assigned convenience ingredient such as canned apple-pie filling, canned pineapple, or instant chocolate pudding into a finale-worthy dessert.

   Episode source

8. Episode 8 · Naughty elves and nice Christmas

   Naughty & Nice Christmas

   Dec 22, 2025

   The finale tests difficult savory or bitter flavors, comforting hot cocoa, and a large cake that must tell both sides of the season's Naughty-versus-Nice story.

   • Preliminary

     Naughty elf dessert

     Create an elf-themed dessert around a challenging assigned flavor such as black licorice, sauerkraut, or red curry.

   • Elimination

     Nice hot cocoa dessert

     Turn hot cocoa into a polished dessert, with the weakest baker eliminated before the final challenge.

   • Final

     Naughty-versus-Nice cake

     Make a large-scale, over-the-top cake whose decoration clearly presents both a naughty side and a nice side.

   Episode source

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 6

Orange Cranberry Rugelach

Tender cream-cheese pastries rolled with cranberry preserves, walnuts, orange zest, and cinnamon.

Time

1 hr 4 min

Makes

32 small pastries

Level

Moderate

▶View ingredients and method

Ingredients

• 225 g full-fat cream cheese, softened
• 225 g unsalted butter, softened
• 250 g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
• 120 g cranberry preserves
• 70 g walnuts, finely chopped
• 50 g light brown sugar
• Finely grated zest of 1 orange
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoons coarse sugar

Method

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in the flour and salt just until a soft dough forms.
2. Divide the dough into four discs, wrap, and chill for at least two hours.
3. Mix the walnuts, brown sugar, orange zest, and cinnamon. Line two baking sheets and heat the oven to 190 C, or 170 C fan.
4. Roll one chilled disc into a 23 cm circle. Spread with one quarter of the preserves and scatter with one quarter of the walnut mixture.
5. Cut the circle into eight wedges. Roll each wedge from the wide edge toward the point and place seam-side down on a prepared sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
6. Whisk the egg with the water. Brush the pastries lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
7. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until deep golden. Cool on the sheets for five minutes, then transfer to a rack.

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

Keep the unused dough chilled so the pastries hold their shape.

Thick preserves work better than loose cranberry sauce, which can leak during baking.

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 12, listed alphabetically without result spoilers.

Season fact sources

en.wikipedia.org, justjared.com.