The third week of Advent brings us the third week of the Great Holiday Baking Show and, luckily for all of you, our third recap of the show. Sadly, I wasn’t able to bake last week because of head cold; well, as they say, ‘tis the season. As I’m sure you’re all aware, this week was pastry week, which brought us some really neat treats. Well not all of you may be aware, because the ratings aren’t great, third place for their time slot. To be fair though, they were up against Adele, and there is no competing with Adele.
Time management was stressed by both of the judges this week because if there was a complaint about the pastry, it was mostly that it was underdone and the bakers were rushing to finish. Being on a college campus with finals happening, I’m sure a lot of the students could relate to the bakers thinking to themselves “I thought there’d be more time”. Last week, my old friend Juan wrote a piece about going through finals, and I couldn’t agree more. I’ve gone through this finals period as both a student (far too often) and as a staff member trying to help students get through this time. I can relate to the look on the judges faces when the bakers say how much they want to in a limited time, because I’ve probably had the same look when students say “Ohh I only have one paper left, it’s due tomorrow, and 10 pages left to write”. Time management is a crucial part of life, and this competition really highlights it.
On to the desserts. The real highlight for me was Tim’s showstopper, a Peppermint Reindeer Choux. Choux is the pastry you use to make cream puffs and eclairs.
I loved that section of the show because the bakers and judges were giving a lot of tips about how to do it right, something I really appreciated. The supportive nature of the show is really amazing so far, the contestants talk to and encourage each other. Well we have one week left and three bakers remain, but I think it’s really a two person race between Tim and Lauren, but you never know. Stay tuned next week for the exciting conclusion of the Great Holiday Baking Show and spoilers of the new Star Wars movie.
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Cover Image Thursday / bread baking, via Flickr User Der Wunderbare Mandarin; Flickr Creative Commons, available here.
