On this episode we cover the “GBBO Festive Episode” that first aired at the very beginning of 2022 (we get them later here in the U.S.) where they bring back contestants from other seasons. First though, we talked about our scrummy baking! Alison spent most of the day making cookies and she discusses how she tackled Neapolitan sugar cookies. This takes three flavors and brings them all together (but separate looking). She then used a technique that made them looked like “scooped ice cream”! They look amazing. Meredith dove into the world gf gingerbread making some both soft and a little more crisp and using her Harry Potter and Frenchie cutters. Delish! Sheldon took on the world of cookies as well, finding a recipe for ginger molasses cookies that were a big hit. He rolled them in special sugar that he bought when Alison came to visit. In the episode, we had some exciting bakers! Some were powerhouse favorites - Kim Joy and Hermine who were always super strong and creative. And then we had a … couple of likable blokes - John and Rowan. Both were really nice and kind in their prior seasons, but neither really dominated. John was good with flavor but sloppy, and Rowan really overstretched every bake and rarely finished per plan. In the signature, they took on buns! Could be sweet or savory, and ironically they all went sweet… but 3 of them made their dishes look like “fried eggs”. It was a little odd. Two were clear leaders in this round, with one receiving a handshake! All bakers delivered well on flavor though. In the technical the task was a Greek New Year’s cake - vasilopita. It was a relatively simple design with golden cake, decorated with icing and lemon curd on just the rims of the edges of this “bundt” like cake. The big challenge in this was time. The cake needed to bake about 50 minutes, and this created a cooling challenge… it impacted most of them. Lots of messy icing situations. The strong baker from the signature that did NOT get the handshake took the title here while the other… fell to third. The Showstopper was a fun one - Biscuit Shadow boxes. The biggest challenge to these was making sure the biscuits held their integrity and allowed for a good box to be made. Despite some comments from the judges… they all achieved a decent result appearance wise, though with Rowan’s Mere and Alison felt had a very amateur look to it… but at least he finished! The final result was a nail biter with the technical actually playing a role in breaking the close match. No spoiler… but we were all pretty excited with the show! Over the holidays, we will be taking one week away from the microphone, but we will have a “Scrummy Handshakes Shopping Guide” for Christmas and then we will cover the Great AMERICAN Bake Off Holiday event at the New Year!